Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa is taking the cause of Prince Rupert motorists to his fellow council members, seeking the assistance of Prince Rupert City Council to help bring back a local ICBC office for the community.
The city councillor raised the issue at Monday's City Council session, noting that he has received a number of inquiries from residents who are frustrated with the level of service now that ICBC has centralized many of its services through Terrace.
While local motorists still make their initial claim action through area body shops, it appears that all follow up discussions must take place by phone to offices outside of Prince Rupert.
ICBC once had local offices located in the city on Chamberlain Avenue in the Yellowhead Industrial park, however that location was closed in June of 2015, the original notice for the city seemed to indicate at that time that staff and services would be relocated to the Service BC building on Third Avenue West.
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| Prince Rupert City Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa outlined some of the concerns he has received from residents about the level of service from ICBC in the community, calling for a return of a local office for the city |
In his account of Monday, Mr. Randhawa has indicated that any contact with ICBC officials now takes place by phone through the Terrace office, or other locations and that the situation has been an ongoing irritant for local residents..
"When an accident happens, people can go to the body shop here and get an estimate, but when it comes time to talk to ICBC ... it takes a long time and people would like to at least have an ICBC official visit the community or bring back the ICBC office back full time her ... We are paying the same amount of money as other towns are paying but we are not getting the same kind of service here" -- Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa on the current status of ICBC service in Prince Rupert
As part of the discussion of Monday evening, Councillor Thorkelson inquired as to why the ICBC office had been downsized, with Mr. Randhawa recounting the process when the Prince Rupert office had been closed as ICBC had decided to centralize the operations in Terrace.
To address the request for a letter by the City for ICBC, Mayor Barin suggested that the city conduct some research on the topic and then forward a letter to ICBC to address the situation in Prince Rupert.
Councillor Thorkelson also observed that the city should contact Regional District to see if the same situation exists on Haida Gwaii.
Not mentioned by anyone at Council on Monday night was the role that MLA Jennifer Rice might be able to play in bringing back ICBC service to the community, Ms. Rice who represents the North Coast in the BC legislature could be an additional resource for the City Council to make use.
With Ms. Rice now serving on the government side of the Legislature, she may be able lend her office towards helping to return some of the many government services that have been taken away from the region by provincial governments of the past.
The ICBC theme from the Council session can be reviewed from the City's Video Archive starting at the twenty minute mark.
More items of interest related to Monday's Council session can be found from our Council Timeline Feature here, a wider overview of City Council Discussion topics is available from our Council Discussion archive.
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