With a presentation cancelled owing to a no show and a council membership of seven with few comments to make on the night, Prince Rupert City Council's final session for April followed the pattern of many others this year, that of short run of under thirty minutes.
That's not to say that there weren't a few interesting moments, the main flash point of the night some sharp exchanges between the mayor and frequent civic contributor Larry Golden, who sparred to a fashion during the Committee of the Whole session over themes of transparency of Council and adherence to governing regulations.
Council also heard some frustrations from Councillor Barry Cunningham when it comes to the Committee of the Whole process, with the Councillor making note that a requested appearance from the Airport Society has yet to be delivered.
Monday also saw some progress for the rezoning of the old Neptune Inn, with the next step towards returning the property to commercial status a public hearing set for the middle of May.
Council also offered no resistance towards a move to rezone land along the Ridley Island Access road that is soon to be turned over to the Metlakatla Development Corporation.
Some background on the work of Council on the evening and the various Regular Meeting and Committee of the Whole Agenda elements for the April 29th Council session can be reviewed here.
Council also met in a closed session earlier in the evening, hosting a 5 PM meeting
Further information from our overview and placement in the video archive can be found below, with the permanent record of the minutes added as they are posted to the city website.
In attendance Monday, April 29, 2018
Mayor Lee Brain -- Present
Councillor Nick Adey -- Present
Councillor Barry Cunningham-- Present
Councillor Blair Mirau -- Present
Councillor Reid Skelton-Morven -- Present
Councillor Wade Niesh -- Present
Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa-- Present
Video Archive for Monday, April 29 , 2019
***************************************************************************
Public Hearing
( 0:00 -- 8:00 ) Introduction of the Public Hearing into the zoning measures required for a parcel of land on the Ridley Island Access Road -- Mayor Brain outlined the rules governing the Public Hearing process, turning the hearing over to City Planner Zeno Krekic for an overview of the topic up for discussion.
Mr. Krekic reviewed the nature of the application for zoning amendments related to the lands currently in the process of being turned over by the Province to the Metlakatla Development Corporation, which will be using the land for business and industrial purposes.
The plan is to put in place a storage and transfer facility on land located off of the Ridley Island Access road adjacent to the entrance area of Ridley Island proper and to be located along the container access route currently under construction by the Port of Prince Rupert.
Mr. Krekic noted that there had been no comments provided to the city in relation to the Public Hearing process.
The Mayor then called for those in the public gallery to comment on the public hearing process, with one resident, Larry Golden, appearing in front of the council membership to inquire about environmental and fishery concerns that may be related to the development.
With no other participants coming forward, the Mayor brought the Public Hearing process to an end.
***************************************************************************
Committee of the Whole
( 8:00 -- 8:30 ) Adoption of Agenda -- The Mayor called the Committee of the Whole meeting to order, outlining the elements of the Committee session.
( 8:30 -- 7:30 ) Presentation from Chris Lightfoot -- Complete Streets for Prince Rupert -- Speaking on the BC Alliance for Healthy Living's Communities on the Move Declaration --
Mr. Lightfoot and his delegation were not in attendance at the start of the Monday council session and thus did not make their presentation. He did arrive at the end of the session, but Council did not make allowance for his group to provide their presentation at that time, noting that the next available opportunity would be at the Committee of the Whole Session at the end of May.
( 9:30 :00 -- 13:00) Public comment period of Committee of Whole --
One member of the public, Larry Golden came forward first to offer some thoughts on the recent salary approvals of City Council, noting he would like to have seen information provided to Council as to what community comparisons were made when it came to determining compensation for the Mayor and Council.
He also offered comment on the nature of transparency for Council sessions and the frequency of the Closed sessions that are called by City Council.
Mr. Golden made note of the 5 PM starts of those special council sessions and suggested that the City should return to the practice of conducting them as part of the 7PM Regular Council session.
He recounted how the practice of moving them to 5PM came about during the years of the issues related to the pulp mill and observed as to how he believed that the City was now looking to have the in camera meetings on every council occasion, making it the rule as opposed to the exception and in his opinion how Council may be violating the intent of civic administration legislation.
He also observed that Council members seem to discuss issues outside of the Regular Council sessions and that leaves for little to be discussed during the public sessions that start at 7PM.
Mayor Brain countered some of Mr. Golden's comments, noting that the Closed Council sessions are only called when they are necessary and that nothing that is discussed in those closed sessions has anything to do with the public sessions.
That overview sparked a somewhat heated back and forth exchange between the Mayor and Mr. Golden over perceptions of how Council business is conducted, with Mayor Brain commenting that Mr. Golden was incorrect in his interpretation of the Local Government Act and how the City is governed by it.
(13:00-13:30 ) Adjournment to reconvene as Regular Council Session
***************************************************************************
Regular Council Session
( 13:30 -- 14:00 ) Regular City Council Session for Monday, April 28, 2019 -- Adoption of Agenda, the Mayor called the Regular Council Session to order, with Council adopting the agenda and past minutes of previous minutes.
Reports and Recommendations
( 13:00- 14:30 ) Report from the Communications Manager -- Grant Application for Housing Needs Assessment -- Ms. Veronika Stewart outlined the nature of the NDIT program, observing that the city has actually done a lot of the work on the housing requirements as part of their planning for major projects, but that they could make use of the new grant money to update the existing data set and to make any changes that need to be made to meet with the new requirements that are anticipated.
No council members asked any questions of the Communications manager related to the application.
Council carried the motion
Bylaws
( 14:30 -- 17:30 ) Ridley Island zoning amendment and Quality of Life amendment -- Council provided third and final reading to the two amendments. With Councillor Mirau noting that he was completely in favour of the amendments as the proposal was consistent with the Port's land use plan and that for the municipality, the original intent of rural residential is never going to come to fruition.
He also observed that along with the cost of municipal servicing that would be required he believed that the proposal the Southern Kaien lands make sense for industrial use and make for a complimentary use to the other existing port uses of land in the area.
Mayor Brain also offered his full support for the proposal.
Council carried the motion.
( 17:30 -- 22:00 ) Report from the City Planner related to an application for zoning amendments for a property at 1051 Chamberlin Avenue -- Mr. Krekic recounted the history of the Neptune Inn property which was before Council on the evening. As part of his presentation Mr. Krekic reviewed the changes for zoning that are being considered to return the property back to commercial use as a hotel and restaurant complex and noted that the proponents had conducted a public information meeting related to their request.
In response to a question from the Mayor Mr. Krekic observed that as part of that public information meeting there were no comments against the proposal, with some of those in attendance offering their support of the return to commercial use for the project.
Council scheduled a public hearing on the proposed changes for the May 13th Regular Council Session.
( 22:00 -- 24:30 ) Reports and Comments from Council members
Councillor Mirau returned to the theme of the Committee of the Whole portion of the evening and inquired as to the process that is required when a delegation does not show up for their assigned presentation time.
As he was asking, the delegation from Complete Streets arrived but there was no attempt to allow for them to make their presentation at the end of the session.
Mr, Mirau was advised that they would have to reapply to make their presentation at the next Committee of the Whole which would be at the end of May.
Councillor Cunningham made note that he had requested that representatives of the Prince Rupert Airport Society be invited to attend the Monday evening Council session to provide an update on Airport projects and developments and observed that they were not in attendance.
He had also asked that the City staff provide a schedule for future Committee of the Whole sessions and noted that so far he has not seen one.
The City's CFO Corinne Bomben noted that staff was currently working on that request.
City Manager Robert Long then spoke for a few moments in relation to the discussion earlier in the evening related to Special Council or In Camera sessions, he observed that the City follows the Act to the Letter and that everything on the Agenda prior to a special in camera meeting is posted and the Council follows the appropriate resolution.
He added that the city always does that and that it was quite transparent and quite capable.
On the theme of the salary compensation concerns expressed earlier, he observed that the remuneration report is available on line through the February 25th Agenda, with all the information used to determine what the amounts were is on line, adding that the city is extremely transparent when it comes to that information and ensuring that they follow the Act to letter.
Mr. Brain then updated Council on some upcoming travel plans with he, Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Long to be in attendance at the North Central Local Government Association meetings next week in Williams Lake. He advised that he hopes to have a report on that gathering for the next council session.
With that short travel note, Mayor Brain then brought the evening to a close.
You can access the City Council Review for April 29th here, where a number of items regarding the council session, including links to local media coverage, can also be found.
As always, our Council Timeline is only a reflection of our observations from the Council session of the night. Be sure to consult with the official minutes from the City, when posted to their website for further review.
Official Minutes of the Regular Council Session from April 29, 2019 (not available yet)
In addition to the city's official minutes, the City's Video archive provides a helpful record of the events from each public council session.
Council members next meet on Monday, May 13, 2019.
To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment