City Council Timeline: Monday, February 10, 2020

The start of a new month made for another short meeting
for Prince Rupert City Council

Prince Rupert's City Councillors doubled the amount of time from the January 13th effort that they put in at the office and still they managed to be out of their public session within 16 minutes on Monday night

With few items on the agenda other than approving a variance and giving the OK to some letter of support writing, the night moved pretty quickly.

Something which allowed them to return to their suspended Closed session from earlier in the night, a meeting which they seemingly required more time to wrap up.

As part of their quarter hour of public civic governance, the Council members also offered up about six minutes on some notes of interest for them.

With  a few of the Councillors exploring a number of topics and then providing the Mayor with an opportunity to recount his recent week long trip to Prince George as part of a Resources forum in that city.

Some background on the work of Council on the evening and the various Regular Agenda elements for the February 10th Council session can be explored here.

Council also hosted a Closed Session earlier in the evening, the details as to why they required the doors to be closed for the 5PM meeting (which carried on after the Regular session) can be reviewed here.

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, February 10, 2020

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, February 10, 2020



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Regular Council Session

(0:00 -- 1:15 )   Regular City Council Session for Monday, February 10, 2020  -- Mayor Brain called the Regular Council Session to order, with Council adopting the agenda and past minutes of previous minutes. 

( 1:15 -- 4:00 )  Report from the City Planner -- Re Development Variance Permit for property on 8th Avenue East -- With Councillor Adey stepping out of the chamber for the duration of the report, 
(the reason for which was something not explained by the Mayor) City Planner Zeno Krekic provided for the overview of the plans of the property owner.

Councillor Skelton-Morven inquired as to the nature of the variance request and if there had been any opposition from the neighbours.  

Councillor Niesh asked for clarification on any encroachment issues related to an adjoining lane.

Council then voted to send the application to Public notification.

Councillor Adey then returned to the Chamber.

( 4:00 -- 5:00 ) Action required to move forward with an Active Transportation Plan -- Mayor Brain issued a call for a motion towards development of an Active Transportation Plan. The only discussion related to that call, coming from Councillor Adey who observed that he believed that the case for such a plan was well made by the presenters at the January 27th Council session.

Council then voted to approve the motion to begin the process of development of an Active Transportation Plan for Prince Rupert.


Correspondences for Action

( 5:00 - 9:30  ) Request for a Letters of Support-- Mayor Brain introduced seven requests on the evening, which included requests for letters of support towards applications to the Port of Prince Rupert Community Investment Fund, towards that Council reviewed and approved :

Letter of Support for North Coast Regional District 

Letter of Support for Fellowship Baptist Church and Preschool

Letter of support for Friendship House

Council also reviewed and approved a request for a letter of Support for the Gitga'at First Nation as part of their application for funding from Northern Development Initiative Trust.

Council also reviewed and approved a letter of support for Transition Prince Rupert towards their mural project.

Council also reviewed and approved a letter of support added by the Mayor for the North Coast Community Services Society towards a Child Development Centre.

Council also reviewed and approved a letter of support for the Prince Rupert Gymnastics Association towards their warehouse development plans.

In our preview of Monday, we had noted how many of the deadlines for the letters in question had expired last week and  towards that theme Councillor Adey sought out some clarification on the process, taking note that most of the deadlines had passed on Friday for the requested letters.

In reply, Mayor Brain noted that the groups had contacted the city prior to the deadline, but that the city's schedule did not call for a session until after that date had passed. He observed that it was probably OK that it came after fact with  the letters still to be provided as they would be included as part of the information provided to the Port.

He also noted that the City is looking to remind community groups and organizations to plan a bit further ahead on their applications plans to seek out the city's letters of support in enough time to be included as part of an earlier Council agenda for consideration.

Councillor Mirau called attention to the need for additional information that will be required in the letter of support for the Gitga'at First Nation.

Reports from Council

( 9:30 --  16:02 ) Mayor Brain led off the Council members in the talking points, providing some background on his recent trip to Prince George, noting for Council that he and other members of the Resource Benefits Alliance had met with Premier John Horgan. He reviewed some of their past exchanges with the Premier, observing how the Premier continues to support the initiative and would like to see it move forward.

Towards that Mr. Brain added that as a member of the steering committee they would be engaging the province further with hopes to be able to report back positive news at the end of this year towards the project which is now in its sixth year.

He highlighted the various areas that the additional funding could be used towards should the RBA find success in their initiative, wrapping up his report he noted that they were very positive meetings in Prince George.

Councillor Randhawa outlined some concerns that he has heard from residents of the community towards any measures in place towards having health check ups conducted on visiting crew members of visiting ships in port. He wondered if the City has any plans to contact the Port or Northern Health on the issue. The Mayor observed that they would follow up with Northern Health on the topic.

Councillor Cunningham took note of the recent announcement of a new President and CEO for Central Mountain Air, inquiring if the city's Airport Manager would be getting in touch with him to see if there is any interest in the airline extending their service to Prince Rupert.

In response the Mayor outlined how the Airport Manager is actively involved in a variety of initiatives to expand service to the airport and how the Board has been actively working to expand service to the city. Mr. Brain noted that now that the city has made some improvements and are trying to improve the link he is sure that they are actively working and are on top of that.

Councillor Adey made note of the week of All Native Basketball in Prince Rupert and anticipated a positive and fun week from the tournament, adding how he believes it would be another huge success for Prince Rupert and the First Nations.

Councillor Sketlon Morven followed up on that theme, noting how he and the Mayor had attended the Opening Ceremonies and he applauded all of those involved in putting the tournament and how it's been an honour to host the event for 61 years.

Councillor Cunningham also spoke to the Tournament and a potential parking crunch this coming Saturday, noting how the Prince Rupert Rampage will also be hosting their first playoff match up with Hazelton on that night. With Mr. Cunningham suggesting that the crowds consider public transit or walking to the venue, as parking will be tight.

Mayor Brain had one final item for review on the night, calling attention to the start of the process towards the City's Official Plan review, alerting the city's residents of an online survey that is currently underway.

He provided a bit of background on how the Official Community Plan will serve towards development of the city's vision for the future of the community.

With no other concerns of note on other topics, the Mayor brought the evening to a close, calling Council to re-adjurn to their Closed session of earlier in the night which had yet to be concluded.

You can access the City Council Session Archive 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 February 10, 2020 (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 February 24, which will a Committee of the Whole Session, that providing opportunity for the public to comment on issues of note or concern to them.

To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.