Council to choose on how they will consult residents on upcoming loan requests

Tonight's City Council session is set to deliver a decision from the council membership as to how they wish to move forward with their consultations on the need for two loans for civic infrastructure.

In February, the City's Financial Officer Corinne Bomben, outlined the nature of the two loans, the first for work on expansion plans for the City's land fill site on the Ridley Island Access Road, as well as their second phase of the water infrastructure program that being the Woodworth Dam.

At the February26th council session, Ms. Bomben also provided to the two options for Council to use when it comes to how they will consult with the public.

Those options include the use of the Alternative Approval Process, which will put the onus on the public to respond to City Hall to register their opposition to the process, over ten percent of those on the voters list would have to register their disapproval which would either bring the loan process to an end or send the the initiatives to a full referendum for wider consultation.

The second option is to just move forward with the full referendum.

At the time of the February meeting, the timeline and cost of the two options was noted by the CFO.

"The AAP is supposed to be six weeks worth of time for voters to come in and sign a petition basically saying  that they don't want the city to take out a loan; while a referendum is exactly like an election and takes months "-- City CFO Corrine Bomben 

Use of the AAP option has in the past raised a few quesitons from previous council members, with Councillor Joy Thorkelson expressing her concerns over the use of the process during her time on Council.

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Both the City and North Coast Regional District have made use of the Alternative Approval process a number of times over the last four years.

The two loans that will be put to the public for approval, make for the first of what could be four major loan requests in the next few years, with the City also indicating that they are looking to move forward on the RCMP detachment replacement program, as well as their plans for a water treatment facility as the third part of their water infrastructure program.

More notes on tonight's Council session can be found from our Preview here.

A wider overview of the work of City Council can be found from our Council Discussion archive.