Prince Rupert City Council has put a pause on those duties that they conduct in public; announcing by way of a short notice on the Civic Website today, that the April 6th Council session has been cancelled.
The session, which was scheduled for one week from tonight, was cancelled in accordance with Council Procedure Bylaw No. 3092, 2000, Section 5.1 (6) which states:
The Corporate Administrator is hereby authorized to cancel such other meetings as are considered unnecessary for the reason of lack of business and shall post notice of such cancellation in accordance with Section 6.
There was no further explanation through the city's website or the range of social media streams, including the Mayor's Facebook page as to why Council chose to go the route of cancellation.
Around the Northwest, other municipal councils still seem to have a fair bit of work to take care of:
Terrace which did cancel their March 23rd session, still has their next Regular Council session of April 14th listed as on schedule.
Smithers also cancelled their March 24th session, but to this point still have plans to host a Regular Council Session on April 14th.
Kitimat which by far hosts the most public sessions in the region hosts a Committee of the Whole Session tonight at 7PM, with a Regular Council session set for April 6th.
Port Edward also has a Council Session on the Schedule set for April 14th, and as of today, has not posted any notice of cancellation for that community.
On Friday, as part of his response to the suspension of Prince Rupert's Local State of Emergency by the province, Mayor Brain also seemed to lessen the load for his council membership; advising the public that a number of issues of concern to the community should now be addressed solely to the office of MLA Jennifer Rice.
Unfortunately any community issues moving forward regarding housing, childcare, homelessness, etc are to be sent to Jennifer Rice's office as her and her team are now in control.
You can forward your concerns to Jennifer Rice by calling 250-624-7734 or e-mailing jennifer.rice.mla@leg.bc.ca.
For more notes related to Discussion themes with Prince Rupert City Council see our archive page here.
Following the links, I also notice the following from mayor Brain's social media outpourings:
ReplyDelete"At this juncture, your MLA Jennifer Rice and her colleagues at the Province believe they know best how to protect you and your families up here. Only time will tell who did what was right and acted fast enough."
A state of emergency is declared by the Minister of Public Safety (or the Lieutenant-Governor), in this case on the advice of the Provinvial Health Officer, Dr Bonnie Henry. It's not made by the legislature and it's not about MLA Jennifer Rice or any other MLA thinking that they know best. The mayor has mischaracterised how the decision is made and the situation.
The mayor appears to be encouraging a narrative that the emergency is about him against the Province and the local MLA, and about who is right. I don't see how his words can read any other way.
The emergency response should not be personalized in this manner. The mayor's approach is unhelpful and unbecoming of his office.
As for the city council, the statement in the notice that they have no business to conduct speaks for itself.