Council made its second attempt to move forward their Financial plan, with an April 22nd session that finally found full attendance to a fashion, with Mayor Mussallem participating by telephone for the session.
With Councillor Ashley in the chair, Council finally had opportunity to vote on the 2014 Financial plan and associated tax bylaw, which put in motion the process of raising taxes by 1.2 per cent for the year.
Along with the pressing issues of the Financial items, Council addressed a short list of other items on the evening.
The background of the evening can found on the
Special Council Agenda of the night.
The timeline of the Regular public council the proceedings can be found in
red below, tied in with the City Council video feed archived below.
Further information such as minutes and permanent placement in the video archive can be found below as they are posted to the city Website.
In Attendance April 22 , 2014
Mayor Jack Mussallem--
Present (by telephone)
Councillor Anna Ashley--
Present (in Chair)
Councillor Judy Carlick-Pearson--
Present
Councillor Barry Cunningham--
Present
Councillor Gina Garon--
Present
Councillor Nelson Kinney--
Present
Councillor Joy Thorkelson--
Present
Video Archive for April 22, 2014
(
0:00-1:00 ) With Councillor Ashley in the Chair (and the Mayor participating by telephone) Council opened up its Special Session to vote on the Financial Plan and Tax Bylaw for 2014.
By-Laws
As part of the process to table the discussion, Council then moved on to By-Laws for consideration on the evening.
(
1:00--5:00 )
2014 Five Year Financial Plan Bylaw 3345, 2014 -- Councillor Ashley asked the City's CFO to review the Bylaw under consideration and outline the details of note for Council's consideration. From there Councillor Ashley moved the process forward from the previous tabling of the issue, and then asked for comments regarding the motion.
Councillor Garon then asked if anyone had any questions regarding funding for the Golf Course, with the City planning to provide them with 30,000 dollars for equipment. Councillors Garon and Cunningham then discussed the nature of that funding.
Council then passed the Five Year Plan by a margin of 4-3, with Councillors Kinney and Ashley, as well as Mayor Mussallem in opposition to the motion.
(
5:00-- 6:30)
2014 Property Tax Bylaw No. 3347, 2014 -- Councillor Ashley then called on Ms. Bomben to offer up review on the process. With the motion then lifted from the table, Council moved the process forward.
With no discussion on the topic, the vote was then conducted.
Council voted by a margin of 4-3 to pass the Tax Bylaw, with Councillors Kinney and Ashley, as well as Mayor Mussallem in Opposition to the motion.
Correspondence for Action
(
6:30--9:00)
Request for Financial Support for Float Travel - Prince Rupert Special Events -- Council reviewed a request from the Special Events Society for a travel budget for their float to take it to other communities. Councillor Kinney recommended that the report be received for information and forwarded to staff for further study.
Councillor Cunningham recommended that Council have members of the Society appear at Council to provide further background and information on the request. Councillor Carlick-Pearson voted against that motion.
Reports and Inquiries form Members of Council
(
9:00--13:30) Councillor Cunningham suggested that any money received from the Port in their PILT process that a large portion of that money be earmarked towards the city's roads. Mayor Mussallem interjected to suggest that Council receive a report from staff as to where the money should be allocated.
Councillor Thorkelson then observed that there were other infrastructure requirements, such as the dam that need to be addressed and should be a priority over roads. She and Councillor Garon agreed that a report from staff would provide proper guidance to Council.
Councillor Cunningham then touched on the theme of communication to the community, suggesting that staff should be providing better information not only to Council but to the community.
City Manager Long outlined the steps that the city hopes to have in place to address those concerns.
Councillor Cunningham then returned to his theme of transparency.
(
13:30--15:00 ) Councillor Garon then raised issues of concern from the community regarding the quality of the Council broadcasts. Mr. Long outlined that it was an issue that they were looking to address. It was a concern that the Mayor suggested was something that Council members could resolve by speaking properly into the microphones.
(
15:00--15:30 ) Councillor Ashley then touched on the need for better communication between staff, Council and the community.
(
15:30--16:00) Councillor Cunningham then offered up congratulations to the Northern View on their recent award wins.
(16:00-16:30) Mayor Mussallem then asked for a timeline of the next special session of the 23rd, which will start at 5:30.
With that, the special session of April 22nd was adjourned.
You can access the
City Council Review page for April 22nd here, where a number of items regarding the council session, including links to media coverage of it can be found.
