Pinnacle Pellet reps to update Council regarding ongoing issues on June 9th

It was only a short mention at last week's City Council session, but for those with concerns over issues related to the Pinnacle Pellet plant development on the west side, June 9th is the date to circle on their calendar.

Councillor Barry Cunningham provided a quick update to Council last Monday, advising that representatives from the company would be appearing at the next council session (June 9th).

Perhaps providing some background to Council and local residents on their work to alleviate the concerns of those living on the west side of the city near the plant.

"I'm quite happy to hear today that Pinnacle is going to be coming to the next council session, I just wanted the public to know that they are responding to council's asking them to come, so we'll see what happens" -- Councillor Cunningham speaking on a planned presentation from Pinnacle Pellet to Prince Rupert Council.

Some of the residents in the area near the plant have been providing much in the way of discussion points for City Council since the plant went into full operation in the fall of 2013.

Among some of the items that they have presented to council over the last few months are, issues on dust, noise and of late concerns over smells that come from the plant which is still in its commissioning phase.

During his short update, the Councillor did not advise if members of the public would be offered the opportunity to ask questions of the Pinnacle representatives, or if it was more along the lines of other presentations of the past, where Council members relay the concerns of the public on issues of concern.

As Councillor Ashley has mentioned in the past, residents with such concerns, can make them known to the city councillors by email to seek out more information or add their comments to the list of items for discussion.

You can review the short advisory of Councillor Cunningham from the City's Video Archive, it takes place at the 1 hour twenty one minute mark.

We have more items available on our Industrial Development archive, to help refresh your memory on some of the past issues of concern regarding the west side pellet terminal.

For more items of note from Prince Rupert City Council see our archive page here.

Annunciation rules the pitch at Prince George tournament

A ten hour road trip provided little in the way of an obstacle for students of Annunciation School.

With two teams of soccer players from the Prince Rupert Catholic Independent School showing great energy as they took on the competition of the Terry Wilson Memorial Cup in Prince George.

The two Annunciation squads made up of Grade 6 and 7 students finished the Prince George tournament last week in fine style, with the Annunciation Knights claiming the title in a 2-1 victory over the St. Ann's Academy Crusaders.

The second squad from Annunciation had a good run of the event as well,  finishing in second place of the B side of the tournament, losing a 6-2 final match up against Prince George's Immaculate Conception.

The Terry Wilson Memorial Tournament was created in 2011, designed to celebrate the life and work of a long time fixture in Prince George youth soccer.

Mr. Wilson passed away in 2010 and the Prince George diocese put together the tournament in his name. Since its debut in 2011 participation in the tournament has grown in large numbers.

This year, 20 co-ed teams participated in the tournament, with 225 players from Catholic Independent schools across Northern British Columbia taking to the soccer field on May 30th.

This was the first year that the Annunciation teams participated in the popular tournament.

Like all of the out of town students, those from Annunciation slept on the floor of a Prince George school. When they weren't on the pitch, organizers kept the Grade 6 and 7 students busy with a full range of activities.

Some background on the tournament can be found here

Both the Prince George Citizen and television station CKPG provided reviews of the May 30th event, which you can look over below:

Prince George Citizen-- Terry Wilson Cup goes to Prince Rupert
CKPG -- Terry Wilson Memorial Soccer Tournament Great Success for Catholic schools (video)

Council continues to have concerns about speeding issues

The driving habits of some residents of Prince Rupert were on the mind of City Council last week, as a number of councillors outlined their thoughts on issues of speeding in the community.

Councillor Judy Carlick-Pearson called attention to concerns of residents on the West side of the city, with the councillor recounting a number of complaints that she has received from residents of the Sloan, Pilsbury and Cassiar Streets , with motorists driving well above the posted limits.

Councillor Carlick-Pearson observed that the nature of the speeding on that side of town is leaving parents fearful for their children that are play in that area.

As part of her review of the situation, she also provided details on some of her frustrations in trying to provide that information to the RCMP, outlining how her calls on the topic were frequently being re-directed to Prince George.

The councillor asked that Council assist her in moving her concerns forward, which led to other councillors providing for their own items of interest on the speeding issue.

Councillor Ashley returned to a common theme of council of late, that being the speed of travel of Container and other truck traffic travelling through the downtown area. She expressed her ongoing concern over the high rate of speed that those trucks are travelling and how the issue could be one that results in a tragedy if not addressed.


Councillor Cunningham also provided a few thoughts on the topic as background on the issue.

At the end of the discussion, Council decided to task City Manager Long to make contact with the local detachment and seek more enhanced enforcement in the trouble areas.

You can review the discussion from the May 26th Council session, the topic of speeding issues arrives on the City's Video Archive for the session at the 1 hour, 26 minute mark.

For more background on items from Prince Rupert City Council see our Archive page.

Spectra Energy updates council on pipeline development and community outreach plans

It was presentation night once again at Prince Rupert Council, as last Monday evening brought Mr. Graham Genge from Spectra Energy to Council chambers to provide an update on the progress of the Spectra pipeline project.

During the course of his sixteen minute presentation Mr. Genge provided some background on the progress of the plans from Spectra to deliver natural gas from Northeastern British Columbia, to the proposed BG LNG terminal at Ridley island.

He explained the options for the pipeline route and the current status of their environmental work on those routes.  And how local businesses and workers could obtain more information on the proposal and what it may offer the North Coast.

As well he provided some background information as how local businesses could become registered vendors in the Spectra data base, with the potential to become a supplier as the project moves forward.

As part of their ongoing information process, Mr. Genge reminded Council that Spectra will be holding a public open house in the Community on June 3rd.

That Open House takes place from 5-8 PM  at the North Coast Meeting and Convention Centre (Chances) on 1st Avenue West.

He also provided more background on the nature of some of their community engagement opportunities for the region through their Commitment to Communities program.

You can review the links to those projects through the Spectra website.

EnergyforBC.ca

Those with questions on either the pipeline project, or the community engagement opportunities can also contact the Spectra representatives at their Northwest office in Terrace at 1-855-757-4755

Residents of the region can also sign up to receive updates and newsletters on the project, as well as invite members of the Spectra Community team to attend local events.

Following his presentation three of the city's councillors had observations and questions on the pipeline project.

Councillor Ashley was focused on the community engagement projects and how local residents could access more information about them. That was a theme of interest that Councillor Carlick-Pearson would also inquire about later in the session.

Mr. Genge offered up background on Spectra's West coast Connector grants,  an opportunity he thought might be of interest to the region.

As part of the Council Question and Answer period, Councillor Thorkelson offered up her thoughts on the transmission corridor and the impact that they may have on salmon bearing streams.

You can review the full presentation from the City's Video Archive, it starts at the 33 minute mark and continues on until the 49 minute mark.

For more items on developments from Prince Rupert city Council see our archive page.

A share of the LNG rush? City's newly expanded boundary to include proposed LNG site.

With provincial approval in hand on the city's boundary expansion planning of earlier this year, City Council moved quickly to allocate some of that new found City of Prince Rupert property towards industrial development.

The land in question, District Lot 444 was brought inside the City boundary as a way of bringing the city's watershed to within the lines of a map that say City of Prince Rupert.

The process of making that expansion at the time made much comment on the desire to secure the city's supply of drinking water to within its borders, a topic that was highlighted as the City made use of the controversial Alternative Approval Process referendum process.

During that period of time, the city's expansion plans made for relatively little interest or discussion. And during that time, the City never made mention of turning part of that land into an Industrial park of sorts, dedicated it appears to the ambitions of the City to share in the growing lure of the LNG industry.

However, with the land now within the civic boundary, LNG development is now apparently the plan, after City Council revealed some details from a closed session of earlier in the day last Monday.

It was but an eight minute review, one that offered up the blue print of sorts, that would have a portion of that newly expanded boundary to include an industrial zone that would be designed to receive proposals for an LNG terminal facility, with Exxon/Mobil the potential proponent of the Terminal.

As part of the discussion on the proposal, City Manager Robert Long outlined for Council the background on the information that was released from the closed session of Council from May 26th.

You can review the talking points of his full presentation from our City Council Timeline feature, the proposed development of a parcel of land across from Seal Cove for potential LNG development appears at the one hour, eight minute of the timeline.

The main takeaway from his presentation, would be his explanation as to how proposals such as this fit into the "City's economic strategy to find alternative revenue sources and new tax revenues to offset ongoing increases of the operational costs of the city"

Councillor Thorkelson was the only member of council to engage in the short follow up discussion after Mr. Long's presentation, reviewing some items of his information and highlighting the point, that while Exxon/Mobil are best known as Oil companies, in this proposal they would only be proposing an LNG development.

She also  commented on the provision as to how the City would allocate some of any money received from the LNG proponents, towards an environmental officer to watch over air and watershed concerns about that proposal.

All of this newly revealed industrial planning does make for some interesting observations.

In recent months, some Council members have expressed concerns and asked many questions of Pacific Northwest LNG when it comes to their proposed terminal development for Lelu Island. Some of those Council interjections to the debate can be found below:

April 2014
December  2013
May 2013
December 2012

Councillor Thorkelson in particular, has offered up a number of concerns over the environmental impact on salmon stocks and the fishery of the Lelu site. Making known in the past her preference for LNG development to migrate further north of Prince Rupert, a suggestion she first made back in December of 2012.

Since those days of early discussions on the arrival of LNG on the North Coast, Airshed and other environmental concerns have also been of interest to Council when it comes to themes of development for the projects proposed for south of the city, or further north at Grassy Point.

Considering those concerns from the many discussions on LNG around the Council table,  even with potential economic tax benefits from such development, there may be cause for a few raised eyebrows, when it comes to the idea of developing an LNG terminal relatively close to the urban area of the city.

Beyond any issues over the environmental aspects and other concerns that could be raised regarding such a project that would be within sight of the city's east side, there's the prospect of increased traffic through Prince Rupert harbour.

Should the LNG project proposed for an area across from Seal Cove move forward, Prince Rupert residents would eventually see LNG tankers transiting the entire length of the fairly active Prince Rupert harbour.

Travelling from south to north, crossing past the downtown waterfront area and then shifting to the north east towards the proposed site across from Seal Cove and northbound along Tuck Inlet, an area which is also used by the float plane industry in the city. (The route would be reversed upon departure with a full load).

While we imagine that many, if not the majority of those living in the region are hopeful for the LNG boom.  We suspect a good number of residents might be inclined to see the LNG plants and terminal locations, as well as the LNG ships that will be arriving at them, located in regions of the area already earmarked for industrial development.

Locations such as Ridley Island and Lelu Island, or as the other proposals on the drawing board suggest, to the north at Grassy Point.

Considering how much time of late, that Council has had to allocate when it comes to local concerns over the Pinnacle Pellet file. One might imagine the prospect of LNG ships making that transit through the harbour along with a proposed development of an LNG terminal in close proximity to the city's watershed, may soon take up a fair bit of Council's attention should the proposal ever get to a project stage.

The surprise announcement of the City's plans for Lot 444 gives cause to think back to the days of the Alternate Approval Process that brought the watershed lands inside the Municipal Boundary.

One wonders, how if at the time, the City had outlined that industrial development, including an LNG terminal was also part of their plans for that parcel of land, that perhaps the discussion and participation levels at the time of that consultation might have been a bit more robust in the community.

You can review Council's review of the changes planned for Lot 444 from the Video Archive for May 26, Mr. Long's outline and the comments of the Mayor and Councillor Thorkelson take place starting at the one hour, eight minute mark of the video player timeline.

For more items of interest on developments at Prince Rupert City Hall see our Archive page.

City Council Timeline, Monday, May 26, 2014

It took about a week for the City to post its video account of Monday's session to the newly renovated City Website.

Thus, our accounts of the work of the Mayor and Council for this week is a tad delayed from our usual turn around period.

The most recent archive of city business finally found its way to the city's online portal by Friday afternoon, and with our ability to highlight segments of the council session now available, on with the review.

Council opened up Monday's proceedings with a Committee of the Whole Session, an opportunity for local residents to ask questions of Council on any topic that is of concern to them. Three different topics were explored over the thirty minutes of community participation.

Following the Committee of the Whole Council moved on to its Regular business, with a presentation from Spectra Energy starting things off.

Following that presentation, Council heard details of a donation of equipment by the Prince Rupert Minor Hockey Association to provide a Zamboni for the city's use at the Civic Centre.

Council set up its roster of Elections officers and received a report on the publication of the City's Annual report.

Council also outlined details from its closed door session of the day, reviewing its plans to move some of its newly acquired land by way of the boundary expansion towards industrial use, with the prospect of perhaps developing a parcel across from Seal Cove as an LNG terminal.

The session wrapped up with the City's Councillors outlining some concerns they have heard from the public on a number of topics, with the Mayor delivering his regular report to bring the session to a close.

Prior to the Monday night public session, Council continued on with the common theme of the last year  that of the "closed session" of Council.

With Council once again sitting in a closed session earlier in the evening.

The background of  the evening can found on the Regular 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 May 26, 2014

Mayor Jack Mussallem-- Present  
Councillor Anna Ashley-- Present
Councillor Judy Carlick-Pearson-- Present
Councillor Barry Cunningham-- Present 
Councillor Gina Garon-- Present
Councillor Nelson Kinney--  Present
Councillor Joy Thorkelson-- Present

Video Archive for May 26, 2014 

( 0:00-1:30 ) The Mayor opened the Evening Session, providing for the adoption of the Committee of the Whole Agenda and the reading of past minutes into the record.

( 1:30--31:00 ) Committee of the Whole Session -- Participants spoke on the topic of found bicycles in the community and an request that any that are found in Prince Rupert be provided to a non-profit group that would make them available to those in need.

A second topic for the Committee of the Whole was a presentation on the Salmonberry Market which takes place at the Prince Rupert Court House lawn. Representatives of the Market asked for permission to use the power at the Court House for PA purposes on their market day. Mr. Long was tasked to address their request.

Councillor Ashley asked a question how those interested in reaching the Salmonberry Market organizers could do so.

One resident had questions regarding her concerns over the ongoing disappearance of trees in the city's downtown area. During her presentation she called attention to the City Quality of Life aspects of the Community Plan and the need to protect natural areas of the city.

Councillors Ashley, Garon, Thorkelson and Kinney followed up with some comments and questions on the topic. Suggesting that at the moment the concern would probably not be a high priority for council, but suggesting that perhaps consulting with the Heritage Society, or other residents with similar concerns could help in moving the issue forward.

A final approach from a resident addressed a previous request from Council to seek their assistance in order to communicate directly with the Premier on issues of social concern to him. That previous request had been denied by Council, however Councillor Ashely did provide some suggestions as to how he might wish to put those concerns to the Premier by using other communication access points.

Following that presentation Council adjourned the Committee of the Whole session and moved on to its Regular Agenda.

 (31:00--33:00 ) Adoption of Minutes and Agenda for the Regular Session, with an additional resolution and recommendation to be considered.

Presentations to Council

(33:00--49:00 ) A Representative of Spectra Energy with an update on their Natural Gas Transmission project -- Graham Genge, The Community Co-ordiantor for Spectra Energy outlined the progress of the West Coast Connector Gas Transmission project that would serve the BG LNG terminal proposed for Ridley Island.

Included in the review of the latest stages of the pipeline development was an update on the community engagement projects that Spectra is putting in place for the North Coast.

Following the presentation, some members of Council offered up some observations and asked questions.

Leading off was Councillor Ashley who inquired as to what kind of community activities Spectra was looking to provide assistance with in the community.  She also asked if Spectra had any program or opportunities for the City to access funding for community requirements, pointing to the Zamboni issue at the Civic Centre.

Councillor Thorkelson had questions and concerns regarding a transmission corridor and the impact those corridors may have on salmon bearing streams.

Councillor Carlick-Pearson asked for a bit of background on the Spectra website and how community groups could access their grant and funding proposals.

 Reports and Recommendations

( 49:00-- 50:30  ) Report from the Corporate Administrator regarding an encroachment agreement -- Background on the agreement between the City and a property owner on 10th Avenue East.

(50:30--55:30 ) Report from the Recreation Consultant regarding the purchase of a Zamboni Ice Surfacing machine by the Prince Rupert Minor Hockey Association, which would make it available to the recreation department for use at the Civic Centre.  Mr. Long expanded on the topic.

Councillor Carlick-Pearson inquired as to the terms of the agreement.

The Mayor recommended that the City provide a letter of thanks to the Minor Hockey Association for their generous assistance to the city.

Councillor Thorkelson then asked a number of questions on the troubles regarding the City owned resurfacing machine which was only eight years old. The Mayor provided some background on the ongoing maintenance issues of the machine.

Councillor Ashley also provided some background from information received at the Recreation Commission level about the issues of the machine in question and the trouble in accessing proper mechanical service for it.

She also outlined how the new machine to be purchased by Prince Rupert Minor Hockey would be able to be serviced locally if required.

Councillor Garon asked that staff provide a report on the maintenance problems of the old machine.

Councillor Cunningham asked whether the new machine was electric or propane.

Councillor Carlick-Pearson asked as to the fate of the old machine, the Mayor advised that the eight year old machine would be sold off, leaving the City with its original Zamboni and the one to be purchased by PRMHA.

(55:30--58:30 ) Report from the City's Chief Financial Officer on the Annual Report -- Ms. Bomben provided some background on the features of the 2014 Annual Report. As part of her review she outlined that the date for the annual public meeting regarding the Annual report would take place on June 23rd, with copies of the report available on the city's website and at City Hall.

The Mayor thanked her for her work on the Annual Report and praised the document for its overview of the city's operations.

Councillor Ashley suggested that the document is a good guide for residents to review to see what the city is doing.

The Mayor outlined how members of the public were welcome to attend the June 23rd meeting and provide their comments on the document at that time.

(58:30--59:30) Report from the City's Deputry Chief Election Officer -- Council heard background and a request to receive and file a report on the nature of a failure to declare election financial statements, Council received the report on the status of a former council candidate who has since passed away.

( 59:30--1:00:50 )  Report from the City Manager on the Appointment of Election Officers for the 2014 election
-- Council approved the appointments of Tanya Ostrom and Rory Mandryk to their positions.

Correspondences for Action

(1:00:50--1:01:50 ) A Proclamation request from the SPARC of BC to have the City declare June 7th Access Day in the City of Prince Rupert. Mr. Long provided some background on the topic.

(1:01:50--1:08:30 ) A Letter from Mr. Antonio d'Emanuele, an Art Teacher at Charles Hays Secondary School for a street Art stencil project-- With the request that Council review the letter and direct staff accordingly. Mr. Long provided background on the project which would see the Charles Hays class provide some street art for the skateboard park location.  The Mayor asked Council to decide if they wished to deal with the request or forward it to the Recreation Commission.

Council moved to forward it to the Recreation Commission, with Councillor Thorkelson offering some thoughts on the topic and then her support towards the project.

Councillor Ashley also provided her support for the project, but had concerns over the tight timeline of the project, asking as to the process of the Recreation Commission decision and if it would require another vote by Council.  She recommended that the Recreation commission decision should be the final decision on the issue.

Councillor Garon had concerns about previous work at the skateboard being covered up and asked that concern be looked at.

Councillor Ashley suggested that the topic could be part of the Recreation Commission deliberations on the request.

Councillor Carlick-Pearson outlined a discrepancy in the Recreation Commission calendar and the working date that Council was discussing of the 30th. It was determined that the Recreation Commision would be meeting on the 28th.

Resolutions from the Closed Council Meeting

(1:08:30--1:16:00 )  The City's Corporate Administrator outlined the items that were to be released from the City's Closed council session-- Mr. Mandyrk provided background from the closed session regarding a proposed section of District Lot 444 and released information regarding the proponents proposal.

Included in that review was information that the City instruct the  (newly created) Legacy Corporation, following payment by the LNG proponent into the Legacy Corporation and have the Legacy Corporation hire on behalf of the city and as requested by the city, an environmental engineer to be commissioned by Legacy Corporation, regarding all air and watershed concerns surrounding District Lot 444 and any proposed uses by the proponent.

Councillor Ashley then asked that a summary of the resolutions on the Lot 444 provisions be provided to Council.

City Manager Long then provided that wider overview of the topic for Council:

Explaining how the resolution from Closed session was to advise the community that the Province of British Columbia had included Lot 444 in the municipal boundaries and that as part of the City's overall economic strategy and subsequent zoning for its ultimate use, the City of Prince Rupert has done a number of things with respect to that property.

One would be to transfer the lot in question to a fully city owned company (to be known as the Legacy Corporation) and then to proceed to zone the property for purpose of use of the land, following procedures from the Community Charter which requires all proceeds from the sale of land to go back into the land fund, which is why the City has proposed the independent wholly owned corporation to hold the property.

Subsequently the city is presenting the possibility of using the land with proponents Imperial Oil Resources Ltd. and Exxon Mobil Canada, under an investigative option to determine the suitability for their  intent and purposes.

That process would include, zoning of the parcel, public process that will determine if the proponent can progress, investigations into the potential of an export LNG facility subject to government and regulatory approvals.

At the time of that requested zoning change, the public would be further advised as to the purposes that the proponent wishes to use the land for and the nature of the proponents business.

He outlined that at this time those discussions remain in camera.

Mr. Long further explained that any money that any payments made to the city's wholly owned company for this investigation option, are similar to the process that the province has in place with the proposed LNG parcels at Grassy Point.

Mr. Long also observed that the City continues to pursue alternative methods to garner city revenues, given the present difficulty in raising tax revenues due to provincial tax caps on existing industrial tax assessment on Ridley Island and the Container Port.

The City's economic development strategy is to find alternative revenue sources and new tax revenues to offset the ongoing increase of the operational costs for the city.

To further inform the city's residents on the City's plans on the lot in question, the City will shortly advertise shortly in the newspaper that they will be moving the parcel of land in question DL 444 into the ownership of Prince Rupert Legacy Inc., the wholly owned company created for this purpose.

Following the presentation from the City Manager, Councillor Thorkelson asked for more background as to where the lot in question DL 444 is located.

The Mayor explained that the area is across from Seal Cove and travels up towards Osborne Island, but does not include the eastern side of Lot 444 that partially includes the city's watershed.

Councillor Thorkelson mindful of the background of the two companies that the city has been discussing the issue with and their work in the oil industry, wanted to stress that terminal under discussion was for an LNG facility.

The Mayor reinforced that talking point, highlighting the site as for development as an LNG export terminal development.

Council Thorkelson then offered up her thoughts on the proposal and should it move forward the city would be using some of the money received from the companies to hire an environmental officer. That hire would be tasked to do work for the city to ensure that the city's water and air sheds were looked after and that the City wouldn't be creating problems for ourselves in the future..

The Mayor agreed with her commentary on that aspect of the proposed process.

Reports Questions and Inquiries from Council

(1:16:00--1:17:00 ) Councillor Kinney outlined the nature of an upcoming conference by the Salvation Army to take place at the Civic Centre. He passed along the request from the organizers for a discount on the cost of rental for the facility.  The Mayor advised that the request should be taken to the Recreation Consultant.

( 1:17:00--1:19:00 ) Councillor Garon relayed a number of concerns regarding tree trimming taking place along the highway. The Mayor offered up a review of the process involved and some thoughts on how it has been conducted. Councillor Garon suggested a letter from the City to the Highways Department to express their concern on the situation. Councillor Ashley also added her thoughts to the topic and expressed her concern over the nature of this years work. Council approved the motion to have staff send a letter.

(1:18:00--1:21:00) Councillor Ashley highlighted a conflict on Council's calendar for late June, between a planning session for UBCM and a Recreation Commission.  She was advised by the Corporate Administrator that the conflict has been addressed.

She followed up with a second concern, that of where the City is at with its defence on issues of Watson Island. Mr. Long outlined that the defence would be filed in the next couple of days (as events played out that defence was delivered on Tuesday, May 27, see our item of note on that here)

(1:21:00--1:22:00 ) Councillor Cunningham outlined his participation in McHappy Day and relayed the success of the fundraising efforts on the day. He also provided notice that Pinnacle Pellet would be attending the next session of Council to address some of the issues of concern in the community.

( 1:22:00--1:26:00 )  Councillor Thorkelson recounted the success of the recent Salmon Festival at the Civic Centre, she also highlighted an item from the information package and a request for a commitment towards the BC Ship Building industry. Towards that goal, Councillor Thorkelson recommended that the City write a letter to the provincial government requesting that the province construct vessels in British Columbia. Councillor Ashley added to the conversation by advising council of the moves by Regional District to make the same correspondence.

Council passed the motion to write to the province.

Councillor Thorkelson then called attention of Council to the new accessible sidewalk at Fisherman's Hall.

(1:26:30--1:29:00 )  Councillor Carlick-Pearson called to the attention of Council complaints from residents of the west side regarding speeding drivers on Sloan, Pilsbury and Cassiar streets. She recounted her frustration in bringing the issue to the attention of the RCMP, finding her inquiries forwarded to Prince George. She asked that Council assist her in making the case for better enforcement actions in that part of the city. The Mayor tasked that request to Mr. Long to contact the Detachment.

Councillor Ashley also weighed in on the topic of speed in the community, outlining her concerns about truck traffic travelling through the downtown area of town. She suggested that concern also be passed on to the Detachment.

Councillor Cunningham offered up his observations on the subject as well.

The Mayor left the issues to Mr. Long to address to the local detachment.

( 1:29:00-1:38:00 ) The Mayor's Report

The Mayor promoted a Health wellness event set to take place at the Seniors Centre in the City on May 27th.

He outlined his participation in a discussion with representatives of BC Ferries on the scheduling issues of the three vessel routes of the North Coast. He provided an overview of that conversation.

He provided an update from Northern Health regarding whooping cough concerns in the region, advising residents to contact their office for more information.

He advised that Tourism Prince Rupert's had decided to place their new office will be located at the Port's Interpretive Centre.

He reviewed his attendance to the Salmon Festival.

He provided some background on a meeting with Provincial Minister Coralee Oakes over a recent funding announcement. He outlined his points on updates to Prince Rupert airport, access to neighbouring First Nations community and a number of infrastructure issues.

As well he highlighted the Ministers attention to issues of potential investment in salmon enhancement and the prospect of developing living accommodations for those attending the Prince Rupert campus of Northwest Community College.

He reviewed his attendance at a Provincial LNG conference. Providing some feedback on some of the interest in Prince Rupert and area.

He offered up a review of his attendance at a meeting to recruit new doctors to the community.

He advised that the free tipping tokens are valid until mid June.

He made mention of the arrival of the first cruise ship of the season and his attendance at that arrival to welcome the guests to the city.

The Mayor outlined the need of volunteers from the Special Events Society, who have a number of positions to fill for the upcoming Seafest celebrations.

He highlighted the upcoming summer recreation guide, advising that it would be delivered by mid June to homes across the region. Making mention of the advertising opportunities that the publication offers to local business and organizations. Suggesting that it's much more than a recreation guide, but a publication that offers up background on community services as well.

He wrapped up his presentation with a review of some opportunities regarding LNG, with two days of workshops planned for the Civic Centre for June 2nd and 3rd. Highlighting some of the activities of the LNG Boot Camps.

With that he brought the Monday session of Council to an end.

You can access the City Council Review page for May 26th here, where a number of items regarding the council session, including links to media coverage of it can be found.

As always, consult with the official minutes from the City, when posted to the website for further review.

Minutes Regular Council Session from May 26, 2014 

Minutes of the Council of the Whole Meeting from May 26, 2014

Blog Watching, Week ending June 1, 2014

As part of a weekly feature on the blog, every Sunday we offer up this weeks recap of the top five items viewed over the course of the last seven days.

Included in the countdown, we will provide links to the articles in question, offering up with one click of the mouse, those items of the week that you may have missed.

This week, a survey on air travel options for Prince Rupert tops the weekly review.  Followed by our item about an LNG boot camp to be held for local business owners and contractors on June 2 and 3.

Our story outlining the plans of the BCTF to send Prince Rupert teachers back to the picket line on June 2nd also found its way into our top five this week.

Rounding out the top items of the week, our item on the City's response to courts on the Watson Island file and a review of MLA Jennifer Rice's concerns to the Legislature regarding the oil and gas industry and what she described as systemic issues.

Kicking off the review, the prospect of early morning and late evening flights out of the Prince Rupert Airport:

Increased flight options out of YPR subject of local on line survey  --  A survey conducted by the Chamber of Commerce and PREDC looks to gauge community interest in more flight options out of the Prince Rupert airport  (posted May 27, 2014)

That item was followed by:

LNG "Boot Camp" comes to Prince Rupert June 2nd and 3rd  --  Two days of discussion and networking will provide an opportunity for local business owners and contractors to learn more about LNG opportunities  on the North Coast. (posted May 26, 2014 )

Prince Rupert teachers to return to the picket lines on Monday  -- The next round of rotating walkouts by the BCTF will take place on June 2nd in Prince Rupert. (posted May 28, 2014)

The City provides its response to Watson Island case  -- The latest chapter in the Watson Island saga finds the City of Prince Rupert providing its response to legal moves from Watco (posted May 30, 2014)

Jennifer Rice raises "systemic issues" from oil and gas industry -- The North Coast MLA outlined some of her thoughts on the topic of oil and gas development and the impact it has on health and social issues in the province.   (posted May 28, 2014)

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