Prince Rupert Fire Rescue is in the market for a new pumper truck for the Department
The City of Prince Rupert is looking to update the fleet for the Prince Rupert Fire/Rescue Department, with a request for bids now underway for a new pumper truck for the department.
The tender for the new vehicle was posted to the BC Bids website last month and includes a lengthy list of specifications when it comes to what the City is looking for in a new vehicle.
The request fore tender notes that the vehicle shall not exceed Ten Feet, Two inches with a maximum length of Thirty three feet, while the City's documentation also features 126 pages of specifications related to the vehicle's construction and operation.
The invitation to tender notes that the vehicle must be delivered to Prince Rupert Fire Rescue within 400 days of the awarding of the tender. The deadline for bids arrives on May 16th and will be reviewed within thirty days of that closing date.
Over the course of the last few years the Prince Rupert Fire/Rescue Department has been working towards replacing elements of its fleet, with a new multi purpose vehicle and ladder truck among the acquisitions.
The two most recent acquisitions by the Prince Rupert Fire Rescue Department at work last year in response to the New Moon Fire
You can review the Request for Bids for replacement pumper truck below (click to enlarge)
Prince Rupert City Council will once again make use of the Alternate Approval Process to gauge the public interest when it comes to a proposed sale of a stretch of land in the Graham Avenue area.
The first indication that the City planned to go the route of the AAP came last month through a notice on the City's website and an advertisement in the weekly newspaper.
The land in question seen in the diagram below, is an 850 square metre stretch which the city plans to sell to the Bryton Group which owns adjacent property in the area.
The value of the land is recorded at 21,000 dollars and according to the city advisory, the money received for it would be directed towards a reserve fund for future acquisition of park lands.
As part of the City's flow of information on the topic, Councillor Blair Mirau was front and centre to explain the process to the public through a video presentation recently posted to the City's YouTube page as well.
The Alternative Approval Process is a mechanism that puts the onus on the public to make their views known to the City by submitting elector response forms, available at City Hall, the Civic Centre and the Prince Rupert Library.
As part of that engagement ten percent of the city's population or 866 of the eligible residents must sign and deliver their forms to City Hall to express their opposition to the City's plan.
The deadline for submission of those forms is 4:30 on June 3rd.
Should those in opposition to the city's moves find the required 10 percent support, it would mean that the city has to move on to a full referendum if it wishes to proceed with the proposed bylaw plan.
A print out form has been made available through the City Website for those interested in providing response to make use of, find it here.
The decision to use the AAP in this instance does not seem to have been part of the conversation at any of the recent Public City Council sessions, so to this point there has been no indication if Council members are a united block when it comes to the proposed sale of land and the use of the AAP to achieve it.
Whether she continues to have hesitations about the way that mechanism is used, or if any of the new members of council have thoughts related to the process would to this point appear to be limited to discussions around the City Hall offices, or perhaps expressed during the growing list of closed sessions that City Council holds.
The Alternate Approval Process has increasingly been used as a way of moving initiatives forward for the different levels of local government in the area.
It was previously put in place to absorb the area of Lot 444 into the city boundaries and to secure a loan agreement for upgrades to the Prince Rupert airport, most recently it was put to use by Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District, as that organization looks to move forward plans to change its name.
You can review some of the previous AAP initiatives below:
The stretch of land in question would appear to be another flash point for Graham Avenue residents when it comes to the proposed development of land in the area between Graham and Park Avenue.
The description of the area as a park might take a bit of an imagination, it's more of a sliver of scrub land overlooking the BC Ferries parking lot more than anything else, however the City's approach of the AAP to try and move the process forward is clearly something that is rankling a number of residents in that area, (as a letter to the editor of the weekly paper indicates).
The city's plan to make use of the AAP concept now becomes another item on what seems to be a growing list of concern for residents as to how the city has handled the development question on their side of town.
A development plan which has expanded beyond the original concept of a Seniors condo project of 2014.
It may be a struggle to reach the 866 names required to stop the City's AAP process and take the issue to a full referendum, but the early indications would seem to suggest that the west side residents will be working towards that goal.
The push towards that ten percent opposition making for another twist in the lengthy back and forth between what the city has planned for the area and what the residents want to see.
Some background on the past exchanges over the Graham Avenue Land issue can be found below.
After a bit of a break from blogging, we play a bit of catch up on our MLA's week feature, reviewing the work of the North Coast MLA from the week of April 25-28.
Ms Rice was listed three times in the archive of participants for the eleven sessions of the Legislature, or for those listings related to work as part of House Committees from April 25-28.
April 25th found the North Coast MLA participating in the discussion related to issues in the Ministry of Family and Development, speaking to the issue of the need for funding for autism services and reminding the committee of the tragic circumstances of the death of Angie and Robert Robinson. (her comments appear at the18:10 point of the minutes)
Monday afternoon in the House, Ms. Rice also took note the state of emergency services in rural communities, focusing on the situation in Oliver. You can review that commentary between Cabinet Minister Terry Lake and Ms. Rice from the minutes of the Afternoon session, the discussion starts at the 14:10 minute mark.
Tuesday afternoon Ms. Rice took part in a session of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of Supply raising a number of issues related to ferry transportation between Prince Rupert and Haida Gwaii, noting concerns from the region related to the number of cancelled sailings in recent months (her conversation with Transportation Minister Todd Stone can be reviewed from the Committee minutes at the 1550 point)
In addition to her work in the Legislature last week, the North Coast MLA also saluted the announcement of a community para-medicine program for rural communities (see her media release here)
Ms Rice is also a member of the Committee on Children and Youth, that Committee did not meet during the course of the last week.
Members of the Legislature returned to work at the Legislature on Monday, May 2nd.
The City of Prince Rupert is on the hunt for a Manager for the city's Recreation Complex
The City of Prince Rupert has put up the Help Wanted sign over at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre, posting a career opportunity on the city website as they look for candidates for the position of Recreation Complex Manager.
The position which will report to the Director of Recreation and Community Services will provide the day to day operations of the Civic Centre complex, following the department's vision statement of providing for extraordinary experiences.
Completion of a Bachelor's degree in Recreation, Tourism Management, Hospitality or Business and three years experience in a management role within a recreation facility, non profit organization or business are among some of the elements that the City is looking for when it comes to applications for the position,
Other key areas that the City is focused in their search for a Manager on include, Leadership, Change Management, Resource and Financial Management and Conflict Management.
It offers a competitive salary and is a full time exempt position with a comprehensive benefits package.
You can learn more about the opportunity from the notice below: (click to expand)
The deadline for applications is May 13 at 5 PM
You can review some of the past employment opportunities and other notes on labour relations at the city of Prince Rupert from our archive page.
Four months into a new year the "Grand Opening" signs still seem a little scarce around the city, as it appears that any would be business operators are continuing to explore when they believe it might be the best time to launch a new business initiative in the community.
Over the last thirty days, much of the action in the commercial sector could be found among the organizations that are dedicated towards promoting business growth, with both the Thrive North Business program, Community Futures and the Chamber of Commerce making for most of the news items over the month.
April was also the month where some change came to Chamber of Commerce as that organization introduced its new President and charted its course for the year ahead, some background the notes of the last thirty one days can be found below:
April
The North Coast will be well represented at the Thrive North Business Challenge Finals with six Prince Rupert residents on their way to Terrace in May for the final stage of the competition and the opportunity to claim some 10,000 dollars to support their business concepts.
The City of Prince Rupert moved forward with their Small Business Advisory Council plans, with Councillor Blair Mirau's initiative finally getting some traction with the approval of the Terms of Reference to launch the consultative process between the city and the business community.
In an announcement that probably didn't surprise anyone on the North Coast who had passed by their storefront office at the Highliner Inn, Hawkair made things official in April with a statement noting that they would not be returning to the Prince Rupert market for the summer of 2016.
The month came to an end with a change of command at the Prince Rupert and District Chamber of Commerce, as realtor Keith Lambourne took over the Presidents duties from the local chamber from now past president Rosa Miller.
You will be able to find the archive for Taking Stock as a part of our larger page dedicated to the commercial sector of the North Coast found here.
We imagine we probably have missed a few here or there, so if you know of a business having opened, or seen the Going out of business sign appear somewhere in the area, drop us a line at our email account of northcoastreviewpr@yahoo.ca
Or send us a short message through our twitter feed of @CharlesHays
Should the CRTC provide its approval later this year, residents of the City of Prince Rupert could find a change in the process of how they communicate with the City on a range of services and gain access information to municipal information.
It took but a short thirty second vote at last weeks Prince Rupert City Council session to set the course towards a new 311 service for the community, a communication system which offers non emergency access for city services and information.
If approved by the CRTC it is expected to be in place by the start of 2017 and will make Prince Rupert only the third city in British Columbia to introduce the service, and the smallest in population in the province to use the communication process.
Some of the key elements related to the initiative noted by Ms. Stewart were:
Easier access to City departments Introduction of an Emergency Response Service
And while the TV7 interview offer up a snapshot of the city's viewpoint on what the service is all about, the introduction of the proposed service last week of the proposed service at Council last week was the first mention of the plan.
Since there was no discussion during the council session, we don't have any indication if all Council members are on board with the plan, or how long the City has been exploring the need for the service.
All of which may leave residents with a few questions when it comes to the latest initiative from City Hall.
Not offered up for the public to this point has been any background as to why the City believes that the 311 service is required at this time, or how much it will cost the city to implement the program.
As well, no mention was made if there will be any additional cost for residents on the monthly phone bill for the service, or whether there will be a need to hire more staff for the City to take on the tasks required of the program.
The employment issue is one item that might be of interest to council members, as that has become an issue that has made for a talking point in larger cities as the service expands.
In Vancouver when the program was introduced in 2009, the number of employees required to answer the phones at that time was 12, this year the city of Vancouver notes that there are over 100 employees in place to run the system.
Such is the nature of that growth that the 311 service in that city is at the point now where Vancouver City officials are looking for ways to keep the service from growing out of control.
While the proposal is still in the early stages, City Council may wish to offer up a bit more background for residents on how 311 will work in Prince Rupert and how much it's going to cost to deliver the program.
While the City may wish to be leaders when it comes to the way it communicates with its residents, there is probably a reason why to this point, the 311 service is limited mainly to large urban areas which have the financial resources to deliver the program.
With only a short thirty second note in passing at Council last week to go on so far, there would seem to be the need for a bit more 411 for residents from their elected representatives, offering up some background as to what 311 will mean for the community and what vision that the Mayor and Council have for the service once it's in place.
For more items related to last weeks City Council session see our Council Timeline here.
