[0:04] start by respectfully acknowledging, um, the land 
on which we're gathered is the unseated territory  
[0:09] of the Komox First Nation, the traditional keepers 
of this land. Um, we do have a proclamation today.  
[0:16] Um, and I'll just start by uh stating that I'm 
very pleased to proclaim August 5th, 2026 as RCMP  
[0:24] Musical Ride Day in the city of Courtney. The RCMP 
musical ride is one of Canada's most recognized  
[0:30] traditions, showcasing the skill, precision, 
and professionalism of RCMP riders and horses.  
[0:36] For more than 150 years, the Musical Ride has 
brought communities together while representing  
[0:42] the values of service, integrity, and excellence. 
We're honored to welcome the Musical Ride to our  
[0:48] community and recognize the important contribution 
of RCMP members who serve Canadians every single  
[0:54] day. I encourage residents and visitors alike to 
take part in the special event which is one week  
[1:00] from today uh next Wednesday, uh at the exhibition 
grounds. So uh and you can get tickets online  
[1:05] for that. Um uh next uh we're going to make a 
presentation. Um we uh had been given a um uh  
[1:17] token of appreciation from the Alurnie uh Clayquat 
Regional District in recognition of the support  
[1:22] provided by um Averly Howie, Kirk McDonald, and 
the city of Courtney and uh during the Mount  
[1:28] Underwood wildfire that was in August of 2025. And 
I think this is really again one of those great  
[1:35] uh inspiring moments when communities are really 
supporting each other in their times of need. And  
[1:41] so with that um uh we'll do a photo with Avery. So 
where would we like to stand for this said photo?
[1:56] That sounds fantastic. We 
have a round of applause. Yes.
[2:08] Oh, great. We ain't block.
[3:18] right, thanks everybody uh for uh for 
that part of it and um we are going to do  
[3:26] uh some late items. Uh so first I have 3.1 
delegation request councelor Cole Hamilton.  
[3:36] Yeah, thanks mayor. I'd like to uh ask that 
we allow Komox uh center queer center Komox  
[3:42] Valley to um speak today as a late request for 
delegation or ask council to endorse that. Okay,  
[3:49] it's been first and seconded. 
Any comments? Seeing none,  
[3:52] all those in favor? Any opposed? And 
motion carries. So that'll come back under  
[3:58] uh uh 7.3 I believe. Oh. Oh, the correspondence 
is 7.3. Yeah. So, 3.1. Perfect. Um, and
[4:17] yeah, late motion item. Okay. And so, do we 
want to do first do the delegation? We should  
[4:29] add it to the agenda if you're going to add it 
to the agenda. Okay. So um this one's already
[4:42] Sure. So we have 3.2 the late notice a motion for  
[4:44] Komox First Nation Treaty of 
Support from Councelor Helian.
[4:52] Thanks Mayor. I'll move that item 3.2 be added to 
the agenda. Right. It's been moved and seconded.  
[4:57] Any questions or comments? Seeing none. All those 
in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Excellent.
[5:09] And
[5:13] um and that's going to come back. So I think 
at this point we'll do our adoption of regular  
[5:17] minutes. All right. Excellent. Any errors or 
omissions? Seeing none, we'll accept those  
[5:25] unanimously by council. All right. I feel like 
I'm getting into a rhythm here now. Okay. Uh  
[5:29] and we'll move into delegations. So our first uh 
delegation is uh uh Daria uh Kavalotski. Pretty  
[5:39] close. Hi. Oh, you could just call me Dasha. Thank 
you. Dasha. Perfect. Uh the floor is yours. Thank  
[5:47] you so much for um adding me to your agenda 
today. Um I had a little bit of communication  
[5:53] with the city. Um, so I'm just bringing up the 
concern that I have around Tintown and parking  
[5:59] and not specifically general parking, which I 
know is an issue there anyways, but specifically  
[6:04] accessibility parking. Um, I drove around and I 
think for businesses it's have over a 100 parking  
[6:13] spots and only one of them is accessible at the 
medical clinic. There are about maybe 35 street  
[6:20] parking spots and none of them are accessible and 
um very often I see the same vehicles so they're  
[6:28] probably like employees parking on the street 
parking. There is a roundabout that I think has  
[6:33] been causing some um issues because the roundabout 
um you're not supposed to park there, but of  
[6:41] course there's a big dance school and there's lots 
of clients going to the medical clinic. So often  
[6:46] that spot is still filled with cars and and um and 
people get parking tickets. And my specific issue  
[6:54] why it came up for me is because I can't walk very 
far, but I also have a neurody divergent child  
[6:59] that I can't just drop off at another part of 
Tintown and let her go to our dance studio. And um  
[7:06] and literally there's and and the one accessible 
parking spot at the medical clinic is obviously  
[7:11] for their clients. So for a big um very busy 
section almost like I would say like it's a mix I  
[7:20] think commercial. There's like a yoga studio, some 
businesses, a cafe. Um it seems like there weren't  
[7:27] enough accessible parking spots. So when I reached 
out um I don't recall, I think it's in my emails  
[7:35] um about whether the area meets accessibility 
requirements. Um, I was told that it was it  
[7:42] did [clears throat] meet the requirements, 
but I I kind of feel like is it was it  
[7:47] because it was grandfathered in maybe for the old 
businesses? It just seems like very inaccessible.
[7:57] So, I wasn't sure what you guys can 
think about it do, but I was kind of  
[8:01] hoping like I noticed the city of Cumberland 
um they utilize street parking and provide  
[8:07] lots of accessible spots um around their 
busy areas. So, I was hoping that maybe  
[8:13] um the council can consider making a few 
of those street parking spots accessible.
[8:21] Uh, excellent. Thanks very much. And um and I 
I should have given a little bit of a preamble  
[8:26] that normally we don't make uh decisions on the 
day of a delegation. We sort of listen and then  
[8:31] uh it comes back to us to uh give us time to have 
some uh uh thought into it and and possibly even  
[8:37] a a staff report. Uh but that being said, if if 
you're uh done speaking, uh I'll pass it over  
[8:44] to Councelor Hill. And there are counselors that 
have questions, so I'll pass it over to Councelor  
[8:49] Helen. Yeah. Thanks, Mayor. Thanks, Dasha, for 
bringing this concern forward. Um, coincidentally,  
[8:56] we've just had correspondence from five of the 
businesses that provide services in Tintown uh  
[9:03] raising concerns about the adequacy of the parking 
there. And uh I don't know if we've had the  
[9:08] opportunity to respond yet, but um um I think it 
is something that uh we can query our staff about  
[9:15] and um hopefully come up with some plans. I I I 
think in general that uh Tintown has uh um become  
[9:23] a victim of its own success. Um you know, for 
years um it didn't have that problem and now it  
[9:29] does because there's so much happening there and 
uh it's a bit of a good news story in some ways,  
[9:33] but I appreciate the challenge you're having 
and hopefully uh we can look into it. Thanks.  
[9:38] Thank you. Thanks, Councelor Helen for that and 
councelor Cole Hamilton. Yeah, thanks very much  
[9:45] and thanks for bringing this to our attention. One 
out of 100 seems like a remarkable low ratio and  
[9:50] I can absolutely understand. I can picture what 
you're talking about the difficulty of not being  
[9:54] able to drop a child who can't be left alone. So, 
um we don't usually make motions on the evening,  
[10:01] but I I certainly heard councelor Hillian say and 
certainly I'm taking on board this is something  
[10:06] we want to ask our staff about. There must be 
ways of improving access. and I just appreciate  
[10:11] you coming directly to us and making this 
this incredibly clear request and we'll  
[10:15] uh we'll deal with this uh at our next meeting. 
So anyway, thanks again. Yeah, thanks so much,  
[10:21] Dasha. And just so you know, uh myself and I 
believe other counselors have actually walked  
[10:25] that specific area. Uh I I've actually walked all 
the Tintown, but there's definitely those those  
[10:30] businesses uh by by the dance studio, etc. I know 
um other counselors have also gone down there,  
[10:35] so we can actually see it for ourselves. So, 
um it is uh uh uh uh top of mind, so to speak,  
[10:42] just so you know, and we'll be looking forward to 
getting um some information back from staff. Thank  
[10:48] you. Uh and with that, uh you can stay watching 
uh on the live stream if you would like and we'll  
[10:53] move on to um our second uh delegation, which is 
the Indigenous Women's Sharing Society request  
[11:00] for funding. And it says that Kim's going 
to be chatting with us. And there's Kim.
[11:10] Hello. Thank you very much. Thank you so 
much for the opportunity to present today,  
[11:18] Mayor Wells and Council members. My name is 
Kim Hall and I am representing the Indigenous  
[11:24] Women Sharing Society and the Comox Valley 
Substance Use Strategy Coalition today.  
[11:31] Um, I hope you've all had a chance to at least 
do a quick view of the Komox Valley substance  
[11:35] use strategy report we submitted for this 
delegation. Today, I'll just hit the highlights  
[11:41] of our achievements, the key outcomes, and our 
priorities for 26 and 207. Next slide, please.  
[11:51] So we um respectfully acknowledge that the work 
of the substance use collaborative occurs on  
[11:57] the traditional territory of the Pentlatch, 
Eekan, Satzilla and and Salt Luth people,  
[12:03] now collectively known as the Komox First 
Nation. All those involved in this work  
[12:08] acknowledge the truth about ongoing harms caused 
by colonization to the health and wellness of  
[12:14] First Nation, Matei and Inuit people and commit 
to continuing the journey towards reconciliation.  
[12:21] Next slide. So we'd like to thank the peers 
who collaboratively lead this work and as Dr.  
[12:28] Charmaine Ends shared, the Komox Valley Community 
Substance Use Strategy has been instrumental in  
[12:35] bringing together community partners to discuss 
and act upon 21 recommendations from both the  
[12:41] walking together report, walk with me, and 
the substance use strategy. This work has  
[12:47] been and will be invaluable in providing the 
community with a solid foundation to move  
[12:52] forward with actions from the recommendations. 
Next slide. The Indigenous Women Sharing Society  
[13:00] continues to lead the collaboration of 
uh the coordination of the collaborate  
[13:06] collaborative. Next slide. Since assuming 
the role as the lead organization in 2024,  
[13:14] IWSS has embedded an indigenous and decolonizing 
lens across all initiatives, fostering inclusive,  
[13:22] equitable decision-making and expanding regional 
partnerships. The collaborative balances immediate  
[13:29] lifesaving public health action and long-term 
foundation work to create system change. Despite  
[13:36] the limited funding, we have had to date achieved 
significant outcomes. Next slide. And just as a  
[13:45] reminder of the process and how everything is laid 
out, in phase three of the strategy development,  
[13:51] all of the recommendations from both reports were 
grouped amongst six collaborative tables and then  
[13:59] one central coordinating table that supports all 
and ensures tables are implementing anti-stigma,  
[14:06] cultural safety and resilience and well-being into 
their work, their planning and in execution of  
[14:13] actions. and events. Next slide. And now for the 
highlights. So with table one initiative focuses  
[14:24] on business engagement, municipal policy change 
and transportation. The collaborative has bridged  
[14:31] the gap between downtown businesses and substance 
use strategies. Syringe disposal containers  
[14:37] are now available to businesses via Courtney, 
addressing significant safety concerns. Ongoing  
[14:45] dialogue has also led to adjusted pharmacy hours 
to mitigate traffic concerns, demonstrating the  
[14:52] power of collaborative problem solving between 
service providers and the business community.  
[14:58] The initiative was made possible by the 
collaborative work of the indigenous women sharing  
[15:03] society's harm reduction program called unbroken 
chain. Peer-led interventions help coordinate  
[15:09] these actions while extensive relationship 
building with downtown Courtney businesses  
[15:15] over the past year laid the foundation for this 
work. Table 2 initiative focuses on safer supply.  
[15:23] Significant strides were made in drugchecking 
expansion with all services including at the  
[15:29] new safe inh inhalation site now offering testing. 
Nasal nlloxxone distribution has uh transitioned  
[15:37] from a pilot to a a provincial standard thanks to 
the indigenous women sharing society's advocacy  
[15:44] and other service providers who participated in 
a successful um nasal nlloxxone pilot throughout  
[15:51] the province. the central coordinating table that 
supports all tables and ensures cultural safety,  
[15:59] resiliency and well-being and training for all 
events. Um, a peer advisory council has been  
[16:05] established. This peer-led model addresses power 
imbalances and ensures that lived experience is  
[16:12] embedded in all decision-making, action delivery, 
and coordination. So now people with lived and  
[16:19] living experience support all action tables. 
Their feedback and contributions have resulted  
[16:25] in momentum and direct outcomes. At the same 
time, peers are developing leadership skills in  
[16:32] organizing advocacy and facilitating meetings. 
And in partnership with the Canadian Alcohol  
[16:40] Use Disorder Society, also known as CODs, the 
collaborative hosted several rethinking drinking  
[16:47] events across the valley. These events address 
the fact that alcohol remains the most important,  
[16:53] the most harmful substance in the region regarding 
mortality rates. We reached over a thousand people  
[16:59] at these events alone. The peer advisory 
committee played a pivotal role in sharing  
[17:05] information and engaging the community. This work 
was further strengthened by the support of our  
[17:11] member organizations, the First Nation Health 
Authority and the Sesame Society. This year,  
[17:18] our membership grew with new members, new 
organizations, and increased participation  
[17:24] from our peer advisory committee on all tables. 
We are highlighting new participation from KFN  
[17:30] Health with regular engagement from their harm 
reduction coordinator and regular committed  
[17:37] facilitation support from AVI's positive 
wellness worker among others. Next slide.
[17:47] So just to recap, the collaborative has 
achieve a achieved the safer safer syringe  
[17:53] disposal for businesses, adjusted pharmacy 
hours through collaboration. We've launched  
[17:59] a monthly newsletter for members, created 
a resource guide, planning for community  
[18:04] health hub, and growing cross- sector 
membership and leadership. Next slide.
[18:14] And now for the 2026 2027 priorities, we're 
f we're establishing a youthled advisory  
[18:22] table to guide prevention and early intervention 
initiatives and develop a youth strategy. We're  
[18:28] addressing substance use and social isolation 
among the region's growing senior population.  
[18:35] We are strengthening indigenous lent advocacy 
for those accessing hospital and healthcare  
[18:41] facilities. We are ensuring culturally safe and 
informed care for all actions and initiatives.  
[18:48] Continued and ongoing development of all six 
tables. We're continued to support ongoing  
[18:56] uh education and awareness events and the 
implementation and further development of the  
[19:02] Orian package training to promote inclusivity, 
equity, and anti-racism action development.  
[19:10] We are we continue to work collaboratively to 
address the evolving toxic drug supply including  
[19:16] the emergence of new substances and develop 
coordinated community responses. We continue to  
[19:23] work towards a decolonized framework to address 
substance use and action planning. Next slide.
[19:34] So to move beyond a reliance on 
inkind and precarious grants,  
[19:38] the Komox Valley Substance Use Collaborative 
requires a stable funding model. An estimated  
[19:45] $150,000 annually is needed to support 
strategic leadership action table facilitation,  
[19:52] peer coordination, and communications. To protect 
current gains and ensure the strategy's long-term  
[19:59] impact on community health and resilience, 
the collaborative is seeking a three-year  
[20:04] commitment of $30,000 per year starting in 2026 
from the city of Courtney. We are inviting each  
[20:12] municipality and the CBRD to join us in a shared 
commitment to this lifesaving regional initiative,  
[20:19] ensuring the collaborative has the stable 
funding needed to continue improving health,  
[20:24] safety, and quality quality of life for all 
residents of the Comox Valley. Last slide.
[20:33] So on behalf of the collaborative, we greatly 
acknowledge the city's continued funding and  
[20:38] partnership, which has been instrumental in 
enabling the collaborative to achieve its current  
[20:43] milestones. With the city's continued support, it 
will help strengthen our capacity to deliver these  
[20:49] life-saving initiatives, develop cross- sector 
partnerships, and advance meaningful systems  
[20:55] um system change across the region. So, I want 
to thank you for this opportunity to present and  
[21:03] open to any questions. If I can't answer them, I 
will get back to you um as soon as possible. Thank  
[21:11] you. Excellent. Thank Thanks so much. And uh um I 
I think the the first thing is just to thank you  
[21:20] for all the great work that you've done on behalf 
of the community is extremely appreciated. Um,  
[21:25] I I for one and and I believe uh my council is uh 
quite happy with um uh with the very challenging  
[21:33] work that that you guys are are uh are doing. Um 
I don't see any Yeah. Uh I was going to say I'll  
[21:41] pass it over to Councelor Fish. Yes. Thanks. U 
just curious where um like how you would describe  
[21:48] where the money goes, the $150,000 a year. I 
imagine some of us administrative. um are there  
[21:53] any paid employees and is it going to programming 
and such? Okay. Um that's a detailed question  
[22:00] which I will hand over to um the Indigenous Women 
Sharing Society and I will respond with a detailed  
[22:07] response to your question. Thank you. As to where 
money goes. Yeah. And just in general is fine with  
[22:12] me. I don't need to know where every dollar goes 
sort of thing. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Um I don't  
[22:20] I don't know all the specifics because I am on 
contract with IWSS um and I don't know the whole  
[22:28] insight and I would rather relay um a proper 
answer. So let me get back to you in writing  
[22:34] if that's okay. That's great. Thank you very 
much. Okay. Great question. Thank you. Yeah.  
[22:41] Thanks councelor F. Maybe as a subsequent uh to 
to that one um uh when you talk about the 150 and  
[22:49] then you know the request to the city for 30 uh 
I think it would be good to see where the other  
[22:54] funds are coming from if that's from regional 
district uh town of Komox village of Cumberland  
[23:00] um CBRD provincial federal you know where where 
kind of the it gets sort of cobbled together from  
[23:09] because I assume it's from different sources so it 
is And I can speak a little bit about that. Um the  
[23:16] uh the town of Komox contributes uh village 
of Cumberland. We did um approach CVRD last  
[23:24] year but they suggested that we try the community 
foundation and we are going to be writing a grant.  
[23:31] Um they open August 10th. We'll see if that was a 
that is a fit. We are not always successful with  
[23:37] the grant writing as you can appreciate. It is 
a long hard struggle and there's a lot of people  
[23:43] lining up for funds as well. So, um yeah, so it's 
it's a challenge, but we have a lot of grants  
[23:50] out this year. We're hoping that some of them 
come through. Um but I will give you a detailed  
[23:56] um explanation of where, you know, in that 
$150,000, how how the money will be spent.  
[24:05] Excellent. Really appreciate that. And um and then 
just from a sort of logistical standpoint cuz the  
[24:11] request does sort of have some times in there uh 
with October uh 2026 um and in October there's  
[24:19] this interesting thing that's going to happen 
uh with elections. So um I would say uh usually  
[24:25] for something like this it would have to go uh 
often through the budget process. Um, so just to  
[24:31] um let you know that there if it is part of the 
budget process, uh then that's something that will  
[24:36] come out in the new year. Uh but like I said, uh 
this is likely going to come back to council and  
[24:42] then uh uh and we'll see what we can do. But it's 
it's uh we have one meeting in August and then  
[24:49] um a couple of meetings in September. So we're 
getting close to um the um the end of this term.  
[24:55] So uh but with that um thanks again uh for 
your presentation today and for all the work  
[25:01] the society does. It's much appreciated. Thank 
you so much. Okay. And I think I'm prepared for  
[25:10] this. Uh so we have the um uh the late delegation 
that's going to come today. Uh and I think I see  
[25:18] Jojo back there. Um, so if you'd like to approach 
the podium and just push the button on there and  
[25:24] I'll turn on the microphone there. And this is a 
presentation uh or delegation from Queer Center  
[25:30] Comox Valley. So perfect. And there's a button 
right at the bottom of it. Actually, I might be  
[25:36] able to turn it on from here. Let's see. Okay. 
Okay. Is this the thing? That is the thing. So  
[25:45] that's the clicker. Okay. Is the technical term, 
I think. And there's a right arrow that'll go  
[25:49] forward and a left arrow will take back. Yeah, 
perfect. Thanks. Um, yeah, thank you so much for  
[25:54] your time. I am Cherry Muela. I'm of the Dakta 
First Nation and my pronouns are he, him. Um,  
[26:01] and this is our presentation. Our mission is to 
create an accessible, safe, and inclusive space  
[26:08] where queer youth, adults, and allies can come 
together. We fac facilitate mutual aid, provide  
[26:14] resources, and host educational opportunities and 
events that strengthen our community, uniting and  
[26:19] empowering individuals across the Komox Valley 
and beyond. By offering a space for organizing,  
[26:24] learning, and connection, we aim to foster 
a resilient, supportive queer network. Queer  
[26:32] Center is a registered nonprofit since February 
2025. Fully volunteerrun, queer center currently  
[26:39] functions from mult multiple spaces. Fundraising 
complete and we have an ongoing hunt for queer  
[26:47] community center building. Uh we're looking 
towards a physical space opening in 2027. Uh  
[26:53] we work in partnership with many other businesses 
and nonprofits such as CV Pride Society, CBTS,  
[27:01] Weird Church, Catch, CV Arts, Elevate, DCVIA, 
and many more. As you can see on the screen,  
[27:09] we have um many different core programming that 
happens consistently such as queer coffee where we  
[27:16] tend to feed brunch to more than two dozen weekly 
attendees with additional food provided to those  
[27:23] in need. Uh usually provided from the food bank. 
We uh have volunteers who come and cook at the  
[27:29] foundry. Trans night is on a bi-weekly rotating 
venue. art socials monthly at the art gallery. Um,  
[27:38] and we have holiday and special event gatherings. 
Um, we also provide many different uh community  
[27:46] support resources such as a calendar that lists 
all of the different notable queer inclusive  
[27:52] events across the Komox Valley and beyond. We 
promote these events uh on our calendar and on  
[27:58] our social media. We provide many different 
volunteer positions. There's asset lending,  
[28:03] connection, mutual aid. [snorts] Quer center team 
provides answers to questions like where's the  
[28:09] pride party? How do I connect with the organizers 
of this event? Is that venue safe for me to  
[28:14] host my event? These are two examples of the 
posters for our regularly scheduled events. Um,  
[28:23] Queer Coffee is a great one and has been going 
on for a long time. Uh we often meet new people  
[28:29] through queer coffee and trans night. We we host 
many free public events such as the pride parade  
[28:38] which happens in August and was hosted by Queer 
Center starting in 2025. Um we have the pride  
[28:45] parade coming up August 29th uh which we hope to 
be much bigger and more successful and bring more  
[28:53] people together. We have opportunities for dozens 
of local businesses and performance performers  
[28:59] and thousands of community attendees. Trans Day of 
Visibility is March 31st every year. Celebration,  
[29:07] education, connection. Trans Day of Remembrance 
um is every November um and is a more somber  
[29:14] event to commemorate people who did not 
make it and celebrate our own survival.  
[29:22] And these are the previous posters for those 
events. Um, yeah, we have these every year. We  
[29:30] hope to continue doing it. Courtney already 
benefits greatly from these events. Uh,  
[29:37] we have created a positive reputation of the 
city of Courtney for being so inclusive um,  
[29:44] and bringing people together in this way. People 
have chosen to live in Courtney due to the level  
[29:50] of connection that they could make here. We 
promote tourism. It increases downtown activity  
[29:56] uh and tends to help with supporting small local 
businesses. We envision that Pride will become  
[30:02] a festival that will draw people in from across 
the island. Advocacy means increased safety and  
[30:08] understanding from marginalized to us LGBTQIA 
plus community members. and we have many free  
[30:15] and public community events. The 4-day festival 
in 2025 brought together members of the queer  
[30:22] community across the valley. Events focused 
on youth, parents, and the general community.  
[30:27] Dozens of local residents came out to watch the 
parade and learn about the queer community. Queer  
[30:34] Center volunteers are here because this community 
is vital for their connection and survival. I can  
[30:38] speak on this quite a bit myself. Um, I have 
been at risk of homelessness many times in my  
[30:44] life. I am disabled and visibly transgender 
and that has led it to be very difficult to  
[30:50] find employment. The support that I've received 
through being able to volunteer with Queer Center  
[30:55] has been life-changing. Members of the queer 
community face higher barriers to housing, jobs,  
[31:01] and other necessary services. Our volunteers 
make time to participate despite that. Paying  
[31:06] us to do this work is poverty reduction. We 
are training young leaders to go and do their  
[31:11] own projects in the community. Um I had notes 
here. Oh god. [laughter] Um I also wanted to  
[31:21] speak on the the level of leadership skills 
that have been taught to people especially  
[31:27] younger indigenous people. Um I have watched 
many people's lives change for the better. Uh,  
[31:33] it's truly admirable. With increased advertising 
and word of mouth, attendance will continue to  
[31:41] grow and we need to take safety more seriously. 
Pride parade has thousands of attendees and  
[31:45] requires more formal safety infrastructure. 
Trans-Pacific events are all the more needed.  
[31:50] While public anti-trans discussion creates 
fear within the community, 2026 Trans Day of  
[31:55] Visibility was the first publicly posted event in 
the newspaper. Moving forward from what used to  
[32:00] be word of mouth only events. This is a first for 
Komox Valley. Public access increases risk. The  
[32:06] Lapu Lapu tragedy in Vancouver last year has made 
everyone more aware of risks at public events.
[32:15] Um, and these are the speakers and I would like 
to invite Rumor to come up here. Thank you, Rumor.
[32:29] Hello, my name is Rumor Blunt. My pronouns 
are he, him, and they, them. I was one of the  
[32:34] organizers for a trans day of visibility this 
year. Um, and I'm here to kind of speak as a  
[32:43] member of youth in the queer community and what 
being a part of Queer Center has done for me.  
[32:51] Um, Quee Center always aims to give individuals 
[clears throat] the powers to seek out to create  
[33:00] the community they envision. And so your level 
of involvement is really up to you. And that  
[33:07] can be anywhere from you're just helping close 
up an event to you want to plan a whole event  
[33:14] on your own, just like go out there, or you want 
to plan an event, but you're not too sure how to  
[33:19] do that. And there's lots of people to help you 
cuz there's a lot of queer elders that have been  
[33:24] around and they they know what grants to write, 
what grants to apply for. They know the lists and  
[33:29] names of all the publicities that you want to 
contact so that people know about your event,  
[33:35] how to book a facility, so you have a venue. 
Um, this year I wanted to be more involved in  
[33:44] my community because I've seen career center do a 
lot for many people and do a lot for me and I just  
[33:52] wanted more leadership experience before I go off 
to university. Um, and so I decided that I would  
[33:59] help plan trans day of visibility and I ended 
up doing a lot more than I thought I would. Um,  
[34:06] I did a lot of I wrote a lot of emails to speakers 
and the DJs organizing. I helped organize our  
[34:18] speakers and our DJs. I wrote emails to reach 
out to the people that we wanted for press and  
[34:24] publicity. I even went on the record, the local 
newspaper to advertise and explain the importance  
[34:31] of trans day of visibility. Um, I helped organize 
a bit of the catering and I was involved in  
[34:40] helping making decisions around the catering, 
which I wasn't expecting cuz I'm just 19. Um,  
[34:48] Chris Center really cares about making sure that 
youth is put in leadership roles when they want  
[34:54] to step up to it. And this is really important 
and carries on because this applies to real life.  
[35:01] This carries on forever. Whenever you feel your 
community is missing something, we now have the  
[35:08] skills to bring that forth. We know the process 
of writing grants, writing letters to our city  
[35:15] council, showing up to meetings like this. Um, and 
that can apply for anything, not just like pride,  
[35:22] of course, for pride, but for other issues. Um, 
and it's really huge. I used to be a very timid  
[35:33] person and I've always wanted to be involved in 
my community and now I I just am involved in my  
[35:39] community and I feel pretty confident leading 
uh in different areas. Actually being a part  
[35:47] of Queer Center has helped me personally land a 
full ride scholarship university. uh I wouldn't  
[35:55] have gotten that without career center. I uh 
had a lot of health struggles in high school,  
[36:01] so I didn't get to do many extracurriculars and I 
thought time was kind of running out for me. But  
[36:07] uh just being a part of Queer Center helped 
give me an opportunity to learn leadership and  
[36:14] learn how to be a better member of society 
and make change that I want to see happen.
[36:22] and funding this would be huge because people 
deserve to be compensated for the labor they  
[36:28] do. Um, we're learning this is like a place 
to learn entry-level skills and to be able to  
[36:37] be compensated for that means that you don't 
you have more time to put into learning these  
[36:42] skills that eventually later in life leads 
you into manager positions, event organizing,  
[36:49] and just so many other possibilities. Thank you. 
Excellent. Thanks so much for for that. Yeah,  
[36:57] Jojo, now the 10 minutes has uh expired, councelor 
Fr. Yeah. Well, I was thinking the same thing.  
[37:05] It looks like um Jojo's up to speak as well. 
Maybe we could afford them two more minutes to  
[37:09] to finish off. Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate that. 
Yeah. Yeah. Um I uh mostly let you speak for me  
[37:15] for the most part and I think they did a fantastic 
job of that. I'm so proud of both of you. That was  
[37:19] awesome and incredible. Um this is radical. 
um elevation of young leaders. Um it's also  
[37:24] uh we're much more concerned about safety. A 
couple of days ago, something um horrible also  
[37:28] happened in Berlin. Um we need funding to go into 
uh training our volunteers to be able to continue  
[37:34] expanding these absolutely vital events. Um we're 
requesting $5,000 total in support of vital and  
[37:41] free community events. Um we have two budgets. 
One is for the Pride Parade and one is for a  
[37:46] trans day of visibility coming up to 5,000 total. 
Um I'm here for questions. I can also flip back  
[37:51] and forth between these two. Um I'll go through it 
quickly. Um medical services, we want a paramedic  
[37:56] um on ground for the pride parade. Uh we want 
organizer on our area. Um we have young uh we  
[38:01] have youth that are planning these events that we 
are training to go and plan their own later on. Um  
[38:06] and we want to pay them for their work. Um we want 
to uh hire security guards from our own community.  
[38:11] Um we want uh we need insurance obviously um photo 
photographer flags and decorations. And then trans  
[38:17] day of visibility which is an annual event. 
Weird church started in 2020 2021 I believe  
[38:22] um and we've continued we've carried it on um and 
it's another um people are coming to Komox Valley  
[38:27] uh all across Vancouver Island for these events 
because we are one of very few places all across  
[38:33] Vancouver Island that is putting on trans-pacific 
public events um venue rental sound system rental  
[38:38] DJs land acknowledgement MC speakers um again we 
want to pay people that go up and give their voice  
[38:43] to these sorts of things and catering um these 
budgets is not all of it uh it does not account  
[38:48] for unpaid volunteer labor. Um again, we're very 
motivated to do this, but this is just a small  
[38:54] part uh to cover partially what we're doing. I'm 
here for questions. That was a quick two minutes.  
[39:00] Thanks. Thanks so much. And again, uh a huge 
thanks for for the presentation today. It was very  
[39:05] heartfelt uh and much much appreciated, I think, 
by our council. So, so thank you so much for uh  
[39:10] coming to present to us. And I'll pass it over to 
uh councelor Jiller or sorry, councelor will call  
[39:17] Hamilton. Council Jer doesn't have his hand up. I 
don't believe so. Um, first of all, thank you so  
[39:23] much all three of you and Luther, I didn't realize 
the role you had in the trans day of visibility. I  
[39:27] was at the event at the curling center and it was 
joyful and it was the food was really good and it  
[39:33] was just um it just um gave me an idea of how 
capable you you guys are in terms of putting on  
[39:39] events. When I see this very carefully itemized 
list, I can tell that you're putting a lot of  
[39:44] thought into the planning of it. And uh I know 
that we don't usually make motions on the evening  
[39:49] of a delegation, but the next meeting is after 
these events. And so at some point I'd be happy  
[39:56] to make a motion to wave that and then uh make 
a motion to support the uh the work been doing.  
[40:03] But again, thank you and uh thank you for putting 
on an amazing event back in March. I look forward  
[40:07] to attending in future. Thanks Councelor Cole 
Hamilton. Appreciate that. And councelor Morren,  
[40:15] great. Thank you, mayor. I just want to say thank 
you to all of you for speaking. Um, it was quite  
[40:20] emotional for me. I was a youth worker for many 
years. I often worked with uh uh folks who yeah  
[40:27] just were looking for a a sense of belonging and a 
a place to fit. And um it sounds like queer cent's  
[40:34] really done that for many people. Um I also did 
a program around leadership skills for youth. We  
[40:39] often um say where are all the volunteers? Oh, 
they're all gay-haired. that this shows that  
[40:45] there's a whole there's a whole group of young 
people who are putting in tons of volunteering  
[40:50] in the community and that's something to to 
celebrate. Um I [snorts] think and uh yeah, I'm  
[40:57] hoping that if a motion goes forward, we can take 
a look at that. But I just commend you all for uh  
[41:02] for coming out um at a public event and um being 
confident up there. It's not easy to do. Um and uh  
[41:10] yeah, thanks for for all you do in the community. 
Thanks, Councelor MREN and Councelor Jeliker.  
[41:18] Yeah, and just echo my colleagues comments. Um 
really happy to see the growth of queer culture  
[41:25] and the responsibilities um and place that you're 
taking in community both to support members of the  
[41:32] queer community but also to support the broader um 
uh community and understanding uh how to be allies  
[41:40] to the queer community in a a hyperpolarized 
world. And um similar to councelor Cole Hamilton,  
[41:46] happy to support the request tonight, given the 
the logistics of our next council meeting, I think  
[41:52] uh you named um uh I think important contexts uh 
over in Europe, in Berlin, and I think uh we don't  
[42:01] have to look far even in British Columbia to know 
that um security at um large gatherings is really  
[42:08] crucial. Um, and that is both security guards, but 
it's also taking care of your volunteers. And I  
[42:13] think Jojo, you've articulated that tonight, the 
importance and the care that queer culture takes  
[42:18] in um, looking after their own volunteers and 
organizers. I think that is part of safety as  
[42:25] well. And so I'm happy to to support that motion 
as well. Thanks for being here, everyone. Thanks,  
[42:31] Councelor Jiller. And back to councelor Cole 
Hamilton. Yeah, thanks. It fits. Uh I think I  
[42:37] first have to seek the approval of councel to 
put a motion forward because we don't usually  
[42:41] um Adriana perhaps you can tell me do I second. 
Okay. Great. Thank you. All right. Should we ask  
[42:48] anyone oppose just to Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. We 
happy. A vote has to take place. So all those in  
[42:53] favor? Any opposed? And that carries unanimously. 
Okay. Can I read the resolution? Yeah. Thank you.  
[42:59] Uh so I'd like to uh put forward the council 
approve a grant in the amount of 5,000 to the  
[43:04] queer center Komox Valley to support a portion 
of costs associated with the 2026 Pride Parade  
[43:09] and 2026 Trans Day of Visibility events including 
but not limited to event safety, accessibility,  
[43:16] venue production and programming expenses with 
funding to be allocated from the gaming funds  
[43:22] council initiatives budget. Okay, it's been moved 
and seconded. Uh and uh thanks for crafting that  
[43:30] uh for today. That's much appreciated. Uh I think 
by all of council, are there any further comments  
[43:35] before we take the vote? Seeing none, all those 
in favor? Any opposed? Uh congratulations. Uh we  
[43:42] did take some some action here today. Again, a 
great presentation. And maybe I'll give Jojo the  
[43:47] last word. Thank you. I think this is historical. 
I I truly like um this is incredible. Thank you  
[43:53] so much. You're welcome. And uh again, I think 
uh you have some great supporters here. Many of  
[43:59] us have attended many of the events that you guys 
do and I and I for one definitely look forward to  
[44:04] attending many more. So uh uh really appreciate 
you taking all the time and effort to make sure  
[44:09] that the events that you're doing are done as not 
just as good as possible, but as safe as possible  
[44:14] as well. Much appreciated. Thank you. Okay. 
All right. Um uh getting back to all right we  
[44:28] are now on to item 6.1. Oh and we have uh staff 
Sergeant Troy Lorard to give us a presentation  
[44:38] and I'll pass it over to you. All right. Thank 
you. So I just wanted to take a short time to  
[44:47] talk about the strategic priorities for 26 and 
27. Um after consultation with municipal leaders  
[44:54] uh Komox first nation regional district and other 
stakeholders we identified and carried forward um  
[45:01] five strategic priorities uh in the upcoming year. 
So first uh road safety these are no particular  
[45:07] order of course no area of order of uh importance 
uh road safety crime reduction specifically  
[45:14] prolific offenders uh police vis visibility and um 
community engagement mental health and community  
[45:23] wellness as well as indigenous relations and 
reconciliation. So, I'm just going to walk  
[45:29] through each of them as well as their objectives, 
initiatives, and how we're going to measure  
[45:35] success. So for road safety, the objective is to 
enhance road safety throughout the Comox Valley  
[45:41] and through initiatives such as increasing 
traffic enforcement and police contacts,  
[45:46] uh regular vehicle check stops, joint pair driving 
enforcement with the BC highway patrol located out  
[45:51] of Campbell River and Oceanside and education 
and enforcement regarding unlawful recreational  
[45:56] vehicles and e-mobility devices, which has become 
quite the issue. Um, we're going to measure our  
[46:02] successes in these regards with uh at least 120 
impaired driving enforcement actions, 480 unlawful  
[46:08] driving enforcement actions as well and documented 
traffic and safety projects and initiatives
[46:16] through crime reduction. Uh, so we're going to to 
um help reduce crime through folks management and  
[46:22] prolific offenders. Some of the key initiatives 
will be the monthly identification and publication  
[46:27] of priority offenders. This in association 
with many other um agencies and partners  
[46:32] um specifically the Revoy program uh which is um 
been very effective over the last year that's been  
[46:37] in existence. Uh curfew and compliance probation 
compliance checks for um offenders that are in  
[46:45] community regular meetings and ongoing meetings 
with crown probation parole and other partner  
[46:49] agencies and other community crime prevention 
presentations. And we're going to measure these  
[46:56] through uh at least 72 offender awareness 
products, uh offender management enforcement  
[47:02] actions, external partner meetings, and 
uh community prevention presentations.
[47:10] Comes time for uh police invisible, community 
relations, uh visibility and community  
[47:15] relations. Uh we so we are looking to be clear and 
accountable and transparent while increasing our  
[47:19] police presence. So that will include downtown 
foot patrols as well as the bike patrols. There  
[47:26] have been some uh challenges of course with that 
over the preceding year with uh staffing levels.  
[47:30] So we're looking we're trending in the right 
direction anyhow. Um some incoming bodies and  
[47:36] uh people returning um to full duties um with our 
seasonal policing that will include enhanced rural  
[47:42] and recreational area patrols and again our 
participation in community events, ceremonies  
[47:47] and parades. Um, and this again is despite our 
staffing pressures at the current moment. So,  
[47:55] we're looking to have at least 100 documented 
downtown business visits, at least 480 rural  
[48:00] recreational patrols, and 64 community engagement 
activities. Of course, you know, we do that all  
[48:06] the time, but um just add some measures to 
that with health and community wellness. So,  
[48:13] our objective of course to improve public safety 
through collaborative mental health responses.  
[48:17] Some of the initiatives are referrals 
to mental health and wellness services,  
[48:22] ongoing collaboration with the island health 
and community partners and formalization and  
[48:26] long-term sustainability of the micro 
program that you guys are familiar  
[48:30] with through various presentations. So we're 
looking to measure that through at least 240  
[48:34] referrals to support services and engagement uh 
number of engagements with our partner agencies
[48:45] and under um priority of indigenous relations 
and reconciliation looking to strengthen that  
[48:51] relationship with Komox's first nations and 
indigenous communities. we're doing through  
[48:55] this are ongoing engagement monthly with chief 
and councils participation in community events  
[49:02] uh youth outreach and education and elder 
engagement with reconciliation activities.  
[49:08] Again our measure measures will be through 
attendance of those council meetings and  
[49:12] various uh community participation, youth 
projects and elders focused initiatives.
[49:21] So I can report um Idaho council was interested 
in uh how things have been going in relation to  
[49:28] these. So just starting off in Q1 we are at 
the end so we run off of the uh fiscal year.  
[49:33] So quarter one um has just ended at uh in 
June. So road safety there's been very good  
[49:40] uh strong enforcement uh activity. We did add a 
third uh municipal traffic member. So the addition  
[49:48] of that person to our team has been has been good. 
Uh we had some joint impaired driving initiatives  
[49:54] with the BC highway patrol and they have spent 
some time in some problem areas in the community.  
[49:59] I think you're aware of as well back road and some 
other um some other areas. In the crime reduction  
[50:06] front uh we've had multiple intelligence 
products developed on priority offenders.  
[50:11] Uh we've also added we've become the hub with 
community corrections with something called so  
[50:16] you might be familiar with Revoy repeat uh violent 
offender initiative that's in conjunction with  
[50:23] um crown probation all these other partners well 
we've introduced another one that's the chronic  
[50:28] property offender initiative so very similar to 
revoy but just focusing on uh property offenders
[50:37] and we've had 29 over the last quarter 29 
offenders that were arrested or charged for  
[50:42] non-compliance. Those are people that are 
actually in the community uh where through  
[50:46] our proactive efforts and and just checking uh 
resulted in 29 additional charges against those  
[50:53] offenders. On the mental [clears throat] health 
side, um our mobile integrated crisis response has  
[50:59] generated over 90 referrals during the first 
quarter and we've had extensive stakeholder  
[51:03] engagement with municipalities and island health 
and other um agencies in regards to that program.  
[51:09] um just trying to solidify and ensure that 
it's going going to be running forward. In  
[51:16] regards to indigenous reconciliation, uh we have 
continued representation and participation at the  
[51:21] uh KFM council. uh significant engagement with 
elders, cultural program and youth initiatives.  
[51:27] And we have a newly unen engaged constable 
straight off out of depo. And one of his  
[51:32] um projects as part of that program is going 
to be with some um some youth initiatives.
[51:42] That is yours. [laughter] There any questions? 
I answer that very quickly, but yeah. No,  
[51:49] that that's that's fine. Uh thanks very much 
for the the presentation. uh much appreciated  
[51:54] articulating what those uh suggested um uh 
priorities are and then going through the  
[52:00] uh the actual um numbers there. I do see a number 
of uh uh uh hands have gone up and lights have  
[52:08] been put on. So maybe I'll start with uh councelor 
online and then I'll go to the members of council  
[52:14] in Yeah, thanks mayor and thanks um staff sergeant 
for being here. Um, I've got a few questions,  
[52:21] but I'll just start with one just into the last 
slide. Um, really happy that um, you highlighted  
[52:27] that Courtney was selected as uh, a hub for 
the chronic property offending intervention  
[52:32] initiative. Um, I'm wondering if you can kind of 
give us a little bit more detail. I think this  
[52:36] is probably the first time um, we've mentioned it 
in a public meeting at the city of Courtney. Um,  
[52:43] specifically, I'm kind of curious to know how 
the coordinator I understand that um, there's  
[52:48] meant to be a coordinator uh, that's assigned or 
added resource to the detachment. Um, and we've  
[52:54] had lots of conversations around the resources 
required at the detachment to support um, the work  
[53:00] the good work that you do in the community. So, 
I'm wondering if you can maybe um, speak to uh,  
[53:04] how that is uh, playing out here locally. Thanks. 
Yeah, in regards to SEO, so it's much along the  
[53:12] line of the REO V Revoy program where it's clearly 
established that a small number of people commit  
[53:19] a majority of offenses. So, this focusing on 
those individuals um the an additional resource  
[53:28] is not required for this. there is an additional 
resource. Um, Komox Valley has become the the hub  
[53:34] sort of for the North Island and the coordinator 
for SEO is through community corrections. Um,  
[53:40] so we will have a liaison um assigned from our 
office that we do in in conjunction with our for  
[53:47] um crime an analyst. Um so they'll be 
working together to identify those offenders  
[53:54] uh strategies and ensure that the uh appropriate 
reporting and all those things are done when  
[53:59] those offenders are identified and hopefully you 
know uh arrested and charged and brought before  
[54:06] the courts. So there's not an additional 
person to our compliment for that program.
[54:16] Excellent. Uh, thanks for that. And and I think, 
you know, one of the things about that program  
[54:20] when I was talking to the the minister um when 
it was first announced is that also dubtales.  
[54:26] I know our our council and many others uh have 
have lobbied for uh bail reform. Uh and so that  
[54:33] has also come into play. And so those are going 
to kind of dubtail into each other as far as I  
[54:37] know. Um you'd probably have a better idea, but 
uh so it looks like there's a few things coming  
[54:43] together all at once. So yeah, that's correct. So 
there will be as before um community corrections  
[54:48] involved, probation, um crown all involved. 
So speaking the same language when it comes to  
[54:54] these particular offenders so everybody's aware of 
what's required and uh to make sure that product  
[55:00] is before the court. Excellent. Uh appreciate 
that answer and I'll pass it over to councelor  
[55:05] Hillian. Thanks Mayor and um thanks very much uh 
staff sergeant for uh you and your members service  
[55:12] to the community. Um I'm going to ask you a bit of 
a philosophical question here. Um incidentally I'm  
[55:21] pleased to see the priorities and uh road safety 
being uh the first uh people might be surprised to  
[55:28] know that uh it's over many years it's it's the 
issue that comes up most frequently when people  
[55:33] contact us about concerns. It's about basically 
traffic safety in their neighborhoods. But um  
[55:39] what's your assessment of how safe our community 
is? Um, I worked in community corrections for many  
[55:45] years and when I hear people talking about uh it's 
not safe to go downtown and things like that, I'm  
[55:50] I'm thinking I know a lot of people over many many 
years who have done some horrible things in this  
[55:56] community [snorts] and um in my view the community 
is is potentially as safe as it's ever been. Um  
[56:04] you're an experienced police officer. Uh how safe 
is is the community of Courtney particularly? We  
[56:10] just had a presentation from some young people 
that are involved in putting in on events and  
[56:14] uh I have a grand uh niece visiting from Germany 
right now. So obviously the the events in Berlin  
[56:22] were foremost in my thinking. But uh how safe is 
uh is Courtney in general compared to other places  
[56:28] that you've worked and and uh your assessment 
of uh our ability to keep people safe at these  
[56:34] types of events and in general? Yes, thank you. 
nothing like putting me on the spot. But no,  
[56:40] I I would agree with that. You know, Courtney is 
is a is a very safe community. Um that being said,  
[56:46] you know, always saying that perception of of 
crime is almost as bad as a crime itself, right?  
[56:52] Because it perpetuates and people [clears throat] 
um you know, they become alarmed. But I I think  
[56:58] that anybody can walk the streets uh most most 
time anywhere, day or night, without real fear.  
[57:05] Um, so there's kind of two parts to that question. 
So, um, yeah, time times have changed, right? Um,  
[57:11] since I began policing 30 years ago in the late 
1900s, I'll put it that way just to alarm anybody  
[57:19] in the room. Um yeah, times have changed and 
we've reached out um since last year uh and and  
[57:27] with people organized conducting events um after 
the Lapu Lapu tragedy and reached out with sort  
[57:33] of planning documents and um we've done some 
with with you know Canada Day and the upcoming  
[57:39] nautical days and and various events about how to 
safely plan and myself and Sergeant Brock Brennan  
[57:46] usually spend a lot of time with organizers making 
sure that those those things are looked after,  
[57:50] things that maybe over the years that typical 
organizers wouldn't have thought of doing,  
[57:54] but now it just becomes common place, right? So, 
we want to make sure all those things are covered  
[57:59] off and and we spend a lot of time ensuring 
with with through the organizers that maybe  
[58:04] some things they haven't thought of are covered 
off. And with the change to the sort of bylaws  
[58:09] about special events, that's really helped us 
get in contact with these organizers and make  
[58:14] sure those things are are in place. And every 
year I know we reach out with the with the pride  
[58:18] organizers and let them know that um you know 
we're there for to for safety reasons of course.  
[58:25] Yeah. Thanks very much and and again thanks to 
union members for your ongoing work. [snorts]
[58:32] Thanks very much councelor Hillian and councelor 
Warren. Great. Thank you mayor. Thanks so much  
[58:37] for the presentation. I won't give you a tricky 
question like councelor Hillian. Um but I was  
[58:43] wondering around this um kind of increased um 
attention to the prolific offenders and the 29  
[58:49] offenders you mentioned. Um I know you your role 
can only go so far. So you can make the charges.  
[58:56] Um you can have increased charges. You can be more 
kind of I don't like the word vigilant but more  
[59:03] vigilant I guess in terms of um addressing these 
issues but then people do complain. It's kind of  
[59:09] a revolving door. They get charged. People come 
out. I guess I'm just curious whether um you're  
[59:14] feeling like there's been any positive outcomes 
for those folks that are you know and often they  
[59:22] are folks who are have a mult you know a multitude 
of of issues. We certainly have people coming  
[59:29] um and you know sort of the more organized people 
who are praying on vulnerable etc. But some of  
[59:36] the people committing crimes like that are doing 
it out of desperation. So, I guess I'm curious,  
[59:42] you can you can do the charges, but what are the 
outcomes after that you've seen? Yeah, you know,  
[59:48] if you're speaking specifically about the Revoy 
program, we've seen really good success in it. Um,  
[59:52] maybe that slide was a little bit misleading. It 
wasn't 29 offenders. We identified 12. It was 29  
[59:58] just additional charges, okay, on offenders over 
the last quarter, right, that were under current  
[1:00:04] charge. So that's goes through like if somebody 
for example is on a curfew, a lot of members will  
[1:00:09] go at 2 in the morning and knock on the door and 
make sure that they're home, right? So that might  
[1:00:12] you making sure people are abiding by conditions 
that are imposed by the courts. Um so like I I  
[1:00:18] mentioned that again not telling any secrets here 
but it's a usually small number of people that dis  
[1:00:23] disproportionately responsible for offenses and 
um and that's includes everything from violence  
[1:00:31] to thefts to nuisances and this these programs 
um f try to focus those resource those resources  
[1:00:41] not just ours but crown probation other community 
agencies on on those offenders. Right. Right. Um  
[1:00:49] so it means that we've uh reduced the offending by 
those repeat offenders. Um increasing compliance  
[1:00:58] with court order conditions um information 
sharing with crown counsel, probation, parole,  
[1:01:04] uh social services, and I hopefully to bring up 
fewer victims. Right? That's that's the whole  
[1:01:11] goal behind it. And I think it has been working 
well. there is good engagement from all sides. Um  
[1:01:16] we said what makes a a wheel strong it's multiple 
spokes right so we have to bring all those people  
[1:01:21] together to uh to make sure that the program goes 
forward but I think we are seeing success with  
[1:01:26] them. Did I have a followup there? I see nobody 
else waiting yet. And I guess I am curious about  
[1:01:33] those more sort of predatory um folks who are, 
you know, frankly coming and or may already be  
[1:01:41] here in terms of finding desperate people to 
do the do the deeds for them. And I mean I I  
[1:01:48] also have a bit of a background in with working in 
youth justice as well. Um and yeah, I I would see  
[1:01:56] vulnerable folks really being kind of prayed on. 
Has there been any action around kind of tackling,  
[1:02:03] you know, the the sort of higherups that take 
advantage and and get people frankly to do their  
[1:02:09] dirty work and a word? Yes. [laughter] So that 
that's what we're always looking for and I think  
[1:02:14] we've had that discussion in council before. We're 
not if you're talking about saying substance use  
[1:02:20] um we're not looking for the end user. 
We're looking for those supplying,  
[1:02:24] right? Um that that's the endgame to take 
away that. Um, yeah, and I mean sometimes  
[1:02:32] those people are are getting people to work 
off their debts by theft and things like that.  
[1:02:37] So that's sort of what I was getting at. Okay. 
Thanks so much. Excellent. Thanks very much, uh,  
[1:02:43] Councelor Fish. Yeah, thanks Mayor and and thanks 
for coming in and sharing the the path ahead. Um,  
[1:02:50] I'm just happy to move the recommendation or 
it's not really a recommendation. I'll move this  
[1:02:54] motion that council identify the following top 
five areas of concern regarding police services  
[1:02:59] in the city of Kourtney for 2627 as road safety, 
crime reduction, police visibility and comm uh and  
[1:03:07] community mental health and um community wellness 
and indigenous relations and reconciliation.
[1:03:18] All right, it's been moved and seconded. Uh 
councelor Jelker. Yeah, thanks Merritt. I'd  
[1:03:22] still had some clarifying questions actually. 
Um, so this is the first time we've seen  
[1:03:29] um the presented like this where there was um I 
guess the RCMP coming with the five. Um so I'm  
[1:03:38] just kind of processing that. Um uh but I do have 
a question as it relates to cuz I was looking at  
[1:03:45] uh our community priorities um over the last few 
years and one of the ones uh that we had included  
[1:03:52] previously was violent crime specifically drug 
trafficking violence and relationships and sexual  
[1:03:57] assaults. And so I guess my first uh clarifying 
question um for you staff sergeant is how do we  
[1:04:05] feel we are doing relative to um that previous 
community priority. Um I think we spent a fair  
[1:04:12] bit of time talking about um our concerns around 
violence and relationships and drug trafficking  
[1:04:17] specifically. So love to hear your uh insights 
on where you think we've come over the last  
[1:04:23] uh two years on that file. Yeah. And you 
know those are always priorities. Um for us  
[1:04:29] um intimate partner violence um is always at 
the forefront. We have the dedicated resources  
[1:04:36] um ensuring that um you know we're taking the 
proper steps that we're plugging uh victims  
[1:04:45] into the proper resources working with community 
partners to um ensure safety um and planning and  
[1:04:55] um sort of that integrated case and and threat 
assessment um for you know problem again  
[1:05:01] offenders. So that's something that never drops 
off the table from my perspective. Uh intimate  
[1:05:06] partner violence is is is always in the forefront. 
It's those um priorities and again this was a very  
[1:05:13] quick overview of sort of the top priorities a 
very sort of high level. Um they are we're always  
[1:05:20] dealing with those. Um second part of the question 
was for which part uh drug trafficking. Yeah. And  
[1:05:28] also that's something we have a you know dedicated 
resources as well that is their their almost their  
[1:05:35] primary mandate is to identify and and to target 
um trafficking uh in the in the in the community.  
[1:05:43] So um I don't have any specific numbers in front 
of you but uh as been requested by council we will  
[1:05:49] be reporting on those. I mean, typically it's 
reported on quarterly, but you're looking for  
[1:05:54] um and we've heard the request uh quarterly 
reports on how we're doing. That's why I laid this  
[1:06:02] um the objectives out to you so you're fully 
[snorts] aware of what the objectives are and  
[1:06:05] we'll report back on the key successes uh of 
those objectives and initiatives. Yeah. Thanks,  
[1:06:11] Staff Sergeant. My my last question mayor is um 
in the slide it speaks to key initiatives under  
[1:06:17] um [snorts] crime reduction uh publication 
of priority offenders and I think the success  
[1:06:24] measure that you've identified that goes along 
with that is offender awareness products. So I  
[1:06:29] think that's the first time that we've also seen 
that languaging. Um and so can you break down what  
[1:06:35] that is? What does that look like? And what does 
um the publication of priority offenders is that  
[1:06:40] publication to the public? Um and what what's the 
utility of that? How does that reduce crime? Yeah,  
[1:06:48] I mean occasionally there will be publications 
on it. Uh typically that's more of an in-house  
[1:06:53] publication. U so all our members partner agencies 
are aware of who has been identified as one of  
[1:07:01] these REO we're speaking specifically to Revoy 
uh a Revoy candidate. Um, so we will let that  
[1:07:07] offender know that you have been designated 
as this by the hub, the community, and that's  
[1:07:14] not just the police, but that is, you know, crown, 
parole, probation to let them know that, you know,  
[1:07:19] basically they're under the microscope. 
Um, you know, could that be an education,  
[1:07:25] awareness, proactive measure? Sure. But, 
um, I think the, uh, yeah, the 72 is more.  
[1:07:33] So, we're going to every month we will have 
designated offenders and that is going to be  
[1:07:38] um broadcast out to our membership and as well 
to the to the hub um about those candidate those  
[1:07:44] people that are included in the program. Thanks. 
Excellent. Yeah. Thanks, Council Zeler. And I  
[1:07:51] think you know one one of the there's a couple 
things that that have come kind of to to light.  
[1:07:55] One uh the request came a little bit later than it 
normally does. This is the first time where um uh  
[1:08:02] I think in the past there have been um suggested 
priorities. Uh but this time it came kind a little  
[1:08:10] bit more canned in the sense that it was for the 
whole Komox Valley. So it's sort of each council  
[1:08:15] um adding to it. So, uh, in sort of debriefing 
with, uh, the officer in charge, Inspector Mercer,  
[1:08:22] um, you know, getting this a little 
bit earlier would be great. And then,  
[1:08:26] uh, having, um, we've been talking for a long time 
now about having elected officials, RCMP, uh, uh,  
[1:08:34] meeting. And so all elected officials could come 
together, Komox First Nation as well. Um and  
[1:08:42] uh and actually have uh a larger discussion where 
we can talk about this and other sort of community  
[1:08:48] art uh policing needs and challenges and topics uh 
in whether it's a half a day or a full day um once  
[1:08:55] a year, twice a year, but getting that happening 
on a much more regular basis so that we're a  
[1:09:00] little bit ahead of things. And uh and I would 
concur. I I would say since I've been on council,  
[1:09:06] um intimate partner violence has definitely always 
been one of the top uh priorities for council. Um  
[1:09:12] and uh and so um yeah, so it's really about trying 
to see what we can do or you know, does it make  
[1:09:19] sense that five is the is the maximum? Uh when 
we know the RCMP uh when you pick up the phone,  
[1:09:26] they answer and they respond. And so, um, I think 
has been mentioned earlier before, I think our our  
[1:09:33] community is quite well served. Um, and so on 
these types of talk topics, there's maybe a bit  
[1:09:39] of massaging that we have to do kind of going 
forward to make sure we're we're all kind of,  
[1:09:43] uh, speaking the same language and and on the 
same timelines, uh, getting things going. So,  
[1:09:48] but I think we're Q2 right now and we're giving 
the priorities for the year. So, we're we're  
[1:09:54] already a bit behind, I think, this year. Um yeah. 
Uh with that, we do have a motion based on the  
[1:10:02] um priorities that were set forward that's been 
moved and seconded. Uh so all those in favor? Any  
[1:10:09] opposed? And motion carries. And thanks again for 
your presentation today. And I would say there's a  
[1:10:14] lot of information that was quite helpful. So just 
a bit of a a bit of a thumbs up to say it looks  
[1:10:19] like every time there's an iteration and things 
get better. So you can pass that on to whoever  
[1:10:24] assisted you with it or if it was just you. uh in 
the basement uh but also pass that on to Inspector  
[1:10:30] Curver. Inspector Kerver Whoa, where did that 
come from? Inspector Mercer having a flashback  
[1:10:36] flashback there of some sort. But uh again, um 
your comment on getting out into the community uh  
[1:10:43] has been uh something that I've been observing and 
have had the opportunity to meet uh with you guys  
[1:10:49] uh on a variety of topics uh and just really 
thank you for your service to the community.  
[1:10:56] All right, with that, uh, have a great evening. 
You don't have to stay for the rest of the meeting  
[1:11:00] unless you really want to. Um, and, uh, we'll 
move on to external reports and correspondence.  
[1:11:07] And we do have an Idian's way traffic calming, um, 
letter and councelor Cole Hamilton. Yeah, thanks,  
[1:11:16] Mayor. I wrote to staff earlier with a a proposal 
for a resolution on this and I um knocked on doors  
[1:11:22] in 2018 and 2022 on this stretch of the street and 
I heard about it from pretty much every person I  
[1:11:29] spoke to along there. So, this is not new to me at 
all and having gone through the materials that Mr.  
[1:11:35] Buukich, pronouncing that correctly, um, forwarded 
to us. It looks like there's been a back and forth  
[1:11:40] going on since, um, last December on this. And 
uh I think it would be good for us to um review  
[1:11:49] the concerns that were raised and perhaps also 
um to be doing something in the meantime given  
[1:11:55] this has been uh ongoing for quite some time, 
many years depending on how you're counting,  
[1:12:01] but certainly since December, many months uh since 
the request was made. So if it's okay, maybe I'll  
[1:12:07] uh just uh make a motion. And that is uh the 
council and I pass this on to Miss Proton who  
[1:12:15] has that. The council directs staff to immediately 
implement short-term operational safety measures  
[1:12:20] on Idian's way such as temporary speed 
reader boards, enhanced enforcement requests,  
[1:12:25] or rapid rectangular flashing beacons or RFBS 
uh at the Crown Isle South Trail crosswalk to  
[1:12:33] mitigate speeding risks and uh the council direct 
staff to reassess the Idian's Way traffic calming  
[1:12:40] application taking into account the concerns 
raised by Mr. Vukich and report back to council.
[1:12:50] Hopefully, there's a seconder for that. It's been 
seconded. Uh I think it was a wholesome motion,  
[1:12:57] so I don't know that you necessarily need to 
speak to it or I I do see other questions and  
[1:13:01] comments. And we'll start with council more. I 
absolutely support the intent of of the motion. I  
[1:13:08] just feel like maybe we should get um some kind of 
uh response back from staff and entertain a motion  
[1:13:17] um potentially at the next meeting. Um but 
I absolutely think that there needs to be  
[1:13:23] some response, but I'm just not sure whether the 
detail of the motion is appropriate for tonight,  
[1:13:30] but other people can weigh in. Thanks. Thanks, 
Councelor Morren and Councelor Hillian. Well,  
[1:13:37] thanks Mary. Um, so in our council package, we 
have what looks like a presentation and I wasn't  
[1:13:42] sure what the intent was. We was the intent that 
uh we simply look at it or was there some intent  
[1:13:49] around anyone speaking to it whether staff or 
uh the residents who sent it in? Thank you. This  
[1:13:56] originally came in as a delegation request and um 
due to various logistical reasons um was not added  
[1:14:03] to the agenda as a delegation, but I understand 
um that there are people here tonight and I don't  
[1:14:08] know if they would be prepared to speak to it or 
if they're just here to answer questions. Right  
[1:14:12] now it is not scheduled as a delegation. Okay, 
fair enough. Um yeah, I mean I I'm I'm fine with  
[1:14:19] the motion that's been proposed. I just think it's 
important that our staff have an opportunity to uh  
[1:14:26] respond. There's suggestion in the presentation 
material that uh people are not happy with the  
[1:14:33] engagement they've had uh with city staff and 
and I think it's important that there be an  
[1:14:37] opportunity for us to hear the staff perspective 
on that as well. So but um no no quarrel with the  
[1:14:46] concerns. As I acknowledge to our staff sergeant, 
it's the number one concern in every neighborhood  
[1:14:51] in the community, which is why we've uh done 
what we've done to lower speed limits and bring  
[1:14:56] in other measures. And so, anything that we can 
do to help in this area as well. Thanks. Thanks,  
[1:15:02] Councelor Halen. Mr. Garvin, do you want Yeah, 
we'll go to councelor Fr and then councelor  
[1:15:07] Joliker and then Mr. Okay. Yeah, I was just going 
to ask for maybe staff's thoughts. Obviously, we  
[1:15:12] have that um process now to for for neighborhoods 
to come forward and present their traffic issues.  
[1:15:20] Um and I remember seeing this one on the on the 
list. And so maybe if staff want to give a just  
[1:15:27] a quick a recap of what they found. It looks like 
it maybe didn't um meet the I guess it was the the  
[1:15:36] mark that we had set for immediate action. But um 
I don't know if our staff have any more comment on  
[1:15:41] that. Okay. And maybe I'll pass over to councelor 
Joler and then let staff speak after that if  
[1:15:46] that's right. Uh councelor Joler. Yeah, thanks. Uh 
similar question to councelor FR. How um I would  
[1:15:51] just add if I can we can also hear from staff. Um 
I'm happy to support the reassessment process. Um  
[1:15:59] which I think is a second part of the resolution. 
Um but I am curious given that we have um a  
[1:16:07] transportation master plan, the safe and active 
school program um and other transportation safety  
[1:16:15] measures in place right now and planned for. I I 
I do get curious like these speed reader boards  
[1:16:22] and enhanced enforcement requests like the RRFBs 
like do we even have enough to go around? Is it  
[1:16:30] like if we give this direction, is there going to 
be an operational impact? Like are these already  
[1:16:36] assigned elsewhere in the community? Like do we 
have enough to just put out to Idian's way? Um  
[1:16:42] that's my I guess my question around operational 
impacts. Otherwise, everything else I'm fine  
[1:16:47] with. It's just curious if there's if um we're 
taking something away from another neighborhood  
[1:16:52] to help way at the moment. Thank thanks for that 
clarification and I'll pass it to Mr. Garp. Yeah,  
[1:16:58] thank you. Thank you. the mayor to council. Um I 
can take it in two parts. The operational response  
[1:17:05] uh with localized enforcement and we we do 
have a program to have the speed readers  
[1:17:10] out and that's been very effective. Uh I did 
have a chance to connect with staff around the  
[1:17:15] um flashing uh safety work there and I've been 
advised that's not a significant issue. Uh and  
[1:17:22] that can be deployed. It it is a this has been a 
long-term uh the edge between the rural area and  
[1:17:29] the municipality has been a long-standing 
conversation. This Indians way connection  
[1:17:34] was opened and developed in accordance with 
transportation plans that were developed many many  
[1:17:39] many years ago and the it's a vital link. So it's 
appropriate staff can come back with information  
[1:17:45] based on what's been raised. Uh that's totally 
appropriate. Had it been a delegation, I likely  
[1:17:52] I would assume that would be the the direction 
from council and unfortunately Mr. Shaw is on  
[1:17:57] a a well-deserved vacation day today. Although 
Matt Brown is here able able in his place, but  
[1:18:04] I I can speak to that. I don't believe it would 
injure any other initiatives that we have and we  
[1:18:09] council is aware and has supported the utilization 
of this type of infrastructure because it's very  
[1:18:14] effective and uh it's an important uh pedestrian 
crossing at the edge of our municipal boundary.
[1:18:22] All right, thank thanks for that feedback 
councelor Jaliker. Yeah, so I just want to be  
[1:18:26] abundantly clear like we have the back to school 
program starting. Um I and I know that we're using  
[1:18:32] these these two traffic enforcements. So can we we 
know for certain we're not going to be lacking for  
[1:18:41] that program? Matt's going to answer just one 
second. Mr. Brown, thank you mayor to council  
[1:18:48] [clears throat] JCore. It's a great question. Um 
some of these infrastructure pieces that you're  
[1:18:52] asking for do take at least 6 to 8 weeks to to 
receive. Uh we do have a current program but um if  
[1:18:57] directed I could order those and we can implement 
them in the next two three months if asked.
[1:19:05] Okay. Uh thanks that gives us a good sense of that 
that timeline as well. So much appreciate it. Uh  
[1:19:10] councelor P. Yeah thanks. Just to clarify the um 
flashing beacons at the crossing is that a is that  
[1:19:17] a temporary thing that you would order or is it 
permanent? Oh you're you so close. Just leave it  
[1:19:24] on now. Thank you, mayor. Um uh my the response 
to that is to be a permanent measure be put in  
[1:19:30] if if we did add it. Yeah. Do you have a actually 
I think we asked the cost a while back and it was  
[1:19:35] fairly low number. Yeah. It' be approximately 
there's two tiers. So if it was just a a rapid  
[1:19:40] flasher just that the technology temp simply the 
rapid flasher technology uh or the lumi walk it's  
[1:19:46] called additional lighting. So that the base 
level the rapid flasher be about 15,000 this  
[1:19:52] the let me walk be about 25 right and is there 
also ICBC or somebody puts money into that as  
[1:19:59] well or is it just from the city? Oh Mr. Gar yeah 
in terms of the standard it is the rural edge of  
[1:20:05] the community and there is no street lighting 
opposite so we've often had some challenges  
[1:20:09] with rural areas supportive and not supportive of 
street lighting. So the appropriate uh engineering  
[1:20:15] technology based on the standard would be 
what would be utilized in that area. Um but  
[1:20:20] it's doable and uh we've deployed it throughout 
the municipality. Uh and this is a permanent  
[1:20:26] uh pedestrian connection that's very important 
inside that neighborhood. So it's not like this is  
[1:20:31] um emerging that that pedestrian crossing at the 
edge of the school boundary. Yeah. Well, I'm I'm  
[1:20:36] not an engineer, but I don't see any harm. in fact 
a lot of benefit to putting flashers at pedestrian  
[1:20:42] crossings and I find that they can use them if 
they need to and obviously if there's nothing  
[1:20:46] going on they don't have to. So yeah, thanks 
thanks Councelor Fr and Councelor Hillian. Yeah,  
[1:20:53] thanks Mayor. I just wanted to add a comment that 
um in um discussions with residents in other parts  
[1:20:59] of the city about uh the challenges of enforcing 
speed limits um we've acknowledged that it's  
[1:21:06] impossible for the police to be everywhere. Um the 
uh even down in an area like Puntlage Park where  
[1:21:13] there's a 30 kilometer speed limit through the 
park and you have children and families and pets  
[1:21:19] uh walking over to go swimming and such. We 
regularly hear reports of people racing through  
[1:21:24] there. And I've advocated that uh we should 
in fact be using photo radar enforcement.  
[1:21:30] we hear from uh people at higher levels that 
it's not politically popular and it's unlikely  
[1:21:36] that any government will bring it in again. And 
to me that that just seems counter u intuitive  
[1:21:42] because uh we know that that that in fact is an 
effective way of getting people to slow down if  
[1:21:48] you can hit them in the pocketbook. So, I would 
just encourage residents to consider uh getting  
[1:21:53] in touch with their member of the legislature to 
uh um encourage the provincial government in that  
[1:22:00] direction. Uh we're having the opportunity to have 
some discussions with officials from the ministry  
[1:22:05] of the solicitor general as we have in the past 
about uh what they're doing to expand red light  
[1:22:10] cameras and possibly p piloting such enforcement 
measures. And uh I think pressure from communities  
[1:22:18] uh would help. Um I don't know who's out there 
who's saying that this is not a good idea and  
[1:22:24] why it's so politically unpopular because uh it's 
it's the biggest issue for people in their in in  
[1:22:31] their [clears throat] their neighborhoods uh 
being able to walk safely on their streets,  
[1:22:35] cross the roads, and not have to worry about their 
kids being uh injured by speeders. Thanks. Thanks,  
[1:22:43] Councelor Hill. Appreciate that. And looking 
around, I see no further questions or comments.  
[1:22:48] There is a motion on the table. Uh all those 
in favor? Any opposed? And motion carries. Um  
[1:22:58] and so that will get get things happening. So 
again, thank thanks for uh providing the input  
[1:23:03] to the the community and uh and to council. And 
we'll move on to the letter from the honorable  
[1:23:10] Mr. Christine Bole, uh our housing minister. And 
um excellent. And uh for those watching online,  
[1:23:20] if you don't want to read the letter, 
it's just basically letting us know that  
[1:23:24] uh we're well on our way to our housing targets 
that they imposed upon us last year. And  
[1:23:30] uh and so thanking us for our efforts. 
Uh and so again, at the end of the day,  
[1:23:36] uh big thanks to staff and obviously the people 
who build houses because uh that's they're the  
[1:23:41] ones that are getting that done. So, um, that's 
been received unanimously. We move into staff  
[1:23:48] reports and we have the city manager strategic 
priorities update and I'll pass that over to Mr.  
[1:23:54] Garve. Thank you through the mayor council. I'm 
really happy to bring forward our uh July update  
[1:24:01] on the strategic priorities. Um the this is uh 
the uh term of this council is approaching its  
[1:24:07] conclusion and it is uh a vast amount of work 
that's happened over the last three uh and uh  
[1:24:15] half years. Maybe we're a little farther through 
there. Um in March of 26, we were brought forward  
[1:24:21] a status update from the last quarter of 25 and 
we were directed to um reflect new items that are  
[1:24:27] added, adjust timelines and report back in July 
and September of 2026. Um, this report is our 26  
[1:24:33] progress. We're really excited to look at how much 
is being accomplished. Um, and much of this is  
[1:24:39] reported in the city's annual report that was uh 
recently published. Um, I really want to highlight  
[1:24:45] a few items though. Uh, the completed initiatives 
uh section. So, the Six Street Bridge construction  
[1:24:51] of the mo multimmoal link has been completed. 
We've updated and adopted in the new development  
[1:24:56] cost charge bylaw. We've adopted our first ever 
amenity cost charge bylaw and we have adopted  
[1:25:02] our new and updated official community plan that 
addresses excuse me the uh legislative direction  
[1:25:08] from the province. Um our new zoning bylaw has 
been updated to implement the OCP as well as the  
[1:25:14] uh smallcale multi-unit uh housing regulations. We 
are seeing the implications of these um planning  
[1:25:22] documents every day. We continue to lead the way 
on housing development and with council support,  
[1:25:27] developers are continuing to um implement our 
community plan in accordance with the province's  
[1:25:33] priorities. Uh so this is something that uh is 
something to be really proud of. Uh this council  
[1:25:40] um was committed to uh increasing available 
development, increasing the variety uh of uh units  
[1:25:47] in our community to respond to both our emerging 
demographics and the provincial direction. And  
[1:25:52] it's something uh I think we should re really be 
celebrating. Um the mayor referenced our uh first  
[1:25:59] quarter or sorry our initial housing response and 
uh when we were identified as a housing targets  
[1:26:05] community uh it came with praise not concern 
and uh that continues to be reflected in the  
[1:26:10] work that's happening. Um we wouldn't be able to 
do that without entrepreneurs who are uh seeing  
[1:26:15] great comfort in the development policy as well 
as council's activities in the uh when the rubber  
[1:26:20] meets the road which is yes to a reasonzoning. Um 
I want to also identify a really important change  
[1:26:26] uh upgrading the fifth and cliff intersection uh 
to implement that new pedestrian crosswalk and we  
[1:26:31] saw it uh in action uh on market days and uh so um 
with lots of ice cream sold on either corner. So  
[1:26:39] uh and then we have uh implemented a tracking 
system for our council public inquiries as well as  
[1:26:44] the east side fireh hall design and construction 
management. Uh we're very excited that uh the  
[1:26:49] firewall construction has commenced. Um table um 
the table attached in attachment one provides a  
[1:26:56] detailed overview of each section of our strategic 
priorities. And uh I members of our senior staff  
[1:27:02] are here to answer any questions that council may 
have. But I I just want to thank council for their  
[1:27:07] clear direction and staying on our strategic 
priorities as well as our staff for following  
[1:27:12] through. I get the pleasure of reporting back. 
They do all the heavy lifting. So, um, with that,  
[1:27:17] we're available for questions. All right. Thanks 
so much for that overview and I'll look to council  
[1:27:23] if there's any questions or comments regarding 
the strategic priorities. And councelor Hillian.  
[1:27:31] Thanks, Mayor. Um, you know, I I think that the 
business of the city, which um is certainly being  
[1:27:38] discussed a lot in our social media feeds these 
days with an election approaching, is um is a lot  
[1:27:46] easier to do when you're on the outside looking 
in than when you're actually there making the  
[1:27:50] decisions and sorting out the resources that are 
required. Um I think that the uh the strategic  
[1:27:57] plan that uh Mr. Garbert's uh presenting on um 
has [snorts] been largely uh successful in in many  
[1:28:06] many ways. I did want to comment on one aspect 
and that's the um u the increased density that  
[1:28:13] uh that we're seeing partly as a result of um uh 
provincial legislation but also as a result of  
[1:28:20] decisions that the larger Komox Valley made when 
it adopted the regional growth strategy a number  
[1:28:25] of years ago and determined that um it made more 
sense to infill and uh and build a more compact  
[1:28:32] city than to sprawl out into the rural areas. 
Um many people don't like that because um uh  
[1:28:40] it involves uh larger buildings in certain parts 
of the community. It involves a certain change in  
[1:28:46] the charact characteristic of neighborhoods and 
it obviously involves more traffic congestion.  
[1:28:51] Um those are all things that uh are inevitable 
with a growing community and that um hopefully  
[1:28:57] some of the traffic control measures that we've 
implemented will help with as time goes by. But  
[1:29:03] um um I I don't think we can under uh rate uh 
the significant progress that um the community  
[1:29:11] has made in um building uh housing for the people 
who want to live here and and make this community  
[1:29:19] a part of their lives. It's always a challenge to 
try and retain the qualities that brought here in  
[1:29:24] the first place. Um, but I I I personally want to 
uh say thank you to our staff for how incredibly  
[1:29:31] hard they've worked over the last several years 
to uh um um to realize the achievements in this  
[1:29:38] strategic plan and I think that uh by and large 
the community is is better off for that work  
[1:29:44] that's been done. Thanks. Thank you very much 
uh councelor Helen for those comments. Much  
[1:29:50] appreciated. And uh councelor Jeler. Yeah, I 
councelor Hillian stole my thunder. That's what  
[1:29:57] I was going to say. I I I just uh have to add 
that I'm really proud of the work um you know,  
[1:30:03] in an election year. I think this document really 
highlights uh to folks the complexity of the work  
[1:30:09] um and also how um outside influences uh can also 
delay things. um we had a quite a large ask for  
[1:30:19] our staff uh or at the beginning of our term and 
we also had a major shifts proincially and so  
[1:30:26] you'll see that under the buildings and landscapes 
section a lot of that work was as a result of the  
[1:30:32] provincial mandate. So um and I did want to just 
highlight there's two areas that um aren't colored  
[1:30:39] in green but I really genuinely feel like maybe 
we could color it a shade of green. Um and that  
[1:30:46] is in part because I feel like we're almost 
there. Uh number 23 under affordable housing,  
[1:30:52] the homelessness initiatives. This has been 
a huge priority for council and for staff and  
[1:30:59] um we had the opportunity to attend the Braidwood 
uh blessing ceremony last week. Um and we've moved  
[1:31:07] quite a long way with the winter shelter on 
the agenda today. I know that we have the  
[1:31:13] winter shelter strategy upcoming, but I think 
there's huge pieces in that number alone that  
[1:31:20] uh have completed uh at least the city's 
uh role to to initiate things as well as  
[1:31:27] um some of the work um I think um related to 
the Courtney and uh district memorial pool as  
[1:31:34] it's read here is around the needs assessment and 
the options analysis. I think we we've completed  
[1:31:39] that work and it was a huge body of work. So, just 
some comments. I do have two questions, mayor. Um,  
[1:31:45] I think quite quick. Um, one being the um, uh, 
bike parking. Um, I think it's the first time  
[1:31:53] I've noticed this sentence. So, it's action number 
20. Um, further direction is required to confirm  
[1:32:00] scope, timing, and implementation. So, I I don't 
know if I just missed that in the last updates,  
[1:32:06] but um I'm wondering if staff can speak to um what 
they need as direction to um to to initiate that  
[1:32:15] work or to move that work forward and from whom? 
Yeah, thank you. Uh thank you for the question.  
[1:32:22] Um, councelor the uh related to the downtown 
transit exchange was the request by council  
[1:32:30] to include bike parking. Uh my recollection of 
the conversation about that is that it is not a  
[1:32:37] significant component of that and so we will need 
to do some more work uh on that. Uh a challenge is  
[1:32:44] that um the built form downtown uh we have uh over 
10 uh bike uh uh parking areas uh ranging from  
[1:32:55] uh secure uh sorry but we are we do not have 
any municipal secure storage at this point. So  
[1:33:02] uh it could potentially require the removal of 
some parking and some other items like that.  
[1:33:07] So that'll be uh some dialogue that we would 
have um potentially through the down downtown  
[1:33:13] uh local area plan work that's going to be 
happening. So hopefully that clarifies that.
[1:33:20] Does that answer it or did you need 
further clarification? Yeah. Well,  
[1:33:24] I guess yeah, thanks mayor. uh because it's 
identified as partially resourced in that  
[1:33:28] um that row and so I was kind of curious if 
we needed to you know and not for today but  
[1:33:35] I'm happy to speak with my colleagues to 
see if there's support and bring something  
[1:33:39] forward around actually resourcing this 
conversation beyond the DVLAP process. Yeah,  
[1:33:46] thank you for the clarification counselor. Uh we 
need to go through the planning process identify  
[1:33:51] opportunities to undertake that and then 
see if we need those funds. So that would  
[1:33:55] be included in a future financial planning. 
Uh like I said, there was a hope that the  
[1:33:59] transit transit exchange would include that. 
Uh that's not part of it. Uh and so we'll work  
[1:34:05] uh together and we can maybe it depends on the 
nature of redevelopment of some of the properties  
[1:34:12] downtown that would be supported for the DAP if 
there was secure storage that could be component  
[1:34:17] of that. But look, I'm really looking forward to 
that conversation. Thank you for the question.
[1:34:23] Excellent. I don't see Oh, councelor Fr. Yeah, 
thanks. Well, maybe just a quick last word if  
[1:34:30] that's okay. Um, I just quickly looked up 
what the population growth estimated was in  
[1:34:35] Courtney in the last four years and it was 
2500 people and in that context, you know,  
[1:34:41] our rents have stabilized in the valley and 
it's still an amazing place to live. It's  
[1:34:46] we still function on a transportation level 
and um and everyone's generally really happy  
[1:34:52] with the services that are available, parks, 
recreation, um all our community events. So,  
[1:34:58] I just want to say thanks for all the hard 
work that was done and move the recommendation.
[1:35:04] Excellent. It's been moved and seconded. 
uh and and one of the stats that always  
[1:35:09] uh I find quite interesting when you when you look 
at so we had those many people uh you know sort of  
[1:35:15] increase the population but if you actually look 
at the people who moved to Courtney over the last  
[1:35:19] 5 years it's like 50% of the population which is 
just baffles my mind uh on one sense and yeah some  
[1:35:27] of those people might just be moving across the 
street from Komox to Courtney or Cumberland or  
[1:35:33] those kinds of things but that's a lot of people 
coming to the to uh to Courtney uh proper. So  
[1:35:39] um and again I think we've managed it quite well. 
So kudos to to staff. Uh Mr. Garbin. Yeah. Thank  
[1:35:45] you, Mayor. Uh just with the council's direction, 
I want to let uh council know just like we did at  
[1:35:49] the end of the last uh strategic planning process, 
we actually have kind of a summary graphically  
[1:35:55] intensive document that's going to come out 
in August. Until you were good with what I  
[1:35:59] presented today, I couldn't prepare that, but that 
is all underway. So, it's a good way to wrap it up  
[1:36:05] especially so then to some of the counselor's 
comments so the community is really aware of  
[1:36:08] all the great things that have happened um with 
their tax dollars. Thanks. Excellent. Uh thanks  
[1:36:16] again for that and I'll call the question. All 
those in favor? Any opposed? And motion carries.  
[1:36:24] All right. Uh fantastic. All right. So, next on 
the agenda is a temporary winter shelter season  
[1:36:32] review and I'll pass that back to Mr. Garbbert. 
Yeah, thank you. Um through the merit council,  
[1:36:38] um beginning on uh page 73 of the agenda, we have 
an overview of the uh outcomes from the temporary  
[1:36:44] winter shelter at um 971 Cumberland Road. Um 
our colleague uh Isha Matus Gibbs prepared this  
[1:36:51] uh presentation and uh in our transition uh I 
just wanted to acknowledge our colleagues with  
[1:36:57] recreation culture and community services 
uh and our facilities department as well as  
[1:37:01] our operational services staff who've helped uh 
with this transition to provide this much needed  
[1:37:07] uh response in our community uh given the gap 
with the uh Braidwood facility. Now that the  
[1:37:13] Braidwood facility is under construction, we're 
uh more clear on the uh work that's happening on  
[1:37:18] the winter shelter. And I just wanted to let uh 
acknowledge that uh that the uh incoming facility  
[1:37:25] that's a few probably 18 to 24 months out will um 
address significant need in the community, but we  
[1:37:33] will still need temporary winter shelter services 
in the interim. This report provides an overview  
[1:37:39] of a number of areas including the statistics 
um during the operation. Uh highlights um client  
[1:37:47] outreach activities, our peer program and really 
important our community integration table. Um the  
[1:37:54] report is got significant information in there. 
But what I wanted to highlight for council is that  
[1:37:58] um we have um with great intent uh and 
good partnerships with service providers,  
[1:38:05] we've had excellent outcomes. Uh the we recognize 
that um hosting uh these types of uses uh are uh  
[1:38:13] have can have challenges. Um and since the city's 
become directly involved in this, we've had very  
[1:38:20] good outcomes and that's for two reasons. one is 
intentional um approach to approvals, requirements  
[1:38:27] and operations and the second is having a good 
partnership. And so uh with um the opening of  
[1:38:35] 971 Cumberland Road, we have a new partner in 
the Lookout Society who has been very very good  
[1:38:41] uh both to uh residents, the neighborhood and um 
community members who utilize that and as well as  
[1:38:49] uh surrounding businesses, the city itself. Uh 
we're we're a significant neighbor. Um ultimately,  
[1:38:56] uh the program has been very successful again 
because of the attention to details and council  
[1:39:02] gave authorization to um move from um day uh 
daytime or dawn to dusk type of accommodation  
[1:39:10] there. I'm sorry, the reverse evening 
accommodation to 24-hour operations. And uh that  
[1:39:16] pilot meant very well. Um just wanted to highlight 
our recommendation is that um that we receive this  
[1:39:26] review and update um and uh direct staff to renew 
the license to occupy to allow 247 use of the  
[1:39:33] space for sheltering services with a code health 
and housing society for the 2026 and 27 winter  
[1:39:38] sheltering season. the council authorizes the city 
manager to execute the license to occupy and any  
[1:39:44] ancillary service agreements necessary and that 
recognizing the positive impact that additional  
[1:39:49] supports for guests in the community had with the 
2526 winter season the city approved funding to  
[1:39:55] renew the community integration table peer program 
and shelter outreach programs for 2526 I'm sorry  
[1:40:02] 2627 and direct staff to request financial 
contributions from the CVRD's HSS function and  
[1:40:09] the town of Koma works for these programs. Just 
wanted to clarify that [clears throat] the three
[1:40:18] the three programs referenced uh uh are 
approximately $90,000 and those funds were  
[1:40:25] supported through uh ask to the region as well 
as the town of Komach. So uh we intend to proceed  
[1:40:32] and um given the success of the program and the 
support provided we anticipate there would be the  
[1:40:38] same level of support previously although uh we 
cannot guarantee that. So that's why we're asking  
[1:40:42] for that direction from council. I had a question 
uh what the financial program was and it's in  
[1:40:47] approximately $90,000 with that if we're here for 
questions. All right. Thanks very much for that.  
[1:40:55] Uh any questions from council starting with 
councelor Morren? Yeah, it's more of a comment I  
[1:41:01] guess. I really appreciated the inclusion of the 
um the testimonials journeys towards treatment  
[1:41:08] um the outcomes that came out of uh people who 
spent time at the at the shelter. And I think just  
[1:41:14] to emphasize that, you know, this is a temporary 
situation and to have those kind of outcomes  
[1:41:20] um from a temporary situation bodess really well 
when we have a permanent purpose-built shelter and  
[1:41:28] facility coming up. Um if we can have these kind 
of outcomes in a temporary situation with uh the  
[1:41:34] wraparound services that helped get several people 
to treatment and are having lasting success.  
[1:41:42] um uh and the you know just the stories that 
they've shared um folks with brain injuries,  
[1:41:50] folks who's had serious car accidents and um you 
know there's so many different circumstances for  
[1:41:57] people and um just yeah I appreciated that. I 
I think you know um people want numbers. They  
[1:42:06] want to know how many people came through, how 
many people got housed or went into treatment.  
[1:42:10] Um but those qualitative um that qualitative 
information is super important. Um those of us  
[1:42:17] who who worked in in fields where um often it was 
only qualitative um information. You you didn't  
[1:42:25] know how successful something was until you saw 
someone on the street, you know, 10 years later  
[1:42:30] doing well or 5 years later or whatever. So um 
I'm just appreciative of that inclusion in the  
[1:42:36] report. Thank you. Excellent. Thanks so much, uh, 
Council Warren, and I don't see any further, uh,  
[1:42:43] questions or comments. Um, so with that, okay, uh, 
it's been moved and seconded. All those in favor?  
[1:42:53] Any opposed? And motion carries. Mr. Garvin, 
thank you. Uh, just for council's reference,  
[1:43:01] um, uh, as outlined and identified by council 
Joliker, there's a second component. we've  
[1:43:06] been retained by the region to bring forward 
a winter shelter strategy document and we'll  
[1:43:11] be bringing that back to council in August. Um 
it's uh again we'll likely bu it builds on the  
[1:43:19] our experience and we'll make recommendations on 
coordination and uh as I said paying attention  
[1:43:26] to the details which has proved very very 
supportive or very important. So thanks for  
[1:43:31] that. Thanks. All right. Um, next on the agenda 
8.2.1 is liquor license application number 2602,  
[1:43:42] good neighbor agreements 244 street and uh, Pat is 
going to miss Molly. Oh, Andrew. Okay, Andrew. It  
[1:43:52] is through the mayor to council. So, this report 
is for council to consider a resolution to the  
[1:43:58] liquor light liquor and cannabis regulation branch 
or LCRB in response to liquor license application  
[1:44:05] number 2602. This liquor license is to request a 
change in liquor service hours from 9:00 a.m. to  
[1:44:11] 2:00 a.m. 7 days a week for Gladstone Brewing Co. 
located at 244th Street. A quick background. Um,  
[1:44:21] at the May 13th, 2026 council meeting, council 
considered a staff report detailing liquor license  
[1:44:27] application number 2602. At this meeting, council 
passed a resolution enabling staff to one, request  
[1:44:35] an extension from the uh, liquor and cannabis 
regulation branch for their referral response,  
[1:44:41] and two, for staff to work with the applicant 
to address outstanding bylaw issues as well as  
[1:44:47] the finalization of a good neighbor agreement. Um, 
following this, staff were granted an an extension  
[1:44:55] to the referral response from the LCRB until July 
2nd, 2026. Staff met with the applicant on June  
[1:45:03] 10th, 2026 to work on the good neighbor agreement. 
No good neighbor agreement was signed by the  
[1:45:08] applicant following this meeting. Staff brought 
a report to council on June 24th, 2026, which  
[1:45:14] recommended against supporting the application 
due to no good neighbor agreement being signed. At  
[1:45:20] this June 24th meeting, council opted to postpone 
the decision on this application as the applicant  
[1:45:27] could not attend due to p personal conflicts. 
Um, since the June 24th council meeting, the  
[1:45:33] following has taken place. Staff have obtained an 
extension from the LCRB until August 2nd of 2026.  
[1:45:43] No good neighbor agreement has been signed and 
staff and the staff report and recommendations  
[1:45:48] remain the same from the June 24th meeting and 
one letter was received from a neighbor on July  
[1:45:55] uh 26. This letter was not in support of 
the application. Um so the applicant is  
[1:46:01] attending tonight's council meeting and will be 
available to answer questions. Thank thank you  
[1:46:06] for your time and staff will also be available to 
answer any questions regarding the application.  
[1:46:14] Excellent. Thanks very much uh for that 
and I'll look to council if there's any  
[1:46:18] questions or comments. Councelor Fresh. Yeah. 
Thanks, Mayor. I was wondering if the applicant  
[1:46:23] wanted to take a minute to explain um 
their application for the extension and  
[1:46:29] uh their thoughts on the process. Okay. Yeah. 
Uh so yeah, if you guys want have somebody like  
[1:46:35] to approachate the podium. I don't see any 
council members not in favor of that. So,
[1:46:44] and your microphone's on now. So, uh yeah, feel 
free. And then we you may get some questions.  
[1:46:49] Yeah, any questions are fine. Um uh just 
regarding the good neighbor agreement,  
[1:46:55] uh I just try to work on it with the city staff. 
Um some of the terms in it I didn't find to be  
[1:47:01] relevant to the actual issue, which was uh 
all of our complaints were noise complaints.  
[1:47:08] uh they all happened after 10 p.m. and we already 
have a bylaw mechanism in place with the city  
[1:47:15] where if amplified music is played after 10 p.m. 
uh you're in violation of bylaw and subject to a  
[1:47:21] potential fine. Um, over the course of 12 years of 
business, we have had, I believe, 10 complaints,  
[1:47:29] uh, almost all of them from one individual 
and all after 10 p.m. amplified music. And  
[1:47:37] uh suppose just with the good neighbor agreement 
uh the big thing that the main reason I didn't  
[1:47:43] want to sign it was because it had a clause 
in there that tied my business license to  
[1:47:51] complying with the good neighbor agreement 
um when we already have a mechanism in place  
[1:47:58] uh through the bylaw system for the noise um 
and I didn't want my business license tied
[1:48:09] uh to a good neighbor agreement if that makes 
sense to everyone have questions. So that's  
[1:48:15] why I didn't sign it. I tried to get that clause 
removed. Uh that didn't happen so I didn't sign  
[1:48:22] it. I met with the city staff about it. There 
was a few other things in there that I that  
[1:48:26] I thought weren't relevant either because uh 
for the majority of the like for 100% of the  
[1:48:32] complaints it's all been noise complaints. If we 
extend our license to, you know, two hours later,  
[1:48:39] we would still be in violation if we were making 
noise after that hour. Nothing's really changing  
[1:48:42] with the way we operate our business except if we 
have an event, an indoor event or something. Um,  
[1:48:48] we know we have to shut down the outdoor amplified 
music at 10. If we don't, we're in violation of  
[1:48:53] the bylaw, but it doesn't mean patrons have to 
leave. They can still hang out outside, have,  
[1:48:58] you know, uh, a good time with their friends. 
Um, and if we do a show, say we do a show inside  
[1:49:05] our indoor space and people want to hang out a 
bit longer and this does happen all the time,  
[1:49:09] people can still hang out later. What we see right 
now are uh midnight rolls around, we have to shut  
[1:49:15] our doors, maybe the place is, you know, we got 
40 or 50 people and they end up going to one  
[1:49:21] of our competitors establishments doing the same 
thing they'd be doing at Gladstones. Anyways, um,
[1:49:30] I don't know. That's kind of why I 
didn't sign. Well, why I didn't sign it,  
[1:49:34] but if anyone has questions regarding the 
application. Okay, thanks for that. Um,  
[1:49:40] looking to council members, councelor Hillian. 
Yeah, thanks M. I'm just wondering if uh staff uh  
[1:49:48] can comment on uh the relationship uh between the 
good neighbor potential good neighbor agreement  
[1:49:55] and the business license and and uh um the 
importance of that particular clause. Um
[1:50:05] hang on one second. uh through the chair 
I'll note uh at the onset you'll see under  
[1:50:12] enforcement and res remedies under the uh good 
neighbor agreement it says this good neighbor  
[1:50:17] agreement is a non-legally binding except for 
any specific obligations the parties choose as  
[1:50:22] a framework for mutual commitments. Uh the 
authority for the municipality to revoke a  
[1:50:27] business license does not exist in a good neighbor 
agreement. It exists in the community charter.  
[1:50:32] at any point in time uh a municipality can 
revoke a business license for reasonable  
[1:50:37] grounds. Um so primarily that clause uh 
as well as most of the other clauses in  
[1:50:44] the draft good neighbor agreement 
are simply an acknowledgment that  
[1:50:49] um there are bylaws and there are consequences 
of breaking bylaws. And so it's simply an  
[1:50:55] acknowledgement on the part of the proprietor 
that uh um that they will abide by those rules.
[1:51:06] Okay. So it's really just to make it aware that 
both parties know that there are rules outside of  
[1:51:13] this good neighbor agreement rather than the good 
neighbor agreement itself having any authority  
[1:51:18] uh or powers within itself. uh through the mayor. 
Uh that's more or less correct. Uh like I said,  
[1:51:26] the power to revoke a business license does come 
from the community charter. So um it is not the  
[1:51:33] good neighbor agreement that introduces that power 
to the municipality or or creates a legal ability  
[1:51:40] for the municipality to do that. That already 
exists. Okay. Yeah. because I I think from from  
[1:51:45] my perspective that was one of the questions 
I had around like, you know, is there a number  
[1:51:49] of complaints or something that was in the good 
neighbor agreement, but there really isn't. It's  
[1:51:53] it's really just working back and forth. Okay. 
Uh thanks for that clarification. Uh councelor  
[1:51:59] M. Great. Thank you. This is also um a couple 
questions for staff, but they should both both  
[1:52:05] should be quick. Um so bylaw enforcement right now 
is seven days a week, but probably is finished at  
[1:52:11] 7 or something at night. I guess I'm curious 
when the complaints come in. I'm assuming they  
[1:52:16] come in the following day. Is there anyone that's 
able to clarify that? Hang on one sec. Thank you.  
[1:52:25] Through the chair. Uh by law enforcement have um 
informed us that they uh are basing any of their  
[1:52:32] investigations on complaint. Uh they are not out 
there at 10 or 10:30 at night and so they base it  
[1:52:39] on complaint. There have been 12 complaints since 
September of 2023 of the most recent June 20th  
[1:52:47] uh 26 uh which was issued a ticket which has been 
paid. Um and and so it's it's based on complaint  
[1:52:56] um residents, neighbors, businessmen. Uh it is 
true that uh one complaintant has made multiple  
[1:53:05] complaints. Uh the last complaint that we had 
had a a video that was very very clear that the  
[1:53:12] music was loud and carrying on after 10 and 10 
p.m. But that is by law and not related to the  
[1:53:19] liquor license extension. And while not legally 
binding in a good neighbor agreement, it is part  
[1:53:27] of the conversation to make sure that the noise 
is stopped or shut down at 1000 p.m. Right. just  
[1:53:35] took my quick one. Um, so yeah, in the report it 
says there were six different complaintants. Um,  
[1:53:44] so that was since 2023. So would that be excuse 
me when you say that um we heard that the majority  
[1:53:53] came from one person. Would th would those be 
more recent or were those six complaintants  
[1:53:58] spread spread over time or were most of the 
complaints by one person recently? I guess  
[1:54:04] I'm just trying to see if if there's been multiple 
complaintants in the last little while and through  
[1:54:11] the chair the the the dates run from primarily 
September 16 2023 uh June 24, July 25, August 25,  
[1:54:22] September 25, October 25, January 26, um uh 
March 11th 26, May 27 26, and then June 20th 26.  
[1:54:34] So, it's it's I'm sure when the weather's good and 
people are outside and the events are happening,  
[1:54:41] um that's that's when the music is is playing and 
where there would be more of the complaints. It's  
[1:54:47] not on a daily basis and it's not clumped. It's 
pretty spread out. Yeah. Sorry, I I should be  
[1:54:52] more clarifying, I guess. So, but recently, I 
guess I'm wondering about the one complainant.  
[1:54:59] Have they has that been over time or I guess 
I'm wondering whether those are those have been  
[1:55:05] more recent or like have there been multiple 
complaintants in the in there have recently  
[1:55:11] through through the chair there have been multiple 
complaints over the last two years from different  
[1:55:17] people. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Thanks for clarifying 
that councelor Fr. Yeah. Maybe maybe I can help  
[1:55:25] shed some light on that question because I was 
kind of wondering if same thing. Do we have six  
[1:55:30] complainants complaining twice or do we have 
you know one complainant complaining five times  
[1:55:35] and the other five complaining? You know what I 
mean? Through through the chair there is uh one  
[1:55:40] complaintant who has complained six times. Thank 
you. Um, and so a followup to the idea of having  
[1:55:47] this uh clause in the good neighborhood agreement 
um that it sounds like formalizes the fact that  
[1:55:53] staff can come anytime to council and ask to 
revoke someone's business license. Is that is  
[1:56:00] that a fact? I don't think it was formalized. 
I think it was acknowledged was the word,  
[1:56:06] but I'll let Jake uh through the chair. Uh, no, 
I would not use the word formalized because that  
[1:56:12] power comes from the community charter. Um, and 
notwithstanding the language of the agreement,  
[1:56:18] staff would have to bring forward a report to 
council. Um, council can only revoke the business  
[1:56:24] license on reasonable grounds. Um, so staff 
would have to provide evidence um of of bylaw  
[1:56:32] infractions or other grounds to revoke a business 
license. I would also add that the charter lays  
[1:56:37] out an explicit appeal process where the business 
owner can come and appeal to council. Um so but  
[1:56:45] again to be clear none of that is established by 
the good neighbor agreement. Um that is core to  
[1:56:51] council's uh powers. Thank you. Well that that 
is kind of what I understand. I think you put  
[1:56:56] it best. It acknowledges that that process and 
those powers do exist. Um and and so to be frank,  
[1:57:04] it sounds like a sticking point on, you know, like 
it already exists. Do do we want to say it or do  
[1:57:08] we not want to say it in the agreement? Um and I 
I really enjoy having this business downtown. Um  
[1:57:17] and and I'd like to support businesses like this 
that create vital talent in our downtown. And so  
[1:57:22] I would really hope that we could find some 
way for this business and um and our process  
[1:57:28] at the city to come together and um not not turn 
down uh basically turn down this application. So  
[1:57:36] um I I would actually just appeal to the business 
that they accept that this is something that we  
[1:57:40] can already do and um stick it in there, 
not stick it in there. Um, it doesn't seem  
[1:57:46] important to me either way, but um, it seems 
like at this point you could just acknowledge  
[1:57:50] that we can take away your business license 
if we find that you're operating outside of  
[1:57:55] u, you know, uh, reasonable terms. So, um, I' 
I'd love to not move this recommendation. And it  
[1:58:02] looks like there's a statement there from Yeah. 
And and and and I think part of it because we  
[1:58:08] haven't had this discussion since I've been on 
council for 12 years of taking away somebody's  
[1:58:12] license. So that policy and procedure. Yep. 
councelor or council regardless doing too much  
[1:58:18] talking today. I just want to stress that these 
processes pursuant to the charter are legislative  
[1:58:25] and there is a significant body of work that 
sets precedent to unpack and go through an  
[1:58:35] enforcement process. It's very rigorous. Um, in 
fact, you could probably search through any media  
[1:58:42] relations around this. When a business license is 
revoked, it's a serious issue and it is not easily  
[1:58:50] uh done and nor is it from a local government 
perspective taken lightly. Um, as is the case  
[1:58:57] with any enforcement and council's aware of our 
bylaw enforcement policy, we our very first step  
[1:59:04] is to try to seek compliance. And my understanding 
of the engagement on this issue is that we've also  
[1:59:10] been trying to engage with complaintants. And so 
in my over 20 years history in local government,  
[1:59:17] many much of it with by law enforcement um 
that the munal often facilitates this dialogue  
[1:59:24] especially in areas where the nature of the use 
and the uses around have some conflict. So it's  
[1:59:31] um it's it's a challenge and balancing um the 
needs of a business as well as preferences or  
[1:59:39] the experience of adjacent land uses are 
there. I just want to I want to be clear  
[1:59:44] that the exercise of this kind of legislative 
authority to revoke uh is extremely rigorous.
[1:59:53] Excellent. Yeah. And and I think just to finish 
my thought on that policy and procedure that which  
[1:59:58] our council hasn't gone through to me the most 
the closest adjacent idea is when we had nuisance  
[2:00:04] properties and again a large amount of work was 
done. it came to council. Like there was a lot of  
[2:00:10] stuff to get to the point of even identifying a 
nuisance house which the neighbors obviously for  
[2:00:16] decades have, you know, were aware of. So I do 
see uh we have some more lights on over on this  
[2:00:22] side. So I'm going to um Oh, did you would you 
did you have a followup? Yes. Yes, please. I I  
[2:00:29] I just wanted to clarify that at no point was the 
um good neighbor agreement anticipated to tie into  
[2:00:37] the business license. This application is for an 
extension of the liquor license from midnight to  
[2:00:43] 2 p 2 2:00 a.m. That's what that's what this is 
for. The music is a subset. It's the music isn't  
[2:00:51] directly tied to the liquor license. The music 
is supposed to stop at 10:00. That is a municipal  
[2:00:58] bylaw regulation. The liquor license extension 
from midnight to 2 am is a provincial regulation.  
[2:01:06] Um, and so I wanted to make sure that we're clear 
that at no point have we talked about anything to  
[2:01:12] do with the business license or revoking it. That 
that that conversation was never on the table. Uh,  
[2:01:17] and if there was something in there that implied 
that, then we have no problem removing that. the  
[2:01:22] the um also the concept of the good neighbor 
agreement came from the RCMP. It was the RCMP  
[2:01:30] that recommended the good neighbor agreement. 
It was not the city and it was not staff. It  
[2:01:34] was the RCMP. We're following up on that and it 
was council who said they didn't want to proceed  
[2:01:38] without the good neighbor agreement which we've 
tried to accommodate. But I think the important  
[2:01:43] thing is we need to separate the complaints from 
the noise to the liquor license extension. They're  
[2:01:50] they're two separate things. Okay. Um, and 
and I just because I'm looking under that nine  
[2:01:55] enforcement remedies uh that that we're kind of 
focused on here. And the second bullet when I'm  
[2:02:01] reading it, it says obtaining a business license 
is contingent upon accepting and signing this  
[2:02:05] agreement, which makes it sound so that's based on 
what you just said. That sounds very much you. So,  
[2:02:13] I'm just just making maybe this wording might need 
to be massaged based on what I'm hearing. But I'll  
[2:02:20] I'll let staff digest that for a second. Maybe 
uh if you Oh, uh or or you can respond now. Oh,  
[2:02:28] hang on. I've turned on all the mics now. Through 
the mayor. It's possible it's a typo. That might  
[2:02:33] me might have meant to say obtaining a liquor 
license is contingent. Um because the business  
[2:02:39] already has a business license. Um, so, uh, yeah, 
it's it's a bit of an anomaly there, but Okay.  
[2:02:46] And and I know we're doing this in real time, so 
uh, like I said, I just when I read that and I'm  
[2:02:51] hearing what I'm hearing, it just, uh, Oh, yeah. 
Yeah. No, no. I I I I'm I'm on it. Uh, I I will,  
[2:03:00] if you don't mind just turning the mics off and 
back on again, just because, and that was my that  
[2:03:03] was all me. My apologies. You You'll push it again 
and that way you're back in the queue. Um, thanks  
[2:03:09] guys. I appreciate that. Uh, and then I'm going 
to, uh, pass it back over to the applicants. I was  
[2:03:15] just wondering, uh, how many other liquor licenses 
in the area are tied to good neighbor agreements?
[2:03:22] And, and I think what we're articulating here 
is, yeah, I I'll let them Oh, just press it  
[2:03:29] once. Stand by. Otherwise, I'll end up turning on 
everybody's mics again. Uh, uh, through the chair,  
[2:03:35] we don't have that information available. 
uh we know that it is common place in many  
[2:03:41] municipalities to have good neighbor agreements 
which would be why the RCMP uh recommended this to
[2:03:50] so and and and I think with many of the things 
that that are done if it's new then sometimes uh  
[2:03:57] well maybe there's typos and things and stuff so 
um uh but uh I want to continue the conversation  
[2:04:03] I'm going to pass it over to councelor Hill yeah 
mayor I just want to reiterate uh the the point  
[2:04:10] you made because um that was what I wanted to 
speak about. It says obtaining a business license  
[2:04:18] is contingent upon accepting and signing this 
agreement. That makes no sense. And and so I think  
[2:04:23] we're hearing an acknowledgement that that's a 
mistake. Um and um I don't actually see any point  
[2:04:31] in that line being in there. Um, I think the the 
the sentence or that particular bullet point could  
[2:04:38] start with the parties recognize that the success 
in reaching the objectives of the good neighbor  
[2:04:43] agreement. Um, that Yeah. Well, I mean it it's um 
I think it's that clause is just poorly written.  
[2:04:58] But anyway, um the other point I wanted to make 
is that the reason we're here tonight is because  
[2:05:03] uh there's an application to extend the RS and uh 
council gets a report uh that acknowledges that  
[2:05:10] there have been, you know, complaints about noise. 
And so the worry is though if it's open later,  
[2:05:16] are there going to be more complaints about noise? 
And and so council recommends a good neighbor  
[2:05:21] agreement. I I actually was in favor of approving 
this application going forward to the liquid  
[2:05:27] control branch at the first instance because at 
that point it sounded like staff were going to be  
[2:05:33] able to work out some sort of uh uh satisfactory 
agreement with the business and uh unfortunately  
[2:05:41] that hasn't happened. If it's as simple as as 
removing or changing this word business to liquor  
[2:05:47] or removing that half of the line, um then my 
suggestion would be that uh we punt this over to  
[2:05:56] the next meeting and and give the parties another 
chance to work it out. Um, you know, I think if  
[2:06:03] the if the business operators feel that uh uh this 
is unfair that they're being asked to do this when  
[2:06:09] other part uh businesses perhaps aren't, well, we 
don't actually know if we're if we're getting any,  
[2:06:17] you know, concerns expressed about the operation 
of other liquor establishments in town. I remember  
[2:06:22] when the Aces pub went in, we had lots of people 
in the apartments next door who didn't want it to  
[2:06:29] be there because they believed that there would 
be noise and uh it would interfere with their  
[2:06:35] lifestyle and their enjoyment of their property. 
Um I'm not aware of whether we've had complaints  
[2:06:40] uh in that neighborhood or not. Um but um I 
agree with Councelor Fr. I think the business  
[2:06:48] that we're talking about here tonight is uh a 
key part of our downtown. It's uh I never go  
[2:06:54] by there that it isn't approaching full. Um I'm 
sometimes there myself. Um, so you know, I mean,  
[2:07:02] I think in general, council wants to see this 
business succeed and, uh, continue to offer the  
[2:07:08] services it does and the enjoyment to the people 
in our community and and, uh, so, um, you know,  
[2:07:14] subject to further discussion, I'd be willing 
to move that, uh, we give another opportunity  
[2:07:19] for the parties to resolve it. Yeah. Thanks 
so much for that. And and and I think again,  
[2:07:25] you know, and this might just be an anomaly 
that like we look at it and the wording is  
[2:07:29] potentially just wrong. Um and and the applicant 
did say that this was the the most glaring issue,  
[2:07:35] but there might be some other issues as well. 
So um and again, I don't want to prolong this  
[2:07:39] conversation necessarily too particularly long, 
but I do see staff are also willing to speak.  
[2:07:44] So I'll maybe let staff speak for a second and 
then um and then go back. Um, normally applicants  
[2:07:51] aren't part of the ongoing conversation. So, uh, 
maybe if there's some more statements, so think  
[2:07:56] about that while staff are responding right now as 
well. Uh, yeah, through the mayor to council. So,  
[2:08:03] um, just to be clear, we've we did have a meeting 
on June 10th with the applicant and based off of,  
[2:08:10] uh, verbal communication with the applicant 
at the meeting, we made some minor changes to  
[2:08:14] the good neighbor agreement. Um, I just 
want to highlight that since May 13th,  
[2:08:20] uh, since the first report on May 13th, we haven't 
had any, uh, the applicant has not supplied us  
[2:08:26] with a good neighbor agreement with their edits 
to it. Um, so we're happy to move forward and  
[2:08:33] the city does want to work with the applicant. We 
just need to understand the applicant just needs  
[2:08:39] to understand that they have to um provide their 
own edits and respond to the city so that we can  
[2:08:46] create the good neighbor agreement. Um and if that 
doesn't happen, it makes it really it makes it a  
[2:08:51] bit more challenging for us to to resolve this and 
move forward. And um I think some of my previous  
[2:08:57] reports did outline some of the communications 
that staff have been trying to uh engage with  
[2:09:04] the applicant on. Right. No, much appreciate that. 
Uh, Miss Maloney, did you have a comment as well  
[2:09:09] or through the chair? I just wanted to say that in 
our initial conversations that the actual issue of  
[2:09:15] the business license wasn't raised. There were 
several other issues that the applicant raised  
[2:09:20] um that we're not addressing here. So, this is 
not a take out one line, fix it all. And that's  
[2:09:26] what I'm feeling. Yeah. Yeah. And and we only 
have an extension to August the 3. Um, and so  
[2:09:32] if if we if if if if if council wishes to have a 
signed agreement before they make a recommendation  
[2:09:39] to the liquor board, this is not an approval, 
it's a recommendation to the liquor board. Um,  
[2:09:44] uh, it's very unlikely we'll have that by August 
the 3. So, I just want you to be aware that if  
[2:09:51] it moves forward, we will not have a signed good 
neighbor agreement. Right. Because August 3rd is  
[2:09:57] like less than a week away. Yeah. Yeah. So, and 
and and that's also uh top of mind for me. Um uh  
[2:10:04] councelor Fr. Yeah, thanks. Mayor, I haven't gone 
yet. I had my hand. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for  
[2:10:11] jumping in there. Yeah. Thanks, Mayor. Um yeah, I 
do have one question and then uh maybe a question  
[2:10:17] for the proponent and then some comments. Um 
you know, we we did spend a fair bit of time  
[2:10:23] and just would like to remind council there was 
a whole package that went with this application.  
[2:10:28] We heard clearly from the RCMP, the inspector 
himself, good things don't happen when you serve  
[2:10:33] alcohol after midnight. I wouldn't recommend this. 
If I did, I would say we needed the good neighbor  
[2:10:39] agreement. We heard that clearly from the people 
who will be enforcing the issues that occur with  
[2:10:45] alcohol being served after a certain point. 
um to staff uh because there is reference to  
[2:10:53] um other establishments who are serving 
alcohol in Courtney after midnight. And  
[2:10:58] I believe I asked this question at one point. I 
would like just if staff can reclarify that we in  
[2:11:04] fact don't have any liquor licenses for um the 
serving of alcohol in Courtney after midnight.
[2:11:21] uh through the mayor. Uh that data would 
have to be obtained from the liquor branch.  
[2:11:27] Um each license has its own parameters. Uh liquor 
licenser, liquor licenses are merely referred to  
[2:11:35] municipalities over long periods of time. So we 
wouldn't have that information readily available  
[2:11:40] other than anecdotal knowledge. Yeah, I seem to 
recall mayor as a followup that I asked maybe at  
[2:11:47] the first meeting this question and I remember 
staff had indicated to their knowledge we hadn't  
[2:11:53] seen anything. I know that in our this term we 
haven't seen any applications coming for the  
[2:11:59] serving of alcohol past midnight. Um and we also 
have our um Komox Valley substance use strategy  
[2:12:05] work that is ongoing that specifically speaks to 
the harms related to the sale of alcohol beyond  
[2:12:10] certain hours. Um, and so the last question 
I had because the proponents are there, which  
[2:12:15] I appreciate and apologies for not being able to 
be there in person. Some of the correspondents we  
[2:12:20] received was related to the importance of creating 
an environment for um, entertainment and vitality  
[2:12:28] in the downtown core. And I guess I'm just trying 
I'm having a really hard time understanding how  
[2:12:34] um your thriving business, which I also 
can appreciate and see on a regular basis,  
[2:12:40] is doing quite well um and is a really valuable 
community asset. Um how um the proponent might  
[2:12:48] uh kind of tie those two things together, serving 
alcohol after midnight and downtown vitality. So  
[2:12:57] that's a question for you guys. Yeah. Uh there 
are establishments in Courtney and in the Komox  
[2:13:03] Valley that serve alcohol after midnight and have 
licenses after midnight. I know that for a fact.  
[2:13:09] And I do know that the patrons at Gladstones 
that leave when we have to close our doors do  
[2:13:15] go to these establishments later. I can name three 
that have them, but I don't know if it's relevant.  
[2:13:24] Kelly O'Brien's Whistle Stop and Max Pub for 
starters. Yeah. Um and it's not Yeah. Like I  
[2:13:33] think our business is doing well and we are you 
know helping downtown uh have that vitality and  
[2:13:40] uh but we we do know like I I I hang out 
at Gladston a lot. Uh I know all my a lot  
[2:13:47] of my patrons and when uh you know midnight 
rolls around and it's been like this forever,  
[2:13:53] they just go to another establishment. It's not 
like they're choosing to go home after Gladstones.  
[2:13:57] If they want to continue enjoying their 
night, they will go to, you know, essentially  
[2:14:02] my competition. It hinders our business because 
we try to get entertainment in or groups in and  
[2:14:10] uh they don't want to come because they don't want 
they want to stay later. do a comedy show inside  
[2:14:16] for example. Um you know people like comedy shows 
like you know they'll be later at night because  
[2:14:21] of the content but then we got to kick everyone 
out at midnight while everyone's you know just  
[2:14:26] starting to to enjoy their evening and they want 
to well they end up going to our competition and  
[2:14:31] and I'm pretty sure there are no another neighbor 
good neighbor agreements in the com and at the  
[2:14:37] last meeting I was assured that this was the first 
one ever in our valley so it's a bit unprecedented  
[2:14:42] we'd be setting a precedent. I didn't like the way 
it was written. I did bring up all my complaints.  
[2:14:47] Well, I brought up a lot of my complaints about 
it. Um, one of them being quarterly reviews. Um,  
[2:14:53] which I didn't like. I I I brought it up several 
times to make changes. So, I think might not be  
[2:14:59] uh characterized accurately, uh, because I did try 
to reward it with the staff. Um, but the push back  
[2:15:09] was always this is the agreement. Sign it if you 
want your liquor license extended. I think it's  
[2:15:13] mostly a redundant process anyways because the 
only complaints we've had have been noise. They've  
[2:15:18] already said noise is a completely separate issue. 
So I don't really understand why my business needs  
[2:15:24] a good neighbor agreement when no other business 
that that I compete with or is in the same  
[2:15:31] industry requires this. Yeah. And and I think part 
part of it comes to to the grandfathering it. But,  
[2:15:36] you know, I I think as as was mentioned, it 
is something that was recommended to us and,  
[2:15:41] you know, from people that are actually going to 
be on the front lines where we're we're not. So, I  
[2:15:45] think that's where, you know, council uh obviously 
didn't anticipate probably uh this being as big of  
[2:15:53] a challenge, but uh uh councelor Fr, I'll let 
him speak and then councelor Joler, uh your is  
[2:15:58] your is that a new hand up? I just was uh wanting 
clarity from the Yeah, just wanting clarity from  
[2:16:04] the proponent. Um, so you're saying if um you you 
close your establishment at midnight if you don't  
[2:16:10] get the liquor license extension? Well, right now 
our liquor license ends at midnight 7 days a week.  
[2:16:17] Yep. So last call last call is 15 minutes before 
and at at midnight we're not allowed to sell on  
[2:16:24] call and we don't but you're still open. Our 
patrons just go to other businesses. The liquor  
[2:16:30] license allows us to if to for patrons to stay 30 
minutes after the liquor license ends uh to to to  
[2:16:37] finish their beverage and and leave, but they're 
not allowed to order alcohol after midnight.
[2:16:45] Okay. Does that answer councelor Jiker or 
do you have more questions afterwards? I  
[2:16:49] just see your hands still up. Yeah, I just I 
don't think I got an answer to the trying to  
[2:16:53] connect the dots between downtown vitality and 
serving alcohol after midnight. I'm not sure.  
[2:16:58] I I I heard the business case for it and 
I appreciate that as as business owners,  
[2:17:03] but uh some of the correspondence we received 
was related to how this could support downtown  
[2:17:09] vitality. And that piece I'm having a real hard 
time understanding given what we know happens um  
[2:17:16] when people are inebriated um late at night. So uh 
I might be able to address that a little bit. Um,  
[2:17:24] I recently attended a uh placemaking event put 
on by the town and we're doing Duncan Avenue  
[2:17:31] bridges. We're doing a lot of work to bring people 
downtown. We're trying to make this a cool city.  
[2:17:38] Uh so if you look at a place like Austin, 
Texas for example, it's grown uh phenomenally  
[2:17:46] in the last few years and it has a vibrant art 
scene and music scene that actually brings in  
[2:17:51] more money than having the state government of 
Texas centered in Austin. Then you ask yourself,  
[2:17:56] would Elon Musk build a mega plant? Would would 
uh Texas Instruments be there if there wasn't  
[2:18:01] somewhere cool for these people to go uh after 
work? And that vibrance is what I'm talking  
[2:18:07] about. It's not only going to bring new people 
to town or tourists. It's actually going to give  
[2:18:11] uh businesses somewhere for their high functioning 
employees to go to. So it's it's it's a big part  
[2:18:17] of what drives that economy, which is about a 
third of the US. So it's it can be significant.  
[2:18:21] And Gladston has a a very familyfriendly kind of 
environment there. And we don't have a lot of the  
[2:18:30] troubles that, you know, a dance club or nightclub 
would have. We're a we're a little different than  
[2:18:35] than some. So, all right. Thanks for that. I'll 
pass it over to councelor first. Yeah. Well,  
[2:18:41] I I have I have a thought on that actually. Um 
you know, if I'm going to go out at night at,  
[2:18:45] you know, 9 or 10:00, it it's a significant factor 
if I can't get a drink at at a certain point. Um  
[2:18:52] and I can go to the Waverly up in Cumberland 
and and get a drink at 12:30 at night. So,  
[2:18:58] um it it does affect um the vitality of downtown. 
Um, I can also go to those other places that were  
[2:19:04] mentioned, you know, the Max Pub, Kelly O'Brien's, 
which happen to not be downtown. Um, they're  
[2:19:09] good businesses, too. But, um, to to the the um 
counselor's question, that's how I think of it.  
[2:19:16] But what I really wanted to ask was more from the 
applicant. Is the re is the issue here um that you  
[2:19:25] feel like your that the good neighbor agreement 
is going to be tied to your business license  
[2:19:34] in a way that it isn't already. I I think that's 
part of it. It's unprecedented. Uh we don't know  
[2:19:41] what the repercussions are going to be because 
this hasn't been tested on any business before.  
[2:19:46] It's it hasn't been used or know is there do do I 
hear anything saying all new future businesses in  
[2:19:53] my industry will be required to sign this. It 
seems to be directed solely at my I'll just be  
[2:19:59] I'll just be frank. It's it's it sounds to me like 
um you're more worried about it than it than like  
[2:20:07] where it sounds like it already exists. It sounds 
like council can deliberate on your business lace  
[2:20:12] since anytime it wants anyways. And this good 
neighborhood if if you can get to the point  
[2:20:17] where you can acknowledge that a good neighborhood 
agreement isn't going to change that fact. Uh it  
[2:20:22] might be a moot point and we might be able to just 
settle this whole thing and move forward and get  
[2:20:26] you guys the extension. That's that's how I feel 
about it. Um and we only have a few days left  
[2:20:32] before we have to ask for another extension. So, 
um, I' I'd put the ball in that court right there.  
[2:20:38] I think I think we just want to move forward 
and even even tonight. It's it's a lot of time,  
[2:20:43] but it's good that we all understand how the 
liquor license works. And yeah, and and again,  
[2:20:50] you know, the the council coming up with new 
policy and procedures is basically what we do,  
[2:20:56] land use, those kinds of things. And and things 
change over time. And so this um again we're  
[2:21:02] looking what the best practices are from uh the 
experts that that we get our input from who who  
[2:21:09] were here earlier [snorts] tonight um at the 
RCMP. And so um and you know when we talk to  
[2:21:14] other municipalities to see how things work and 
um and it's it's quite interesting uh something  
[2:21:22] like a good neighbor agreement when it was first 
brought up finding out how it works in other  
[2:21:27] communities. The strange thing is it is literally 
as was described an acknowledgment so that when  
[2:21:35] people ask us why we did something we can say 
well we made sure everybody acknowledges kind  
[2:21:39] of their role in this and their responsibilities 
it it doesn't create those responsibilities and  
[2:21:45] and I guess that that I to kind of speak to what 
councelor first is talking about it doesn't sound  
[2:21:51] like to me the good neighbor is necessarily 
creating uh situation, do things. You talked  
[2:22:00] about a quarterly thing because again, we have two 
choices here. From what I'm understanding, we got  
[2:22:06] till August second. So, we got to figure this out 
today or not. And and so I I think we worked past  
[2:22:13] the business license thing. It sounds like it's a 
typo or something. The quarterly report or check.  
[2:22:20] I couldn't I I wrote it down, but I I wrote it 
really fast now. I can't read my handwriting.  
[2:22:25] Yeah, it would be quarterly meetings with the city 
staff, so four times a year, which can I make one  
[2:22:34] more comment before that speak to that particular 
um part of the agreement? Um I remember a few  
[2:22:41] years back and I don't know if you remember this 
mayor or councelor Helian, but the curling club  
[2:22:45] came to council and they wanted their license 
extended. I believe they can drink till 6:00  
[2:22:50] in the morning and they can and they can start at 
9 in the morning. Um and and so we're not really  
[2:22:56] trying to vilify um alcohol use at we weren't 
historically anyways and I'm I'm not at this  
[2:23:02] table. So that's where I stand on on this and I 
really hope we can sort this out and move forward.
[2:23:12] Uh Mr. Garvet, thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Uh 
I think political lights are off. I just wanted  
[2:23:19] to si maybe potentially um suggest or provide 
an option to council. They could council could  
[2:23:29] ultimately if you want to move forward with 
this with a recommendation to the U liquor  
[2:23:35] control license cannabis licensing branch. Uh 
you could dictate the terms of the good neighbor  
[2:23:40] agreement and have support conditional on that 
agreement. I I I don't want to sound there's a  
[2:23:45] lot of conversation here about timing etc. So 
that that that's an approach. Um sounds like  
[2:23:53] there's edits to be made related to business 
licensing and that's really if if this is a  
[2:23:59] council priority which they identified as a 
good name bear agreement that's a that is a  
[2:24:03] path forward. So okay appreciate that. Um and just 
before you speak uh did you guys still want Mr. uh  
[2:24:14] uh through the chair. I just wanted to uh make a 
point of clarity. Uh the there the requirement for  
[2:24:21] quarterly meetings is only for the first year uh 
and then at least annually to review operations,  
[2:24:27] noise data if collected, complaints and update 
this agreement as needed. So it is not quarterly  
[2:24:34] meetings on an for every year. It is for the 
first year and then annual meetings. Um just  
[2:24:40] as a just as a point of uh making sure council's 
aware of what the agreement says and and sorry  
[2:24:46] you had said something in there and and maybe Pat 
Pat will be clarifying this but does um uh if so  
[2:24:55] let's say there's no complaints. Does that mean 
the meetings can just like not even happen? Sorry  
[2:25:01] Mr. mayor at and to council. That's exactly what 
was expressed on June the 10th is is that if the  
[2:25:07] meeting is not necessary, if there have been no 
issues, if the RCMP hasn't been called anything,  
[2:25:11] if there have been no bylaw issues, then that the 
meeting is cancelled and and we so when we say  
[2:25:19] quarterly for the first year, it was only to sort 
of get things going and then annually after that.  
[2:25:24] And it didn't have to be a physical meeting. Could 
have been a Zoom. Could have been a a a phone  
[2:25:29] call. Could have been any number of ways of doing 
it, but it was a check-in to just make sure things  
[2:25:34] were going well. And and RCMP were very clear that 
if no meeting was necessary, then no meeting would  
[2:25:40] be held. Okay. Appreciate that clarity. Sorry. Uh 
you had your hand up. I guess I just wanted to um  
[2:25:48] say that this is inhibiting us from having events. 
I mean specifically there were some African events  
[2:25:53] where they really wanted to go later and I wasn't 
able to do that and I was really calling on the  
[2:25:56] African community to do and and other lots of 
lots of community event. I always trying to throw  
[2:26:00] community events and and this is unquestionably 
inhibiting that and we as a business all of you  
[2:26:09] who live in this community can see that all we 
do is reinvest into the downtown and reinvest and  
[2:26:14] reinvest um a and do charitable things. Last year 
we gave over $45,000 to Yana. We This is a good  
[2:26:22] business that uses our money for this community. 
And I also think that these six people, I'm not  
[2:26:29] sure why they get such a loud voice compared 
to all the people that are enjoying what we are  
[2:26:34] doing. It just doesn't seem proportionate and it 
just doesn't feel fair. So, so there are specific  
[2:26:40] clauses in the good neighbor agreement that will 
mitigate or reduce your ability to do business.
[2:26:49] Well, the quarterly meetings, how it's worded 
in there, like nobody else has to do that and  
[2:26:55] then making amendments based on on like 
what I don't even know what that means.  
[2:26:59] It's such an ambiguous agreement and I don't know 
there wasn't any real examples of these agreements  
[2:27:06] being used successfully in other cities and it's 
going to set a huge precedent and right now it's  
[2:27:11] just Gladston that's getting that's that's on the 
hook for this curling club being a prime example  
[2:27:17] not that long ago gets to 6:00 a.m. without anyone 
saying anything but Gladston asks till 2 a.m.  
[2:27:23] And then all of a sudden it's it's all based on 
this good neighbor agreement that uh you know  
[2:27:29] the like I've read it many times and it just we 
already have bylaw. The only complaints were noise  
[2:27:36] complaints and I know they're trying to separate 
the two but it really our whole meeting was really  
[2:27:40] about the noise complaints and we already have a 
mechanism in place for that and we already have  
[2:27:45] a bylaw system in place for some of these other 
issues. So what the good neighbor agreement just  
[2:27:50] seems completely redundant to me. Yeah. And and 
I guess that that's the challenge is that we're  
[2:27:54] seeing this uh you know council's direction was 
this might be a path forward for future things. So  
[2:28:00] yes, you're the first one. My question though was 
based on the comment was this this agreement will  
[2:28:06] mitigate or reduce your ability to do business. 
And so what I'm hearing is not that it'll reduce  
[2:28:12] your ability to do business that you're aware of, 
but you're not sure. There might be some Well,  
[2:28:17] it's it's the 2 a.m., right? If we don't sign 
this agreement, we don't get to be open later.  
[2:28:24] That reduces our business confounding business. It 
restricts our growth. Okay. So, if you signed it,  
[2:28:29] you would be able to stay open. But if you 
don't, then you can't and therefore that's  
[2:28:36] causing it. Okay. Yeah, that that's clarified. 
Uh counselor. Yeah. And council occurs online  
[2:28:42] as well. Yeah. Thanks, Mayor. I think the other 
important context here um just in response to  
[2:28:48] councelor Fr's's comment around alcohol, the city 
has endorsed the substance use strategy, there's  
[2:28:54] clear policies in there around municipal alcohol 
policy that our staff uh have on their work plan.  
[2:29:00] We haven't resourced it yet, but it's on the 
work plan to do. And in the absence of that,  
[2:29:05] this is a mitigating measure provided by the 
experts, the RCMP, um, to mitigate the harms  
[2:29:13] related to alcohol that the city acknowledges 
through the substance use strategy. So,  
[2:29:17] I do want to just bring that larger piece in. 
And this is one of those unfortunate situations  
[2:29:22] where we do have competing priorities. we have uh 
thriving businesses, businesses that want to grow,  
[2:29:27] and we have um the city taking action to 
reducing harms related to substance use. So,  
[2:29:33] I just wanted to add that context because I think 
it's important um and that we do have these two  
[2:29:38] things happening at the same time. Thanks. Right. 
Thanks for that clarity. And councelor F. Yeah.  
[2:29:46] So, I have a question for staff. Um, this idea 
of having quarterly meetings in the agreement,  
[2:29:55] is that necessarily any different than what you 
would already do if there were complaints? Like,  
[2:30:00] would you not maybe already have meetings if there 
were a bunch of complaints about a business? Uh,  
[2:30:06] through the chair, our bylaw enforcement powers 
would allow um bylaw enforcement officers to  
[2:30:12] attend a business and speak with the owner. Um 
the meetings would just be an opportunity to  
[2:30:18] do it in maybe a more casual uh I don't want 
to say casual but uh without dur with Yeah.  
[2:30:25] without someone showing up randomly at the at 
the doorstep. So I think it's maybe more of a  
[2:30:30] more proactive approach um less magisterial. 
Sure. It it sounds to me like we're really  
[2:30:36] just acknowledging and making it simple to 
do the things that the city can already do.  
[2:30:41] Like if you do have a noise complaint complaint 
then um instead of like you say bylaw coming in  
[2:30:47] and um being a bit adversarial you've 
already got a meeting set up and try  
[2:30:52] to try and sort things out. Is that the 
concept or you know saying no? Oh hang on
[2:30:59] uh through the mayor. Yes, it it uh it's an 
opportunity for us to to discuss. I would  
[2:31:05] also point out um that uh the city uh has a much 
smaller hammer than the liquor branch and a lot  
[2:31:13] of these clauses in the good neighbor agreement 
actually um speak to barkeeping practices that  
[2:31:20] are expected by the liquor branch. Um the the the 
wording is very much similar about for example  
[2:31:26] encouraging patrons to not disturb the neighbors 
and things like that. So um although they may  
[2:31:33] have to have a meeting with uh you know the city 
every uh you know quarterly for the first year  
[2:31:40] uh the liquor branch can send inspectors into 
the business at any time um without disclosing  
[2:31:45] their presence and so on um to look for liquor 
infractions and the liquor branch can revoke a  
[2:31:50] license a liquor license immediately almost if 
they see serious infractions. So, um, we're not  
[2:31:56] necessarily asking for anything, uh, hours beyond 
what the, uh, the liquor branch can already do.  
[2:32:06] Um, and certainly no more extensive one than what 
the liquor branch can do. Well, thanks for that.  
[2:32:12] It it does sound like we're merely acknowledging 
the things we already can do in this neighborhood  
[2:32:17] agreement. So, um, and and I I also want to 
point out that we u we have safe ventilation  
[2:32:23] sites. I'm sure those go very late at night. Um, 
no, they're closed. Yeah. Um, but we push to have  
[2:32:31] safe inhalation sites put in and um, yeah, I think 
I think there's a difference between encouraging  
[2:32:38] people to use less drugs and alcohol and um, 
and vilifying it and and saying it's absolutely  
[2:32:44] prohibited. So, I'll leave it at that there. 
Thanks. Okay. Yeah. and and and you know casting  
[2:32:49] back to I think when Matches opened up their 
outdoor patio um there was similar uh concerns  
[2:32:57] uh especially around the sound and I think if the 
idea of a good neighbor agreement had if that had  
[2:33:03] been recommended to us at that time it like we 
likely would have done it I I and I I'm correct  
[2:33:08] I think we may have good neighbor agreements for 
other things other than liquor things so it's not  
[2:33:13] like this is just for liquor this is for things 
that um when we're looking at at our community  
[2:33:19] and where there's a potential conflict uh to have 
these good neighbor agreements just though that  
[2:33:25] it's all articulated and and I look at it like a 
and and I think council I don't want to speak for  
[2:33:30] council necessarily totally they can shake their 
heads if they don't think uh believe or agree  
[2:33:35] with me but it's really like a comfort letter that 
just says these are the things that we agree upon  
[2:33:40] through other mechanisms but we're just putting 
it in one place so we can easily refer to it uh  
[2:33:47] Councelor Cole Hamilton, I do apologize. You're 
you had your light on or um did you want to speak  
[2:33:52] still? Yeah, I was going to say I was Yeah. Yeah. 
Thanks very much. I was going to ask um something  
[2:34:01] along the lines of what councelor Rush was 
asking about whether the other um portions of the  
[2:34:05] agreement require something more than is required 
by um by the province. And um I guess I I haven't  
[2:34:13] spoken because I my colleagues ablely make the 
sort of the the point that uh this isn't legally  
[2:34:20] binding. It doesn't ask any more than would be 
otherwise asked. It doesn't give the city any  
[2:34:26] particular powers. Um it uh it uh it's a set of 
agreements of shared understandings. And I think  
[2:34:35] that's all we've been trying to achieve here. Um 
and uh I think it's um I I would maybe ask I think  
[2:34:48] again I think councelor Fish has been making 
many of the same points. So it's why I haven't  
[2:34:51] been speaking is that if one can acknowledge that 
this doesn't have an a legal impact on you. It's  
[2:34:58] not legally binding. Um it's a set of common yeah 
common understandings of how we all want to move  
[2:35:05] forward. um if we can't reach that that's you know 
after having advice from the people from the RCMP  
[2:35:14] um that that would be a good way to move forward 
and this may be the first time we're doing it and  
[2:35:19] likely I'm guessing for similar applications 
it'll be the way we move forward going uh from  
[2:35:24] now on but uh yeah so I'm guess I believe I'm not 
probably adding anything new to the comments that  
[2:35:30] are already been made but just wanted to to share 
that for now thanks I appreciate that councelor  
[2:35:35] Cole Hamilton Hamilton and Council Moore. Great. 
Thanks, Mayor. Um, yeah, I think part of part of  
[2:35:42] the issue is that um the other businesses I think 
they do operate after midnight. Is that what I  
[2:35:51] heard? Yeah. Um, but we haven't necessarily heard 
from neighbors in those areas or whatever. Um,  
[2:35:59] but I guess my question is regarding kind of the 
fairness of the good neighbor agreement. If there  
[2:36:07] were issues happening at the other establishments 
and there were RCP complaints, I would assume,  
[2:36:15] but this is what I'd like clarification on that 
that someone would come to us and say just like  
[2:36:21] a nuisance house, which is what happened with the 
nuisance house. um multiple complaints, multiple  
[2:36:27] issues, people came um and then we came up with 
this nuisance bylaw in response to that. Um so  
[2:36:38] would that be accurate that if there were issues 
happening in other establishments like we would  
[2:36:43] we would want to have a good neighbor agreement 
with those establishments as well, would we not?
[2:36:51] uh through the uh mayor. Uh we would it would 
certainly be beneficial to have good neighbor  
[2:36:57] agreements with those establishments and the 
opportunity to do so may actually present itself.  
[2:37:02] They have to renew uh their liquor licenses. They 
may seek to change their liquor license as the  
[2:37:08] applicant has. Um, in terms of enforcement, 
um, if something were to occur at those,  
[2:37:16] uh, businesses that was substantial 
enough, um, the municipality could, um,  
[2:37:22] go through the rigorous process of of revoking 
the business license. Um, you know, again,  
[2:37:28] on reasonable grounds and and that's obviously 
proving that is dependent on the circumstances,  
[2:37:35] but yes, it it very much uh can uh happen. You can 
you could revoke a business license or declare it  
[2:37:41] a nuisance um depending on the nature of the 
infraction infraction and the proof available.  
[2:37:47] Well, I think this is illuminating that, you know, 
there is a gap like maybe it is something I don't  
[2:37:54] think it's going to happen this term necessarily, 
but in terms of um that ability to to monitor  
[2:38:01] um you know these to um to take a look at 
all the establishments and whether or not  
[2:38:12] um there's a way to you know create good neighbor 
agreements with other establishments. based on on  
[2:38:19] uh things that are happening. But I guess um yeah, 
I I I guess I'm yeah, I'm hopeful that if there's  
[2:38:28] just a couple things that need to be changed that 
we can do that. I mean, I think that having even,  
[2:38:36] you know, an an annual check-in, unless there 
are other issues that come in is reasonable. I  
[2:38:42] think changing that language around the uh the 
um liquor/ business license. Um but I I guess I  
[2:38:52] I do think that we will see more of these and 
this was a recommendation from the RCMP and I  
[2:38:59] think that if we had another establishment that 
was um what that there were issues we we would  
[2:39:06] be doing we wouldn't be just you know not doing 
anything. Um, but I do appreciate that it does  
[2:39:12] seem like a small number of complaints and, you 
know, half of them were from one person. Um, so,  
[2:39:20] you know, I I understand that that's um that's a 
challenge for sure, but I think that we have not  
[2:39:27] been having any bylaw complaints about the other 
establishments to my knowledge, but that might  
[2:39:33] be something that staff can look into. Thanks. 
Thanks, Councelor Warren. And I'm going to jump  
[2:39:40] to councelor Halen just because he hasn't spoken 
a whole lot this evening on this topic. Yeah. And  
[2:39:45] and I will acknowledge that um I originally 
voted against uh um requiring this process,  
[2:39:51] but um that notwithstanding that it's a resolution 
of council um that a good neighbor agreement be  
[2:39:59] enforced. I think I've heard you say that you're 
not going to sign one. So So I mean that would  
[2:40:06] leave us at an impass. I don't hear anybody at 
council proposing that we take away the uh the  
[2:40:12] requirement. Um we've been we've spent nearly 
an hour on this. My suggestion is we adjourn  
[2:40:18] um for our supper break and uh give the business 
the opportunity to consider their position and and  
[2:40:25] uh um and then um you know spend five minutes 
on it after that and and then move on. Um,  
[2:40:32] I think we're at an impass here where we're 
simply exchanging uh the same arguments. If if  
[2:40:38] it's a council resolution that uh if we're going 
to recommend this action to the liquor control  
[2:40:43] branch, there needs to be a good neighboring 
agreement, then that that is in fact the position  
[2:40:48] that you're in. Um, unless the council changes 
its mind, which has not been indicated. All  
[2:40:55] right. Appreciate that, Council Helian. And I'm 
going to let councelor Fr make a comment and we  
[2:41:00] may take you up on your suggestion. Well, just 
just quickly, I I would um I I would reiterate  
[2:41:06] that this good neighborhood agreement really 
changes nothing and we can do all the things in  
[2:41:12] the good neighborhood agreement. I'm sure even 
right now. So, I implore you to reconsider and  
[2:41:18] um I'm happy to move that we table this item till 
after our meal. Give you time to think about that.  
[2:41:24] I move that we table this item. Is that 
Yeah, it's been seconded. Councelor Joler,  
[2:41:29] do you have any comments uh before I take the 
Oh, yeah. Sorry, non debatable. All those in  
[2:41:36] favor? Any opposed? And uh so what we're going 
to do is we're going to adjourn our recess right  
[2:41:43] now for our dinner break and then we'll be 
back uh and we'll come back at 7:00 p.m.
[2:42:07] I like the sticker. I'll send That work.
[2:59:41] Yeah.
[2:59:46] Okay. Thanks a lot. All right. Byebye.
[3:00:04] Oh, you 7
[3:00:37] All right, thanks everybody. Uh we're now back 
uh from our recess and continuing on uh item  
[3:00:44] 8.2.1 liquor license application uh and the good 
neighbor agreement for 244th street. And I will um  
[3:00:56] uh we recess. I'll maybe look to council at this 
point. Um I believe the applicant has left. Uh  
[3:01:05] so councelor. Yeah, just a question mayor. Um is 
the liquor uh control or the liquor and cannabis  
[3:01:15] regulation branch aware of all the permutations of 
the process that we're going through? And I mean,  
[3:01:22] I think we've asked them for for an extension 
and and uh I'm just wondering to what extent  
[3:01:28] this process, regardless of what resolution we 
pass, might influence their decision one way  
[3:01:33] or the other. Those might be two questions, but 
I'll pass it over to staff. Uh through the chair,  
[3:01:38] um we've asked them for the extension so they 
are aware that there is some kind of a dialogue  
[3:01:43] going on. Two extensions. Um, in terms of what 
they'll be aware of, um, generally speaking, um,  
[3:01:50] all paperwork associated with a municipality's 
referral process is sent to them, um, with their  
[3:01:57] response. So, emails from the applicant and so 
on would be going to the branch. So, they would,  
[3:02:03] I guess, be aware of the conversation that's 
occurred. Thanks, Councelor Hillian and Councelor  
[3:02:09] Moore. Thanks, Mayor. Um so basically if um well 
first of all if something happened and the parties  
[3:02:20] came back and did want to do something then 
another extension would have to be applied for and  
[3:02:25] is that a usual thing to have a third extension 
granted or oh hang on sorry I got to find the  
[3:02:33] right one uh through the mayor. Uh probably not. 
um not for these reasons. Uh it's tough to say,  
[3:02:44] but uh yeah, I'd say our situation is pretty 
unique. Yeah. Yeah. And I guess just a quick quick  
[3:02:50] follow up around um so obviously this um involves 
other parties, the RCMP, etc. And so I mean we're  
[3:02:59] not the only ones that have to provide feedback. 
So, I mean, regardless of what happens here, the  
[3:03:06] RCMP could decide to um yeah, if there's no good 
neighbor agreement, then that was that was part  
[3:03:16] of their feedback that they would that they wanted 
that. So, I mean, I guess I guess the bottom line  
[3:03:21] is it's not just um it's not just council that's 
weighing in on this um process, but I guess if  
[3:03:28] there's no agreement signed um before in the next 
couple days, then uh it's all kind of a phenito.  
[3:03:37] Thanks. Thanks, Council Warren. And Mr. Garbbert, 
you had a comment. Yeah, thank you to the mayor.  
[3:03:42] uh just we've we spent quite a bit of time on this 
and uh councelor Kian identified so our staff are  
[3:03:49] acting on council's direction the requirement for 
a good neighbor agreement is there uh so unless  
[3:03:55] that changes uh uh then the recommendations in 
front of you is the policy direction from council  
[3:04:02] um as I had said previously there are a number 
of options to council council could consider  
[3:04:07] their previous requirements I'm not trying to 
engage in the political debate here, but we also  
[3:04:13] uh council could provide their support contingent 
on a good neighbor agreement as well. That is the  
[3:04:18] feedback. That's the requirement of council. 
So, I'm just trying to provide some options  
[3:04:21] because I think everyone [clears throat] pardon 
me, everyone is uh struggling a little bit with  
[3:04:27] uh with the matter at hand. So, I just want to be 
clear. the polic as it is is because of council's  
[3:04:36] direction for the good neighbor agreement and that 
there is an option for conditional consideration  
[3:04:42] of this if we have the same direction from 
council all right thanks for that council call  
[3:04:47] Hamilton yeah thanks mayor I I just wanted to ask 
a question just to maybe clarify something that  
[3:04:52] was raised in previous conversation that there 
are other u places that stay open past midnight  
[3:05:00] um and that they apparently do not have good 
neighbor agreements. I just wanted to maybe  
[3:05:06] ask if staff could confirm that uh we've never 
had the opportunity to weigh in on that with  
[3:05:13] those entities because they've not requested a 
change of this type. There's never been a point  
[3:05:18] at which we could have requested a good neighbor 
agreement. So, this is not a matter of being  
[3:05:24] treated differently. It's a matter of um of this 
coming before us and um us following the advice of  
[3:05:33] the RCMP and I would assume that the advice if if 
other um entities came extending wanting similar  
[3:05:42] extensions that we would get similar advice 
from the RCMP and we would take similar action.  
[3:05:47] It's [snorts] just uh you know this is a matter of 
first instance we have not had had this happen and  
[3:05:52] there was some reference to the curling club. I 
don't know. I wasn't at that board. I don't know  
[3:05:57] who made that decision or how that came to be. But 
in the 8 years I've been here, we've never had the  
[3:06:02] opportunity to to uh be in a situation where an 
extension um was asked for that a good neighbor  
[3:06:10] agreement might be the right solution to. Um so 
this is I just want to clarify the other places  
[3:06:15] that stay open within town, they listed a few of 
them. um those are not opportunity circumstances  
[3:06:23] where we've had the opportunity to make to go 
through this kind of process and this kind of  
[3:06:26] analysis. Thank you through the mayor. I would 
just say uh to the best of my knowledge the issue  
[3:06:32] of the requirement of a good neighbor agreement 
has not come up in the referrals. So this was a  
[3:06:37] specific response to a referral. The previous 
consideration of um liquor either a new liquor  
[3:06:45] license or an extended nick liquor license. So, I 
point council, we just had a a new liquor license  
[3:06:51] for another business downtown. Um, and it was not 
it did not come out as a as a recommendation. Uh,  
[3:06:59] it was not for the same timeline, but it 
did not come out as a recommendation. So,  
[3:07:02] this is we are acting on the advice of um of uh 
specialists in the area as a condition uh to move  
[3:07:10] forward and council accepted that. Um uh we had 
a reference to the substance use strategy and  
[3:07:18] some work related to the consideration of um the 
licensing of intoxicants. That is work that will  
[3:07:24] happen. So it may be that our recommendation when 
considering liquid licenses that good neighbor  
[3:07:30] agreements be be incorporated but that work has 
not yet happened. [clears throat] So in this case,  
[3:07:36] I believe this is twofold response to 
circumstances and advice as well as um  
[3:07:43] the previous uh considerations were were different 
and they didn't have the same circumstances that  
[3:07:50] resulted in that referral. If we had received 
that same level of referral for the two more  
[3:07:55] recent liquor license applications, we would 
have provided that to council. So I I believe  
[3:08:00] that would likely have been a condition had the 
uh referrals um highlighted that need. Thanks Mr.  
[3:08:08] Grabbit. I appreciate that. And and another bit of 
information that I I've received recently uh just  
[3:08:14] in the la last 20 minutes or so is looking um at 
other opportunities when we look at you know the  
[3:08:22] uh you know one of the comments was around 
they're the only one. Uh if we look to the  
[3:08:26] resort municipality of uh Whistler, they actually 
have the exact same thing as a requirement uh for  
[3:08:33] all business licenses for liquor establishments 
and cannabis stores. So, you know, we're not  
[3:08:38] blazing a trail here or anything like that, but 
there are other opportunities to look at things,  
[3:08:43] but I think as Mr. Garbett said, those things are 
being reviewed right now to see what's the best  
[3:08:48] fit. Um but we are at this point following the 
advice of um uh the RCMP at this point. With that,  
[3:08:55] I'll pass over to councelor. Thanks, 
Mayor. I just wanted clarification  
[3:08:59] on um what the RCMP uh was was wanting in the 
good neighborhood agreement and if we knew why
[3:09:10] uh through the mayor uh they they weren't 
specific uh but they accepted the um uh good  
[3:09:19] neighbor agreement that was prepared by us. 
It was part of the conversation. They had no  
[3:09:24] changes or edits to it. Uh they and and uh while 
the mayor provided the example of Whistler, Naimo  
[3:09:32] has these uh agreements with with um uh liquor 
establishments as well, bars, pubs. So it's this a  
[3:09:40] standard thing for the RCMP now to have these good 
neighbor agreements. I can't speak for them, but  
[3:09:47] they never came up with any suggestions, changes, 
or edits to the Good Neighbor draft. Okay. Well,  
[3:09:52] I'm just going to make a quick comment. Um, 
it's completely political. I I actually think  
[3:09:58] that there's just too much red tape and if we 
already have all the things available to us to  
[3:10:04] deal with bylaw problems and and so on. Um, yeah, 
I think good neighborhood agreements is just a way  
[3:10:12] to smile at each other and say we're going to do 
what we're going to do. But, um, I I can see why  
[3:10:17] businesses wouldn't like it. That's for sure. I 
mean, to be asked to to spend time to come in and  
[3:10:21] see staff four times and have it written down and 
signed, um I I totally get it. At the same time,  
[3:10:27] um it doesn't sound like anything that you're not 
already able to do. So, I don't I don't think,  
[3:10:33] you know, obviously they're not coming back to 
sign an agreement tonight. So, um yeah, it's  
[3:10:39] I think it's really unfortunate that we haven't 
been able to bring the two perspectives together.
[3:10:46] Thanks, Councelor Rich. Sir Warren. Great. Thanks, 
Mayor. Just um related to the the comment that  
[3:10:54] our city manager made about um contingent 
on um if there's if we don't have time to  
[3:11:03] um have them sign before an extension 
though, how can we approve something  
[3:11:08] contingent on because yeah, I mean I don't 
see how we could do that within the timeline.  
[3:11:17] So I I I just I don't know if there was 
something else that you were getting at,  
[3:11:23] Mr. Garet. Through the through the mayor, just 
in speaking with our director of services,  
[3:11:28] it it could say that the city supports the 
liquor license extension provided there's a  
[3:11:37] um good neighbor agreement in place. Not 
not that it has to be in place there,  
[3:11:41] but it could be considered in their deliberations 
on the liquor license approval at the at the  
[3:11:46] liquor license cannabis board uh approver. But 
again, it's not an ideal situation. It doesn't  
[3:11:52] actually go to council's direction. Yeah. I 
mean, I I just think I mean, what does that  
[3:11:59] mean exactly? Because the the the timeline I don't 
know. Anyway, I'm not sure if I'm thrilled with  
[3:12:07] that idea either. Thank you. Thanks, Council 
Warren. Councelor Hill. Thanks, Mayor. I I'm  
[3:12:14] prepared to move that council recommend support 
to the liquor and cannabis regulation branch  
[3:12:21] for the application in question subject to the 
completion of a good neighbor agreement. Period.
[3:12:32] Okay. So, it's not the one that's on the 
screen. So, that's slightly different.  
[3:12:36] So rather than not recommending it move forward, 
it's recommending it moves forward contingent on  
[3:12:41] the good neighbor agreement, which technically 
could still happen within the next few days.  
[3:12:46] Councelor Haleen, I'll I'll give you the mic back 
for subsequent Well, you my point would be that it  
[3:12:55] would then be in the hands of the liquor control 
branch who will go through their process. We'll  
[3:13:01] see this recommendation and we'll either um say, 
well, where's your good neighbor agreement or not  
[3:13:09] if they think it's important and then it'll be 
the liquor control bunch making the decision,  
[3:13:13] which is what it's making. it's it's their 
job anyway and essentially we will have  
[3:13:19] done our part um following through on the council 
resolution. um and you know doing what I think is  
[3:13:27] uh what the majority of council feels is that that 
we don't necessarily want to stand in the way of  
[3:13:32] this business continuing with their business model 
but we do want them to follow through with the  
[3:13:38] council resolution that was made but by doing this 
without putting a timeline on it we we essentially  
[3:13:44] send our recommendation off to the liquor control 
branch and then it's up to them and you know the  
[3:13:51] the good neighbor agreement happens in that time 
frame rather than us spending another two hours on  
[3:13:57] it and getting our staff to spend more hours on 
it here tonight or in the days to come. Thanks,  
[3:14:03] Councelor Helen. Uh, councelor M. I thought 
that councelor Cole Hamilton was in front of me,  
[3:14:09] but he turned his light off. Um, I guess I just 
wanted to ask staff, is that um is that a a doable  
[3:14:16] process? Um, like will that work? uh through 
the chair. I'm just trying to look up the act,  
[3:14:25] but I do believe it is possible for a 
municipality to recommend approval with  
[3:14:30] conditions. Uh it certainly is possible for the 
liquor control branch to impose conditions. Um so,  
[3:14:38] uh and worst case scenario, the liquor 
branch probably just refer it back to us.
[3:14:46] Yeah, I guess I'm just I don't know how if the if 
this is expiring in a couple days, how? Well, no,  
[3:14:55] the the liquor the liquor branch has granted an 
except for a a couple days, two two extensions,  
[3:15:03] I believe, to get us to August 2nd. Uh to August 
2nd. I'd just like to also say that August 1 is  
[3:15:11] the holiday. Mhm. Um so that would give two 
days to have a conversation and and I Yeah.  
[3:15:17] I just [clears throat] to to add to that to to 
councor um if the if if the condition that we  
[3:15:27] place on it is that there be a good neighbor 
agreement which is what we recommended in May  
[3:15:34] and and it was council said no we want the 
good neighbor agreement. This is why we're  
[3:15:38] here now. And and so if we if we say that, oh, a 
condition that we have a good neighbor agreement,  
[3:15:46] I think I can pretty much guarantee we're 
going to go through this cycle for a long time.
[3:15:55] Thanks, Council Moore and Councelor Helian. 
Yeah, the the uh the delay is to give time for  
[3:16:02] council to consider its recommendation. Um and 
uh I if we send the recommendation along along  
[3:16:11] with the copy of the good neighbor agreement 
with whatever amendments uh have been discussed  
[3:16:16] here tonight that are considered appropriate, 
then it's in the I think it's in the hands of  
[3:16:20] the liquor control branch. And if they punt it 
back, well, fair enough. Um maybe at that point,  
[3:16:28] uh we take a harder line and and say no, we 
don't support it. But uh um I I'm just going  
[3:16:34] by what my sense is of what uh the majority of 
council here tonight appears to want to do. And  
[3:16:41] uh you know that would be consistent with uh not 
standing in the way of this business but also  
[3:16:48] uh honoring the previous resolution of council. We 
could in fact as Mr. Garbbert has said rescend the  
[3:16:58] requirement. Um, but as I said before, I haven't 
heard anybody propose that here tonight. So,  
[3:17:06] I'm proposing a way for us to move forward with 
this. And if it gets sent back, so be it. But,  
[3:17:11] um, um, I don't know whether it will or not. Maybe 
the liquor control branch will just decide, oh,  
[3:17:17] well, they didn't want to sign 
the good neighbor agreement.  
[3:17:20] We're not going to give them their 
license. Then it's their decision.
[3:17:27] All right, councelor.
[3:17:32] Oh. Uh, I should I let councelor co 
go first? Uh, if that's all right.
[3:17:42] Councelor Cole Hamilton. Okay. I was going to 
say I'm always happy to have more information  
[3:17:46] before asking. Um, so if we were to do 
this, then it would be the the the the  
[3:17:55] province that would negotiate the good neighbor 
agreement under this uh and the province is the  
[3:18:03] province then free to say, you know what, it 
doesn't really matter to us. We're good. So,  
[3:18:09] but but you're nodding, but but I'm just 
curious to know with staff if we if we  
[3:18:16] have this this qualified support. Um, and 
then the qualification is never met. Um,  
[3:18:24] does the province have the discretion to just 
do what they please at that point or does that  
[3:18:28] stop the process? I I feel like in some ways 
we're just handing this off to someone else  
[3:18:32] who might decide to [clears throat] just ignore 
our um [snorts] you know reasoned request. Yeah,  
[3:18:39] I think historically yeah it's referred to us 
but we don't we just make a recommendation but  
[3:18:44] I think it's up to the liquor control board for 
the actual answer but Mr. Thanks. I think staff  
[3:18:49] might be responding but ultimately uh through 
the mayor to counselor. Um the reason why we  
[3:18:55] have chosen because we are not required actually 
the municipality has chosen to involve ourselves  
[3:19:00] in liquor licensing approvals. Uh and we have 
done that historically. Um they are looking for  
[3:19:06] our direction. Um so if we have a take on this it 
have some suggested conditions per Mr. Belaba's uh  
[3:19:16] commentary then that that is a position we can 
take but I'll I'll I'll defer to my colleague.
[3:19:24] Sorry through the mayor. Just reading the act. 
So um just to be clear uh if council were to  
[3:19:31] recommend uh that the license not be issued 
the liquor branch must refuse the license.  
[3:19:38] That's in section 38 subsection 4 of the act. 
If council recommends approval and I would  
[3:19:45] group approval with a condition in that the liquor 
and cannabis regula uh regulatory branch uh must  
[3:19:53] take the recommendation into account in deciding 
whether or not to issue or amend the license. So  
[3:19:58] I would extend that to taking into account the 
recommendation for the condition. They would  
[3:20:03] consider whether the condition is reasonable 
or not. They could decide whether to impose  
[3:20:08] that same condition. um whether or not they would 
actually negotiate with the applicant the terms  
[3:20:15] of the good neighbor agreement, probably not. 
Um but they could theoretically say, you know,  
[3:20:20] we'd like to see a signed good neighbor agreement 
before we issue this license. Thank thanks for  
[3:20:26] that clarity and the nuances of whether it's 
approved or recommended or not recommended  
[3:20:31] by council and how that that affects them. 
Councelor Joeler, you've been patient. Thanks.  
[3:20:36] uh just a comment that uh the the parties of 
the agreement um are the city of Courtney,  
[3:20:43] the proponent and the RCMP. And so the 
negotiation and the finalization of agreement  
[3:20:49] ultimately will have to lie with those parties as 
they're addressed now. And I think those are the  
[3:20:55] parties that are well positioned to address the 
issues that have come up through this process.  
[3:21:01] Um, and so for that, I'll be supporting a process 
that is city-led rather than asking a regulatory  
[3:21:08] body that's really simply speaking to one part 
of the the process um to do that work for us. I  
[3:21:14] don't think it actually addresses the issues and 
the concerns that have been raised throughout the  
[3:21:18] process by our staff, by bylaw, by the RCMP, and 
by neighbors and the bylaw complaintants. Thanks.
[3:21:28] Okay. So, we do have a motion on the floor.
[3:21:39] Ah, yes. Uh, so highlighted in yellow 
on the screen. Uh, so, councelor Joel,  
[3:21:44] you can see that. So, there's the original 
uh motion that was uh um moved by councelor  
[3:21:51] Hillian and seconded, but then there is a 
potential amendment recommended by staff  
[3:21:56] that the council authorized staff to 
finalize a good neighbor agreement,  
[3:21:59] including approval of minor amendments. And maybe 
I'll pass it over to councelor Hillian. Yeah,  
[3:22:05] I think that makes sense. I would suggest 
adding the word recommended in front of good
[3:22:12] the recommended good neighbor agreement. And then 
that's staff makes those minor amendments and  
[3:22:19] attaches it to this letter that goes to the the 
liquor branch. And to councelor Jelicker's point,  
[3:22:26] uh it's it still ends up being an agreement 
as proposed as recommended between the city,  
[3:22:34] the business, and the RCMP. Um it's up to the 
liquor licensing branch whether they want that to  
[3:22:42] be part of it or not. And but if if they do, then 
it comes comes back to the city, the business,  
[3:22:49] and the RCMP to actually sign the agreement. 
All right. Thanks for that. Um I don't see Oh,  
[3:22:56] councelor M. Oh, don't apologize. So the Have we 
seen what the RCMP is submitting to the liquor  
[3:23:06] branch? like are they saying something about 
um contingent on a good neighbor agreement
[3:23:17] um through the mayor to council. 
So the the LCRB does reach out to  
[3:23:23] uh the RCMP individually and then as a 
part of our process we do we also reach  
[3:23:28] out to the RCMP. So we don't see what the 
RCMP's direct response to the LCB would be.  
[3:23:34] um we only see what they send us and uh it 
was a short email and it did recommend the  
[3:23:39] good neighbor agreement for for us but we 
don't see what what else they're sending.  
[3:23:43] So that will go what if we pass this excuse me 
resolution all that correspondence about the  
[3:23:49] RCMP recommending to us to have a good neighbor 
agreement will be part of that package. Okay.
[3:24:01] Okay. Oh, I'm seeing nods, but maybe just 
say yes so that councelor Joliger can also  
[3:24:09] uh through the mayor. Yes, we're going to include 
all the materials that we've received. All right.  
[3:24:14] Thanks for that. You're taking a beat. Okay. All 
those in favor? Any opposed? I have three opposed.  
[3:24:29] Um I think I'm gonna pull council just 
since we have online as well. I I have
[3:24:42] opposed. Who is the third opposed? Councelor Mren
[3:24:49] and I'm voting in the affirmative with 
councelor Hillian and councelor Fresh I believe.
[3:25:06] So if CL staff could just clarify what that 
means for this application at this point in time,  
[3:25:12] Mr. Garvin. So the resolution that was 
proposed failed and so we don't have any  
[3:25:19] comment now uh on the application. So, 
it would be at council's discretion to  
[3:25:23] either for the matter or make a subsequent 
resolution. Move the staff recommendation.
[3:25:35] Okay, that's been moved and seconded. We've 
had lots of discussion, so I don't anticipate  
[3:25:39] any more. All those in favor? Any opposed? 
Councelor Hilly and Councelor Fresh opposed.
[3:25:51] and I'll I'll vote in favor.
[3:26:04] Okay, moving on to item 8.3.1, permissive 
tax exemption policy update. And we'll  
[3:26:13] um pass it over uh or we have the permissive tax 
exemption policy update. So, I'll pass it over to  
[3:26:18] Mr. Langmire. Nice to be here once again, council. 
Before us is an updated permissive tax exemption  
[3:26:26] policy as directed by council last fall. So, there 
are a number of changes that occurred within the  
[3:26:32] policy as directed by council. I'm going to go 
over a a few of the important ones. So, a key one  
[3:26:37] is exemption duration. The policy goes to a 4-year 
uh bylaw cycle and this is to align with council's  
[3:26:45] term and to reduce the overall administration time 
and burden of the annual permissive tax exemption  
[3:26:51] policy process. We'll likely still see an annual 
permissive tax exemption bylaw come to council,  
[3:26:59] but it'll be much smaller because it'll be um only 
addressing the new applicants and any applicants  
[3:27:04] that had some sort of change within the year or 
upcoming year. A major change is the exemption by  
[3:27:11] activity. And within the policy, there's a table 
in the activity type and there's definitions the  
[3:27:16] activities. Historically, the city's permissive 
tax exemption was either at 100% and that was  
[3:27:23] typically for um grandfather or quite longstanding 
organizations within the community. Uh within a  
[3:27:31] policy update that occurred several years 
ago, if an organization provided services  
[3:27:37] to the entire region versus strictly city of 
Courtney residents, the exemption was based  
[3:27:42] at 40% versus 100. By moving to an exemption by 
activity, it really allows the municipality and  
[3:27:48] council to focus where they put this report uh 
into the different types of activities provided.
[3:27:56] We're continuing on with the exemption cap of 2% 
of the prior year's municipal taxation. We've made  
[3:28:02] the language clear that is based on just the 
municipal portion of taxation. In the past,  
[3:28:07] there's been questions on well, is it the 
municipal plus the other taxing authorities  
[3:28:11] or is it all together or just the one? So 
it's very much just the municipal portion.  
[3:28:17] The 2% cap is what was used historically and 
it it is we have not exceeded the cap. We are  
[3:28:26] nearing it but it's been a a pretty 
good gauge. Uh it is representative  
[3:28:32] what other municipalities are doing. Some 
have a lower cap, some have a higher cap.
[3:28:39] There are uh a few properties that are captured 
under an existing 10-year bylaw. There are no  
[3:28:45] recommendations to change those bylaws. We'll 
let those run the course. And at the end of  
[3:28:50] those permissive tax exemption bylaws, any 
changes that occurred under the new policy  
[3:28:55] will take effect at that time. Recognizing that 
some organizations could see a change in the  
[3:29:03] value of their permissive tax exemption policy 
or tax exemption value, the policies includes  
[3:29:09] transitional pro provisions to smooth out uh the 
big taxation changes. So written into it is if  
[3:29:16] the organization sees more than a $5,000 change 
in the exemption, that change will be phased  
[3:29:23] in over a period of of five years. The financial 
impact of the policy change um okay the financial  
[3:29:35] impact currently the permissive the total value 
of exemption is just over a million dollars.  
[3:29:45] The proposed policy would see this exemption drop 
to 400 to $743,000. This represents a reduction of  
[3:29:53] about 26%. 14 organizations will see an increase 
in the permissive tax exemption value while 31  
[3:30:01] organizations will see a decrease. And I should 
say when I reference the current exemption total  
[3:30:07] is 1 million. That includes the municipal 
portion and the other taxing authorities.
[3:30:14] The policy would take effect for applications 
received through 2027 and the tax change would be  
[3:30:22] in the 2028 year. This gives staff time to create 
a new application and allow the notification to  
[3:30:29] organizations to apply under the new policy 
and to organizations that might not have ever  
[3:30:35] applied in the past. Further, this timing actually 
aligns with the second year of a new council term.  
[3:30:42] And with that, I'm open to questions. Excellent. 
Thanks for uh bringing this forward. I know it  
[3:30:48] was much anticipated by council. I'll 
pass it over to councelor FR. Thanks,  
[3:30:52] mayor. Uh can you remind me, do other levels 
of government pay municipal taxes? So,  
[3:30:58] provincial government that 
owns a shelter for instance,
[3:31:03] that is a very um I'll leave I'll leave 
specific question. Yeah. So if it's the  
[3:31:09] the the provincial and federal governments do not 
pay property taxes as we levy them. They pay up  
[3:31:17] uh uh grants in lie of taxes is a an amount that 
is very close to what we would tax but we do not  
[3:31:25] send the provincial or federal government tax 
bills. The specific question about supportive  
[3:31:31] housing if the province only one the approach 
is to assess the value of supportive housing at  
[3:31:39] $1. So they technically pay tax but the value 
is only a dollar. So it is essentially non-t  
[3:31:45] taxable for the entire property. That is 
correct. Okay. Thanks. Thanks councelor  
[3:31:52] Fr and councelor. Okay. And I do, just so 
you know, I do see councelor Joler online,  
[3:31:57] but it's not your turn. It's councelor. Yeah, 
thanks mayor. I just want to clarify in the  
[3:32:03] past I've disqualified myself uh and then 
we had uh we amended the process so I didn't  
[3:32:09] need to because I sit on the board of one of the 
organizations that's being considered. But this  
[3:32:14] uh u proposal tonight is essentially establishing 
policy. We're not actually deciding on the  
[3:32:23] uh the uh organizations involved and what the 
exemption they get or are we? Excellent question.  
[3:32:31] Thanks. I'll start by saying I'm not a lawyer 
um but staff have discussed this and feel that  
[3:32:35] this is similar to the OCP where you are making 
general changes but you're not making specific  
[3:32:40] decisions about properties. So, for example, 
um the permissive tax bylaws will come back  
[3:32:46] to council and at that point you'll be making 
specific decisions about properties. Of course,  
[3:32:50] um council should always be aware of any um 
influences and participate in the discussion if  
[3:32:57] they feel that it is appropriate for them. Thanks 
very much. Thanks, Councelor and Councelor Ziller.
[3:33:06] Um, I do have a few questions, so I'm happy to 
get back in line, but first just really appreciate  
[3:33:11] the the policy and us uh clarifying a lot here. 
There's obviously been a lot of thinking that's  
[3:33:18] gone into this and appreciate um the attachment 
of the consultant report to refresh my memory on  
[3:33:23] some of the comparables that was done and the the 
research around best practice across the province.  
[3:33:30] Um I guess um what I didn't see in the consultant 
report and it's not necessarily explicitly  
[3:33:36] mentioned in the staff report either is um and 
yeah maybe the consultant or the staff can speak  
[3:33:45] to policies PTE policies across the province 
that address organizations that receive core  
[3:33:51] operational funding from provincial bodies 
that those provincial bodies can fund taxes  
[3:33:59] um specific Specifically, I guess I'm 
thinking about social service organizations  
[3:34:02] or organizations that receive core funding for 
heritage or cultural services in our community.  
[3:34:09] Um, and the reason I ask that is because we we do 
ask for financials as part of the new policy. Um,  
[3:34:18] and I through that we'll be able to see revenue 
and where those organizations get a lot of their  
[3:34:23] funding. And um I think it's kind of one of these 
things we often hear about in the community around  
[3:34:29] um the role of municipal government in um 
overseeing or addressing or or having to  
[3:34:37] front the bill for provincial related um spaces 
including the the things I listed social services  
[3:34:44] come top of mind. Um, so I'm just kind of 
curious if in the research if anything like  
[3:34:49] that came up or in any conversations with the 
consultant around the ways in which some of our  
[3:34:55] partners in the community who apply for PTE 
might be able to uh successfully uh receive  
[3:35:01] funding for taxes. So we do have Chris Payne 
on the line who has worked extensively on that  
[3:35:09] original report for the permissive tax and did 
the background research. Uh I do want to say  
[3:35:15] at the start though the policy as presented 
does not include looking at that and changing  
[3:35:24] the exemption amount as it wasn't uh specific 
council direction uh given back in the fall.
[3:35:35] But I would like Chris can speak to what 
he has seen across the other provincial  
[3:35:44] research you did. Uh yeah, thank you. Uh how's my 
uh sound coming through? Perfect. Okay. Excellent.  
[3:35:52] Um I will note that um I have not come across 
any policy that uh speaks specifically to um  
[3:36:00] what is funding those organizations that are under 
consideration. Um however as the counselor points  
[3:36:06] out there are several uh policies that uh allude 
to financial ability and whether or not that  
[3:36:14] should be considered. Uh so no it doesn't really 
talk uh specifically about who is funding but  
[3:36:20] um but uh it is common for policies to 
require financial disclosures so that  
[3:36:26] um council and the public can ascertain where 
the funding is coming from if they so choose.
[3:36:35] Excellent. Thanks for that. And uh councelor Fr. 
Yeah, I was just um I think one of the ones that's  
[3:36:43] changing is um is the Sid Williams. Is that am I 
correct in that that that's their their exemption  
[3:36:50] is dropping from 100% to 40%. Yes. uh based on 
the type of service provided. The organizations  
[3:36:57] with service agreements with the city uh some of 
those agreements have specific language around  
[3:37:03] u tax exemption and that would be something 
you would have to bring forward at the time  
[3:37:08] of considering the permissive tax exemption. 
Okay. Thank you. And councelor Shel again.  
[3:37:18] Um so just reviewing the policy really 
appreciate it's quite robust now. Uh I  
[3:37:23] do have I think two questions from the draft 
policy. Um one being um the long list of of  
[3:37:31] documentation we're requesting of applicants which 
I actually really support and appreciate. But I  
[3:37:36] noted that we and maybe it's because it's covered 
elsewhere but we don't actually ask for proof of  
[3:37:43] uh good standing with the BC societies act. Um, so 
wondering if if staff have any comments on that.
[3:37:56] I don't have actually any comments on that one. 
Uh, we do ask for financial statements and you  
[3:38:01] would typically have to be in good standing with 
society act. That is something been added though.  
[3:38:10] Okay. Um, mayor, am I good to go with my second 
question? Yes. Okay. There's a section I'm just  
[3:38:16] trying to pull it up that speaks to and I app I am 
in favor of the shift to the four-year um but in  
[3:38:23] the policy um there's some language here around 
I think it's on page three of the draft policy  
[3:38:31] second paragraph council may consider applications 
for exemptions exceeding one year to a maximum  
[3:38:37] of 10 years. Um um and then it goes on to say 
that those organizations receiving multi-year  
[3:38:44] exemptions may still be required to provide um 
annual reporting. And so the the the word may  
[3:38:51] kind of spoke to me. And so I wanted clarity. You 
know, we're not requiring annual reporting for  
[3:38:57] those who have, you know, that will be in these 
this new 4-year cycle that we have or is that  
[3:39:04] just old language we haven't removed? The idea 
of not requiring annual reporting for the regular  
[3:39:11] four-year cycle is to reduce the administrative 
burden. In the event that we have uh a tenure,  
[3:39:17] which would be outside of the the normal uh PTE 
path, I wanted the language in there that we  
[3:39:24] may ask for the specific type of documentation. 
what scenario that um may actually end up being,  
[3:39:33] I'm not sure, but it leaves us the flexibility to, 
you know, the council to consider a 10ear bylaw,  
[3:39:38] but still have a couple stipulations upon it. 
Right. And as a follow-up, mayor, to that,  
[3:39:44] um, just really quickly, um, so we are covered 
in the policy though, if something changes for  
[3:39:50] an organization, they are still required to 
inform us, um, as part of the even though  
[3:39:58] we're not requiring them to send us annual 
reporting. If something changes, they move,  
[3:40:02] they they they get a million dollar donation, 
I don't know, right? But they have to kind of  
[3:40:07] inform us of that. That's part of the policy and 
part of the also the clause around removing them  
[3:40:13] from PT if they don't inform us of any major 
changes. Yes, that is correct. Okay. Thanks.
[3:40:22] Um Cole Hamilton. Yeah. Thanks, [clears throat] 
Mayor. My uh my thinking on this is that this is  
[3:40:31] a fairly significant change. Um, and it's going 
to result in, I think, probably about a4 million  
[3:40:38] dollars worth of tax burden being redistributed. 
And I noticed that, you know, given that we're  
[3:40:43] now at the very end of July, we are now into the 
pre- campaign period of an election year. And my  
[3:40:51] understanding is that because of various aspects 
of timing, any change that was made here wouldn't  
[3:40:57] apply next year. would not it would it would be a 
um a further year into the future before it could  
[3:41:03] be um before it could be actioned. And given that 
there is that amount of time and that this is a  
[3:41:11] fun fundamental um change um and that we're sort 
of on the doorstep of an election, I um when we  
[3:41:19] get past proceed, I think I I would be inclined 
to um to have a motion uh deferring it until  
[3:41:28] uh early 2027 following the election when a new 
council is in place and able to express their  
[3:41:35] priorities rather than us at sort of the 11th hour 
of this term uh making a fairly fundamental policy  
[3:41:41] decision. Um and uh anyway, I'm happy to make a 
motion along those lines when we get to the point  
[3:41:48] of uh of when once we get beyond receipt. Thanks, 
Councelor Cole Hamilton. Appreciate that. Uh  
[3:41:55] councelor Fr. Yeah. Um I guess I just have a quick 
comment. I don't even know if it's a question,  
[3:42:01] but I noticed that that the Quantis village 
would be reduced to 0% exemption for their senior  
[3:42:08] housing. Um, it looks to be around $37,000 of 
extra taxes that we would collect from them. And  
[3:42:14] u I guess just out loud, I'm just wondering what 
that means for their bottom line. And I guess the  
[3:42:20] question would be then is um sort of what's the 
rationale around that that piece of taking it  
[3:42:27] away from housing? And I know you mentioned in the 
report, but you could just say it out loud for me.  
[3:42:33] Mr. Garrick. Yeah. Thanks. So I just this is Mr. 
Langmire and Mr. Payne's work, but I just say the  
[3:42:39] I just want to remind council that the matters 
that we are providing uh information on is it's  
[3:42:45] council's direction from our previous engagement 
that took a couple of reports to get here. So  
[3:42:50] uh the reason why we're coming forward particular 
particularly wow that's a new word particularly  
[3:42:57] in respect to housing uh was directly as a result 
of council's consideration. So the other category  
[3:43:05] was where housing was landing and that's why 
that's in front. So ultimately if council  
[3:43:10] uh doesn't want to clarify that then they could 
give some specific direction but the reason why  
[3:43:16] we're talking about this is because council asked 
us to do that. Yeah. Thanks for reminding me then.  
[3:43:22] I'll leave it at that for actually well I do 
have another question. Um if that's okay. Uh  
[3:43:27] there's a stipulation in here about um and this 
is kind of what brought up the whole redoing our  
[3:43:32] tax exemption bylaw is um not making disparaging 
remarks about uh other organizations. I believe is  
[3:43:40] is did I say that correctly? Was close enough. 
And I'm just wondering what that process would  
[3:43:46] look like then. Have you guys contemplated what 
what you know does someone just come up and say  
[3:43:53] I heard someone making a disparaging remark 
or have you contemplated how that process  
[3:43:57] might unfold if someone accuses one of these 
organizations from making such remarks? Again,  
[3:44:03] this goes back to the discussion was had in the 
fall. Uh in that prior report, it talked about  
[3:44:09] a number of different ways a council could uh 
provide input or judgment or provide direction  
[3:44:17] on how that applies. What came out of that council 
direction was specifically adding that wording.  
[3:44:25] What I foresee occurring is it it gives uh council 
the the policy background to make a decision at  
[3:44:32] the time that a permissive tax exemption bylaw 
is put before them. And so it really becomes a  
[3:44:38] decision of council because it is challenging for 
for staff to quantify or really determine what  
[3:44:47] that is. Fair enough. Feel the same way. Thanks, 
Mr. P. Yeah, thank you. Through through the chair,  
[3:44:55] sorry, through the mayor. Uh just to uh reinforce 
uh the statement from our staff, ultimately  
[3:45:01] uh council was uh looking for a way to ensure that 
the permissive tax exemption was in alignment with  
[3:45:09] the organization's objectives. And ultimately, 
if there was a a misalignment, that would have  
[3:45:15] to have been documented. I I don't anticipate 
that it would be hearsay or we heard this.  
[3:45:21] uh you know the the the universe is very uh 
there's a lot of information out there and  
[3:45:26] so if there was a situation whereby we had a 
applicant or a current recipient that would  
[3:45:32] be in for renewal then that would be a topic that 
would be raised and there was a reference to the  
[3:45:37] uh cardinal direction from our community plan and 
there's there's a few ways to measure that. Uh so  
[3:45:45] I I think it was council's intention to have um a 
frame of reference that that they that would would  
[3:45:51] be pretty easy to understand. Uh and uh these 
are you know sort of public public standards  
[3:45:58] related to uh the values of the organization 
that are pretty well articulated. Thanks for  
[3:46:07] that and councelor. Thanks mayor. Um yeah two 
questions. First clarification on the child care  
[3:46:18] um issue which has caused us grief for many years. 
um child care is specifically mentioned as being  
[3:46:27] eligible childcare facility, but there's also um 
in I believe in the criteria a stipulation that  
[3:46:36] uh we're not going to give an exemption 
to any organization that's competing with  
[3:46:43] uh another organization in the community. That was 
our dilemma with child care all along. So how are  
[3:46:50] we squaring that circle? Uh within the policy it 
identifies social programming is including child  
[3:46:56] care and it being specifically identified would 
be how the recommendation to include a child care  
[3:47:03] application versus something else that may be not 
considered right now that then would compete with  
[3:47:11] uh for-profit enterprise. But I mean 
there are child care operators who are  
[3:47:15] for-profit enterprises and there's others 
that are in nonprofit society. So is that  
[3:47:20] the distinction that we would be making? The 
we cannot give a permissive tax exemption to  
[3:47:27] the for-profit enterprises but we can to 
the not for-profit. So by specifically  
[3:47:34] identifying that the child care falls into 
that social programming category of exemption,  
[3:47:40] that's how we would provide the the specific child 
care exemption. All right. Um my other question is  
[3:47:47] that um there's policy that clarifies if a um 
an eligible organization is doesn't own their  
[3:47:55] property but is leasing it and how that works. Um, 
but I didn't notice the community justice center,  
[3:48:02] which that applies to, um, in the list. Um, so 
I'm not sure if they're still on our list or if,  
[3:48:09] uh, if they've been left out by mistake or if an 
organization is leasing, they are still welcome to  
[3:48:17] apply. We want to document though that any tax 
savings are directly passed on to the NPO and  
[3:48:26] is not just absorbed by the landlord, right? 
um if that organization is not on the list,  
[3:48:31] they must not have applied say basis on prior 
year's information. Okay. Thanks. Yeah. And and I  
[3:48:37] think over the years uh I've often been surprised 
by organizations that obviously should be getting  
[3:48:42] a tax exemption and and they weren't. And so uh 
um it it's just one of those things that that  
[3:48:48] can happen. Um so uh councelor Joel Lur. Yeah, 
thanks Mayor. Just a quick note, it is in the uh  
[3:48:55] community justice is in the appendix in the Excel 
sheet uh for councelor Hillian. They're there. Um  
[3:49:02] um and to the comment around disparaging, it's 
specific to identifiable groups within the context  
[3:49:08] of the human rights framework and human rights 
legislation. So, it's a very specific group. Um I  
[3:49:15] guess yeah, I'm happy to support this. It's been 
a long time coming. It was clear direction from  
[3:49:19] council for us to work on this. Um I understand 
the concerns around um a election year. However,  
[3:49:27] this has been on our on our strategic priorities 
list for a while. Um and I did note though that  
[3:49:34] um given that this is a change a positive 
change for many organizations and more of  
[3:49:40] a burden for others. So there's there's actually 
a mix of folks in this group for this new policy.  
[3:49:46] But I'm wondering if staff can just speak to the 
approach and it's in the policy, but I think it's  
[3:49:51] just good to name for those who are maybe watching 
and for council as well just the transition period  
[3:49:57] um and the thinking that's gone into that. Um 
I believe it's uh over a period of five years,  
[3:50:03] but I'm wondering if staff can just speak to 
how they're thinking that might roll out and  
[3:50:07] the communication and the timing um for the 2028 
uh permissive tax year or 2027 for that matter.  
[3:50:17] So, in the event council adopts this policy, staff 
will start creating the new application process  
[3:50:24] and communicate out for existing applicants and 
to to new applicants to apply within that new  
[3:50:32] application process. will see who applies, 
fit, slot them into the category that they  
[3:50:40] should fit into, and then compare to what kind 
of change in exemption they would have received  
[3:50:45] if they have already been in the program. At 
that point, if we see something over $5,000,  
[3:50:51] we'll make the recommendation to phase 
that change in. And so you'd see one of  
[3:50:57] the increase each year until they're at 
the uh appropriate amount per the policy.
[3:51:07] All right. Thank thanks for articulating 
that and uh um I I yeah I I definitely  
[3:51:16] relieved to see this coming forward but again 
I do understand the timing is is problematic.  
[3:51:22] Um [clears throat] uh if I were to make a comment 
on, uh the tax exemption listing for the nonprofit  
[3:51:30] organizations really becomes a formatting one. I 
think this kind of captures what we're thinking.  
[3:51:35] Maybe there needs to be some tweaks here and 
there, but uh uh one of the big challenges because  
[3:51:40] it is justified vertically uh fully justified 
vertically uh centered um when you're reading  
[3:51:47] across if any one of the cells is bigger all of 
a sudden that you can't just follow it with your  
[3:51:54] eye across. So given if it keeps that formatting I 
would definitely put the lines in across for those  
[3:51:59] rows just so it makes it a little bit easier. 
For the ones that are just a single line it's  
[3:52:03] fine. it's the ones with multiple lines, it gets 
a lot little bit harder to track. And then when  
[3:52:08] you're trying to find something like I think the 
community justice uh center might be an example  
[3:52:14] where one of the cells is like massive and the 
other ones are smaller and so it can just make it  
[3:52:19] a little bit wobbly there. So um but uh with that 
uh councelor Cole Hamilton. Yeah, thanks Mayor. Um  
[3:52:28] I see we're dispensing with receipt. I I think 
there's no more questions. Yep. All right. Um,  
[3:52:35] so I would move we defer um this decision and this 
staff report until a meeting uh in early 2027 when  
[3:52:44] the new council is elected and in a position to 
um express priorities for themselves. So that it  
[3:52:51] be deferred until uh early 2027. Okay, it's 
been moved and seconded. Councelor F. Yeah,  
[3:52:59] the only problem I see with that is that um you 
know, we won't be sending it out for feedback. I  
[3:53:04] would assume like if we pass some readings of it, 
then it'll kind of be out in the ether and be a  
[3:53:10] little more prevalent in people's minds. And if 
we don't do that, then we wouldn't maybe get the  
[3:53:15] feedback back. But um you don't see a problem with 
pushing it off a few months? Oh, okay. But yep,  
[3:53:25] I think given that it won't have impact uh until 
2028, I don't think there's anything necessarily  
[3:53:31] lost on that. And um I think there may be opinions 
like it could be that future council looks at the  
[3:53:37] other housing category of 0% and decides that 
perhaps not for-p profofit housing should be a  
[3:53:43] something. And the more I look at it, uh we find 
ourselves forced to vote on that tonight. That's  
[3:53:48] something I'm going to need to talk about as well. 
I I I think there's um there's a lot good here,  
[3:53:53] but it's coming to us late in the game. Um 
and again has that that lag time that it's  
[3:54:01] not going to take effect till 2028. So I think 
that perhaps allowing for um consideration in the  
[3:54:07] in the new year makes makes sense to me. Sounds 
wise. [clears throat] Thanks. Yeah. And I mean,  
[3:54:12] yeah, I I think anytime after the election 
and and again trying to get into the nuanced  
[3:54:18] conversations that I think councelor Cole Hamilton 
is is alluding to there where it's like, you know,  
[3:54:23] there may be organizations where they're funded 
from the province and so tax exemptions really  
[3:54:29] don't affect them um or uh or otherwise, but it's 
it's for deferrals. So, we'll get back to that.  
[3:54:35] Um all those in favor of deferral. Any 
opposed? Councelor Joler is opposition.
[3:54:46] So this motion is now deferred. All 
right. Or motion is carried. Motion  
[3:54:53] to defer is carried. My apologies for misspeaking  
[3:54:57] there. Uh on to 8.4.1. The Courtney Wreck 
membership and admission fees for 2027.
[3:55:08] and I'll pass it over to Miss Saunders. I'm just 
gonna buy Kathy some time. Uh [laughter] Kathy  
[3:55:15] Collins, our manager of recreation programming, 
is going to introduce um the Courtney Recreation  
[3:55:20] membership and admission fees for 2027. Uh and 
then she'll just pass it back to me at the end  
[3:55:25] uh to provide an edit on the recommendation 
uh that's in the report. Fantastic. Uh,  
[3:55:32] let me put on the podium mic there for you. 
All right. Thank you. Floor is yours. Uh,  
[3:55:38] through the mayor to council, as Susie uh said, 
I'm here to present the report on Courtney  
[3:55:43] Recreation's proposed admission and membership 
fee rates for 2027. Recreation admission fees  
[3:55:49] and memberships have not been increased 
since 2023. Historically, fee adjustments  
[3:55:54] have been based primarily on comparisons with 
surrounding municipalities and market rates.  
[3:55:59] In 2022, council adopted the recreation fees 
and charges framework, which established that a  
[3:56:04] benefits based approach to recreating recreation 
pricing. This framework provides clear direction  
[3:56:10] that municipal subsidies should be applied where 
community benefits are the greatest. In addition,  
[3:56:16] Cornney Recreation's emission age categories 
have not been comprehensively reviewed for  
[3:56:20] many years and no longer reflect current 
industry standards or today's life stages.  
[3:56:26] Staff are therefore recommending three 
key changes effective January 1st,  
[3:56:29] 2027. The first change is modernizing the 
age categories. The proposed age categories  
[3:56:36] better reflect current industry standards in 
today's stages of life. The two key changes  
[3:56:41] include expanding the youth and young adult age 
category from ages 13 to 24 which would replace  
[3:56:47] the current youth student category of ages 
12 to 18 uh which also included post-secary  
[3:56:53] students who were able to prove uh eligible 
enrollment. The proposed change uh would better  
[3:56:59] support youth and young adults during important 
educational employment and life transitions.  
[3:57:04] Secondly, we are proposing the introduction of a 
dedicated senior admission rate starting at age  
[3:57:09] 65 for the first time in Courtney Recreation's fee 
structure. Uh it should be noted that while many  
[3:57:15] uh of our surrounding municipalities begin senior 
pricing at the age of 60, staff recommend age 65  
[3:57:21] uh because it aligns with the province's 
definition of senior. And additionally,  
[3:57:25] uh, staff recommend that the city continue 
to provide an additional benefit to Evergreen  
[3:57:30] Club members by offering the senior rate to club 
members who are at the age of 55 and older. The  
[3:57:37] second recommendation applies the count council's 
benefits based fees and charges framework by  
[3:57:42] aligning subsidy levels where community benefit 
is the highest. This would impact our fees in  
[3:57:47] the proposed age categories in the following ways. 
For adult emission fees, um we've noted that they  
[3:57:53] haven't kept pace with the increasing operational 
costs and remain below comparable municipality  
[3:57:58] recreation centers. Uh the adult emission rate 
serves as the foundation for cost recovery and  
[3:58:03] is based on the direct daily operational costs 
associated to the service delivery of the  
[3:58:08] wellness center. As the jump to full cost recovery 
would place the adult fee out of market value,  
[3:58:14] uh we are recommending an increase of 75 cents 
at this time in recognition that fees have not  
[3:58:19] changed in over 3 years and to align with current 
market rates. Staff are recommending increasing  
[3:58:25] adult mission fee from 675 to 750 including tax. 
Uh I wanted to note one correction on page six  
[3:58:33] of the report. Um the cost recovery rate pre-tax 
should have been noted at $1.37 rather than the  
[3:58:40] amount shown of $1.69 uh which would have been 
above the current admission fee to get to the um  
[3:58:45] rec cost recovery weight rate. Um staff are also 
recommending approval of an annual 2% increase  
[3:58:53] rounded to the nearest 5 cents post tax until such 
time as staff can return with the multi-year fees  
[3:59:01] and charges by law. It is anticipated a 2% annual 
increase from the proposed new fee uh that would  
[3:59:07] take approximately 6 years to achieve the cost 
recovery rate of 780 pre-tax. This phased approach  
[3:59:14] gradually improves cost recovery while reducing 
reliance on tax subsidy. Uh for youth young adult  
[3:59:20] emissions, staff are recommending a consistent 
50% discount from the adult admission rate. As  
[3:59:26] the youth fee is currently $4 including tax and 
therefore greater than 50% of the proposed adult  
[3:59:32] rate, it's recommended that youth admission 
fees remain unchanged at $4 including tax. It  
[3:59:39] is recommended that youth fees not increase 
until the fee reflects 50% subsidy rate and  
[3:59:43] then would increase 2% annually in alignment with 
the adult fee. Maintaining the current youth rate  
[3:59:50] improves affordability, encourages lifelong 
participation, recreation, and supports the  
[3:59:54] city's commitment to investing in youth. For 
senior admission, staff are recommending a  
[4:00:00] consistent 25% discount from the adult admission 
rate. This results in a proposed senior admission  
[4:00:05] fee of $5.60 including tax. The senior's rate 
would also include an increase annually 2% to  
[4:00:13] maintain the established 25% subsidy relative 
to the adult rate. This creates a consistent  
[4:00:18] pricing approach while supporting healthy aging 
through affordable recreational opportunities.
[4:00:25] Courtney Recreation remains committed to 
equitable access by reducing financial  
[4:00:28] barriers to participation. Uh the recreation 
access program known as RAP and the regional  
[4:00:33] leisure for everyone access program known 
as LEAP uses Statistics Canada's low income  
[4:00:38] measure to determine ED eligibility. Um, RAP con 
currently provides eligible Courtney residents  
[4:00:44] with an annual subsidy for memberships and 
registered programs and 52 complimentary  
[4:00:49] drop-in visits each year. If council approves the 
new age categories, those same categories will be  
[4:00:56] reflected in recreation access program eligibility 
to ensure consistency across recreation services.  
[4:01:03] Staff are also recommending that council 
direct a review of the recreation access  
[4:01:07] program scholarship amount so they align with the 
proposed benefits based pricing approach, ensuring  
[4:01:13] subsidies continue to provide the greatest support 
where community benefit is the highest. The last  
[4:01:19] key change for 2027 is that membership pricing 
has been updated using the same benefit-based  
[4:01:24] philos philosophy as the admissions, creating a 
simple, transparent and consistent approach across  
[4:01:30] fitness, the wellness center and squash. For 
fitness in the wellness center, membership options  
[4:01:35] have been streamlined to 1, three, and 12-month 
terms, reflecting the options most frequently  
[4:01:40] purchased by customers. Whereas for squash, it 
has been streamlined to a punch card option for  
[4:01:45] a one-year option based and a one-year option 
based on usage. As a result, uh the six-month  
[4:01:51] memberships will be discontinued due to low 
demand. Staff are also recommending a new exciting  
[4:01:58] combination membership in response to customer 
feedback. Uh this membership provides access to  
[4:02:04] the wellness center, drop in fitness classes 
and squash under one single membership. This  
[4:02:09] would eliminate the need to purch for one person 
to purchase multiple memberships for part for all  
[4:02:14] the participants who use multiple services. The 
combination membership will initially be offered  
[4:02:19] as a one and three-month option uh while staff 
evaluate um the demand and the customer uptake.  
[4:02:26] Overall, these recommendations modernize Courtney 
Recreation's pricing structure by aligning fees  
[4:02:31] with council policy, current industry practices, 
and community needs. They maintain affordable  
[4:02:36] access for youth and seniors, establish a 
transparent and equitable approach to recreation  
[4:02:41] pricing, including modernizing age categories, 
and move adult emission fees towards sustainable  
[4:02:46] cost recovery while continuing to provide the 
high quality recreation services that we like  
[4:02:51] to do. Um, and that's [clears throat] it for me. 
I'm just going to pass it back to Susie quickly.
[4:03:01] Thank you. Through the merit council, as you'll 
see on the screen, thank you to Miss Proton. We  
[4:03:05] have an suggested edit to the recommendation in 
that uh last paragraph that council directs staff  
[4:03:11] to increase adult emission membership and punch 
cards, sorry, annually by 2% rounded up to the  
[4:03:17] nearest 5 cents including tax uh and adjustth and 
young adult and senior fees accordingly based on  
[4:03:23] the benefits. based model. Uh this is specifically 
because we do have many people who still who do  
[4:03:28] pay cash uh for their admissions and so when 
we have a fee, we want to make sure that it is  
[4:03:33] rounded up to the nearest 5 cents to make that uh 
simple and easy um and that we're doing that post  
[4:03:39] uh or inclusive of tax. Uh so we just wanted to 
make sure that was clear in the recommendation.  
[4:03:44] If we do a 2% increase, we will end up with uh 
numbers that are harder to administer um with  
[4:03:50] the public. And so this just clarifies uh how we 
practically apply that uh annual increase. And  
[4:03:56] we're happy to take any questions. Excellent. 
Thanks so much for that. And we'll start with  
[4:04:02] councelor Fr. And uh we do have coun uh councelor 
Morren on uh in the room and then councelor.  
[4:04:08] Thanks Mayor. Um you mentioned that uh was it 
the adult drop in rate? You didn't feel like  
[4:04:14] you could you were doing you were comparing it 
to market rate. I'm like what's market rate at  
[4:04:19] $7? Are you talking about other municipalities as 
market rate? Yeah, good question. Yeah. Yeah. Um,  
[4:04:24] so these rates are fabulously low, which I think 
is exactly what we want, we need. So, I love the  
[4:04:30] work you did and uh happy to support it. Thanks. 
Thanks, Councelor Fish. Councelor Mo. Great.  
[4:04:37] Thanks. Um, thank you. Thanks for um hanging 
in there. You've been here a long time tonight.  
[4:04:43] Um, so in terms of uh just because this has come 
up a lot this week, um, Courtney residents don't  
[4:04:53] get any perks by being a Courtney resident. 
No, [laughter] other than living in Courtney,  
[4:05:01] um, and people have brought up, you know, the the 
idea about being able to use passes throughout  
[4:05:09] um, the valley. So, I'm just wondering I know 
we've had that conversation, but I just wondered  
[4:05:14] if there's been any update around those kind of 
discussions um and whether you have any knowledge  
[4:05:20] of um yeah, you know, the the municipality having 
a preferred resident rate. That's better. I'll let  
[4:05:29] Susie speak to the preferred resident rate, 
but I'm happy to respond about the regional  
[4:05:33] membership. No. Okay. Thanks. Kathy, do you want 
to go first? I'm actually going to pull up some  
[4:05:37] data for uh councelor Morin on the uh regional 
use, but if you want to go ahead. Okay. Um yeah,  
[4:05:44] thank you for the question. So through uh mayor to 
council I actually sat on the joint intermunicipal  
[4:05:50] committee when we did the review um about a 
regional pass and uh that's actually how leap  
[4:05:56] originated because uh what we discovered at that 
time oh I cannot remember the year I think it was  
[4:06:02] precoid just slightly precoid um lots of interest 
but not a willingness to pay so it kind of fell  
[4:06:09] off at that point because that's typically what 
you know people what we we are seeing So, right.  
[4:06:15] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for refreshing my memory 
and what I haven't heard any uh requests for that  
[4:06:22] lately in terms of all the other requests we've 
gotten. Yeah. Yeah. It hasn't stood out as a as a  
[4:06:27] a key request. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you through 
the mayor to counselor Morren just to build on  
[4:06:34] your uh question about sort of resident based 
pricing. Uh we haven't explored that at this time.  
[4:06:41] We don't have direction from council to explore 
it at this time, but the last time as part of the  
[4:06:46] regional pass um discussion, so that was in 2022. 
Uh the data that we pulled for Courtney recreation  
[4:06:53] on usage uh showed that 86% of users were from 
the city of Courtney. So uh the percentage of  
[4:07:00] folks who are accessing Courtney Recreation from 
outside of Courtney is uh less than 15%. So not  
[4:07:07] would be worth it to date necessarily and that's 
reflective when we looked at Komox Cumberland  
[4:07:13] uh their recreation um registrations it was 
all very similar. So we all have very similar  
[4:07:20] um reflections of the residents using recreation 
within their communities and a little bit of folks  
[4:07:26] accessing uh services outside their communities. 
Great. Thank you. Thanks Councelor Mourin and  
[4:07:33] Councelor Jelker. Thanks, mayor. Really happy to 
see this report and support the the work around  
[4:07:40] the the changing of the age uh categories uh 
and the new passes, the punch pass and the the  
[4:07:47] wellness um the combined wellness membership. Um I 
did have two questions though. Um the staff report  
[4:07:55] speaks to the 2% increase uh year-over-year for 
the adult rate um to get us to cost recovery. Um  
[4:08:05] and so wondering if we've projected how long that 
will take us to get to and the staff report also  
[4:08:13] articulates uh that it excludes um facility 
overhead and admin and so is the intent to  
[4:08:21] uh consistently exclude those costs within the 
cost recovery framework that is being proposed.  
[4:08:30] Thank you for the question through mayor 
to council. Um to your first question with  
[4:08:35] regards to the 2%. Um Susie and I were doing some 
quick math. Um and we projected approximately six  
[4:08:42] years if we were to continually do the 2%. Uh 
we chose the 2% because historically that's  
[4:08:49] what we're seeing used as an inflation in 
inflationary cost. Thank you. Um, however,  
[4:08:56] we do we do recognize that we'll be doing some 
work to come back with a bylaw. So, we could  
[4:09:00] recommend different things at that time as well 
for a five-year fee fee plan. Um, with regards to  
[4:09:06] the second question, I can you if you have extra, 
Susie, but um it's not typical in admission fees  
[4:09:12] and programming fees where you're taking in all 
of the facility costs. Um, we did do some quick,  
[4:09:17] um, math on that and it would put it would put our 
fees in the $20 range, which is is not something  
[4:09:24] you traditionally see in munal recreation, which 
is why we chose the daily operating costs as our  
[4:09:30] focus. Okay. Yeah. And my second question is 
about squash. Um, I see that uh, you did quite  
[4:09:38] a bit of comparables for the wellness center um, 
in different regions. Um I'm just noticing squash  
[4:09:47] um the rates um aren't increasing significantly in 
some of the categories and I'm just wondering did  
[4:09:54] we also do that same exercise um around squash um 
rates and comparables. Thank you for the question.  
[4:10:02] Yeah. Yeah. All the comparables were done. Um 
what we decided to do based on feedback based  
[4:10:08] on administrative um resources is to streamline. 
So all the fees now align uh between wellness  
[4:10:16] center squash and uh fitness. So they're all one 
fee regardless of which activity you take you're  
[4:10:22] um participating in. That way that it allows us 
to streamline our punch cards, our memberships  
[4:10:27] and everything at one rate. We're hoping it will 
increase usage is kind of the goal there. Yeah.  
[4:10:36] Excellent. Uh sounds good. Looks like we might 
be nearing the end of our discussion. Uh so
[4:10:45] okay so um recommendation one's 
been moved. Any questions or  
[4:10:49] comments? Seeing none. All those in 
favor? Any opposed? Motion carries.
[4:10:57] Okay. Uh recommendation two has been moved and 
seconded. Any questions or comments? Seeing none.  
[4:11:02] All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries 
and we will move into um the strate strategic  
[4:11:13] transportation plan uh phase update at 9.1. And 
given that we're quarter after 8, I'm not sure if  
[4:11:22] there's like a long version and a short version 
like Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin, but uh anyways,  
[4:11:28] I'll pass you up as soon as you push the button. 
Uh thank you for having me today. I'll give you  
[4:11:32] the Cole's notes version. Um I I am excited to 
talk about transportation and Courtney. It's a  
[4:11:37] pretty exciting time. Um I appreciate council's 
support on moving towards the FA the planning  
[4:11:42] phase. Um there's multiple phases that we're 
looking at right here right now. Um primarily  
[4:11:47] under the the three pillars, the road safety piece 
that we looked at, improving efficiency on our  
[4:11:52] corridor and the mode shift. Um in general the the 
two main streams that our team are working on and  
[4:11:59] and give it put into context planning is typically 
your your heavy lifting of the phase of of a  
[4:12:05] strategic transportation plan. Um we have two kind 
of streams that we're really primarily working on  
[4:12:10] right now and our end goal is um for the planning 
phase as part of those three key key pillars is a  
[4:12:18] report card that the council can see likely in 
this fall. Um and that's kind of focused around  
[4:12:24] our modeling information, understanding what the 
current network is is is performing like um and  
[4:12:29] that's reviewing kind of the planning information 
that's associated with that like our growth  
[4:12:34] uh strategy for the OCP and also throughout the 
region what other communities are planning what  
[4:12:38] the other communities like Cumberland planning 
or comwalks CVRD and the other stream is  
[4:12:44] uh going down an engagement with our interest 
holders um and that's primarily through the  
[4:12:49] major road network project um We're working with 
CFP Comox the regional district again u the the uh  
[4:12:58] the airport BC ferry so multiple interest holders 
as part of that so those are the two main streams  
[4:13:03] um and we look to make establish that report card 
and present that back to to council in the fall so  
[4:13:11] excellent uh no I really really appreciate that 
and uh since we're probably not going to get to  
[4:13:16] uh council events or activities uh might 
be a good time to give you kudos on the um  
[4:13:22] uh finishing of the clip and uh fifth street 
intersection. That was great. Uh and just so  
[4:13:30] many positive comments uh from downtown folks. So 
just thanks so much. Appreciate this. Uh councelor  
[4:13:35] Helian. Thanks Mayor. appreciate this work and and 
particularly appreciate that uh highlighted as as  
[4:13:45] a strategic priority is advocacy for Ministry of 
Transport and Infrastructure on both the bypass  
[4:13:52] and the 17th Street intersection. Uh um I think 
it's really important that that continue and  
[4:13:59] uh just pleased to see that it's top of the list 
here. Thanks. Thanks, Councelor Hill and Councelor  
[4:14:05] Moore. Great. Thanks, Mayor. Thanks so much for 
this uh briefing note. Um you mentioned mode shift  
[4:14:11] and I'm just wondering if we'll be getting any 
updated information around where we're at. I know  
[4:14:18] as far as I understand transit is still pretty 
constant like there's not really a big shift  
[4:14:24] but but uh different for cycling especially with 
ebikes. And I I think our goal when looking back  
[4:14:31] at one of our plans was um anyway, we're we're 
creeping up there, but I if you could give a  
[4:14:42] refresher on that, that would be great. I I think 
that that that is that that is shifting. Yeah. The  
[4:14:48] positive direction through the mayor of council. 
I thank you for the comment. Um I guess there's  
[4:14:53] in the immediate term um overseeing improvements. 
Um we talked about fifth cliff and fifth the mile  
[4:14:58] vision technology we implemented there. So we what 
we implemented there is uh detection for transit  
[4:15:03] or buses so they get preemption that way. So we're 
kind of in the immediate term we're looking at  
[4:15:08] ways we can improve transit service or mode shift 
through that. Um also recently last week at sixth  
[4:15:14] street we implemented mile vision in that that 
area um to support the active transportation  
[4:15:19] corridor to the bridge. So as opposed to bikes 
getting off their off the bike and pushing the  
[4:15:24] the button, right, the mile vision can detect 
those cyclists there and and activate for them.  
[4:15:28] So right from that not that mode shift piece 
in the short term, we're looking at solutions  
[4:15:31] like that with technology. Um, aside from that, 
when we look at the major road network project,  
[4:15:37] um, we're working with all the interest holders 
like the CBRD, the um, the base, MOTT, um,  
[4:15:44] we're reviewing all their long-term documents, um, 
and making sure, um, and BT transit, of course,  
[4:15:49] their their long-term documents um, and how we can 
incorporate that into our major road network. And  
[4:15:54] the way looking at the major road network and 
the scorecare we get from that, it's not just  
[4:15:58] efficiency for cars. It's going to be the the to 
speak the the tide that lifts all boats. So if we  
[4:16:03] improve one service, everyone kind of gets better. 
So that's the idea behind that. Could you refresh  
[4:16:08] my memory on what the the target is for cycling uh 
in terms of [clears throat] 10% I don't know 10%  
[4:16:17] or something from the street transportation. Yeah, 
that's what I meant. Yeah. uh from our we haven't  
[4:16:21] established our key performance indicators from 
the STP that we'd like to see. So that's something  
[4:16:25] I just was thinking of what what the past target 
was. I saw it somewhere, but okay. Thanks. Thank  
[4:16:31] you. Excellent. Thanks for that. And uh yeah, I 
I can tell you 12 years of getting my bike out  
[4:16:37] of city hall parking lot. Uh that light does not 
detect bicycles. I've seen many people wait a very  
[4:16:44] long time before they realize they have to push 
the button. So uh with that, I'll pass over to Mr.  
[4:16:49] Yeah, thank you through the mayor uh to council. 
I just I just want to highlight one uh emerging  
[4:16:54] uh very positive note. Um and it would go back I 
think to the uh coordination of the conversation  
[4:17:00] and the uh uh uh um sorry Ryan corridor related 
to the CFP com. So um Mr. Shaw and possibly Mr.  
[4:17:09] Brown will be given an update to our CIO uh group 
because what's emerging is the horsepower related  
[4:17:16] to support our strategic transportation plan 
is invaluable uh as a advisory group around the  
[4:17:23] greater transportation question in all modes. And 
so uh we we don't yet have a a terms of reference  
[4:17:30] or anything like that but we have reached out to 
the interest holders to provide um support and  
[4:17:37] it has been phenomenal and I've been part of 
a couple of those meetings and so recognizing  
[4:17:42] the opportunities that are in front of us and 
the development program that's going to happen  
[4:17:47] over the next 25 to uh 50 years uh it's really 
important. So it's it's something that we'll be  
[4:17:53] uh reporting back to council on and then seeking 
uh support from the other local governments  
[4:17:58] and interest holders to formally participate in 
that. We've actually talked about how much time  
[4:18:03] our staff is t taken up with the support of other 
organizations groups but it's really important for  
[4:18:09] us to engage create a terms of reference and then 
be really clear to our partners about that. So,  
[4:18:14] but u we've seen how important that that is uh 
in supporting discussions with the minister of  
[4:18:19] transit or transportation and transit related 
to CFP Comox and we want to really build on  
[4:18:23] that momentum. So, um I I know that there was some 
initiatives in the past as it relate to that that  
[4:18:28] that maybe the city wasn't maybe as positive 
about participating in, but we are strongly  
[4:18:34] supportive of uh this initiative and it's a good 
use of uh uh resources. So, stay tuned on that.  
[4:18:42] Excellent. Thanks so much for that. Uh I don't see 
any further questions or comments at this point.  
[4:18:47] So all right. Uh so it's been moved and seconded 
and we'll just receive that unanimously by council  
[4:18:56] and we'll move on to a notice motion uh for future 
use of Cliff Avenue. And again, councelor Halen,  
[4:19:03] you don't have to read the whole thing. Thanks, 
Mayor. This is uh for the August 26th council  
[4:19:11] meeting and it's simply to go on record for 
the benefit of the community given uh some  
[4:19:16] misinformation that may be out there that uh this 
council's intent is that uh once the Braidwood  
[4:19:25] um uh project by BC Housing which is now commenced 
construction is completed and uh operational that  
[4:19:33] the uh the property uh where the connect center 
is currently located will no longer be used for  
[4:19:38] that purpose. I think it's important that we 
clarify for that for the community and that's  
[4:19:42] the purpose of that motion for our next meeting. 
Thank you so much uh for bringing that forward and  
[4:19:48] uh um and with that we'll move on to 10.2 which 
is the late item. Uh and this one yeah councelor  
[4:19:59] Rich maybe I'm just a little confused. Were 
you going to speak to it? Probably not. Um,  
[4:20:06] oh sorry, we are jumping to the next 
one, right? Oh, my apologies. Yeah.
[4:20:15] Uh, I believe there's a 10.2 late 
item one which is on the screen.
[4:20:24] Uh, councelor Halen. Thank you. Uh, thanks, Mayor. 
Um, I believe this is on the agenda for tonight.  
[4:20:33] Um the in my capacity as an advisory role 
and liaison between the regional district  
[4:20:39] board and ministry of indigenous relations 
and reconciliation I do sit on the um main  
[4:20:46] table for the Komox treaty and u became aware 
of possible delays in the federal government's  
[4:20:53] uh uh approval of that treaty uh due to 
difficulties related to availability of  
[4:20:59] translation services and as a result um uh 
felt it appropriate for local governments to  
[4:21:06] lend their voices uh to stress with the federal 
government how important this treaty is and thus  
[4:21:13] um this motion has been passed by the regional 
district and it's brought to the city tonight  
[4:21:19] um to land. Is it brought as a notice of motion 
or you hoping to wave that notice of motion and  
[4:21:23] pass it tonight? No, my understanding is that 
it's on the agenda as an actual uh Sorry. Um,  
[4:21:30] we had received this by email and I confirmed 
by email at the time that it was meant to be  
[4:21:33] a notice of motion. Of course, council is able 
to suspend the rules and consider it tonight.  
[4:21:38] All right. All right. It's been suspended. Uh, 
well, the motion to suspend has been made. Uh,  
[4:21:46] moved and seconded. All those in favor? It's been 
suspended. Back to you, Councelor Hill. Thanks.  
[4:21:52] And perhaps I'll let councelor Cole Hamilton um 
well he can second it. I'll move that the city  
[4:21:59] of Courtney write a letter to the honorable 
Rebecca Alti, Minister of Crown Indigenous  
[4:22:04] Relations with a copy to the Prime Minister 
affirming our support for the Komox Treaty,  
[4:22:10] its importance in advancing collaborative work 
on local infrastructure and economic development,  
[4:22:15] and urging that all measures be taken to ensure a 
smooth and expeditious path to federal approval.
[4:22:23] Can somebody second? Thank you, councelor. A 
second. And there's probably no need to speak to  
[4:22:29] this, but uh I know that the regional district 
passed this and I believe that Cumberland is  
[4:22:34] passing this this week. It's just a think all 
hands on deck around the valley to try and make  
[4:22:38] sure that the smoothest and most expeditious 
path after many decades uh is afforded to come  
[4:22:44] first nation in Ottawa. So yeah, be absolutely 
supporting this. Thanks very much. Um, all right.  
[4:22:51] Uh, having said that, uh, all those in favor? Any 
oppose? And that motion passes unanimously. Uh,  
[4:22:59] thanks very much, uh, for bringing that forward. 
Now, we're going to go to bylaws, and we're going  
[4:23:04] to start with 11.1.1 official community plan 
amendment bylaw 3233 2620. Yeah, I don't have  
[4:23:13] to read it all. It's all good. It's been moved 
and seconded. any questions or or uh I'll pass it  
[4:23:19] over to staff. Thank you. Thank you very much. Um 
Mr. Mayor and Council, I'd just like to introduce  
[4:23:25] this item. Uh Andrew Stewart Jones is going to be 
describing this. I would I would like to say that  
[4:23:30] um the applicant has been patiently waiting for 
four and a half hours and and is here to answer  
[4:23:37] any questions. So um uh please take advantage of 
that and I will turn it over to Andrew. Thank you.
[4:23:46] Uh, thank you, Pat. So, through mayor to 
council, um, the application before you is to  
[4:23:51] consider first reading of an official community 
plan amendment and zoning amendment bylaw at  
[4:23:57] 2620 Sheraton Road to permit a green uh, burial 
cemetery. Green burial is defined as the interment  
[4:24:05] of human remains in an intact non-created 
state without inbalming and using biodegradable  
[4:24:11] materials such as a compostable shroud or coffin. 
Green burial is often viewed by proponents as  
[4:24:17] a more environmentally friendly option to 
conventional burial. Although as noted in  
[4:24:21] the staff report, it is not free of environmental 
impacts. Although the objective of the proposal  
[4:24:26] is to provide for a green burial, the application 
achieves the secondary objective of environmental  
[4:24:33] protection by preserving the property in its 
natural state in perpetuity. The subject property  
[4:24:39] is located in East Courtney and is approximately 1 
hectare in size. The property is located directly  
[4:24:45] off of Sherwood Road and is immediately south and 
adjacent to the city-owned Lurwick Nature Park.
[4:24:54] So in the OCP the subject property is designated 
as urban residential which supports apartment  
[4:25:00] buildings up to four stories in height. The 
proposed use would be considered an institutional  
[4:25:06] use and would require an official community plan 
amendment. The subject property is currently zoned  
[4:25:13] residential smallcale multi-unit housing which 
allows for up to four housing units on every lot.  
[4:25:19] The proposed zoning amendment would change 
zoning from the residential small-cale  
[4:25:25] multi-unit housing to public use in assembly one 
PA1 zone with an exception that restricts use to  
[4:25:32] uh cemetery only on this lot. In terms of the 
proposed development, uh there is a concept plan  
[4:25:40] that is for a 600 grave cemetery. The applicant 
has proposed minimal development on the site plan  
[4:25:47] which includes an internal bark mulch pathway, a 
five-stall parking area and access throughout the  
[4:25:54] site using a handdrawn cart for uh from a cart 
exchange as well as a compostable toilet for  
[4:25:59] visitors. The proposed site plan rationale 
provided by the applicant can be found in  
[4:26:05] attachment number one of this report. Um so 
staff have provided a brief Courtney context. Um,  
[4:26:13] the city of Courtney currently owns and manages 
the Courtney Civic Cemetery. A staff report  
[4:26:18] submitted to council in November of 2025 provided 
some context regarding the current state of the  
[4:26:23] cemetery, outlining that it is estimated that 
the cemetery will run out of casket space by60.  
[4:26:29] The report evaluated green burial as an option, 
noting that the remaining section of the city  
[4:26:36] cemetery has a high water table and would not 
be able to accommodate this type of burial.  
[4:26:43] Uh from a regional perspective, Cumberland 
and Kemell River own and manage cemeteries  
[4:26:47] with a green burial option. Denman Island also 
has a cemetery with the green bur with green  
[4:26:53] burial options, although it is only available 
to residents of Denman Island. Um so so far the  
[4:26:59] applicant has completed a number of background 
studies for this application and we've kind of  
[4:27:03] gone into some details in the report. Um there are 
still several outstanding requirements and staff  
[4:27:10] have advised the applicant to postpone most 
of the outstanding requirements until after  
[4:27:15] first reading to avoid uh that the applicant 
incur these expenses should council refuse  
[4:27:21] the application. Um there's a there's a list of 
outstanding requirements, but some of the more  
[4:27:27] uh some of the more um involved would be doing 
a hydro geotechnical report uh that includes  
[4:27:35] like one year of groundwater monitoring and uh 
this was also a recommendation by the Vancouver  
[4:27:40] Island Health Authority due to um proximity to 
existing wells. So in terms of uh public feedback,  
[4:27:47] we did host a the applicant did host a community 
information meeting for the proposed development  
[4:27:53] on June 11th, 2026. Approximately 52 members 
of the public attended the event in addition  
[4:27:59] to two representatives of the applicant and two 
planners from the city. A total of 33 written  
[4:28:05] comments were received during a during the event 
and within a week following the event. Those in  
[4:28:11] support generally like the idea of a green burial, 
expressed that this type of burial option was  
[4:28:16] needed, and thought the property was well suited 
to this use. During the community information  
[4:28:21] meeting, a number of concerns were also raised, 
including um number one, land use compatibility  
[4:28:28] and neighborhood impacts. Number two, concerns for 
environmental protection and ecological effects.  
[4:28:35] Three, long-term management and governance. 
four, concerns around accessibility and public  
[4:28:40] use of the parcel. Five, economic viability and 
business considerations. And six, concerns about  
[4:28:47] regulatory and technical feasibility. Um, the 
full community information summary report can be  
[4:28:51] found in attachment number four of uh the staff 
report. Um so in terms of alternative options  
[4:29:01] uh we included a section in the report that says 
that although the application um is for a green  
[4:29:06] burial, further communication and discussion with 
the applicant revealed that a key intention of the  
[4:29:11] applicant appears to be uh to preserve the land 
in a natural state. Alternative options for land  
[4:29:16] preservation that were not discussed with the 
applicant include uh donation of land to the  
[4:29:21] city as protected park or as a green burial site 
that would be managed by the city. Um so staff's  
[4:29:28] recommendation uh as mentioned in this report 
the official community plan amendment and zoning  
[4:29:33] amendment bylaw would change the land use from 
residential to institutional and would affect  
[4:29:39] the city's ability to meet provincial housing 
uh targets. From staff's review of city policy,  
[4:29:44] there is little support to develop land zone 
for housing as new internment sites with a clear  
[4:29:49] mandate to meet provincial housing targets. In 
addition, there is policy that supports protecting  
[4:29:55] water quality, which may also be affected by 
this proposal. Given the lack of policy backing,  
[4:30:01] this application cannot be supported by staff 
at this time. Staff acknowledged that although  
[4:30:06] public engagement demonstrated that there is some 
some support from the community for green burial,  
[4:30:11] it is staff's opinion that the proposed site 
is best suited to housing development and that  
[4:30:16] another site is likely better suited to the 
proposed use. There is some policy support for  
[4:30:21] retaining natural areas and it may be an option 
for the applicant to preserve the property through  
[4:30:26] means other than a green burial. Thank you for 
your time and staff will be available to answer  
[4:30:31] any questions. All right. And the proponent 
as well uh based on the earlier comment. So,  
[4:30:37] excellent. Uh councelor Fr. Yeah. Thanks, Mayor. 
Well, I I just want to say thanks to the proponent  
[4:30:44] because I think the idea of protecting this land 
is extremely important and um and laudable. I I  
[4:30:50] wonder I don't know if you want to get up 
and and um or you can probably say it from  
[4:30:55] there is or any of those other I guess there was 
only really one other option I think suggested  
[4:30:59] by staff to maintain that and that would be to 
donate it to the city. Um, was there something  
[4:31:04] else that if if the if you're going to ask her to 
uh to speak, we will ask her to go to the podium  
[4:31:09] just so councelor can hear as well. That's okay. I 
mean, if she wants to get up and let us know what  
[4:31:14] she thinks of that, she can. But, um, but maybe 
not too long because we're all extremely tired.
[4:31:22] I'll just turn on that podium microphone 
for you and you're good to go. Thanks. Um,  
[4:31:28] I spent four years looking at options to preserve 
the property in perpetuity and there are none.  
[4:31:34] You can I've been to Victoria and talked to 
conservation lawyers. I've talked to different  
[4:31:38] organizations. In 2006, I bequeath the land in my 
will to the Komox Valley Land Trust. Uh when my uh  
[4:31:47] executive passed on, I had to redo my will and the 
Komox Valley Land Trust was no longer interested  
[4:31:54] in the property because they said it was too 
small and it was of no ecological significance  
[4:31:59] to them. So that let that out and there is to the 
best of my knowledge in four years of research no  
[4:32:05] other option because conservation covenants can 
be broken. Um there is no way the only thing  
[4:32:11] that would preserve that property in perpetuity 
is a natural green burial cemetery. Yeah. Well,  
[4:32:16] thanks for bringing that perspective to council 
tonight. Thank you so much. That's good. Yeah,  
[4:32:21] that's great. Um, I will highlight for council 
though that I know of a few properties that have  
[4:32:26] covenants on them. One is really close to my 
house beside Northgate Square Church. You guys  
[4:32:30] might be aware of it, a stand of tall trees right 
in the middle of development and it seems to be  
[4:32:35] uh untouchable. And um yeah, there are other 
properties that have been given to the city  
[4:32:41] by various people that are now parks. Um though 
nothing nothing really is forever. Um it's hard  
[4:32:47] to hard to say anything's going to last forever. 
Um but with that um I I appreciate appreciate the  
[4:32:54] intention. Thanks and councelor Jelker online. 
Thanks Mayor. Um yeah really thorough report and  
[4:33:03] um verbal report from staff. appears like there's 
a fair bit of concerns from VIHA as well as  
[4:33:12] um some quite extensive outstanding items 
and so I guess I'm just a little surprised  
[4:33:18] um I guess I'd like to hear from staff but also 
from the proponent um why this is coming to us if  
[4:33:25] there's still so much outstanding work that's 
required um maybe that piece was needs to be  
[4:33:31] shared by the proponent but there is I think at 
least yeah one 2 3 4 5 seven items uh listed in  
[4:33:39] the staff report uh on page nine um the big pieces 
of work that are required and so is it of the view  
[4:33:48] of staff that that um can't be done or is the 
proponent unwilling to do that work and then we  
[4:33:54] can um consider this matter once that outstanding 
work has been finalized. Miss Corn, thank you. Uh  
[4:34:03] thank you for the question. uh and through the 
mayor and council. Um this this this applicant  
[4:34:10] came to the city almost two years ago to to try 
and have this conversation and has been through um  
[4:34:15] almost a dozen staff members at this point. Uh but 
one of the one of the concerns and considerations  
[4:34:21] we had was there was obviously a lot of discussion 
debate about this and be there is a lot of work  
[4:34:26] that needs to be done before it can be finalized 
and because it's a bylaw process it was staff's  
[4:34:32] determination that the best way to do this is 
bring it forward to council. If council has any  
[4:34:38] appetite to move forward with this and give first 
reading then the conditions would be applied to  
[4:34:44] be met before second reading and public hearing. 
But there we didn't feel that it was appropriate  
[4:34:50] at this point to have the applicant spend a 
significant amount of money on something that  
[4:34:56] council has no appetite for. So that's that's why 
this this process has been been handled this way.  
[4:35:03] So, so, um, Council Joff, this is, um, uh, looking 
at the issue, recognizing there are, uh, concerns  
[4:35:11] and studies that need to be done, but making sure 
that we didn't send the applicant on a wild goose  
[4:35:17] chase to spend tens of thousands of dollars on 
study if council did not think this was a good  
[4:35:23] idea in the first place. And I got a followup, 
mayor, for the proponent. Is this are those  
[4:35:30] um six items outstanding items um things that the 
proponent is willing to commit to completing? Is  
[4:35:38] that something that's in their business plan that 
they're able to cover the costs and and do the  
[4:35:44] work for that? Um I I guess I'm asking because I 
am interested in the alternative option that staff  
[4:35:51] have offered around exploring council giving staff 
direction to explore the the assignment of the the  
[4:35:58] land to the city. So u but happy to hear from the 
proponent. Thank you. I would be happy to discuss  
[4:36:06] donating the land to the city as a green burial 
cemetery but from my research I don't think that  
[4:36:15] there is sure nothing is forever but um this 
is the best and only way that I can find that  
[4:36:24] will preserve it in perpetuity. So I would want 
reassurances obviously from the city if I was  
[4:36:30] going to enter into something like that that that 
that it would be remain or be allowed to proceed  
[4:36:36] as a green burial cemetery because if I give 
it as a park um we know that parks can change.
[4:36:46] Sorry, is that answering your question? 
It it does. And so just to be clear,  
[4:36:52] are you willing privately to do this work, these 
six large items of work? Yeah. Provided that  
[4:36:59] I [clears throat] have have some understanding 
that it has a chance to go through. But I,  
[4:37:04] as Miss Maloney says, I don't want to spend 
30 $40,000 to find out you guys originally  
[4:37:10] thought that you didn't think it was a great 
idea. Okay. Yeah. and and and of course given  
[4:37:15] the the timeline we're on right now regardless 
there's a new term starting uh in in the coming  
[4:37:21] months as well. So and I'm not sure if councelor 
heard but it has been moved and seconded as well.  
[4:37:27] So just so you know there's a motion on the floor 
in case in case you had missed that. Um councelor
[4:37:35] um yeah thanks mayor. Um so I I don't 
understand the business model. Um, first of all,  
[4:37:43] um, to staff, uh, is there much of a precedent 
for privatelyowned cemeteries in either British  
[4:37:49] Columbia or the rest of Canada? In my experience, 
they're either on a church ground or they're run  
[4:37:56] by a municipality. But, there is actually huge 
precedent through the chair for privately owned  
[4:38:02] cemeteries. Uh, there's a huge one in Cedar. Um 
they they um uh u they they those are definitely  
[4:38:12] run as a business and uh there there are 
quite a few of them and as municipalities  
[4:38:20] uh start to have their cemeteries fill up 
um with maybe not opportunity to expand,  
[4:38:28] private operators are are opening other uh 
cemeteries, right? Um we had the opportunity to um  
[4:38:36] go through the uh uh the local cemetery recently 
when the windfall was u initiated and I thought  
[4:38:44] that there was some discussion of the possibility 
that green burials could be incorporated there at  
[4:38:50] some point. I'm wondering if staff can uh clarify 
that uh in terms of our future intent with our own  
[4:38:57] cemetery. Before you talk, Miss Broant, it uh 
green burial is not currently contemplated as  
[4:39:05] an imminent use. And if you look at the land 
in the cemetery, while there still is space,  
[4:39:11] um natural burial, green burial often 
takes up a larger section of land and has  
[4:39:15] a different type of landscape than um the type 
of burial we do there now. So it would require  
[4:39:22] um planning ahead and establishing probably a 
fairly large section where we would do that. Um so  
[4:39:30] I'd have to look at the cemetery master plan to be 
sure, but it is not uh currently contemplated in  
[4:39:35] the next few years of capital planning. [clears 
throat] Okay. Yeah. So, well, in that case,  
[4:39:41] um I um I think it would be awkward uh for a 
neighborhood to have land that uh reszoneed  
[4:39:51] for cemetery purposes. Um I I you know, I 
I appreciate that uh it's maybe irrational,  
[4:39:59] but I think for some people it's it creates 
discomfort. uh there were comments around uh  
[4:40:05] post-traumatic stress uh of uh veterans and things 
like that. Um but um uh based on that and and and  
[4:40:14] the various other issues highlighted in the staff 
report, I I would be much more interested in  
[4:40:19] uh in us finding a way to uh um to give um Miss 
Waterton some assurance that uh a covenant to  
[4:40:27] protect uh her land as as park space could 
in fact be honored and uh and maintained over  
[4:40:34] time. Thanks in perpetuity. Yeah. Can I just note 
that and there's two um sites of on from the real  
[4:40:42] estate board on how to break covenants and if we 
take an example locally mech lang was a covenant
[4:40:51] and Mr. Yeah, thank you through the mayor uh to 
council. There are a a laundry list of ways to  
[4:41:00] protect uh properties. Uh council's very aware of 
the MC Meadows property. Um there are a number of  
[4:41:08] ways whether it's a combination of ownership. We 
have parks that we own that also have conservation  
[4:41:14] covenants by third parties. So again, u what is in 
front of council right now is an application for  
[4:41:22] uh Green Burial Cemetery. Uh questions about 
what may or may not be possible with other  
[4:41:28] uh type of application um and assurances to the 
donator. Um that's a separate matter that we can  
[4:41:34] address. But it is um uh through my time councils 
where I have a background in planning there's a  
[4:41:41] number of methods a way to uh ensure uh that 
is uh in in the will of the uh the person who  
[4:41:49] either bequeaths it or transfers it or sells 
it for a limited amount. Um yeah. Okay. Um,  
[4:41:59] councelor going to say I know there's 
we're nearing the end of the conversation,  
[4:42:04] but once the vote on this matter, mayor, I'm 
going to raise another motion um related to the  
[4:42:11] alternate option listed in um the staff report. 
Okay. All right. Uh we do have a motion on the  
[4:42:18] floor. I don't see any further questions or 
comments. All those in favor? Any opposed? And  
[4:42:24] uh so motion carries. And councelor Zer, you 
have a follow-up. Yeah, just um related to the  
[4:42:30] the I'm just pulling up the staff report that 
the the correct language in the staff report  
[4:42:35] um related to um so that's uh council 
direct staff to work with the proponent  
[4:42:41] to explore park or green burial options um 
in collaboration with the city of Courtney.
[4:42:51] Okay, it's been seconded. 
uh our count uh sorry staff
[4:42:58] councelor Rich. Yeah, I don't I don't know that 
I would support the motion with green burial  
[4:43:04] in there considering that's what we just made a 
motion on and there may be a rule against actually  
[4:43:11] contemplating something right after you've made 
I'm happy to remove the green burial then in that  
[4:43:16] case. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So, it's been amended. So 
maybe if you could just say it one more time and  
[4:43:24] uh I and I think uh Miss Proton's going to try to 
bring it up on screen, but if you could just say  
[4:43:29] it one more time. Yeah. That council direct 
staff to work with the proponent to explore  
[4:43:36] uh park dedication for the property. 
And is that was that on page 14 of the
[4:43:51] We're both right
[4:43:55] and 8:45. You know, I don't 
know I could ask for much more.
[4:44:10] Yeah, I think that that captures it.
[4:44:14] Sure.
[4:44:32] While we're waiting, Councelor M. just a uh 
I just wanted to um say thank you for saying  
[4:44:42] so long tonight and also um reading through the 
comments even though many of your neighbors were  
[4:44:48] not necessarily um in favor of this. They all 
spoke so highly of you and I actually know one  
[4:44:55] of your neighbors who um just I happened to run 
into who said the same thing and that they really  
[4:45:01] appreciate your your stewardship and your devotion 
and I just wanted to make sure to say that because  
[4:45:06] you've been here so long and yeah the the fact 
that you've been working on this for years at  
[4:45:12] this point and are still this positive and uh um 
yeah it it's great to see uh that optimism. um and  
[4:45:22] really trying to take what you have to make the 
world a better place. So, it is much appreciated.
[4:45:29] And councelor Jeliker, your hand is still up,  
[4:45:31] but I'm not sure yet. Perfect. We are just about 
to. We just wanted to make sure we have the
[4:45:41] have it up on the screen. 
Councelor Joeler, you can see that.
[4:45:47] All right, that's the motion. Uh, all those 
in favor? Any opposed? And motion carries. So,  
[4:45:56] the saga continues. There's a bit of a quest, 
but I think this gives you some some clarity. Um,  
[4:46:03] thank you, Mr. R. Appreciate council direction. 
I just would let council know that this is not  
[4:46:08] work that staff would be undertaking under 
this term and we'd have to figure out how  
[4:46:12] to do that in our uh the work of our uh uh 
development services department, recreation,  
[4:46:17] culture and community services to do our parks 
planning. Uh so uh respect council's direction  
[4:46:23] but this would be work with the next council. 
Thanks. Okay. Yeah. And that's just timelines  
[4:46:31] and sausage makers etc. Okay. Uh thanks 
everybody. Uh we are uh moving on to first,  
[4:46:37] second, and third readings. Uh tempor 
temporary [clears throat] boring bylaws 3238.
[4:46:46] Okay, it's been moved. Any 
questions or comments? Seeing none,  
[4:46:49] all in favor? Any opposed? And motion carries.
[4:46:57] Recommendation two has been moved and 
seconded. Any questions or comments?  
[4:47:00] Seeing none. All those in favor? 
Any opposed? And motion carries.
[4:47:08] Recommendation three has been moved 
and seconded. All those in favor?  
[4:47:12] Any opposed? And motion carries. And now for 
adoption. Cemetery bylaw 3205. Okay, it's been  
[4:47:21] moved and seconded. Any questions or comments? 
Seeing none. All those in favor? Any opposed?  
[4:47:26] And motion carries. And finally, uh, business 
license bylaw 3212. Business license bylaw.
[4:47:39] It's been moved and seconded. Any questions 
or comments? Councelor Fr. Yeah, I'm sorry. I  
[4:47:46] know it's late, but um, so there we've had a lot 
of feedback on the license bylaw, the business  
[4:47:53] license, basically the cost of the business 
licenses and the changes. And I just want to  
[4:47:58] hear from staff um if getting a business license 
is in fact a way to gain revenue at the city or if  
[4:48:09] there are some other really important things about 
having someone have a business license in general
[4:48:19] uh through the mayor. Uh I'm not sure I understand 
the question. Could maybe just repeat it for me.  
[4:48:24] I guess just like wondering at a high level 
why do we need business licenses at the city?  
[4:48:31] What happens if we don't? Um yes uh uh business 
regulation is an optional provision under the  
[4:48:39] community charter. Um uh if you don't regulate 
business, uh if a council were to choose not to  
[4:48:48] regulate business, um you would you lose the 
ability to uh well essentially to regulate  
[4:48:55] business, um we actually discussed it a bit 
earlier with the uh this evening and that um if  
[4:49:01] you had a business that was engaging uh repeated 
contraventions of municipal bylaws, um you would  
[4:49:08] not be able to revoke their business license if 
you didn't have a business regulation and big  
[4:49:12] business licensing regime in place. Um so it is uh 
essentially an ability to uh vet that businesses  
[4:49:23] comply with bylaws before they establish 
themselves in the community. And then there are  
[4:49:29] powers under the charter to revoke their ability 
to do business if they are not in compliance with  
[4:49:35] um municipal bylaws and and and good good 
faith uh processes. Right. And so the reason  
[4:49:42] for raising the rates is to in fact pay for that 
program which allows all those things you just  
[4:49:46] mentioned. Uh uh just before I'm sorry. Were you? 
Yeah. If I if I could very quickly uh long meeting  
[4:49:55] uh just uh adding because I this unfortunately 
started uh I've been involved since the beginning  
[4:50:01] of this uh there are a number of purposes uh in 
addition to Mr. Bellaba's commentary um there  
[4:50:09] is a it is a source of information to help with 
economic development and business planning. Second  
[4:50:14] um the awareness of those businesses helps 
us address emergency planning and our fire  
[4:50:19] response. Um and it also is um a very important 
um tool that other uh organizations use related to  
[4:50:30] um kind of the economy and the like. So it's it's 
a source of information and uh also um it's kind  
[4:50:38] of the another component is it has the potential 
to be used to support economic development. Um  
[4:50:45] and that's some conversations that we did have uh 
through council on our strategic planning on how  
[4:50:50] to potentially look at economic development um how 
to support businesses, how to get that information  
[4:50:54] and so business licensing is a a really important 
source of data uh within the uh our information  
[4:51:01] requirements. So I just in in addition to that 
the need to regulate those businesses because of  
[4:51:06] some of their externalities. Okay, sounds fair. 
I guess I my my line of thinking is uh you know,  
[4:51:13] did do we really need to raise certain um 
businesses rates, you know, going from $100 to  
[4:51:19] $150. Um especially if it's like a small homebased 
business, they might not be making a ton of money  
[4:51:26] to begin with. But um that's my line of thinking 
that I just want to confirm that uh in fact  
[4:51:31] collecting money from every single business to 
give them a license is in fact really important.
[4:51:39] Okay, thanks for that. Uh, Council Warren. 
Yeah, thank you, Mayor. It's getting late,  
[4:51:43] so I'll try to try to uh formulate my thoughts 
here. Um, we did, you know, make some changes  
[4:51:51] to the original in terms of keeping those 
um larger uh size businesses, pubs, um uh  
[4:52:01] whatever the other categories are. um at that 
at the the feed that was there before which was  
[4:52:09] uh a big part of the feedback that we received. 
We felt that people felt it was very inequitable.  
[4:52:15] Um the other piece of feedback though that we 
didn't consider was pretty much what councelor  
[4:52:22] Fish just talked about and even though um going 
from $100 to $300 doesn't seem like a big jump,  
[4:52:29] it's percentage- wise it is a big jump. and um I 
re reread the comments um that we've received and  
[4:52:36] did some notes on them and [snorts] then we did 
receive a couple other pieces of feedback and I  
[4:52:43] I know this is up for adoption tonight but I 
still don't feel that we've gone far enough.  
[4:52:49] I think we've done some great stuff. The we've 
had positive comments about the pro-rated aspect.  
[4:52:55] We've had positive comments about I think the 
late um uh you know the renewal times and also  
[4:53:02] the the food having more food vendors and things 
like that. So, there's lots of positives in here,  
[4:53:06] but I really kind of on principle, I don't think 
that 150% or whatever um increase um I don't agree  
[4:53:19] with it and I would like to see us either phase 
in that increase over um a longer time period  
[4:53:27] or reduce that increase to those other businesses. 
Um, and I did want to ask what the transition time  
[4:53:35] was because I couldn't find it when I looked again 
when this would when those increases would come  
[4:53:41] into play. And now my computer is uh through 
the chair. Uh I believe the bylaw would take  
[4:53:51] effect the moment it is adopted and then the fees 
would apply uh basically if any businesses applied  
[4:53:58] for a license afterwards and then you would have 
renewal fees which would be annual. Um. Mhm. So,  
[4:54:06] I don't know if there's an appetite for um sending 
this back with that amendment to either phase in  
[4:54:14] um phase in the increases or to reduce the 
increase. Um and I don't have the chart in  
[4:54:22] front of me and I don't know if we can bring it up 
at all, but we don't have a motion on the floor,  
[4:54:26] but you could at some point put a motion on 
the floor and that that's how Oh, sorry. Yeah,  
[4:54:31] we do. Yeah. My apologies. Uh an amendment. You 
could uh move an amendment. Yeah, I'm trying to  
[4:54:38] find the the chart, so I'll see if I can do that. 
But anyway, uh I don't know if there's anyone  
[4:54:44] ready to speak, but I can look for that. Councelor 
Jer will I'll just try and find it then. Thanks,  
[4:54:49] Brandon. Thanks, Mayor. I mean, I uh was quite 
critical of this from the get-go and uh addressed  
[4:54:57] council with my concerns um initially. Uh did 
a ton of research around what other communities  
[4:55:04] are doing. Um you know, I was hoping that 
we'd consider a hybrid approach. I I am in  
[4:55:10] favor of cost recovery and I think that we can do 
a hybrid model where proportionality is considered  
[4:55:18] uh where we consider some of the things that we've 
heard from business community the chamber um and  
[4:55:25] I agree with councelor Mo there is some good 
things here um I had spoken at the time around  
[4:55:31] uh startup rebates um and looking at proportional 
business scale and we we've made those some of  
[4:55:38] those changes is um but I think within the context 
of small businesses uh one employee two employees  
[4:55:46] at at home businesses I think that's something 
that we I agree that we can do some more work on  
[4:55:53] um and there are other municipalities that we 
can look to in BC that are a hybrid model where  
[4:55:59] uh there's cost recovery and proportionality is 
included that was not part of this policy nor  
[4:56:05] the drafting of the bylaw. It does require more 
administrative work cuz there's more verification  
[4:56:11] required. Um, but I think we have heard from 
the business community that they would like  
[4:56:16] for us to consider other things in addition to 
cost recovery. Um, and so I'll just leave it at  
[4:56:22] that. I do have some things that I had drafted 
months ago on this. So, um, that that's helpful,  
[4:56:27] but I'll see the four for now. Thanks. Okay. I 
don't see anybody else ready to speak uh just  
[4:56:33] yet. So, if somebody could extend our meeting and 
take into account that we do have an in camera  
[4:56:38] as well. Okay, there's been an extension to 10 
o'clock. It's been seconded. [laughter] I'm going  
[4:56:47] to call the question whether you like it or not. 
All those in favor? Any opposed? And no one has  
[4:56:54] opposed it or at least has energy to raise their 
hands. So, uh, with that, I'm going to Mr. Garet,  
[4:57:00] you had a comment. I'll pass it over to you. Um, 
thank you. Uh, if if I may. Um, this work was  
[4:57:07] undertaken at council's direction. We have given 
we've been given direction to uh generate revenue.  
[4:57:14] We responded to council's uh guidance. Uh, we have 
re-engaged. Um, and now what I'm I'm hearing is  
[4:57:24] pretty significant changes to the delivery of 
this service. And uh we are very close to the  
[4:57:29] release our time of business licensing. Ultimately 
if we have not presented what council would like,  
[4:57:35] I think we need to go back to the drawing 
board uh in order and undertake uh and spend  
[4:57:41] uh more uh engagement resources uh to to do this 
in the right way. But uh unless we have some  
[4:57:49] runway uh for implementation, this is going to be 
quite challenging. Um and so um my my apologies  
[4:57:56] uh you know if uh we we've gone down route but 
uh we are now receiving a different direction  
[4:58:04] than we had in the previous consideration of 
the bylaw. Uh and we have not actually engaged  
[4:58:10] uh on other aspects of this bylaw. If we undertake 
more changes we may need to uh provide additional  
[4:58:16] notice over a period of time. And uh we do have 
a backs stop of um undertaking our notifica or  
[4:58:25] sorry the um distribution of uh the license uh fee 
uh requisition on behalf of existing licenses. So  
[4:58:33] if council is not really in a position uh then we 
we maybe should consider some direction to table  
[4:58:39] this work um until the next license fee because 
uh we we we are definitely unable to um undertake  
[4:58:46] the additional work uh with the time that remains. 
Thanks for that uh councelor Fr. Thanks mayor. Um,  
[4:58:55] I think one of the the bigger increases of concern 
was around homebased businesses and I think it  
[4:59:01] went and you can correct me if I'm wrong. I think 
it went from $100 to 150. But um, what I'm sensing  
[4:59:11] or not what I'm sensing, what I'm feeling right 
now is we I think we do maybe just need to move  
[4:59:15] ahead with this and um, and and I think businesses 
unfortunately will will have to absorb the extra  
[4:59:21] $50 in that particular instance. So, I'm happy for 
to call the question whenever you're ready. Okay,  
[4:59:28] councelor Morren. Yeah, thank you. I haven't been 
able to find the comparison chart. I have the the  
[4:59:35] new chart or the the chart with the new fees, 
but not the comparison. So there were a couple  
[4:59:40] of others other than the home occupation that 
um I there were 27 letters [clears throat] um  
[4:59:49] and they were most of them were quite detailed 
and I I agree we provided direction but we I I  
[4:59:58] believe when we even discussed this the first 
time there was a lot of discussion about this  
[5:00:03] and we came back to the drawing board again. 
So, I would be more interested in actually  
[5:00:09] um uh yeah pushing it pushing it on to the 
next term to to give time to to tweak it a  
[5:00:17] little bit more if we don't have the time to do 
that now, but I don't know if um others um are in  
[5:00:23] agreement with that. Thanks. I appreciate that. 
And I see councelor Joler had offered something  
[5:00:29] previously. I'm not sure if you're going to speak 
to that now, but uh the floor is yours. Thanks,  
[5:00:34] Mayor. I just emailed it to our corporate officer 
and to council. Um I recognize that we're in the  
[5:00:40] middle of discussing adoption, but this could be 
something we can consider that captures um and I  
[5:00:48] agree with the city manager that this is what 
I'm proposing in the email that just was sent.  
[5:00:53] um is additional work that we did not direct 
staff to do uh as it relates to um thinking about  
[5:01:00] proportionality for the things like homebased 
businesses and micro businesses. Um it speaks  
[5:01:07] to in continuing to engage in a a cost recovery 
uh framework which is what staff have laid out  
[5:01:14] in this bylaw and in the policy. Um and it it 
expands it. So, I don't know what the right  
[5:01:19] um if I and I can't see head nods in the room. 
So, I don't know if it's just myself and counselor  
[5:01:25] Morren that uh would be open to deferring this 
and um redirecting staff to do more work. And I  
[5:01:30] I appreciate that that would mean that we would be 
looking to probably January 2028 implementation,  
[5:01:37] but I think this is really important to get it 
right. So, all right. and Council Morn does have  
[5:01:44] her light on and and I would say we'd also 
likely need to vote on the motion that is on  
[5:01:49] the floor unless it's rescended. Uh and then 
uh then uh look what our options are at that  
[5:01:56] point. But councelor Moore. Yeah, thanks Mayor. 
Um I actually what um councelor Jolliker sent I I  
[5:02:04] really don't want to go that far. I think staff 
has done a ton of work already and I I just I  
[5:02:11] actually feel like there's just a a a few um you 
know minor things that could happen, but I I'm not  
[5:02:18] necessarily in agreement with this long list of 
um of uh ideas here um necessarily. So, thanks.
[5:02:31] Okay. Um Councelor Hill. Thanks, Mayor. Just on 
a point of process, if uh if council doesn't like  
[5:02:40] the the business bylaw as it is, I I would 
suggest that the the course of action is to  
[5:02:46] defeat adoption and that would leave it up to 
staff to bring it back in within whatever time  
[5:02:52] frame worked for them. Okay. And uh and so I guess 
I guess one of the questions it would come back  
[5:03:00] uh but would a subsequent motion potentially 
provide uh some clarity or not? I guess that  
[5:03:09] follow question uh through the chair. A subsequent 
motion providing direction on what council would  
[5:03:16] like to see staff bring back would be helpful 
in in doing that and getting the bylaw adopted.  
[5:03:23] Okay, we'll call the question as 
requested. All those in favor? Any opposed?
[5:03:33] It's for the one that's up 
on the screen right now.
[5:03:42] Okay. Warren and Jeros. Okay, 
then it is carried. Okay.
[5:03:50] Um All right. And with that, uh, we're gonna in 
camera. Yes. Yep. So, if somebody would like to  
[5:04:00] I'll move that. Councelor Hill. Um, I believe 
we have council uh reports on the agenda. We  
[5:04:07] do. I did say we were going to dispense of it, 
but I know some Could I could I have one item?  
[5:04:14] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah. Um, Mr. Mayor, 
at the uh at the last uh council meeting,  
[5:04:19] uh we had a presentation related to a fee 
dispute between local businesses and the  
[5:04:24] Allen Corridor Foundation. I made some comments 
at that uh time that um I later recognized as  
[5:04:33] um inmperate and hyperbolic in nature. And um 
I want to say that I'm sorry for those comments  
[5:04:40] uh which uh potentially impugn the integrity of 
uh people who both work and serve as directors  
[5:04:47] on the Allen Corridor Foundation. It was not my 
intention to impugn their integrity and um it was  
[5:04:54] thoughtless and inconsiderate of me to not have 
realized how those comments might be received.  
[5:05:00] I also want to acknowledge that um there 
was likely more to the situation than was  
[5:05:05] presented at that time. So it was also therefore 
wrong on my part and unfair to imply judgments  
[5:05:11] without hearing and understanding the complete 
picture. So I I want to apologize for any harm  
[5:05:17] or distress that I caused at that time and I thank 
you for your indulgence tonight. My pleasure and  
[5:05:25] uh my apologies for having to wave the rest of 
it, but I I appreciate your words tonight. Uh  
[5:05:32] getting on to 12.7 the inc camera resolution. 
It's been moved and second. All those in favor?