[0:10] Call the regular council meeting of Tuesday, September the 8th to order.

[0:14] There's a approval. There's an agenda there for your approval. Recommendation

[0:18] that the agenda for the regular council meeting of September 8th be adopted as

[0:22] presented. Can I have a motion please? Councelor Nish and councelor Forester.

[0:27] Any additions? All in favor? Any opposed? It is carried. Uh there is no

[0:32] public member here for commenting. So we move to the consent agenda. Number of

[0:37] items on the consent agenda tonight. There's council minutes. Minutes of the

[0:40] special meeting to close of August 24th and minutes of the regular meeting of

[0:44] August 24th. There's a report for receipt from the chief administrative

[0:48] officer. With regards to council requests and inquiries, there's

[0:51] correspondence for approval. The request for a proclamation for September the

[0:55] 21st is rail safety week. request for proclamation of October 10th as national

[1:00] dental care day. Request for letter of support from the city of Prince George

[1:04] with regards to the northern rural homeowners grant. And there is

[1:08] correspondence for receipt which includes a UBCM response for uh

[1:13] resolution that we submitted which was deemed to be uh not fitting to the their

[1:19] requirements. Corporation of the village of Slocan, support for continued local

[1:24] government climate action program and a letter from Mike Hagen on behalf of

[1:28] Prince River residents with regards to the support for regulated use of

[1:32] electronic scooters and ebikes. Recommendation is that all the items on

[1:35] the consent agenda be approved or received as requested. All in favor or

[1:40] sorry a move council and second councelor did I hear it? Councelor

[1:46] Skelton Morgan. Thank you very much. That's correct. Second, uh, any items

[1:50] you want to draw attention to? Councelor Forster.

[1:52] » Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Um, the RCMP, I believe, are going to be coming at the

[1:56] next meeting to discuss the uh, yes, I think the specific request was actually

[2:02] scooters, not the ebikes. Um, but my understanding is electronic scooters. We

[2:07] don't need to do a bylaw. They're not currently legal in Prince Roert. It's

[2:12] not one of the cities that has the availability of doing the trial.

[2:17] I can't comment on that. Uh, Deputy Miller.

[2:20] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, e scooters and and the like are um actually governed

[2:26] through a provincial pilot program that the city is currently not a party to.

[2:30] So, we would if that was something that council wanted us to look into, we would

[2:34] need to look at what the requirements would be for that. But, there is a

[2:37] provincial regulation. We don't need a bylaw for that.

[2:42] » Right. Uh, Councelor Cunningham, >> we have a bylaw right now for helmets

[2:47] anyway. That's on the books. >> Uh, Deputy Miller.

[2:53] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Our bylaw is currently for non-motorized scooters.

[2:57] Um, it does not apply to ecooters uh or anything ebike related. Um, and again,

[3:03] that's a provincial matter. So, irrespective of whether we added a bylaw

[3:08] to to control that, it would it would not supersede the provincial

[3:11] legislation. Okay. >> All in favor? Any opposed? It is

[3:17] carried. Move on to reports. We have a report from the chief financial officer

[3:21] with regards to permissive property tax exemption bylaw number 3571.

[3:25] Recommendation that council consider the repeal and replace of the permissive

[3:29] property tax exemption bylaw for 2027. Motion. Councelor Randawa. Councelor AD.

[3:37] Discussion. I noted on there um and I noted some bit

[3:43] of community discussion um there's a rather significant uh tax

[3:49] exemption for uh Canf or for Patterson properties and I know that has to do

[3:56] with the property that we lease from them but I wonder if you might explain

[4:01] to us and explain to the public why there's such a large exemption Mayor

[4:07] Cuchi. >> Uh, thank you, Mayor. I'm going to defer

[4:10] that. >> Thank you.

[4:12] » Uh, yes. So, the Campus Go property uh is inclusive of the boat launch and the

[4:19] in order to have a public access for the boat launch. Um, uh um Patterson had

[4:26] agreed to to allow the city to use it um and and lease it. And because the city

[4:33] is uh non-t taxable, uh that portion of Pisonson's ownership uh needs to be

[4:39] permissibly exempted. >> Perfect. Thank you very much. Any other

[4:44] comments or questions? All in favor? Any opposed? It is carried. We have a report

[4:49] from the chief financial officer with regards to tax sale redemption extension

[4:53] bylaw 3572. Recommendation is council consider the repeal and replace of the

[4:58] permissive property tax exemption bylaw for 2027. Motion councelor Cunningham,

[5:03] councelor Nich. Any discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? It is carried. We

[5:10] have a report from the chief administrative officer with regard to

[5:12] building community strong fund application. Recommendation is council

[5:16] authorizes staff to apply to the build community strong fund uh direct delivery

[5:22] stream for funding toward the site selection and detailed design of a new

[5:26] water treatment facility with a class B cost estimate and that council directs

[5:31] staff to include 2.5 million in the city's 2027 capital budget as a

[5:37] municipal matching contribution subject to approval of the BCS BCSF application

[5:43] and execution of a funding agreement. Motion councilors Ady and Nish any

[5:49] discussion comments or question uh councelor

[5:53] Randawa >> so that money will like we looking for

[5:59] tax on the public or it's coming from legacy fund

[6:03] » uh shoocci >> um thank you mayor at this point it's

[6:07] too early to to tell um we will be going through the 2027 capital budget very

[6:14] soon. Actually, we're starting that within the next couple weeks and it'll

[6:17] be presented to the new council. So, at this point, we don't know where the

[6:20] money will be funded from. >> Okay. I think um you know, I think it's

[6:26] worth pausing for just a second because you know um lots of people pay very

[6:30] close attention to everything we do and then lots of people pay almost no

[6:33] attention to what we do and that's why we're get elected, right? is to make

[6:36] decisions. And so some people say, you know, why aren't you doing anything

[6:41] about the water when in fact councils for 10 years have been working on the

[6:45] water? The water dam needed to be replaced first. There no point in having

[6:48] anything else if you can't don't have a source of water. And so thank heavens

[6:52] the previous council did that work. That work was completed while this council

[6:57] took over. If you remember, we went from the lower lake to the upper lake and and

[7:02] all of that and and a lot of the boil water issues uh subsided. Not all, but

[7:08] but a lot subsided because it's a different catchment. So, water dam then

[7:13] this council had to deal with the water pipes. We, you know, and so we've got

[7:17] the big project and we raised more money than the community's ever seen from

[7:21] government funding and and uh and that's why the streets are getting torn

[7:26] up and that's why all the you know diversions and and detours are taking

[7:31] place and we're replacing those water pipes

[7:35] to get ready for the final phase which is water treatment. So right now Prince

[7:39] Rupert chlorinates their water our water but that is all we do that water the

[7:44] water that we're drinking today is the water that we've been drinking for 100

[7:47] years and and I remember in the 80s it was declared some of the best water in

[7:51] the entire province. So um it it it's as a natural source it's absolutely

[7:57] wonderful. It does have discoloration in it. We know that um from the tannins in

[8:02] the water but um we need to go to the full water treatment which will clarify

[8:07] the water. It it give more barriers of protection. And so all of those things

[8:12] are coming to an end if you will in in the water treatment program. This $5

[8:18] million is to get the early design, pick a location for it, uh, and get a cost

[8:24] estimate that will allow us to, um, be more effective in our fundraising,

[8:29] right? Right now, we kind of a finger in the wind and say $75 million, but but we

[8:36] we don't know that. And so, that's why uh, council is looking tonight to say,

[8:41] let let's get the two.5 million. Let's match the 2.5 million. Spend the five

[8:46] and we'll have a much better idea of what we're talking about. All right.

[8:50] Does that help? Uh did I get a vote on that? All in favor? Any opposed? It is

[8:56] carried. Uh we have a report from the chief administrative officer with regard

[9:01] to award RFP 2026 integrated project delivery services.

[9:06] Recommendation is the council authorized staff to award RFP2000

[9:10] integrated major project delivery service to the joint venture of Melhaney

[9:14] Limited and Associated Engineering BC and authorize the chief administrative

[9:18] officer to execute the associated master services agreement and subsequent

[9:22] project specific assignments in accordance with the approved city

[9:26] budgets and funding agreements. Motion please. Councilors ad councilors

[9:30] Randawa. Any discussion? Councelor Cunningham.

[9:35] I know at the at this point that uh there's no value to this contract, but

[9:42] when the contract kicks in, is there any idea what the value will be?

[9:48] » CEO Pooie. >> Um thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, at this

[9:52] point, I I can't really give you an idea of what that is. It all depends on the

[9:56] project. So, uh and remember, this isn't for construction. This is just for the

[10:00] consulting services for execution of design and construction management. So

[10:06] we will be going out to public procurement associated with all the

[10:09] construction and earthworks. This is just to complete design and oversight

[10:14] for engineering. Um we will still be doing our thresholds where we come in

[10:20] and uh and communicate to council when we've done awards in you know over a

[10:25] million and and so on and so forth. So, uh, at this point it's zero. We do have

[10:30] some projects that we want to get over right away and get going on. Uh, but

[10:34] other than that, I can't tell you what what it's going to be.

[10:37] » Councelor Ka, >> my only concern is we're sort of giving

[10:40] them a blank check and the overview of this. How's that going to be?

[10:46] » Coochie. >> Uh, thank you, Mary. So, included in the

[10:50] report, it talks about an annual due diligence report that'll be completed.

[10:53] We're likely going to use uh Infrastructure BC, which is the same uh

[10:58] due diligence reporting that uh the province of British Columbia uses for

[11:02] all of their major infrastructure projects like their schools and highways

[11:06] and all of that. So, we've communicated with them about an annual um uh report

[11:11] that can be completed, submitted to council and to our funders. I think it's

[11:15] really important that we use government money to the best way possible and it's

[11:20] important that we can show them that we get the best value. So using their own

[11:24] auditing system to show them how we use their money is how we would like to

[11:27] proceed. >> Thank you. Uh councelor Nish.

[11:31] » Yeah, I just wanted to put a little support behind this as well because you

[11:35] know I feel that you know we've all learned lessons from the beginning of

[11:40] our our big project and and things to do and things not to do. um you know, try

[11:46] to try and hit the ground running and get things done. And sometimes that

[11:49] doesn't work as good as you want and and you know, having to do a little bit more

[11:54] planning and and a and a and the the ability to not really have the staff to

[11:59] do that. This is is going to be good for that. you know, it'll allow us to to

[12:04] have the professionals that deal with the stuff every day and help us move

[12:08] forward on on this water project because we still have, I don't know, $150

[12:13] million worth of projects to do on that, I'm thinking.

[12:17] » Yeah. >> Yep. And and projects to follow, you

[12:21] know, as as we've talked about and and I can't can't say it often enough, you

[12:25] know, we have two bridges that are at end of life. They maybe have five or six

[12:29] or seven years left in them. Um, we have a fireh hall that's end of life. We we

[12:34] are mandated by 2030 to have sewage treatment, which

[12:38] we we know we can't do. Um, but there there's a long list and and then we have

[12:44] recreation facilities that need upgrading and and and refreshing and and

[12:48] um and by then we'll be ready to start on something else. But the beauty of

[12:52] this approach is that um we don't have to staff up and staff down and staff up

[12:56] every time. you know this organization provides if we need a lot of them

[13:01] there'll be a lot of them and if we don't need none of them the then you

[13:05] know the count goes to zero so I think it's a I think it's a wise approach um

[13:11] all in favor any opposed it is carried uh bylaws we have a delegation bylaw

[13:16] number 3564 recommendation that the council consider fourth and final

[13:19] reading to the delegation bylaw 3564 2026 motion please councilors AD and

[13:25] Randawa Any discussion? Uh, councelor Cunningham.

[13:29] » Okay. I I've mentioned this before and I'll mention again. It's not so much a

[13:34] bylaw as a policy that I would like to see when uh reconsider reconsideration

[13:40] of development permits decisions now that we're going to be delegating power

[13:46] down decisions down to staff and that that when the package is handed out as

[13:52] suggested earlier in that package is how if you're not happy with the decision

[13:58] the steps you can take to do that because we constantly hear people say I

[14:02] didn't know about that, >> right?

[14:04] » So, if they get that in writing with the package, then here it is. You were had

[14:11] it. Thank you very much. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's it's it's in, as you

[14:15] know, it's in the bylaw. You know, a person may appeal the decision to

[14:19] council, but if they don't know about that, it's not very helpful. Any other

[14:24] comments or questions? All in favor? Any opposed? It's carried. We have the de

[14:30] development approval information amendment by law number 3565.

[14:34] A recommendation that council consider fourth and final reading to development

[14:37] approval information amendment by law number 3565 2026. Motion please.

[14:43] Councelor Nish, I saw your hand many other times. So and councelor Cunningham

[14:47] any discussion now. Councelor Nish. Uh the only

[14:51] question I have was uh being that we have in place uh the development uh

[14:58] policy that has no cost for zoning amendments and housing. I just want to

[15:04] make sure that that's still part even though that this is written.

[15:10] » CO Thank you. I'm going to defer to our

[15:13] deputy >> deputy Miller.

[15:15] » Thank you. Uh yes, that was not uh formed as part of the bylaw previously.

[15:19] It was a it was a separate policy that came forward to council. So though

[15:22] that's still that's unaffected. >> Okay. Thank you.

[15:25] » Any other questions? All in favor? Any opposed? Carried. We have development

[15:30] procedure bylaw number 3566 2026. Recommendation that council

[15:35] consider fourth and final reading to development procedure bylaw number 3566

[15:40] 2026. Motion. Councelor Forester. Councelor Randalla. Discussion.

[15:46] All in favor? Any opposed? It's carried. We have officers bylaw number 3567.

[15:53] Recommendation council consider fourth and final reading to the officers bylaw

[15:58] number 3567206.

[16:03] Uh motion councelor Forester councelor 80. Any discussion?

[16:09] All in favor? Any opposed? It is carried. We have corporate signing

[16:15] authority delegation bylaw number 3568 20266. Recommendation to the council

[16:20] consider fourth and final reading to corporate signing authority and

[16:23] delegation by number 3568 2026. Motion councilors Cunningham and Nish

[16:30] discussion. All in favor? Any opposed? Is carried.

[16:35] We have freedom of information and protection of private privacy

[16:38] administration by number 3569. Recommendation is council consider

[16:43] fourth and final reading to freedom and of information and protection of privacy

[16:47] administration bylaw number 256 sorry 3569

[16:53] » that should be three >> 3569 thank you very much um uh motion

[16:59] councilors Forester councilors 80 any discussion

[17:03] all in favor any opposed is carried we have a permissive property tax exemption

[17:09] by law number 3571 recommendation Council consider first, second, third

[17:12] readings to permissive property tax exemption by line number 35712026.

[17:18] Councelor Forester and >> C.

[17:23] » Oh, did you have your hand up? Councelor Skelton Morvin, we'll get you in there.

[17:26] Yeah, sorry. Second council skeleton Morvin.

[17:30] » Thank you very much. I note, and I usually do at the beginning of the

[17:33] meeting, councelor Skelton Morvin is joining us remotely this this evening.

[17:37] Um, so it's moved and seconded. Any discussion?

[17:41] All in favor? Any opposed? It is carried. We have a tax sale redemption

[17:46] extension by line number 3572. Recommendation that council consider

[17:50] first, second, and third readings uh to the tax sale redemption extension file

[17:54] by number 3572 2026. Councilors Cunningham and Forester. Any discussion?

[18:00] All in favor? Any opposed? It is carried. Council round table. Councelor

[18:06] Cunningham. I'd like to uh bring it to the attention

[18:11] of the community. Most of the community was there. The ILWU had a

[18:17] barbecue for Labor Day and uh many unions had their displays there and

[18:24] that. But what I saw when I was there was the community coming together to

[18:31] celebrate the history of labor in this town, but also how important it is right

[18:36] now for us to look within and shop within to support local not only in in

[18:43] town here but in the country because of what's going on throughout

[18:50] the south of 49th parallel there that uh I think it's very important that uh we

[18:56] shop in the community or shop down the line and things like that. You know, by

[19:02] shopping on eBay and Amazon right now, you're helping Donald Duck. So, I think

[19:07] it's uh it's something we should all look at, especially strong union people,

[19:12] supporting other strong union people. >> Thank you, Councelor uh Forester.

[19:17] » Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I I echo uh councelor Cunningham's as somebody who was there

[19:22] wearing my 9 to5 hat. Um it was really great to see all the unions come

[19:28] together. There was I think they said they gave out over 1,400 plates of food.

[19:33] » Um significant success for many people in our community. So that was wonderful

[19:38] to see. Um a couple of other things I wanted to uh see if we could make an

[19:44] extension of the request. So, we've already requested that the RC or I

[19:48] requested the RCMP come and talk about the escooters. There's also been a lot

[19:53] of confusion uh in the public. We used to have a media person for the RCMP who

[19:58] would give um media updates when there's been significant

[20:04] or believe to be significant police events. There would be a bit of a

[20:08] community update. Could we when the RCMP come to talk about Easters, could we

[20:12] also ask to find out? Could we have something like that returned to our

[20:16] community? If not, why not? Um I I believe the person that did it is no

[20:22] longer in our community and that might just be a maybe they need to train up,

[20:27] but could we find out if there's a reason or a way we could get uh

[20:31] something Yes. something happened, there's no risk to the public, that type

[20:34] of an announcement. Yep. >> Um,

[20:38] and I think that was it. Thank you so much.

[20:40] » All right, Councelor 80, >> I won't repeat too much about the Labor

[20:46] Day event, but uh it was an outstanding turnout and I would just make the point

[20:51] that we celebrate um

[20:56] the union movement and what it's brought um to workers in the union movement, but

[21:02] we should also remember that that has meant

[21:06] um changes and benefits for people who are not part of the union movement uh

[21:11] whether that's minimum wages or working hours, labor labor standards and so on.

[21:16] So there there is a concentric circle that goes beyond the lab the the formal

[21:21] labor movement as well. Um and it was an outstanding event, loads of fun. Um, I

[21:29] have a question that was put to me and and I I've since um received an answer,

[21:35] but I I imagine there are other people wondering about the uh large equipment

[21:40] that is gathering up at the uh uh top of 6th Avenue West and what that means for

[21:47] the future of people in that area. And I'm asking in particular because with

[21:52] school opening tomorrow or sorry today, open today, full days tomorrow. Um

[22:02] last year we we saw how the busy traffic on Prince Robert Boulevard is affected

[22:08] by um construction. The next most busy traffic area is between the hospital and

[22:16] Roosevelt School and Annunciation School at um the opening and closing of

[22:21] schools. So, I'm I'm interested in um what that means for the people on 6th

[22:27] Avenue West in the foreseeable future. >> CO Pooie.

[22:33] » Thank you, Mayor. Uh a great question. As council can remember, we we awarded

[22:38] uh the 6th Avenue um corridor which is between the library and um and

[22:45] Roosevelt. I believe it goes partially around Summit. I'm not sure if it makes

[22:49] it all the way to the hospital. Uh it is a large corridor. It is a um emergency

[22:53] services corridor. It is a busy transit corridor. Uh nevertheless, that got an

[22:59] old pipe in it that needs to be replaced. Um we have learned from uh

[23:04] other areas on how to do uh staged closures so that we can keep as much of

[23:10] it open as possible. Uh one of the benefits of Sixth Avenue is that there

[23:14] is a lot of workarounds in some of those side streets like 7th and up on Fifth.

[23:18] So we will be um making sure that whenever there's a closure of a certain

[23:23] block that there is a workaround and and that that that uh active um

[23:28] transportation uh can can move around those areas. The um the part uh up by

[23:35] Roosevelt in the gravel area that has been blocked off by NAP construction is

[23:40] a is a material layown area. Um it is a big gravel patch that can be used to put

[23:45] pipe down and and store equipment in preparation for for the works. Um the

[23:51] where we are working on all the traffic management plans right now and looking

[23:55] at what those phase closures look like and as soon as they get approved we'll

[23:58] be uh doing mailers out to the people that are going to be affected throughout

[24:03] uh that corridor as well as putting media blasts out to to the entire

[24:07] community. councelor. >> And one more thing, having having given

[24:11] all of the school kids an extra day off in my previous remark, um they must feel

[24:18] feel short changed because I'm sure they were at school. Uh wishing all of them

[24:22] and the teachers who will work with them and the EAS and the administrators an

[24:27] excellent year. >> Yeah. Excellent.

[24:31] » Uh councelor Randawa. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, same note

[24:35] like uh he thanks for the update on the six and people still asking about the

[24:40] like paving on the crest view and east 11 if you have any update for the

[24:45] people. See Ouchi. Uh thank you very much. Uh so paving on it's Victoria

[24:52] Street and from Crestu down Victoria Street and what we're calling phase one

[24:56] of 11th. Uh that is uh the quote is has come in I believe either today. I

[25:02] haven't looked at it or it'll be in in the next day or two, but it will be done

[25:06] during the next uh sunny stretch. There is uh some valve work that just needs to

[25:10] be done first, but uh the plan is to have first lift done on all of that

[25:14] gravel uh right now and then uh for then after the winter and after phase two is

[25:21] complete, they'll do first lift and then there'll be a monolithic single lift

[25:24] that goes over the second part of everything al together. So, uh, the plan

[25:29] is by the end of the month it will be paved.

[25:34] » Councelor Cunningham, >> while we're on paving for Nars Doll,

[25:38] those two patches are >> Are they going to get done?

[25:44] » Uh, thank you. We're just wait. They've been approved. We're just waiting for a

[25:48] little bit of good weather. We prioritized obviously the Second Avenue

[25:51] Bridge to get that done before the school season. Um that paving took three

[25:57] or four days. That's just the the way it needed to be paved. Some of it had to be

[26:01] done by hand and then and then uh several lifts after that um to make sure

[26:06] that water doesn't um stay on that bridge. It's really important that water

[26:10] sheds appropriately off that bridge or you can have hydroplaning. So, uh, we

[26:14] use a lot of good weather for that one. And, uh, I understand we're coming into

[26:18] stretch of good weather here pretty quick. And we have, uh, all of the sites

[26:22] that we, uh, discussed with the capital paving program will be completed.

[26:26] There's several water patches that are in town that will be completed. And then

[26:30] the 11th and Victoria will be completed all by the end of the month.

[26:36] the um and and people have commented on it. The the quality of the work,

[26:42] at least from a layman's point of view, on Second Avenue Bridge, appears to be

[26:46] marvelous. It's it's a wonderful smooth surface and and uh and really well done.

[26:53] Um I I only have a comment with regards to the Labor Day um celebration that I I

[27:00] uh my vantage point is ever so slightly different in that I celebrated the

[27:04] building and and the way it's being used and the way it's being shared um with

[27:10] the community. Uh I I had a chance to talk to the president there for some

[27:16] time and you know in in and amongst everybody else that was working the the

[27:20] Prince Lions were busy cooking and serving and doing their thing and

[27:25] apparently they meet free of charge uh at at the hall and and uh and and Keith

[27:32] took great pride and pleasure I think in being able to speak about how that

[27:38] building can be and an asset in community building and um and so kudos

[27:45] to to the leadership at ILWU and and to the membership because uh you don't have

[27:52] to do that but it it it does make for a better community. Thank you. Anything

[27:57] else?

[28:00] Motion to adjurnn. Motion uh councelor Forester seconded councelor Randawa. All

[28:06] in favor? Any opposed? It is carried. Meeting a jerk.

Regular Council Meeting - September 08, 2026

Transcript