Council Meeting opened with a set of public comments relating to the Water Services Contract Matter and more particularly whether bringing in Water Treatment into the Municipality at this time was a good idea given staffing matters that are before them. A couple of representations were made by Bowen Island Chamber of Commerce imploring Council to act "like a well run business". Murray Atherton gave an eloquent speech on the matter which was, in my view, the moment that resonated the most out of the evening's proceedings. Wil Husby got up and spoke against the notion of running the Muni like a business stating that our Muni should run more like a volunteer organization. Councillor Hooper weighed in as well, stating while he struggled and sympathized with Mr. Atherton's take, he saw a set of category mistakes in the view Murray puts forth.
The first portion of the meeting was a dizzying discussion about DP or Development Permit issuance matters. Councillor Poole and probably more so Councillor Hooper were leading the charge on this matter. There were many issues in this sprawling discussion of DPs. The big issue arising out this was that back in 2003 the Muni Planner was given carte blanche over issuance of DPs. Members of this Council wished to have the authority of significant DPs that would "shape the nature of Bowen" (editor's charactization) be brought back to the Council level. The Mayor at one point spoke pointedly and succinctly on the matter (flagged in the video for convenience). Councillor Poole performed an extensive search on the matter pouring through past Council minutes but could find little to no evidence on the matter of handing over the DP issuance solely to the Planner. She also did an inventory of GVRD and into The Valley looking for best practices on the matter and found Bowen to be an anomaly with the exception of Abbotsford. Towards the end of the debate over the issuance matter Councillor Poole requested that a public meeting be held to explain the details of the Cape Roger Curtis DP. She requested it happen very soon. The CAO stated there was a meeting in Jaunary with all the consultants and "experts" present and the public meeting could follow that one keeping the costs down. Councillor Morse concurred with the CAO Slegtenhorst's take on the matter.
Next segment, Acting Public Works Manager, Bob Robinson and Director of Finance, Joanne Cunday made a staff recommendation to bring Water Treatment Services in-house. The issue was debated with some concern around the table. Councillor Frinton voiced the most concern flagging issues with low internal staffing levels which he characterized as "running on one-cylinder", he also brought up the issue of what happens to the other private systems along with other points. It was put to a vote with the motion passing.
CAO Slegtenhorst read off a series of staff reports, illustrating the volume of work being completed and/or in progress. Phase 1 of the budget process will be January through February which includes the key items such as the 5 year capital plan & the operations budget, there is an offer in progress with regard to the hire of a Municipal Planner, the 2nd round of interviews is taking place for the Director of Engineering, transition towards moving to Municipal Library is taking place, the Tangible Capital Asset Program, mentioned in a recent Council meeting, is underway, completion details on the Turf Field are wrapping up, winter preparation for the Roads department is taking place - taking delivery of salt and so on, the damaged Mt. Gardiner dock has been repaired, Headwaters Park located in Cowan Point was inaugurated, Dave Witty begins as a Planner for the OCP Committee beginning on November 24th, the Islands Trust is assessing whether or not they are suitable for providing planning services to Bowen and the CAO will conducting ward tours in January with each member of Council to review specific concerns of Councillors.
A couple of Council meetings were formally cancelled which means only 2 more scheduled meetings before the end of the year.
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