Delegations:
1) Update on IHA Activities from Allison Ruault - local IHA Acute Care Services Administrator
2) Request from 2 Local Students for assistance for their Student Leadership Conference here in October. It's been recommended that City Pins & a copy of the City's Conference Incentive application form be provided
Business:
1) Report from the City's CAO re: 2011 NCLGA Conference in Prince Rupert. See here
2) 2010 Audited Financial Statements for ratification. See here. Interesting, provincial legislation sets deadline for handing in yearly audited financial statements as May 15th and date of Council meeting is May 24th. As one person pointed out - should there be penalities for handing this important information in late with no real excuse? Both the CAO/Director of Finance must sign off on the Managment's Report, as part of the yearly Audited Financial Statements, and there hasn't been an issue with yearly audited financial statements in 2009/2010 being late in to Victoria from the City of Williams Lake.
Also note - the Audited Financial Statement noted two legal actions as follows:
1)
| The City has been named as a co-defendant in a lawsuit pertaining to a traffic accident. |
| The claim amount is undetermined at this time. |
Fomer WL Mayor Scott Nelson advises that this type of lawsuit can be covered, via City insurance
2)
| In the current year (2010), the City of Williams Lake was named as defendant in a Statement of Claim |
| regarding the design and construction of a retaining wall. The claim amount is undetermined at this time |
The above pertains to either Jasvinder Kondola at 238 Crosina Crescent (Nov 3, 2009) or Sharon/William Whitely (April 2010) at 123/127 Lakeview Ave
3) OCP Bylaw #2140 for 2nd Reading - See here. Please note that the Staff report makes reference to an "APC Member" (Steve Forseth - APC Chair) who disagreed with the Bylaw moving forward due to 2 Policies namely:
a) Establish of a Standard of Maintenance Bylaw to enforce basic levels of maintenance for rental accommodation and ensure that apartment buildings, secondary suites, houses, condominiums, and any other types of rental housing that are rented, meet minimum standards of comfort and safety.
b) Promote the Central Cariboo Arts Centre, Museum and Station House Gallery as the focal points of Williams Lake’s “cultural district”, with close proximity to the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex and Boitanio Park where there are organized performances and farmers markets.
For my blog readers' information, I was not comfortable with these two policies for the following reasons:
On "a" - I believe the language was too harsh, from a tact/diplomacy point of view, to have that polite policy discussion with the public around minimum standards of comfort & safety without it turning into a divisive session between tenants and rental owners which it need not turn into if we, as a community, are serious about resolving the issues around rental accomodations
On "b" - I was not in agreement with the new wording of the idea of a cultural district (which I don't disagree with) but couldn't support the idea that the amended "cultural district" policy advocates for re: the move of the Station House Gallery (something I agree with in principle) but by stating an area (Botanio Park/CMRC) where the cultural district is to go limits your options of discussing alternate locations for Station House Gallery with the public, as currently worded & also given concerns around the new home for the Station House Gallery. Note - the previous wording stated support for a cultural district which mentioned only the Arts Centre and Museum and that was something I can support wholeheartedly
4) Two Developments Proposals coming forward including:
i) Zoning Amendment Bylaw #2138 (Pinetree Developments) - Downgrade Zoning from R-3 (Townhouse) to R-1 (Single Family Home). See here. If all approvals are received - Council could give adoption to this proposal by its July 19th meeting
ii) DVP #2-2011 (Platform Properties) for 10,000 sq ft of commericial space on Wal-Mart site. See here DVP could be approved by June 7th if APC/Public give consent to the DVP
5) WL Saturday Market Association gets its' request approved for a Saturday Farmers' Market in Herb Gardner Park, starting in June - October with the City asking the Association increases their liability insurance to $3,000,000. See here. This notwistanding a City Staff report which suggested that other locations be considered like the old Courthouse Square/Boitanio Park
6) Letter from District of Clearwater congraulating Williams Lake Council for their Junior Council initiative - see here
Finally - On Tuesday, Quesnel Council is set to approve a trial where the expense reports of Quesnel Council and their senior Staff will be posted on Quesnel Council Agendas. However, when this item was discussed at the May 16th Committee of the Whole (Quesnel Council) Meeting, Quesnel Councillor S. Thapar (Quesnel Finance Chair) said:
Acting Mayor Thapar stated his disappointment that the report was brought forward in aI personally see this as a cheap political shot at Quesnel's City Staff & Mayor and I wonder if he took the time to call Mary Sjostrom and simply say - "Madam Mayor - I'm not real comfortable with this item at a Commitee of the Whole Meeting". He would have gotten a lot further than making statements like this when a media rep is present at the meeting
Committee of Whole Council meeting rather than at a regular Council meeting.
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