Quesnel Council to hold a Special Meeting on Jan 6, 2026 at 5:30pm

While most of the Cariboo-Chilcotin Local Governments or Boards of Education are still on Winter Recess, Quesnel Council will be holding another Special Meeting on Tuesday, January 6, 2026 at 5:30pm to discuss: 

* Johnston Bridge Repairs

* 2026 Early Capital Approvals

View the full Meeting Agenda here

The following day (Wednesday, January 7, 2026) at 9:00am in the Fraser River Meeting Room within Quesnel City Hall (4th Floor, 410 Kinchant St) --> Quesnel Council's Financial Sustainability/Audit Committee will be holding a regular meeting.  On the Agenda: 

* 2026 Property Assessments - Non-Market Change/Impact on 2026 City of Quesnel Budget/2026-2030 5 Year Financial Plan 

* 2026 Capital Budget – Final Review and Recommendation to Quesnel Council 

* 2026 Operating Budget - First Review

* Closed Committee Meeting -- Section 92 + 90(1c + 1k - labour/employee relations + negotiations) of the Community Charter 

View the full Meeting Agenda here

Quesnel Council Highlights - Aug 28th, 2025 mtg

Courtesy of the City of Quesnel:

Three Rivers Community Forest (Delegation)

Nick Pickles, TRCF General Manager provided Council with a comprehensive overview of a community forest and the specifics of the Three Rivers Community Forest which was formed by Agreement signed October, 2024, bringing together Esdilagh, Lhtako Dene, Nazko and City of Quesnel as shareholders.

The Community Forest is governed by a Board of Directors whose mandate is stewardship, ecological resilience and community benefit.

The area encompasses 38,223 ha and the Annual Allowable Cut is 42,850m3 of Conifer and 10,500m3 of Deciduous trees.

Secure Care Psychiatric Services (Delegation)

As the Northern Health, Mental Health Medical Lead, Dr. Kane is responsible for establishing a quality agenda and framework in order to implement leading practices.

Through her work, Dr. Kane has seen the gaps in service since B.C. closed Riverview Hospital in 2012; now the only province in Canada without long-term secure care psychiatric services. The patients requiring long-term care and those with violent tendencies are either housed in a hospital which was not intended for this purpose or, they are released.

Northern Health and the Provincial Health Services Authority have identified a former youth retention centre in Prince George that has the amenities to support a secure care facility for the north.

Dr. Kane is looking for municipal support to lobby the provincial government to repurpose this facility, creating the first Secure Care Psychiatric facility in northern B.C.

Development Services

Council approved:

• DVP2025-81 - Development Variance Permit - 383 Reid Street - Granville's (vehicular roof sign)
• DP2023-57 and DVP2024-72 - Development Variance Permit - 405 Elliott Street (Additions to two existing structures)

Council was provided the following updates:

• Land use bylaw updates:  Consultants are currently reviewing the Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw, a second round of public consultations will be held in October, with the OCP and Zoning bylaws adopted in December.
• Cold weather plan update: $30,000.00 of grant funding was obtained from SparcBC to hire a consultant for the development of a plan for extreme cold events.  An advisory committee is being formed to provide input to the work.

Shiraoi

Mayor Paull and Councillors Vik and Runge visited Shiraoi Japan as part of a private cultural learning tour this summer. During the tour, informal impromptu meetings occurred with Shiraoi city officials prompting discussion to reaffirm the twinning relationship and look at proactive and alternate means to support international trade between us.

McLean Street residents petition Council - Road Repairs

As per standard practice, Council decided to reserve discussion on this matter for annual capital budget discussions in the fall, to allow staff an opportunity to assess all identified priority areas.

Announcements

• August 28, 2025, at noon - Category 1 (campfires) banned in the Cariboo Fire Centre.
• August 23, 2025 - A wood deck fire broke out on Two Mile Flat - Thank you to all of the Quesnel & area fire departments coming together to fight this fire and to the support organizations that helped during a very long day.
• August 22, 2025 - Summer's Last Slide, a back-to-school party hosted by Foundry Quesnel.
• September, 2025 – UBCM Convention - Council’s request to meet with the Ministry of Transportation to discuss the North-South Interconnector at ths year's Union of BC Municipalities convention was denied. Quesnel's resolution was relegated to the Referred Resolutions section (not admitted for debate), as it was improperly categorized as a regional, not provincial, issue. Council adopted a resolution to challenge the classification.

Quesnel + Williams Lake Councils' to meet on April 1st, 2025

The following local governments' of the Cariboo-Chilcotin will meet during the week of March 31 - April 4, 2025, as follows:

Quesnel: 

1) Regular Council Meeting on Tuesday, April 1st, 2025 at 5:30pm in Quesnel Council Chambers (4th Floor, 410 Kinchant St).  On the Agenda:

* Committee Reports

* Development Permits - 720 Rita Rd, 19 North Fraser Drive and Dragon Hill Rd

* 2024 Annual Water Report

* Manganese Removal and Water Treatment Update

* 2025 Business Improvement Area Levies

* Dragon Mountain Communications Towers

* 2027 North Central Local Government Association Convention Bid

* Community Transit Partnership Agreements with Nazko First Nation and District of Wells 

* Cariboo Pulp & Paper Sewage Treatment Agreement

* Quesnel Regional Airport Lease – Ministry of Forests

* Strategic Plan & Operations Plan

* British Columbia Air Access Program Grant

* MS Self-Help Group - LeBourdais Park Community Flag Pole request

View the full Meeting Agenda here

2) Policy/Bylaw Committee - Regular Meeting on Thursday, April 3rd, 2025 at 3:15pm in the Fraser Room, Quesnel City Hall.  On the Agenda:

* Old Business: Time-sensitive electronic vote - Property Development Proposal

* Policies Review -- CCR-13-Banner Policy - DRAFT; CCR-18-Use of Transit Buses for Special Occasions; IWC-17-Council Committees & Appointments policy; CCR-16-Little People Fire Hydrants

View the full Agenda here

Williams Lake: 

Regular Council Meeting on Tuesday, April 1st, 2025 at 6pm in WL Council Chambers (450 Mart St).  On the Agenda:

* Delegations -- Atlantic Power re: Updates on Williams Lake Plant; Inspector Robert Lake, Williams Lake RCMP re: 2024 Police Commission Report; Taya Vanderkop-Girard, Wildfire Risk Reduction and FireSmart Coordinator re: Overview of FireSmart Program and Objectives

* Free Transit Service on Federal Election Day

* Update to membership to Executive Committee of Council 

* Streetworks 2025 Contract Award

* Lake Harvester Update

View the full Meeting Agenda here

2014 Quesnel SOFI Report

At their meeting on Monday - Quesnel Council will receive their 2014 SOFI or Statement of Financial Information Report, as per Section 2(3) of the Financial Information Act, Section 168 of the Community Charter and BC Regulation #371/1993, which includes how much the 7 elected officials of Quesnel Municipal Council made in 2014 plus individual Staff who made over $75,000 in salary plus collective Staff making below $75,000 in salary, also in 2014

For the financial year ending December 31st, 2014

Elected Officials:

Name/Position	Remuneration	Expenses
Bob Simpson/Mayor (December 2014)	$3,555.47	$0.00
Mary Sjostrom/Mayor (2014)	$39,110.11	$4,063.94
John Brisco /Councillor (2014)	$14,638.43	$1,963.05
Mike Cave/Councillor (2014)	$13,418.60	$20.00
Ed Coleman/Councillor (2014)	$14,638.43	$1,170.93
Scott Elliot/Councillor (2014)	$14,638.43	$1,071.42
Ron Paull/Councillor (December 2014)	$1,219.82	$0.00
L-A Roodenburg/Coun. (2014)	$14,638.43	$4,295.73
Sushil Thapar/Councillor (2014)	$14,638.43	$0.00

For similiar number for the financial year ending Dec 31st, 2013 - click here

As for the infamous "$100,000" Club - it stands at 4 in 2014.  Those making over $100,000 were:

1) Byron Johnson (City Manager/CAO) - $160,436.17 in salary with $5,836.91 in expenses
2) Kari Bolton (Dir of Corp/Fin Services) - $124,103.71 in salary with $11,436.08 in expenses
3) Jeff Norburn (Dir of Community Services) - $110,261.99 in salary with $2,197.42 in expenses

4) Sylvain Gauthier (Dir of Emergency Services) - $105,251.44 in salary with $3,874.91 in expenses

Total Staff Salaries paid for those making over $75,000 = $2,346,724.00 with expenses being $60,645.91 being submitted in 2014.  For the 2013 Financial Year - it was $1,997,993.92 in salary over $75,000 with expenses in 2013 being submitted of $26,974.89

Total Staff Salaries paid for those making under $75,000 = $6,959,214.72.  The previous year (2013), this was $7,070,974.64

The SOFI Report, in addition to reporting salaries/expenses for elected/appointed officials/regular Staff, also includes purchase of goods/services valued over $25,000 and any severance agreements paid out in 2014.  The City of Quesnel reports that 1 severance agreement was paid out in 2014 representing 3 months of compensation, based on value of salary & payment in lieu of benefits

Read SOFI Salary report here; Goods/Services Report here and Severance Report here

All local governments (Quesnel, Wells, Williams Lake, 100 Mile House and Cariboo Regional District) are required to file their 2014 SOFI Report prior to Tuesday, June 30th as their financial year runs January to December and the SOFI Report is due 6 months after the close of the financial year while School Districts #27/28 do not have to have their SOFI Reports published until December 31st in each year because School Districts' financial year runs July 1st - June 30th

~SF

Sushil Thapar -- "I've done nothing wrong"

As I predicted earlier this week -- Quesnel Council imposed its' 3rd Censure Motion on Councillor Sushil Thapar and then proceeded to impose additional restrictions on him as well. The 3rd censure motion will not, in my view, stop Sushil Thapar from speaking out and may in fact, embolden him to speak out more often and not less...

From today's (Friday, July 20th) Quesnel Cariboo Observer:

Stripped of his Committees and having to seek Quesnel Council permission before representing the City, Councillor Sushil Thapar says he will continue to work for the taxpayers' of Quesnel

Monday night, Council unanimously passed a motion to censure Thapar for a third time, while stripping him of Committee appointments, removing him from rotating Acting Mayor and requiring him to seek Council permission prior to representing the City

It's unfortunate we had to take this measures, Quesnel Mayor Mary Sjostrom said.  Council quoted a number of concerns for the restrictions including respectful communications and how confidential information is released

In the June 29th issue of the Cariboo Observer, Thapar was quoted as calling his colleagues "freakin' idiots" after hearing of the alleged "wrongful" dismissal of long-term City employee Meriel Wild

The termination could have huge implications for taxpayers

Thapar apologized to his colleagues for his remarks during Monday's meeting

However, he maintains the restrictions imposed upon him will not deter him from continuing to work "on behalf of the taxpayers"

Thapar also said the sanctions placed on him only served to "discredit" him both as a Quesnel City Councillor and as a person

"I've done nothing wrong", he stated

" I did not break my oath, I have an oath to taxpayers.  I will not back down", further stated Thapar

Thapar has been censured twice before.  The first instance, it was alleged he was disrespectful to Quesnel City Staff -- a claim that Thapar denies.  The second censure was due to an alleged breach of confidentiality - another claim he (Thapar) adamantly denies

Sjostrom says the City and Quesnel City Council is moving on, regardless of Thapar.  "Nobody is hiding anything", she said.  "We are in compliance.  We're done"

Council has requested a In-Camera (private) meeting with Thapar to discuss his future role with the City of Quesnel and Quesnel City Council

"Any open, public meeting I will attend", stated Thapar, adding he questions the authority of Council to impose the restrictions

"I was elected by the people", Thapar says, "Not these (Quesnel Council) people"