Regular Council Meeting - November 21st, 2022

Did you miss Monday's Council Meeting? Check out the summary of the meeting items below:

Council summary:

• Council held a Committee of the Whole, which heard a presentation from Tom Kertes with respect to early research the City is conducting into a Municipally Controlled Corporation model to design, build and operate its water treatment facility. This presentation was followed up by a report from staff. Additional information on the proposed model, as well as the current status of this work, is available here: https://princerupert.ca/city-developing-business-case-alternative-water-treatment-operating-model_2022-11-22
• Council received a report from the Director of Operations and Intergovernmental Relations on purchasing in that department.
• Council passed a recommendation from staff to award the contract for SCADA system upgrades to Coast Tsimshian Northern Contractors Alliance (CTNCA). The SCADA system refers to the City’s communication infrastructure that allows for remote operation of the water system. The upgrade project will install two communication towers – one in Montreal Circle and one across the harbour at the water supply – to vastly improve connectivity.
• Council awarded the contract to apply on the City’s behalf for Federal Funding under the Rapid Housing Initiative to Graham Capital and Northern Contract Alliance. If either application from the two selected proponents is successful, each proponent will be awarded the contract to carry out its development, with all costs being recoverable through available funding.
• Council received the Development Activity Report for October 2022 from the Planning Department.
• Council received the report from the Chief Financial Officer regarding the 2022 Financial Variance Report. The CFO noted that costs in the water utility are higher than projected due to the frequency of breaks and the required overtime to fix them. In addition, it was noted that the costs for the repairs to McBride St are projected to be approximately 15% higher than budgeted due to the rising cost of aggregate and additional engineering requirements.
• Council approved short term borrowing from the Municipal Finance Authority for $850,000 to cover the costs of McBride Street repair, as was adopted in the Financial Plan Amendment in July. This loan will be repaid by Prince Rupert Legacy Inc over five years, with no impact to utility ratepayers.
• Council completed a number of committee appointments of Councillors to the community boards on which they serve as a part of their duties.  
• Council voted to send a letter of support to Kaien Trails for Phase 1 of the Cloudberry Trail to support their fundraising efforts with the Port of Prince Rupert.
• Council voted to send a letter of support to Tourism Prince Rupert in support of their application for development of new visitor merchandise for the 2023 season with Northern Development Initiative Trust.
• Council designated the signing authorities for the City's financial accounts for the new Council term. 
• Council approved the schedule of appointment of Acting Mayors.
• Council approved the schedule of Council meetings for 2023.
• Council gave First Second and Third Readings to the Trade or Business License Amendment Bylaw No. 3509, 2022, as well as First Second and Third readings to the Ticket Information Amendment Bylaw No 3501, 2022. These Bylaws must be amended to bring all bylaws in line with the Business Regulation and Licensing Bylaw that puts into place rental protections as well as maintenance standards for rental housing in Prince Rupert, and include a mechanism for fining.
• Council give First, Second and Third readings to a new Council Procedure Bylaw that better reflects the current processes at the City. This includes more robust provisions for remote attendance at meetings, an adjustment of the agenda to enable  public feedback on agenda items during a set time (with continued  opportunity for residents to come before Council as a petition/delegation during Committee of the Whole), and the adoption of a “Consent Agenda” – which allows Council to vote as a package on specific items that do not require action/decision; for instance, minutes, release of closed meeting items, staff reports for information, and correspondence.
• Staff responded to an inquiry from Council regarding the bollards placed on McBride St, which were installed as a requirement of the engineer, in order to protect weight tolerances on the sidewalk.
• Staff responded to an additional inquiry from Council regarding construction of the bus pull out on 2nd Avenue in front of Ocean Centre, which was delayed due to the need to move a utilities in the area that were not accurately located in the pre-construction phase.  Given local asphalt may not be available, the completion of this project may now have to wait until the Spring.