Wednesday, November 13, 2013

CC Joint Committee Mtg - Nov 13th

Present (Cariboo RD) - Directors J. Sorley (Meeting Chair), B. Kemp and Area D Alt Director S. Forseth

Present (City of WL) - Councillors I. Bonnell, D. Hughes, SPS Rathor and L. Walters

Absent - Mayor K. Cook and Councillors G. Bourdon & S. Zacharias

Staff present:

D. Garceau - City of WL Manager (CAO)
J. Bell - Cariboo RD CAO
S. Reid - Cariboo RD CFO
D. Campbell - Cariboo RD Manager of Community Services
G. Paynton - City of WL Director of Community Services
S. Burich - Cariboo RD Manager of Communications
K. MacInnis - City of WL Communications Coordinator

The Chair called the meeting to order at 6:04pm

Agenda was approved on a motion of Area D Alternate Director S. Forseth and seconded by Councillor L. Walters

Delegations - None

The Cariboo RD Manager of Community Services & CFO (Chief Financial Officer) reviewed the 2014 CC Recreation/Leisure Services Business, Financial and Capital Plans with the Committee

A Question and Answer period ensued

The Cariboo RD Managers of Community Services/Communications & the City of WL Communications Coordinator reviewed the Communications Plan for the 2014 Pool Referendum & the related Pool Referendum Question issues with the Committee

A Question and Answer period ensued

Business:

1) Resolved - That the Joint Committee approve going forward with a pool referendum in 2014 to seek permission to borrow $10 million dollars for a $11.3 million dollar Pool Revitalization Project

2) Resolved - That the date of the referendum be November 15th, 2014

Approved by the following vote:

Affirmative - Councillors Bonnell, Hughes, Walters, Directors Sorley, Kemp and Alternate Director Forseth

Negative - Councillor SPS Rathor

Editor's Note - Councillor Rathor preferred a date in May/June to avoid mixing the pool referendum with the civic election in November 2014 … however the majority of the Committee including myself did not agree with him.  I believe for logistical reasons that holding the referendum in November 2014 was the right thing to do and gives Staff time to do the public consultation correctly, instead of doing a rush job from Jan - May/June 2014

3) Resolved - That Joint Committee endorse the Pool Referendum Communications Plan and delegate execution of that Plan to a sub-Committee of 2 City Councillors/2 Cariboo RD Directors & Staff with name of members to be brought forward at a later date

4) Resolved - That Joint Committee endorse the 2014 CC Recreation/Leisure Services Business Plan Goals minus 2014 Business Plan Goal #2 (New Staff position) along with the Financial/Capital Plans

5) Resolved - That Joint Committee refer to the Cariboo RD Board with no recommendation the issue of hiring a new Staff position for 2014 to help manage outdoor recreation facilities like the Esler Sports Complex and local trails in the Central Cariboo

Editor's Note - I have recommended that Cariboo RD Area D Director Deb Bischoff oppose this item when it comes up at the Board meeting in December.  Many of the Area D constituents that I was able to talk with prior to tonight's Joint Committee meeting are not in favour of this position at this time and I don't believe it should be approved until a formal submitted request for this position is made justifying the position.  When this is discussed at the December Cariboo RD Board meeting - the vote for this position will be a "weighted" vote involving the Area D, E, F and City of WL Directors.  For this position to be approved, it will take a majority of these 4 Directors to cast their weighted vote.  In short, Williams Lake and 1 of the 3 Rural Directors (Areas D, E, F) would have to either vote to approve this position in 2014 or to reject the position for 2014.  This is the 1st time that I can recall where the local Joint Committee has referred a matter to the Board without providing a Recommendation

6) Resolved -  That Joint Committee direct staff to work with the Cariboo Mountain Bike Consortium to develop a terms of reference for a working committee to explore a sustainable plan for mountain biking in Williams Lake and area and report back to a future meeting of the Joint Committee.

Defeated by the following vote:

Affirmative - Councillors Bonnell, Hughes, Rathor and Walters
Negative - Directors Sorley/Kemp and Alternate Director Forseth

Editor's Note - For myself, I wanted the sustainable financing issue addressed first including where the money for sustainable support for Mountain Biking is going to come from before I would agree to this.  I believe the sustainable financial support for Mountain Biking in the Central Cariboo will happen in the future but the Rural Directors' need to discuss this issue at Rural Caucus from a budgetary perspective (how much is required and what budgets can we draw this from?  Create a new sub regional or regional Economic Development Function?) before we move forward with the Terms of Reference and the other actions that flow from that.  

7) Resolved - That the matter of a Terms of Reference for a working committee to explore a sustainable plan for mountain biking in the Central Cariboo region be reconsidered in February of 2014

The Committee adjourned at 8:49pm

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