Schedule change spells back-to-back meetings
A schedule change late last week meant that Tuesday night was a busy first day back for members of Lions Bay Council.
A Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting was set for 6 p.m., followed by a full Council meeting, moved forward from the previously scheduled date of September 17. After a short break, council members went into their third meeting of the evening, this one closed to the public.
The COW meeting agenda offered a number of reports from staff, but no scheduled reports from either the Mayor or members of Council.
Financial Officer Joe Chirkoff presented a potential timeline for discussions of the upcoming 2025 budget, with a plan to adopt it by December 14. Chief Administrative Officer Ross Blackwell and Chirkoff both emphasized the goal of having the budgets presented well before the deadline for 2025, and asked members of Council to share any questions or concerns with them directly in order to facilitate this process.
Councillor Neville Abbott asked that staff take care to set budget discussions so not to conflict with already-scheduled committee meetings.
Blackwell asked that councillors complete and return booklets to him that he had provided to aid in setting strategic planning priorities, and it was established that the material be returned for further action by the end of the month.
There was also discussion of attending the upcoming Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) conference. Blackwell set out a guideline of the event, with a calendar to help councillors prioritize meetings where attendance would benefit the community. While emphasizing the importance of attending, he also noted there are often several hundred resolutions made, which representatives of municipalities then debate and vote upon.
Mayor Ken Berry asked Blackwell for his opinion on how seriously Ministers might take these resolutions in light of the upcoming election. Blackwell replied he was not optimistic this year due to the timing right before the election, but noted that since much of the work is done at the deputy ministerial level, there is still value in attending.
Director of Operations Karl Buhr presented the 2023 Annual Waste Water Discharge Report, which monitors discharge from the sewer system in Kelvin Grove. Buhr said that tests have determined at least half the waterflow through the plant is leakage, both from homes and public sewer lines. While the sewer lines provide an overflow problem in the winter when the water table rises above the concrete rings in the sewer, a year-round leakage problem is getting worse because fixtures and infrastructure are all aging.
Buhr's crew have detected four leaking toilets in private homes, but others are not yet identified, and three new homes are being added to the system. Despite this, the plant only exceeded its limit for a single day in 2023.
The second-quarter Accounts Payable (AP) Register report was presented for April through June (beginning on page 47 of the agenda). Councillor Jaime Cunliffe queried the payments to Shaw Cable and Chirkoff clarified that Shaw monitors the water Pressure Release Valves (PRVs) that are located throughout the village, as well as internet at the Fire Hall.
Councillor Michael Broughton stated that he and his wife, former Mayor Brenda Broughton, no longer have any interest or involvement in Broughton and Broughton, another payee on the list. These payments are now directed to store owner Craig Dougherty.
Earlier in the meeting, long-time resident and member of the Infrastructure Committee Tony Greville also queried the more than $6,000 in payments made to JTE Consulting for water strategy. In light of the Infrastructure Committee's work on a water strategy for the village, Greville wondered why consultants were being paid, and further, "if they are doing good work, why isn't that work being shared with the committee entrusted with planning your water strategy?"
Berry relied that staff would respond to Greville at a future date.
Councillor Abbott questioned the $84,000 payout to BDO for the most recent audit and asked about the final cost. Chirkoff estimated it will be around $139,000.
There was some further discussion of legal costs listed with regard to what year they stemmed from, and Abbott asked if Council had already overshot the budget for legal costs for the year. "We are well on the way," Blackwell replied.
Later in the public question period, Blackwell asked by resident Deirdre Bain to clarify this statement. He replied that the Village has had to rely on the support of corporate solicitors this year and noted that other communities generally expect to spend up to $10,000 annually on legal costs.
A selection of some other big-ticket expenses noted on the AP listing that did not attract further scrutiny in the meeting include a further payment to JTE consulting of more than $7,000 for the Lions Bay Beach Park project, along with payments to the same company totalling more than $12,000 for the Klatt Building upgrade.
Millennia Architecture was paid more than $3,900 for Klatt Building drawings. A payment of more than $5,000 for unspecified items was also charged to a Scotiabank business Visa card.
The next COW meeting is currently scheduled for 6 p.m. on October 1.
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