A City of Powell River council decision to ban the sale of single-use plastic water bottles at civic facilities may be revisited with the return of mayor Dave Formosa.
On Thursday, April 6, while Formosa was away on leave, council voted to ban the sale of the bottled water within city-owned buildings.
At the council meeting on Thursday, April 20, councillors Jim Palm and Maggie Hathaway said it was their opinion that the mayor would exercise his power to reopen the issue for further discussion. Formosa was on personal business in the People’s Republic of China at the time.
After the meeting, Palm said he was concerned that the vote to ban the bottled water took place before city staff presented a report on the topic to council’s committee of the whole.
“The process we followed was flawed,” said Palm. “I just want to see that the process is played out so everybody is fully informed, and then we can come up with something that hopefully has a little bit of latitude to it.”
Palm said his chief concern is around the term “civic facilities” in the motion and whether that includes the city’s parks.
He said he wants to make sure bottled water is available at outside events, such as Pacific Region International Summer Music Academy and Canada Day events.
Councillor CaroleAnn Leishman said she understands the mayor may want to reopen the discussion because he was not present and may have questions similar to Palm’s, but disagrees that the process was problematic.
"I don't think it was flawed or vague," said Leishman. "I thought we spoke to it and it was pretty clear."
Leishman said she hopes the next time the issue is discussed it will be when city staff brings back a report providing details on vending-machine contracts and how quickly the city can end the practice of the bottles being sold at Powell River Recreation Complex.
"I don't think it merits bringing [the ban] back for reconsideration,” she said. “It would be unfortunate to look like we're back-pedalling on that."
