McNaughton stands alone on controversial issue

City of Powell River elected officials tackled the contentious issue of a proposed new library yet again at the February 21 council meeting.

The Powell River Public Library board has proposed construction of a new, 15,000-square-foot library, estimated to cost $9.5 million, on the vacant lot located on the corner of Marine Avenue and Abbotsford Street, known as the old arena site. The proposal triggered a campaign opposing the location, called Save Willingdon Beach.

Before councillors could debate or vote on a motion brought forward by Councillor Chris McNaughton, they first debated whether to include his motion on the agenda.

The debate began with an apology from Mac Fraser, the city’s chief administrative officer, for an “oversight on procedure.”

Fraser, who started his position in September last year, said he had “wrongly assumed” that the listing of resolutions for each council meeting was publicly available. “In the spirit of your intention to have open and transparent government, there’s not been a chance for all of the public to see this motion before it’s considered,” he said.

Fraser recommended that council defer McNaughton’s motion. During the discussion, it emerged that Fraser had shown McNaughton’s proposed motion to Charlie Kregel, chief librarian, who then distributed it to the library’s board of directors. From there it was distributed to supporters, who packed council chambers for the meeting.

McNaughton supported Fraser’s recommendation, saying he thought his motion should have been available to everyone in the public. However, the majority of councillors felt the intent of his motion was already widely known throughout the community. When the vote was taken on a motion to defer McNaughton’s motion to the March 7 meeting, only he and Councillor Myrna Leishman voted in favour of it.

Two late delegations were added to the agenda, Jon Van Oostveen, chair of the library board, and Trevor Mervyn, president of Powell River Friends of the Library, both of whom asked council not to support McNaughton’s motion.

Van Oostveen said the board is in the process of selecting a consultant to conduct a feasibility study to determine if the required funds can be raised. “This study will inform our next steps, either to proceed with fundraising because it’s realistically possible and has a high likelihood of success, or to explore alternatives for achieving a new library for Powell River,” he said.

The board needs more time to continue its process, Oostveen said, adding McNaughton’s motion was premature and doesn’t acknowledge the board’s work.

Mervyn told council that his organization has already started fundraising, based on council’s July motion to support the board’s efforts for a new library at Willingdon Beach. “How does ours or any other fundraising campaign for the library stand a chance if it looks like council will change its mind every six months?” he said. “What’s going to happen a year or two from now if a different location becomes available? At some point we have to stop moving backwards and continue moving forward.”

Mayor Dave Formosa allowed speakers from the Save Willingdon Beach campaign to speak as well. Dino Ciarniello said democracy in Powell River has died and less than a third of the money that has been spent on the new library concept could have been spent on a referendum. “There’s bullying going on right here by people who are getting paid for it,” he said. “It’s time to put a stop to it. Have a referendum and then move on.”

Cleve Hamilton also asked when residents were going to have a say on the new library project. “Are you going to wait and wait and wait until somewhere down the road and maybe there’s enough money to do this?” he asked. “Are you going to just keep dragging this on forever?”

Hamilton referred to a petition opposing the location of the library, which has 5,500 names on it, he said. “These people want to know when are we going to get a say on it.”

After the speakers, McNaughton made his motion, which stated, after a number of introductory phrases, that council ask the library board to revisit options for relocation of the library with a view to focusing its attention on vacant commercial space in the community and that it report its findings to council along with a second location option for council’s consideration.

No one on council supported the motion and McNaughton alone voted in favour of it.