City of Powell River Council has not taken action on a request by four select committee on city-owned property members to dissolve the committee and reestablish it with private residents.
The committee is currently comprised of residents and city council members.
At the February 27 special city council meeting, councillor George Doubt said the city had received communication from four members of the select committee on city-owned properties and it was not from a meeting of the committee. The committee members who signed the correspondence included Stephen Miller, Tom Anderson, Jim Agius and Lisa Moffatt.
“It’s a really wide-ranging mandate that the committee has,” said Doubt. “It’s basically to make any recommendations they want about any piece of city-owned property, and that they can ask for assistance from staff when they need it.”
Doubt said the committee has convened several times. He said in September 2023, there was a request that came to council from the committee that said it had discussed potential changes to the terms of reference, and the committee requested further instruction on the scope, roles and responsibilities.
“When I saw that note in a report to council, I thought I’d better go and check the minutes of the committee to see what they were getting at,” said Doubt. “I couldn’t find them. I thought I’d review the video of the committee but it’s not available on video.
“I went to the February meeting, the committee was looking at what they were going to do and what their instructions were from council, and what should be done next,” said Doubt.”
He said council had received a letter from the four committee members and it asks council to do three things, including dissolving the committee, and then supporting a group of private residents in the formation of an independent task force to investigate city-owned lands, plus for the city to provide staff support for the task force.
Wide mandate
“My preference is to actually do nothing,” said Doubt. “We have specifically clear terms of reference for city-owned properties. It’s a wide mandate. I would like them to take advantage of the mandate and make recommendations to council. If we dissolve the committee, there is no other way to provide support to a group of ordinary citizens.
“I would be happy with the status quo. I’d like to see the committee get the work that has been referred to it and work on making recommendations to council.”
Councillor Cindy Elliott said because the scope is so broad, it was very difficult, the committee thought, to focus the conversation and make progress toward actual recommendations.
“Many of the interests of the committee are broad and varied and focusing in on a particular priority didn’t seem to happen in the few meetings they’ve had since the first deliverable was met,” said Elliott.
“They are an amazing committee coming up with recommendations under a time crunch with a clear direction and did that extremely well.”
Elliott said the correspondence received from the four members was never discussed at the committee.
“This is four people who have put some correspondence forward and made some recommendations,” said Elliott. “They are not recommendations from the committee.”
Elliott asked if there was any way for the city to support a task force as recommended by the correspondence writers. Deputy corporate officer Jessica Lefort said she would have to do some further digging to answer the question.
Councillor Jim Palm said it was shocking that this ask has come forward from the four committee members who want to start deciding what is going to be done.
“I’m against this proposal,” said Palm.
Direction discussion
Councillor Trina Isakson said there haven’t been resignations yet but she would not be surprised if there are some if council doesn’t give further direction.
“What I’ve seen in attending or watching the different committee meetings, this is a group of doers, and the model is not conducive to that,” said Isakson. “I see this letter as an opportunity to shake off the confines of council procedure. If this committee is to continue under the auspices of a task force, we still have legislation to uphold, especially for using staff resources to support the committee.
“If we were to do nothing, we would continue to see what we have been seeing so far, where they did great work when there was a deadline, but there is frustration otherwise.”
Doubt said hopefully, the committee could have another meeting and hopefully, motions that have been sent to the committee from council regarding property around the airport could show up in front of the committee for deliberation.
Chief administrative officer Lisa Bhopalsingh said the committee has not yet received the motion because there was a procedural error where there was a decision made not to put that motion on the committee agenda for consideration.
“Should there be another meeting, staff will ensure that it will be placed on the agenda,” said Bhopalsingh. “That does give some very direct and specific information to the committee members.”
Mayor Ron Woznow said he supported Doubt’s suggestion that there will be another meeting of the committee and at that point they can discuss whether, as a whole, they wish to continue.
Elliott said direction from council on where to focus efforts would be helpful.
“Some ideas could be the light industrial, or picking some brownfield lots and determining what is the best potential,” said Elliott. “It could be a focus on the airport lands. I’m inclined to help them come up with that.”
Council did not come up with a specific response to the correspondence from the four committee members.
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