Council Meeting

Thank you for joining us in this inaugural meeting today.

We're welcome that you're glad to join in our celebration tonight.

Afterwards, please do stay.

We're having a bit of a reception afterwards, so please do take the opportunity to stay and visit with your friends and neighbors and our new council.

And let me let me begin by introducing Honorable Judge Sacca.

She's going to administer the oath of office to Mayor Tobias and as well to our elective council.

Please join us in entering the room.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So please feel free to come on up to your spots.

And individually, you will be called down and the oath will be administered to you.

And thank you as well to the RSNP for attending this evening the season.

Thank you.

You're welcome to come here as well in this area if you'd like, and then we can be seen in your lovely uniforms on our webcast.

We're so pleased that you're able to join us this evening.

And I will turn it over if you would uh come and and uh stand here and and welcome our our mayor elect and minister the oath of office, and when you're done, I'll present him with the chains of office.

Thank you again.

Thank you.

All right, well, to Mayor Sid Tobias.

I have an oath of office, and I'm going to um go through each paragraph of the oath.

And then, mayor, if you'd be kind enough to repeat after me, please.

Oh, Your Honor.

Thank you.

I Sid Tobias, do solemnly affirm.

I Sid Tobias, do solemnly affirm.

That as mayor for the town of View Royal, that I will.

That is mayor for the town of View Royal, I will.

Perform the duties of the office of mayor faithfully.

Perform the duties of the office faithfully.

And with integrity.

And with integrity.

And will not allow any private interest.

And will not allow any private interest.

To influence my conduct in public matters.

To influence my conduct in public matters.

Abide by the provincial statutes.

Abide by the provincial statutes.

Including but not limited.

Including but not limited.

To those related to elections to those related to elections conflicts of interests conflicts of interest and confidentiality and confidentiality and the municipal code of conduct and the municipal code of conduct bylaws and policies by laws and policies that govern the town that govern the town and will provide provoke and will promote openness accountability and responsible leadership accountability and responsible leadership provide stewardship of the public provide stewardship of the public assets through the development and evaluation.

Assets through the development and evaluation of the town's policies and programs.

Of the town's policies and programs.

And always consider the well-being.

And always consider the well-being.

And interests of the community as a whole.

And interests of the community as a whole.

As I lead the development of a safe, vibrant, and sustainable town.

As I lead the development of a safe, vibrant, sustainable town.

Very well.

Thank you.

Now if you would kindly have that signed by yourself, and then we need our corporate officer here to sign after you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Tobias.

Congratulations.

Change of office.

Great stuff.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

All right.

Uh, next, shall I introduce our next individually the next counselor or will you?

Councilor John Brown.

Thank you.

Councilor Brown.

Okay, thank you.

Again, as with Mayor Tobias, I'm going to read the oath of office and I'm going to ask you to repeat after me.

I Don Brown.

Do swear.

Do swear that as counselor for the town of View Royal.

For the Town of View Royal that I will perform the duties.

Perform the duties of the office of counselor.

Of the office of counselor.

Faithfully and with integrity.

Faithfully and with integrity.

And will not allow any private interest.

And will not allow any private interests.

To influence my conduct in public matters.

To influence my conduct in public matters.

Abide by the provincial statutes.

Abide by the provincial statutes.

Including but not limited.

Including but not limited.

Confidentiality.

To those related to elections.

To those related to elections.

Conflict of interests.

Conflict of interest.

And confidentiality.

And the municipal code of conduct.

And the municipal code of conduct.

By laws and policies.

By laws and policies.

That govern the town.

That govern the town.

And will promote openness.

And will promote openness.

Accountability.

Accountability.

And responsible leadership.

And responsible leadership.

Provide stewardship.

Provide steward of the public assets.

Of the public assets.

Through the development and evaluation.

Through the development and evaluation.

Of the town's policies and programs.

Of the town's policies and programs.

And always consider the well-being and interests.

And always consider the well-beings and interests.

Of the community as a whole.

Of the community as a whole.

And sustainable town.

As I lead the development of a safe as I lead the development of a safe, vibrant, vibrant, and sustainable town.

Do you so swear?

Oops.

Thank you.

I still swear.

Thank you.

Thank you.

If you may sign this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Congratulations, Councillor Brown.

All right, our next counselor then, if I could have Damian Kowalewich, please.

Thank you, Councillor Kowalowicz.

If you'll repeat after me, please.

I Damian Kowalewich.

I Damien Kowalowich.

Do swear.

Do swear.

That as Counselor for the Town of View Royal.

That as Counselor for the Town of View Royal.

That I will perform the duties.

That I will perform the duties.

Of the office of counselor.

Of the office of counselor.

Faithfully and with integrity.

Faithfully and with integrity.

And will not allow any private interests.

And will not allow any private interests.

To influence my conduct in public matters.

To influence my conduct in public matters.

Abide by the provincial statutes.

Abide by the provincial statutes.

Including but not limited.

Including but not limited.

To those related to elections.

To those related to elections.

Conflicts of interests.

Conflicts of interests.

And confidentiality.

And confidentiality.

And the municipal code of conduct.

And the municipal code of conduct.

By laws and policies.

By laws and policies.

That govern the town.

That govern the town.

And will promote openness.

And will promote openness.

Accountability.

Accountability.

And responsible leadership.

And responsible leadership.

Provide stewardship of the public stewardship.

Of the public assets.

Of the public assets.

Through the development and evaluation.

Through the development and evaluation.

Of the town's policies and programs.

Of the town's policies and programs.

And always consider the well being.

And always consider the well-being.

And interests of the community as a whole.

And interests of the community as a whole.

As I lead the development as I lead the development.

Of a safe, vibrant, and sustainable town.

Do you so swear?

I swear.

Thank you.

And if you would kindly sign that, and if we could have our corporate officer.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Congratulations, Councillor Kowalovich Counselor Counselor Gery Lemon Counselor Lemmon if you would repeat after me please I Gery Lemon I Gery Lemon do swear do swear that is counselor that is counselor for the town of you royal for the town of you royal that I will perform the duties perform the duties of the office of counselor of the office of counselor faithfully and with integrity faithfully and with integrity and will not allow and will not allow any private interest interests to influence my conduct to influence my conduct in public matters in public matters.

Abide by the provincial statutes, including but not limited to including but not limited to those related to elections, those related to elections, conflict of interest, conflict of interest, and confidentiality and confidentiality and the municipal code of conduct and the municipal code of conduct bylaws by laws and policies and policies that govern the town that govern the town and will promote openness and will promote openness accountability and responsible leadership and responsible leadership.

Provide stewardship of the public's assets of the public's assets through the development and evaluation through the development and evaluation of the town's policies and programs of the town's policies and programs and always consider the well-being the well-being and interests of the community and interests of the community as a whole as a whole as I lead the development as I lead the development of a safe a safe vibrant and sustainable town and sustainable town.

Do you so swear, Councillor Lemmon?

I so swear.

Thank you.

If you'd be kind enough to sign that.

Congratulations, Counselor Lemon.

Thank you.

Counselor Alison McKenzie.

Counselor McKenzie, if you repeat after me.

I counselor.

Oh, I Alison McKenzie.

I Alison McKenzie.

Do solemnly affirm.

Do solemnly affirm.

As counselor for the town of View Royal.

As counselor for the town of View Royal.

That I will.

That I will perform the duties.

Perform the office of counselor of the office of counselor faithfully and with integrity.

Faithfully and with integrity and will not allow any and will not allow any private interests private interests to influence my conduct in public affairs in public affairs.

Abide by the provincial statutes.

Abide by the provincial statutes.

Including but not limited to but not limited to those related to elections.

Those related to elections conflict of interest conflicts of interest and confidentiality.

And confidentiality.

And the municipal code of conduct.

And the municipal code of conduct.

By laws.

By laws and policies.

And policies that govern the town.

That govern the town and will promote openness and will promote openness accountability accountability and responsible and responsible leadership leadership provide stewardship provide stewardship of the public assets of the public assets through the development through the development and evaluation and evaluation of the towns of the towns policies and programs policies and programs and always consider and always consider the well being the well being and interests and interests of the community.

Of the community.

As a whole.

As a whole.

As I lead the development.

As I lead the development.

As a safe.

Of a safe.

Vibrant.

Vibrant.

And sustainable town.

And sustainable town.

Do you so affirm?

I I I affirm.

Thank you.

If you can sign that, please.

Thank you.

Congratulations, Counselor McKenzie.

Counselor Ron.

Counselor Madsen, if you repeat after me, please.

I Ron Mattson.

I Ron Mattson.

Do swear that as counselor for the town of Uroy Royal that I will perform the duties of the office.

Perform the duties of the office.

Of counselor faithfully.

Of counselor faithfully.

And with integrity.

With integrity.

And will not allow any private interest to influence.

To influence my conduct in public matters.

Matters.

Abide by the provincial statutes.

Abide by the provincial statutes.

Including but not limited.

Including but not limited.

To those related to elections.

For those related to elections.

Conflict of interests.

Conflict of interest.

And confidentiality.

And confidentiality.

And the municipal code of conduct.

And the municipal code of conduct.

By laws and policies.

By laws and policies.

Accountability.

That govern the town.

That govern the town.

And will promote openness.

And will promote openness.

Accountability.

And responsible leadership.

And responsible leadership.

Provide stewardship of the public assets.

Provide stewardship of the public assets.

Through the development through the development and evaluation and evaluation of the town's policies and programs.

Of the town's policies and programs.

And always consider the well-being and interests of the community.

And interests of the community.

As a whole.

As I lead the development of a safe the development of a safe, vibrant, vibrant, and sustainable town sustainable town do you so swear?

I so swear.

Right.

You can sign that as well then, counselor thank you congratulations counselor mattson one more counselor counselor joy counselor rogers, if you'd repeat after me, please.

I John Rogers.

I John Rogers do swear that as counselor that is counselor for the town of Uroy for the town of U Royal that I will perform the duties of the office of counselor faithfully and with integrity.

Faithfully and with integrity.

And I will not allow any private interest to influence my conduct in public matters.

In public matters.

Abide by the provincial statutes.

Abide by the provincial statutes.

Including but not limited.

Including but not limited.

To those related to elections.

To those related to elections.

And conflict of interest.

And the municipal code of conduct.

And the municipal code of conduct.

By laws and policies.

By laws and policies.

That govern the town.

That governs the town.

And will promote openness.

And will promote openness.

Accountability.

And accountability.

Provide stewardship of the public assets.

And responsible leadership.

And responsible leadership.

Provide stewardship of the public assets.

Through the development.

To the development.

And evaluation of the towns.

And evaluation of the town.

Policies and programs.

Policies and programs.

And always consider the well being and interests of the community.

And interests of the community.

As a whole.

As I lead the development.

As I lead the development of a safe of a safe, vibrant, vibrant, and sustainable town.

And sustainable town.

Do you so swear?

I so swear.

Thank you.

Can have you sign that.

Thank you.

Congratulations, Councilor Rogers.

Thank you.

Thank you, Honorable Judge Sabbath.

Now turn over to urge you to welcome those who's left, so we can turn it over uh to Senator Tobias.

And please be seated.

Gonna take me a second to get hooked up here, but I wanted to say one thing, and that's it's with uh heavy heart folks in uniform um stand on uh uh the evening before a funeral in Vancouver of an officer that was slain in the line of duty.

Um so thank you, gentlemen.

I spent a fair amount of time thinking about what I'd say tonight, and I wrote some things down and I shared them online and I shared them with my uh new counselors uh that I'm proud to have.

Um it it's been a journey, I think, for all of us, and I'm very, very proud to be here tonight.

Thank you.

Uh good evening.

If I may begin with a territorial acknowledgement, I respectfully acknowledge that I live and work in the traditional territory of the Lekwungen people.

This includes the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations, whose historical relationship with the land continues to this day.

In the spirit of reconciliation, I am striking the term Your Worship to refer to me or the office you have elected me for.

As a few other mayors in Canada have done, I'm removing the term because of its association with colonial rule and a feudal system long since disappeared and was the reason for many of our ancestors, including my own, to leave a place far away.

Please to refer to me simply as mayor, if you must, or just Sid, simply will work fine.

The road to reconciliation is long and full of difficult small steps.

I hope I just took one.

Thank you for coming tonight to welcome the newly elected council.

This council is the largest ever in View Royal, and it is the most distributed in our neighborhoods.

We are here because you have elected us tonight.

We also acknowledge that many did not vote for us or did not vote at all.

Yet we must now work together as a council to represent View Royal.

I want to formally acknowledge the many years of that former Mayor David Screech contributed to View Royal.

His passion and dedication to public service is exemplary.

No one walks this path alone, and I extend our gratitude to his wife as well.

We have three new members of the council, including myself and four returning members who will keep us in our place.

Allison McKenzie and Don Brown are joining us with new perspectives and a wealth of experience.

You have returned, Damien, Ron, John, and Jerry for their foundational experience, devotion, and passion for View Oil.

I am confident that this council will demonstrate the absolute best decisions in View Oil.

I ran on a platform that was developed by listening.

I shared a draft of my thoughts on this address with all the members of council and the public.

I assembled the contributions with my own thoughts.

If I left out a detail or two, I'd like to get home by morning.

I will say that since I have been elected, the dog walks around our neighborhoods have increased from 30 minutes to now an hour and a half, even in the rain.

I welcome the engagement and will continue to listen.

I have come to appreciate that I need to see View Royal through many lenses.

The lens of the young would-be homeowners who can't afford it yet, the retired folks who are reluctant to change what has worked for generations, the environmentalists, the cyclists, the business person, the arts and culture person, the dog folks, the folks who don't like dogs or their owners, and sometimes the dogs who don't like cyclists.

We have many lenses, and we must start by owning our own perspectives so we can make room for others.

This is not just my task, but yours as well.

You are what makes View Royal a gem.

I reached out to council and all have committed to enhancing the way we make decisions through facilitated workshops, our oaths of office, team agreements, and codes of conduct.

I do not expect council to agree to agree on everything, and I look forward to honest, healthy, and respectful debate and discourse as they represent your concerns on important town decisions.

The current state.

The issues that surround us all and our community are complex and they are undeniable.

We are still emerging from a pandemic.

That pandemic has affected us all and has forever changed the way we work and the way we socialize.

Our economy has slowed.

Interest rates are climbing.

We have a worker shortage.

We are continuing to experience a primary care doctor crisis.

We are an expensive place to live.

Crisis.

We are in a climate crisis.

We are experiencing a crisis in homelessness.

We have repeat offenders living amongst our most vulnerable populations, causing us to create bias instead of support.

We are having to deal with massive inflation at the grocery store and an extraordinary reliance on food banks.

We live in a time where people are trusting conspiracy theories on social media more than they are trusting verified data.

We face an opioid crisis that is no longer a downtown Vancouver problem.

And there are few of us in this room who have not had friends or children affected by it.

Climate change change has and will continue to affect us with longer, hotter periods of drought.

Our remaining trees are weakened by as a result, and we approach a season of rain and wind.

We're facing significant uncertainty.

And yet we live in one of the most beautiful places on earth, together with neighbors who very much value living here too.

We are out of undeveloped land.

Once constructed, developments last a long time.

Generations.

We must carefully construct our neighborhoods of our future today.

We must allow space for schools, community centers, and green space.

If we do not, we will build a place where no one wants to really live.

Madison and Haley participated in a civics class that researched and voted as part of their assignment in the recent election.

I also want to thank Lorreen, the teacher responsible for engendering the spirit of democracy for our future and their parents for bringing them here tonight.

Increasing our population at a rapid rate has a cost, and that cost is often much higher than the return on the investment the town takes in for taxes generated by new developments.

It means increases in costs of staff, of firefighters, of policing, our water, our sewer.

It influences our taxes.

As we race to a population of 15,000, it will mean paying for more policing and other associated costs.

We are not alone.

Our neighbors are facing the same uncertainty on the West Shore.

We are fortunate to have an incredibly experienced staff who work tirelessly to deal with small and large issues every day.

This includes the many long hours of volunteering required for the election.

The professionalism that our emergency services have afforded us have also trained and launched the careers of many in our community.

We also have a significant brain trust who are working or retired in View Royal, and that has and will continue to assist us in making good decisions for our future.

The vision of View Royal is a good one, I think.

On the website is green, sustainable, and livable.

This is a good vision.

However, I believe the council has work to do to associate action with intent.

Over the past short four years, View Royal has lost 657 protected mature trees to development and 4,500 mature trees on our border north of Watkasway.

The same could be said of our west shore neighbors.

The effect of 6,000 trees relates to metric tons of water absorption during our wet season preventing flooding.

6,000 trees capture an estimated metric ton of carbon sequestration, locking it into the ground instead of our atmosphere.

Two mature trees can produce enough oxygen for a family of four for an entire year.

And we have eliminated oxygen production for more than the current town's population.

The effective cooling in an urban environment can be done, can drop the temperature by 10 degrees in the summer, and we have eliminated many trees where we need them the most.

We are ramping up cooling shelters during the hottest days to try to adjust for that.

One of the most significant human impacts of the loss of trees is the effect of highway noise on residents near the highway, and now even others over a kilometer away from the highway.

There is no more trees to absorb the sound.

Could we be greener?

To accommodate construction, we have blasted, removed scarce topsoil, and exposed tons of acid bearing rock that have been locked in the ground for hundreds of thousands of years.

The combined effect of many areas under development currently, concurrently, and the cumulative effect of a period of rapid growth is too complex to calculate with clarity, but with certainty it's up to us and mitigated.

Could we be more sustainable?

We have grown and will continue to grow due to development decisions already made and the ground is already broken for some of these.

So, how fast are we growing?

Over the next two years, we will have added households to increase the population by 2,375 souls.

In View Royal, with developments in Irkskin Lane, North Helmkin, West Burnside, and Old Island Highway in Helmkin, as well as others.

Keep in mind View Rail Royal is always was already one of the fastest growing municipalities in British Columbia.

By 2024, we will have exceeded the projections by BC stats and the Capitol Regional District.

We will hit the 2028 growth rate in two years with a growth rate of 20.65%.

Five years was 1.6%.

View Royal grew at 2.4%.

We are holding our own with growth.

I encourage you to travel around these new development sites and look across the street and down it.

See the for sale signs?

Could we be more livable?

Our infrastructure, specifically roads, was at maximum capacity due to transient traffic before the rapid growth.

And with that extra growth, we will go past failing and failed.

Admittedly, much of our traffic is passed through.

That is, but that doesn't mean we can ignore it.

The same bottlenecks prevent us from getting to work in the morning and returning at night.

Most importantly, it caused, is has caused accidents and near misses of cyclists and pedestrians that are intersections.

Accidents due to inadequate infrastructure further task our firefighters and emergency services, putting them in harm's where?

Way.

Could we be safer?

The message I heard repeatedly from residents was a concern over a lack of meaningful engagement, particularly around the official community plan.

They were concerned that the questions were not designed to receive input, but just approve a plan that they did not like the options for.

They did not feel like they had a say in the future of their own neighborhoods.

Many others were not even aware that the OCP process was taking place.

Neighborhoods are groups of residents.

They need to be fully engaged as stakeholders, taxpayers, fellow neighbors.

Many other communities use community-based planning.

Could we engage better?

Many other neighborhoods that I visited were concerned about transparency.

Speaking with older neighbors, it was the reason why some neighbors moved away.

How did a multi large multi story complex get even to the planning stages without anybody knowing about it until a rezoning sign went up?

Residents are confused about a development practice that seems to go against an existing OCP.

I believe residents should not have to become activists in order to access the decisions or proposals that will affect them.

Could we be more transparent?

The emerging future.

I study and teach applied complexity theory and consult others on how to make decisions in complex environments.

In a complex space, decisions must be made in a way that we rapidly learn from our mistakes and our oversights.

That takes honesty.

It takes transparency.

If we are to make informed decisions about our future, it is better if we do it as a group with good data.

And the more we engage and mitigate the issues that emerge, then the more resilient our decisions will become.

We have an opportunity within the next few months to develop a full OCP with staff and residents that is a future we want to live in.

I believe we can fully implement a climate action strategy that is embedded in our procedures so that we can track measurable progress and encode the sustainable and thoughtful design from our OCP to zoning to inspections.

We need a commercial development plan and not just a housing plan in our OCP that supports the concept of a five minute community so we can avoid getting in our cars and hop on our bikes and walk instead.

Crime prevention through environmental design in our OCP to lessen the likely likelihood and frequency of future crime.

I believe we can learn from our mistakes and our oversights and provide solutions to Erkskin Lane's real concern about sustainable development.

We must also turn our attention to making some newer developments more livable due to highway noise, inadequate setbacks, trees between stratas, allocate enough green space to high density areas where children do not have to play with dogs that aren't their families, and finish connecting sidewalks on Atkins Road.

I believe we can better engage residents through digital media and inclusive committees that function to add value for staff so that staff can stop taking notes and start adding their expertise.

I believe we can do a better job in working with our neighbors so their plans for our borders transition to a seamless neighborhood as opposed to welcome to View Royal, welcome to Esquimo.

I think it should be transparent which municipality you're driving through.

And we've had a common vision on common traffic issues, and no decisions were made, but we were very much excited about the opportunity to work together to solve them.

I believe we can assist provincial goals on providing thoughtful, sustainable, and affordable areas to develop row and townhouses for missing middle class housing.

We can expand our co-op initiatives that have proven highly effective.

I believe we can better embrace a digital future so that we can automate the boring things off the desktops of our staff so they can best use their talent on challenging issues that will enable improved public engagement, transparency, and data-driven decisions, including mapping, ROCP zoning, traffic patterns, digital reports, and digital work assignments.

I believe we can offer incentives at the municipal level to attract and retain better primary care for our residents so that the early detection of significant illness is not when you visit a hospital emergency room.

We need to think long-term about our transportation issues and implement major transportation infrastructure improvements with our federal and provincial partners.

This includes a full update to our transportation master plan.

I believe we must remain fiscally responsible in this time of uncertainty and make choices that add the most value incrementally.

Creating plans and priorities for available funds cost little and will allow us to execute improvement that is affordable.

We can do a thorough job of applying for grants to fund some of our activities.

I believe we can and must view our investments and decisions in a spirit of continuous improvement so we learn from them, we fix the issues, and we do better next time.

This engagement would not be just social media, and it would elevate our respectful discourse and our opinions.

Lastly, I believe we can build a future that's based on action.

A plan that is built for the future, that is fit for human beings, a plan that enhances the lives of long term and new neighbors of View Royal.

A plan that is safe, transparent, engaged, green, sustainable, but most of all, livable.

Thank you.

Can I get a motion to approve the agenda?

Second.

Uh minutes, receipt and adoption of the previous minutes.

And for those of you who are looking online, you will see those online.

Can I get a motion to adopt the minutes and receipt?

Move receipt and adoption so we're at number five the mayor's report so appointment of the committee of uh of the whole if you look at your agendas um I'm to announce the appointed membership as outlined in schedule a and the appointment of committee of the whole and chairs if you'll give me a second to click the right buttons Sometimes a paper list is helps.

So for the committee of the whole appointments, members, all members of council, uh chairs and chub sub chairs of the committee, myself, Chair of the Finance and Administration, Councillor Don Brown, Chair Protective Services, Councillor Damian Kuelchuk, Chair of Parks and Recreation, Councillor Gery Lemon, Chair of Arts and Culture, Council Alison MacKenzie, Chair of Environment, Councillor Ron Mattson, Chair Planning, Development and Engagement, Council John Rogers, Chair of Public Works and Transportation.

Okay, thank you.

Appointments of represent rep representatives to other committees and commissions and boards.

So as you're aware, the council also participates in a number of capital regional district committees.

The following are other committees, commissions, and boards.

Regional District Arts Commission.

First year of a two-year term, Representative Councilor Gery Lemon.

Capitol Regional District Board, first year of a four-year term for myself.

The alternate is Councilor John Rogers.

Capitol Regional District Climate Action Intermunicipal Task Force.

Representative will be Councillor Allison McKenzie.

The alternate will be Counselor Gery Lemon.

Capitol Regional District Housing Trust Fund Commission.

Representative is myself.

Capitol Regional District Regional Water Supply Commission.

Representative Councilor John Rogers.

The alternate is Councillor Ron Mattson.

Capitol Regional Hospital District Board will be myself.

The alternate will be Councillor John Rogers.

Capitol Regional Region Emergency Service Telecommunication Crest be Councillor Don Brown.

Capitol Region Housing Corporation be myself.

Alternate will be Councilor John Rogers.

Colquitz/Gorge Waters Watershed Special Management Area Initiative will be Councillor Ron Mattson.

Esquimalt Harbor Advisory Committee will be Councillor Ron Mattson.

Friends of Cole Island Society.

Representative will be John Rogers.

Gorge Waterway Initiative is a citizen representative.

Angela Haynes, until December 2023.

Greater Victoria Public Library Representative Councilor Gery Lemon.

Joint School District Municipal Committee Representative Counselor Damian Kowalewich.

Juan de Fuca Water Distribution Commission.

Representative Councillor John Rogers.

The alternate is Counselor Ron Mattson.

Municipal Insurance Association delegate is Councillor Don Brown.

Alternate Councillor John Rogers and the alternate second alternate is Councillor Ron Mattson.

Parents Advisory Committee Representative Councillor Allison McKenzie.

Police Building Liaison Committee will be myself.

South Island Prosperity Partnership will be Councillor Don Brown.

Te'mexw Treaty Advisory Committee will be myself with Councilor Allison McKenzie as an alternate.

Victoria Family Court and Youth Justice Committee will be Councillor Ron Mattson.

The alternate and I think the attending is a citizen representative Adam Flint.

View Royal Reading Center Representative Councillor Gery Lemon.

West Shore Chamber of Commerce will be myself.

West Shore Community Policing Advisory Committee will be myself.

West Shore Parks and Recreation Board will be Councillor Damian Kowalewich.

West Shore Parks and Recreation Owners will be myself.

Exactly.

So miscellaneous appointments are next.

Yes.

May I have a motion and vote?

And you just left three schedule B?

Yes.

You beat me to it.

Can we get a motion for the appointments of representatives to other committees, commissions, and boards?

Don't forget all in favor.

All in favor?

Yes.

That does help.

Let's start that over again because I'm still learning.

Um so before we got all in favor.

Motion carries.

And we've got our seconds with motions.

Okay.

So miscellaneous.

The mu miscellaneous schedule C.

Can I get a motion to adopt Schedule C for the acting mayor?

All in favor?

Motion carries.

And I think there is the approval of tag days.

Next.

So, what are tag days?

You might be inquiring.

Uh, tag days are designated days for local clubs and organizations to fundraise within the municipality.

So, as a time saving measure instead of individual applications, staff has actually worked ahead of the game to provide a list that we could pre-approve so that they wouldn't have to go with things like um Boy Scouts and Girl Guides.

So, can I get a motion to so move?

All in favor.

See no opposition motion carries.

Am I on the right track, staff?

Okay, good.

Uh petitions and delegations.

I don't believe there are any at this time.

And I believe this is a public participation period.

And so I should read this out.

You might be able to see it if you're watching the cast, but maybe not.

So this evening we'll hear from the public who telephone in during the public participation and question period portions of the agenda.

If you wish to provide comments by telephone, please call 778-402-9227.

And when prompted, enter conference ID 182-166-038.

You will be immediately muted once admitting being admitted to the meeting.

Please do not unmute until you're asked at the appropriate time in the agenda.

I will then announce the last four digits of your phone number.

Ask you to mute the live broadcast to avoid any feedback.

Ask you to not use your speaker phone to ensure sound quality, and ask you to unmute yourself by pressing six.

To begin, please indicate your name and address for the record.

Speakers will have five minutes each to speak during public participation and two minutes to ask questions during question period.

You will be timed.

We have people to time you.

This meeting will be recorded by participating in this webcast.

You are consenting to being recorded, and the recording will be available on the town's website for future access.

Mayor Tobias, we have no callers at this time.

Yeah, and uh if anybody from the audience, this is your opportunity to say anything you'd care to.

Focused on the agenda items, of course.

As Councillor Mattson reminds me.

Seeing none.

Business arriving from previous minutes.

I believe there is none.

Uh reports.

I believe we have a staff report for council and committee of the whole.

2023 meeting schedule.

Report dated October 27th, 2022, from the deputy corporate officer.

Move step for accommendations.

Second.

All in favor.

Sorry.

I'm not sure when questions come up, but um, yeah, I have a question about it.

We'll probably do that and then go back through the you just had a question about it.

You wanted some clarification?

Yes, um so this is the schedule, and um I just wanted to question about the given that I know there's a few of us on council now that have um full-time jobs as well.

I was just wondering if there's any room for movement on the timing of the committee of the whole meetings, um given that they start at 3 30.

I was looking at talk about that and go ahead.

Yeah, if you're if you're happy with the content and just have a concern about the time, Alison, if that's okay with staff and look at and seek opportunities that we could uh work around that.

Perhaps that will help.

Um, I can give you my secret as well.

Yeah, happy with that.

So should the um I guess the motion still stands.

Is there just a question for clarification?

Thank you, Allison.

And so that I think um the council had recommended or the staff had recommended that council adopt the committee of the whole uh with the caveat that we'll research um creative ways of timing for those who work day jobs.

Uh and there's also the report of the 2022 uh general local election.

The report is dated October 27th, 2022 from the deputy corporate officer.

Move staff recommendation.

Second.

All in favor, any opposed?

Motion carries.

And section B for appointments, appointments of approving officer and building official.

Um we've had some movement with our staff and um so that the previous appointment of Lindsay Chase to the position of approving officer to be hereby rescinded, and that the previous appointment of Dave Slobodan to the position of building official be hereby rescinded, and that Leanne Taylor be appointed as the approving officer, and that Justin Wagner be appointed as the building official.

So moved.

All in favor?

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

And I think we also needed to add something that I might have skipped over.

The advisory committees appointments.

Thanks, John.

Uh so if we can backtrack up to new business advisory committees, established of advisory committees, the recommendation is that the following advisory committees be established.

Parks and Recreation, environment, Arts and Culture, Planning, Development, and Engagement, and Transportation.

May I get a motion?

So moved.

Second.

All in favor.

Should be some discussion, I think, on that, if uh we can do that, Ameritobias.

Absolutely.

I'll leave it to the um individuals to uh the counselors who made the motions to go first.

It's customary.

Um I like the opportunity that this would give us in terms of um greater involvement um for the community to look at issues.

So on that in that end, I I think this is a positive move.

I also understand that there will be uh some issues in terms of staff time, etc.

So that will need to be accommodated in terms of this of us adding a number of different advisory committees.

Anyone else with comments?

Yeah, I'm ready to speak.

Uh councilor Rogers is next in line uh due to the second of the motion.

Okay.

I would uh like to speak on this.

It's uh uh those of us who have been on council, this is a drastic change from what we have been used to with advisory committees.

Uh this motion itself here is quite considerable in nature uh by way of staff resources, uh community engagement, which is a good thing.

Although uh historically we have very low uh turnouts to our uh committees in general.

And I think it would be prudent to have some uh at least uh some staff recommendations, a review, input before passing something of this nature.

It's a considerable jump in our advisory committees, and I would uh feel uh remiss and unprepared and doing undue service to simply approve this tonight without any recommendation from staff.

So I'll leave that for discussions with my colleagues as well tonight.

Thank you, counselor.

Any other comments?

I'd like to to amend the motion to table the motion for the time being.

Second.

Thank you.

Need a second or yes.

So the motion is tabled for a future meeting and I think the option is for staff to uh investigate impact um of resources allocated to this committee.

Yes.

Okay.

There's no discussion on the tabling motion.

Not yet.

Yeah.

Yep.

All moved.

Okay, let's call to vote the establishment of the advisory committees as read.

Um all in favor.

Oh for the tabling motion, yes.

All in favor of the tabling motion.

And that's right.

I think that's that's fine.

So the motion carries to table the um advisory committees as listed.

And to return the list, we just have no vote right now.

So we've just decided not to vote on it yet.

We're right, we've tabled it to the next and probably to the committee of the whole meeting to have a discussion.

Yes.

Any questions for question period?

I think that's a question, yeah.

So you're referring to the last appointment schedule, that would be uh tabled probably for the committee of the whole coming up quickly next week.

Just another little hint.

We need to get the name and address of the individual who asked the question.

So when you're asking a question, if you could stand up and state your name and come forward to the microphone and uh tell us where the your address, then um then that uh we can record it.

So my name is Susan Prescho.

I live at 285 Pallisier Avenue, and my question is um when would we anticipate hearing about the motion that was just tabled to be discussed further when that will take place?

Thank you.

Yeah, the plan will be to review this likely at our next meeting, which is I think early next week for the committee of the whole.

Thank you for your question.

Any other questions?

Any other questions online?

Mayor Tobias, we have no callers at this time.

Thank you.

Motions and notices of motions, which I believe there are none.

Um closed meeting resolution?

None.

Rising report?

None.

I'll move termination.

How about a termination?

All in favor.