Council Meeting

Good evening, folks.

Welcome to the Town of View Royal Council meeting for Wednesday, July 2nd, 2025.

And it's a Wednesday, so it's a little bit odd to be having a council meeting for those of us who are used to Tuesdays.

We'll just begin with a uh heartfelt territorial acknowledgement that we recognize the Lakongwin speaking people today known as the Esquimalt Nation or the Copesum Nation and the Songhees Nation and that their historic connections to these lands continue to this day.

On this note, I'll um say that I had the privilege of attending the first time outsiders were allowed into the Songhees new chief and council being elected, where they broke out traditional masks and dancers.

Um, and that's the first time they've done that ceremony in decades.

So uh it was a real privilege and honor to be there.

Uh this evening we'll hear from the public during the public participation and question period portions of the agenda.

To provide comments virtually during the public participation period or ask a question during the question period, you'll see a QR code or a URL on the live webcast stream screen or a URL on the town's website under live webcast.

So scan the QR code or type in the URL, and in the form that pops up, you can type in your comment or question to be read aloud at the appropriate time by a member of the webcast team.

It's not an extensive team, it's mainly Carl.

You will need to provide your name and just your street name on the forum or if you're speaking in council chambers.

Public participation comments are limited to five minutes for each speaker and must be related to items on the agenda.

And question period is open to any question is limited to two minutes for each speaker.

You will be timed.

The 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.

Yeah.

I'd like to table uh 92A till next meeting so I could incorporate uh the note I sent to council colleagues.

92a.

That's the Western Gateway OCP housing and population projections.

Okay.

Uh table for next meeting.

Any other changes or amendments to the agenda as it stands?

Can I get a mover and a second or four percent of that?

Uh moved by councillor Matson, seconded by Councilor Brown.

All those in favor.

Any opposed?

Seeing none opposed, motion carries.

And uh can I get a motion to adopt the minutes uh of the council meeting held on June 17th, please.

Moved by Councillor Brown, second by councillor Lemon.

All those in favor?

A few brief things to mention.

Any opposed?

Seeing none opposed motion carries.

I think it was probably the best Canada Day View Royal has had.

So I want to thank uh Gary, who organized it, who's organized it for a number of years, um, and all the council and staff and all the volunteers that showed up, uh, Councilor Lemon for her tattoo skills.

Um, and uh I think it went over really well.

There was a good ebb and flow of folks moving through as the gorge was uh kind of going on too.

But um uh it was I think the most people there.

So if Donnie Trump did uh anything, he's certainly inspired us to celebrate our nation a little bit more on Canada Day.

So thanks, Donnie.

Um also wanted to give a shout out to uh Janina, who lives on Knowwood Road, and she turns 103.

July the 5th, she turns 103.

So uh happy birthday, Janina, from all of us.

And I also wanted to give out a shout out to Callie Turpin, who's just going into grade 12, and she is a uh football goalkeeper who's been um who's a member of or a resident of U Royal, who's been named to Team BC, who will be um participating in the 2020 25 uh Canada Summer Games.

Uh so with that, I think we go to petitions and delegations uh from Royal Roads University on Royal Roads University Community Learning Partnership Model.

Did you already get a briefing on the mic?

Okay, so you just uh press uh the speak button up on top.

So yeah, yeah, perfect.

Good.

Um awesome.

Well, hello everybody.

Um thank you so much for inviting me here today.

I actually do oh, is the timer gonna go here?

Will I be able to keep time?

Okay, beautiful.

Um so my name is Danica Straith.

I'm the director of community learning partnerships at Royal Roads University.

Um, and I'm here to talk to you about community learning partnerships and the way in which we might work together.

You can go to the next slide.

So yep, just going to introduce you to my office, what it is, how it connects with the new campus that's being developed in Langford, and specifically the West Shore Innovation and Startup Hub that will be opening inside the campus and that will be open to the public and how you can get involved.

So community learning partnerships at Rural Roads is really it's an office that was developed about five years ago, and it's really to support easier collaborations between municipalities, local governments in general, local organizations, private entities, and the university itself.

So we all know, I think we've all experienced terrible collaborations or painful ones where they're can be really inefficient or they can be very slow or time consuming or not rewarding.

And I personally have had that experience as in a community organization working with academic institutions in the past.

And so this office is really just to make it a lot more easier and streamlined so that we work together more.

So it's really supposed to be a one stop shop for collaboration.

And so that's what I'm introducing you to today.

For municipalities, we're really interested in sort of supporting you with the everyday business of city building.

Our model facilitates you and your team and your staff to identify what problems it is, sorry, what problems you have that you'd like to solve, what would be strategic in your OCP, for instance, for the year ahead.

And then I will take that in with my office and we'll distribute that throughout our institution to the relevant academic programming.

I say academic programming because my office is focused on baking it into the actual core academic programs that we run.

This is an extracurricular that I'm I'm talking about today.

We're talking about how a business student or a leadership student learns through doing by working on your projects.

We'll facilitate the matchmaking between your city staff and our faculty and students.

But we can design experiments, or we can prototype different ways in which you might engage with the public, or we can do the community engagement for you.

So there's lots of ways that we can kind of creatively come up with projects together.

And then sort of the meta-goal with our community learning partnerships is really to support regional collaboration.

So the questions that many of your municipal partners are asking are similar across the board, right?

And so there's no point in us solving, you know, your transport issue without talking to other municipalities.

And so we're really just hoping to create more fluidity between and across the region.

We've had partners work with other partners on similar projects.

We've had we've matched cities with tech companies, cities with local nations.

So it just we're really just trying to support better relationships in general.

Go to the next slide, please.

We've already gone over the different project types, so we can go to the next slide.

So here's a few examples just of recent projects we've done across the West Shore, specifically with municipalities.

How might we yada yada yada?

So, in this case, how might we develop an e-bike share program across jurisdictions in the West Shore?

So, this was a cohort of business students working in collaboration with Evo, the car share company, with supporting partnerships with City of Langford and City of Callwood to look at what might that look like, what are the limitations, what are the challenges there, what are the opportunities.

And it was exciting to see last month that Langford announced their new e-bike and e scooter share program, and it was really catalyzed by this work.

A couple months ago, we worked with the city of Calwood on the business case for urban forestry management.

So our students, um, our graduate students in climate action leadership took this on as a core focus for their um for their forestry management course and supported them to sort of beef up that business case and also assess you know what are the true costs associated with this work.

And then with the city or the district of SUC, we did a feasibility study with them and in collaboration with a local food security network, looking at a bunch of food security initiatives that were presented to them and looking at what's the most feasible and realistic given the context in SUC and the resources and capacity and timelines that are needed to execute.

Next slide, please.

We can skip this slide just in the interest of time, but I do just want to invite you to go to our Rural Roads website and to the Here Alumni Stories page where you can hear sort of what it means for students.

You know, this is the difference, I think, why many people choose Royal Roads over other institutions.

It's because it's a heavily applied model.

The average age of our students 40 years old.

They, you know, are working full time, they've got families, they don't want to study and read a textbook with a case study from 10 years ago.

They want to work on something that's relevant and real.

So that there's lots of stories on our website of sort of what difference this makes for students.

And that in particular was a story from an officer from CFBS Guaimalt.

So the West Shore Innovation and Startup Hub is going to be a new asset for the West Shore.

It's opening in September.

It's located on the third floor of the new John Horgan campus on the corner of Pete Road and Gold Stream in the city of Langford.

This is designed to be a public-facing space.

So while it does serve our faculty and our students, we are opening the doors to any resident that wants to walk in off the street and say, Hey, I have an idea.

What do I do next?

And the idea is really just to support problem solving, so to support entrepreneurs and to support change makers in the region that you know want to go from zero to 10 to 100 and figure out how they can build a team, figure out what kind of workshops are available to support their ideas, network.

Maybe they want to connect with a student project that's already halfway through something that's similar or research that's that's similar going on there.

So the idea is really to facilitate collaboration.

Next slide, please.

Kind of summed up on this slide.

Happy to share more, of course, around sort of what we're aiming to do here.

But what I'd like to sort of focus you on here is the three core pillars that we are focusing on with this innovation center.

And this is after doing a review of sort of the regional ecosystem on the South Island for innovation.

And you know, we've got support downtown in Victoria for IP or for tech or for makerspaces.

But what we really felt was missing was that support for civic innovation for regular citizens to figure out how to build things and build coalitions or um build their social enterprise, or for young people um to you know step up their leadership and to figure out how to plug in more um and then entrepreneurship is really defined as the skills for doing things and building things so it's not we're not laser focused on building you know the next Fortune 500 we're really just trying to help people build the skills um and the entrepreneurial mindset next slide please I think we can move through this one this is not new information for you you know the region here's a couple examples um of activities that will happen at this um in at this new hub.

So pitch nights, we have some we've some funds were reserved for supporting microgrants for impactful ideas.

So you can imagine, you know, we have an evening where entrepreneurs can come and pitch their ideas for something in the community, and at the end of the night, people can vote on their favorite idea, and the pot of money goes to them.

Or we have entrepreneurs in residence where we'll have regional entrepreneurs coaching and giving back to the community and supporting sort of the next gen of entrepreneurs.

There's a lot of different ways that we can animate this space, and the programming is quite interesting actually, how it's developing for the fall.

I'm happy to talk about that more in the future as well.

Next slide, please.

We can go to the next slide.

This is uh just some support from the community.

We can you have that in your notes.

Um I guess the key sort of focus of this slide is to really just you know hone in on what the goal is of the center, and it's really to increase civic innovation in the in the West Shore, um, increase youth engagement and to support entrepreneurs.

We have sort of right now the the biggest investment from the Royal Roads University with a very healthy and very solid contribution from the city of Lankford, um, as well as support from Pacific End, from the federal government, District of Souk, and then the Village Initiative, which is a local nonprofit.

Next slide, please.

So the invitation is really to collaborate, and there's lots of different ways that we can connect.

We don't have sort of a one size fits all model.

But I think the lowest hanging fruit here is just to subscribe as a community learning partner.

So this is our way of sort of annually figuring out who our priority municipal partners are for that year.

So I can come or my my team can come to your um to town hall and facilitate a conversation around sort of what are your most pressing needs for the year ahead, how can we help?

And then we'll whittle it down so that we can you know hone in on a few that make sense and then we'll take that back to the university, like I said, and shop that out, and then we'll schedule it that in a way that makes sense for our academic programming and and your timelines in the year ahead.

So this model, you know, the subscription is for municipalities it it ranges in price based on the size, but you know, if money is an issue, of course we can we can pilot something at a lower cost to make sure the partnership makes sense.

Um usually it's around 3,500 to 5,000 a year for this service.

Um but of course, like I said, we the priority is really just making sure that we have buy-in from our partners so that when we're going through this work, you know, it we're we're working towards a common goal.

Um and then of course, I I've added at the bottom, I think with the development of this innovation hub, um any um CLP subscriber, specifically the municipal ones, would have a seat on our civic innovation advisory to help direct the the future of the innovation hub.

And then yeah, I think we should probably just open it up for questions at this point.

You can go to the next slide.

Thanks, Danik.

I'll uh turn it over for questions to my colleagues, but maybe you're not aware that View Royal got um nominated as or not nominated, where it was designated as the best Canadian city for entrepreneurs to live by the Globe and Mail in December.

I gotta get as much mileage out of that as I can for the next six months, right?

Uh but uh yeah, it was interesting.

It was a tabletop exercise and not a uh popularity vote.

So it was kind of interesting that our our uh our name kind of popped up.

But uh thank you very much for the presentation.

Um, uh I thought it was great.

Uh go with you first, Don.

Well, first of all, it's really exciting to have a campus in Langford.

It's anytime students don't have to travel.

Uh, I know Camolson and UVC, it's still a bit of a distance, right?

And people have to take uh uh well they have to get their own transportation or use the the the buses, et cetera, et cetera.

So I think it's really, really great.

And it's nice that the Royal Roads and University of Vancouver Island and uh the Justice Institute are combining roles.

I had the pleasure to be an adjunct professor at Quanland University and Vancouver Island University.

And hey, I I'm still fairly active.

Maybe I'll come looking for a job.

Not astrophysic, not astrophysics, I don't teach criminology.

But question a couple of questions for you.

Just sorry to follow up, don't want to take all all the time.

But so the students, would they be undergraduates, or would these be postgraduate students, or would they be getting like certificates and diplomas like CAP College does for um municipal administration?

Yeah, so these the students for the community learning partnerships, which is really shopped across the whole institution, is all of the above.

So we have some programs that demand more partnerships.

For instance, our business program is 100% project-based learning.

There's no exams or lectures, they just have client after client after client.

So they end up seeing a lot more of our clients than say um the climate action leadership program, which only takes in a few uh clients a year.

So it kind of just depends, but you would be able to sort of reach that range.

The new campus is focused on undergraduate though.

Jerry, did you have any questions?

I don't actually have questions.

They were formulating as as as you spoke, and then you answered them.

So thank you, Donica.

My first question was going to be about cost.

And you've answered that.

I think this is I think this is great.

You know what a great opportunity for for all of us.

So thank you.

Thank you.

John, did you have any yeah um I'm I'm quite new to uh the whole um um the initiative of John Horrigan's uh campus and I I uh I I'm anxious to see as it opens and and what um um what different universities and colleges and so forth will will be there.

So I'm I'm trying to understand the um the West Shore Innovation Hub that's on the third floor.

I don't know of how many floors um are you sharing that floor is that floor dedicated to railroads on this purpose?

Yeah it's a collaborative space.

So we have um on our advisory um we have leadership from Comosin and um from UV and from the different participating groups at the table.

So we've been able to share and sort of design this under that that guidance.

So we see this as like a a campus opportunity.

Rural roads um community learning partnership model is unique to rural roads and so we're gonna land it in this new space.

So we'll be primarily rural roads programming and to start for those types of for the CLP subscription that I'm talking about today.

But it could, you know, evolve over time as we figure out how we co-own and operate a campus together.

Well the part of innovation, you have to evolve.

Yeah.

And again, I'm not clear on what the subscription rates are for being a community learning partner.

Yeah.

So Town View Royal, just being on the smaller side, would sort of fit within the 3,500 a year rate that we have been charging to similar size municipalities.

But again, you know, I I just I want to emphasize that this is, you know, uh an ask that we put out there as an invitation to contribute to this, the resources that are required for this type of education, which is just a little bit more complex, right?

Um, but you know, if a pilot year would help just us to experiment for the first year, we could drop that cost to say a thousand dollars or whatever it needs to be, just to ensure there's buy-in and um and go from there.

Or it could be a specific cost for a specific project.

Yeah, we try not to tie ourselves to, you know, we just because it's what we're really offering is this model of like this workshop across your staff, and then us distributing that and making sure it match makes, and then promising you that we can get you into one of our academic programs within the year.

It's like we don't really necessarily want to commit to one specific project.

Almost at that time, it's like easier for us to say, just take it for free.

So will your your innovation tools um involve AI, artificial intelligence, uh and really super advanced GIS uh planning and and tools uh sharing.

Because I think it would be very interesting to uh to see how the West Shore could you know bring itself together and really collaborate and and uh drill down on really critical GIS uh data points.

Yeah, we do have some programs that are using GIS and have all the software and um skilled faculty to lead a project like that.

Um we I can't promise that across all of our programs.

I think you know, our early childhood education people would shoot me if I said that we could do that.

But uh we've also received some funding from the federal government for the next three years to um you know increase the tech that we incorporate into these types of programs.

So that's from Pacific Canon.

It's it's an awesome sort of level up for us.

Yeah just uh I I know many years ago when I was doing an MPA we did a review of BCBC and we went to a number of ministries and asked them what they thought of BCBC.

So it was a and wrote a wrote a report.

And so I know it's good for the students, it was good for the organization, uh bad for the person who was asked we asked for the report because there were a lot of negative comments.

But uh yeah I certainly look forward to us talking about you know later on about you know what sort of projects we think we could uh we could do because we know we have staff is busy and so if there's an opportunity to do something I think it would be a great idea.

Thanks Councillor Matsu Councillor McKenzie.

Thank you.

I just have two questions.

So my first one um is what kind of commitment I guess or involvement do municipal staff have in the projects like would it require um some resources from our end as well um yeah, so time is the is the big commitment um so my job and in my role is to really make sure that we're holding up our end of the bargain in terms of what we're expecting from you.

So generally we try to aim for like half a day of engagement from the municipal staff or from whoever the client is that's that's working with us.

So it might involve like a scoping call, um, maybe a presentation to the students about the challenge, um, a couple emails at the midpoint or a phone call if that's easier, and then joining us for the end presentation.

So we really try to manage that.

And if and at the outset, if it's a more complex project, we'll make sure that we agree to the time commitments at the outset before we start the project.

Thank you.

Yeah, I was thinking there might be some information that the students actually require from uh town staff.

Um and then I guess I know it's called the West Shore Innovation Hub, but are you also approaching other municipalities in the CRD?

We're really focused right now on serving the West Shore.

So Callwood, Link, I mean, you know, the West Shore municipalities.

And then from there, if we have capacity, then of course we'd be more than happy to extend out.

We work with, like I said, private companies, organizations, First Nations, we work across, like we work beyond municipalities as well.

And they kind of are scattered everywhere.

But just with the focus of the hub being having being civic innovation and it being so West Shore focused, we we really wanted to make sure that we invite that inner circle of West Shore municipalities first before we we go outward.

Thanks, Councillor McKenzie.

Yeah, just uh uh couple of comments.

I've been through two Royal Roads programs now, and uh I thought the learning opportunity was excellent, and I think this will just add to it.

Um I would encourage you to do go ahead and do a brief to CRD just for awareness, even though uh I mean the West Shore mayors will be around the table as well, and and some counselors, but uh just to get that awareness out there because I can think of at least six off the top of my head um referrals we've done to U of IC or UBC from CRD over the past year.

So um so yeah, though there's an opportunity there.

Normally we don't um give you a decision right now after a presentation.

Um uh we'll kick it around probably with staff too and see if they've got anything on their plate.

I could think of a whole bunch of things, including how do we get more counselors to run in the next election and give us some ideas.

But um, but yeah, thank you very much for your presentation.

I thought it was great.

I think it's a wonderful um uh refreshing, almost a Scandinavian model where they turn their uh academic or their social problems into academic uh uh problems that that students uh come up with homegrown solutions for.

So I I think it's a really cool idea.

Awesome.

Thank you.

I appreciate your time here uh i think that brings us down to public participation period so if anybody in the room would like to address council on anything on the agenda at all i've only got two choices any uh uh no so you've got other ways you can talk to us guys uh Carl we've got any uh comments online for Wednesday night uh mayor to bias we have no comments on the board I'll just say it's a quiet Wednesday night because nobody was expecting us to have a council meeting tonight, but uh um uh so business arising from previous minutes we're on agenda item 7a.

So destination greater Victoria and uh council rogers brought this up.

There's another motion before.

So Councilor Rogers, please.

Um I've I've uh given you all a um a sheet of paper that um is the rationale, the whereas is if you like, um uh for this uh motion.

Um and I'll just read it into the record.

Whereas Destination Greater Victoria can offer a wide range of expertise and services, including providing ongoing professional assistance uh in the town's uh quest for a hotel along the Rapid Bus Corridor, TCH, as well as being central to the core and west shore and close to VGH.

Um assisting, number two, assisting the town in the complicated municipal regional destination tax once a hotel is established, promoting the town's tourism amenities, historical, recreational, lodging services, boosting our municipal and regional economies to integrate with all municipalities and First Nations partners, collaborating on initiatives such as the Gorge Waterway Tourism Strategy, and incorporating VWOL in the new comprehensive destination master plan.

And whereas VWO wishes to broaden its business opportunities, including tourism through our official community plan.

And whereas Victoria, San Echo Bay, Esquamo, Sydney, Central Sands, and Langford are already members.

And I'm sure that uh once VRO joins uh COVID will be additionally motivated to join.

And whereas tourism helped promote and pay for sports complexes, recreational centers, arts and culture venues, this strengthens the business case for major infrastructure investments in the West Shore.

And whereas attempting to do this in-house or through costly consultants would uh cost much more.

Therefore, be it resolved that VWO join Destiny Greater Victoria as a full service member commencing 2025 at a prorated amount of five hundred and forty-five dollars.

Thanks, Councilor Rogers.

Any questions?

Councillor Brown.

Perfect.

So uh um before we go to questions, then Councillor Rogers, I think you've motivated, but is there anything more that you want to say?

Um I was hoping that um the CAO um of Destiny Green Victoria, Paul Nuss, you might be on the line.

Um could we want to ask him anything?

Yes, I he's if he's there as a resource, that's fine.

Yes, if he if he's available and uh if STAF or anyone has questions that I can't answer, hopefully Paul will be able to assist.

But I I think this is um a long time in coming and uh it ties nicely in with um um expanding uh both the business and the opportunity to to uh get a hotel in view oil.

Um they uh have a prospectus for that can be shared with staff and uh developers.

Excellent.

Thank you.

Uh Counselor Rogers.

Uh Counselor Brown, anything more you want to say?

Yeah, well, we want to promote business.

So if uh to pr bringing in more tourists is obviously gonna help businesses and also encourage more businesses to come to uh viewroy we have so many amenities here historic amenities we've got probably the nicest swimming lake at uh fetus lake um we've got the casino here uh if we get the hotel um that would be huge i think uh it's not a lot of money and i think it's money well spent thanks councilor brown any other comments uh councillor yeah i'm always a little dubious about what sort of benefits will actually be generated from these things um so but on a like a one-year basis to see what happens over a year, I'm okay.

And basically just you know see what happens in a year and we can make a determination whether in the future uh we'd like to continue.

So I would support the motion.

And uh Council Rogers, just uh based on that question back to you.

So it's a decision that rolls up every year.

We're not making a decision for 10 years at a time, or is it uh we're good enough for for this amount for this fiscal year?

Yes, indeed it it is um uh for the uh 2025 and and every year as uh as we consider our memberships in all sorts of organizations like the West Shore Chamber and and so forth.

Um uh but I'm I am sure that uh because Destination Great Victoria has now just recently completed their master plan, and I think it's gonna be a long time for V Royal to really get on the map.

At this moment, we do not exist.

We s V World is simply a place to drive through, and it will take a number of years for um for Destination Victoria to uh work with us, establish a really um good coherent tourism plan.

So it's it's it shouldn't be um just a one off.

I think uh they're in here, and we should be part of the long term um uh as you can see by the the attachment, um the contributions of the visitor economy, 3.5 billion.

And I think uh so us being part of that uh ongoing basis will be uh give us dividends.

Councilor Lennon.

Um just a question to Councillor Rogers.

Do we know if if cruise ship passen passengers come through to V Royal for the casino?

Do we know that at all?

They have casinos on the cruise ship.

Yeah.

So they could technically, but from talking to the folks on the cruise ship, like why would we go to V Royal if we've got one one of the huge benefits again is the fact that we see the um the Rapid Bus Corridor being built.

And so that is uh, and and we've uh now got the province with the transit uh oriented developments at uh uh Vic General in that area.

I think that will be uh a very significant hub, um, which um as we've heard, um there's a lot of people that need accommodation when visiting uh other people in the hospital, their patients and relatives and so forth.

So there is a demand.

There is a need both regionally and for um our local and island people to come down.

And you got me at hotel.

Yeah.

So I'll I'm I'll support this, John.

And um I I was concerned that the cost would be more, but I I think for a year.

And and again for the full year's amount, um, it's uh it's $695 again.

Uh you can imagine if we've we tried to do this off uh staff's the corner of a desk or um, and we failed in that.

Yeah, our our parks and uh trails master plan hasn't been updated since 2017.

So we we do need outside resources that are skilled and and able to deliver for us that's what we can think I think this is also um a great idea I think it will help us in our goal of securing a hotel but also highlighting the many historic gems that we have you know just yesterday going doing the first time doing the tour of the manor um and it's amazing how little I knew about it before and it it really is a historic uh site I think she said it was the oldest farmhouse in all of BC.

So you know that's something that people should likely would love to come visit and know more about.

So I think it's uh yeah I'm supportive of this.

And if I may on that point that the Scottish uh community center is also working closely with um destination creative Victoria.

So we're we're supporting them on our and just one small example of our local businesses the four mile, the six mile both historic locations.

Well I'm gonna probably ask us to vote on it shortly because it apparent that we're in violent agreement and any longer discussion it might start to deteriorate but uh five hundred and forty five dollars a year for what uh this may provide us and and staff as a resource for data um in some cases, that's a magazine prescription, right so um in this day and age.

So uh we've got a mover, seconder.

They have motivated everybody had a chance to have uh their uh questions and comments heard.

All those in favor of uh Councilor Rogers motion.

Any opposed?

Seeing none opposed, motion carries unanimously.

Thank you, uh Councilor Rogers for that.

Thank you.

Um staff reports.

I think we're up uh annual report for the year ended December 31st.

Uh moved by Councillor Matson.

Do we have a seconder?

Second.

Seconded by Counselor Rogers.

Uh any motivation or any comments or questions?

Oh good.

Uh uh we'll go with councillor Rogers and Councillor Lemon.

Uh staff, are there any particular points that um you'd like to bring to our attention that was um uh refined, as it were, from public input and and otherwise?

Uh not from public input, but there was a section missing on permissive tax exemptions, which uh used to be in the financial report.

Now it's in the under report where it should be.

Um all glory to Jen Cochran who did the lion's share of the work on this.

So I think I pointed that out last time with the draft, but I'd like to commend her for the work she did on the report.

Councilor Lemon, then Councillor McKenzie, please.

It's great, it's beautiful.

Um kudos to Jen.

It's it's it's visual, it's impactful.

I have just one tiny, tiny thing that I would like us to change, and I've probably asked her this in past years.

I don't know.

Under the vision, the very last line livable view royal simply the best place to call home can we get rid of the exclamation mark thank you scott counselor makenzie just a comment um yeah great i love the the photos it has actually and having photos of different parks in view royals because it gives me ideas of places i haven't been to yet so i googled them i'm like oh okay i'll have to go visit that so i i really like the inclusion of um photos of the parks.

Thanks.

Yeah, I'm in uh and in support of uh the report.

I heard uh a comment of somebody as we were talking about um our central nature our nexus, and it was an older lady that lived up the street.

She has since passed.

Um, but she said we're in the middle of everything.

And I thought that was a good way to catch kind of your oil.

Not saying we're anything at all, but we're in the middle of everything, um, which could be good or bad.

Uh so uh I think there's uh support.

Uh we got a mover and a seconder.

All those in favor of uh the annual report be adopted.

Any opposed?

Seeing none opposed, motion carries.

Thank you.

And I think there's a number of reports here.

One that may trigger some interest, and I think it was the one uh Councilor McKenzie that you weren't on for the uh because you were away in training for the West Park or West Shore Parks uh and recreation society board directors, and that was the minutes for the 8th of May.

There are any comments for any of these, Councilor Matson.

I'm just gonna move your seat.

Uh okay, move uh moved by Councillor Mattson and second by Councillor Rogers.

The only, I guess, input that I have out of those minutes is a question about scope for the West Shore Parks and Rec.

In that report, it um and I had received correspondence from Langford stating that they had West Shore Parks and Rec scope out um a daycare uh for Langford.

Not that I'm opposed to a daycare in Langford.

Um but i we didn't get around to the conversation is that a role for West Shore Parks and Rec or is that a role for Langford?

Um and that was my concern uh uh about it.

Um I'm I'm not opposed to daycares anywhere.

Um but I don't know how many folks would be driving from View Royal to Langford to drop off a kid and then go up against traffic.

So I don't I I I didn't see an analysis of the need uh as of yet.

Counselor Mats.

Yeah, I my comment general, like daycares aren't something that Rebecca Center should be doing.

I mean, they can be do, you know, it's not something we should be encouraging to as you know, the the only advantage would be is if somebody's gets to drop their kids off there while they go exercise, but that's not what this is for.

This is so people can work, drop their kids off at the daycare and go in that and you know I certainly support daycares, but West Shore Parks and Rec, no.

And and this is in Langford, this is a separate daycare within Langford than the so that that is my only concern.

I thought it was a little bit of creep before we got a hold of the master plan because of course Langford had the YMCA that they took on over the last little while.

Callwood's got another uh increasing population around Royal Bay.

I'm not opposed to these things, but at what point are they um are they View Royal?

So will it will it benefit View Royal?

Um will anybody go from View Royal to drive through all the way out to Royal Bay or to the YMCA um when we're contributing taxes potentially on that, where everybody's free to and it's not like they uh the residents get a break, right?

So if I go to West Shore Parks and Rec, even though we pay as much money as we do, I don't get a break because I'm a West Shore or uh we're uh we're paying somebody from Sandage could go and get the same price.

Um, and the same way we could go to a squimalt or Perks Rec and check in there.

So uh it it has to do with the ownership of how much we're willing to take on.

Similarly, we spend a lot of money on parks, and they're certainly available to everyone who you know, and we aren't getting any money from the other municipalities, so I don't think we should be paying for things that our residents won't be using.

Counselor Matson.

And um even if Lankford residents are are using our parks, I mean, we aren't asking for funds for those.

Okay, so I'm I'm happy with just having that discussion, and I think another larger one will come up when we hit the master plan uh uh in the planning for that.

Um uh in in where is the border of View Royals participation in west shore Parks and Rec.

And and my concern is even this, and and it might might sound a bit petty but we pay for maintaining the library downtown right um uh but we also are owners of the West Shore Parks and Rec.

There's obviously costs that go in with maintaining that building that's just spread the way the the West Shore Parks and Rec library it's just the way it goes.

There's no way I need to deviate that.

But my concern is is that even if they're taking care of a daycare in Langford and we don't necessarily agree with that there's still staff resources that are going into taking care of that thing.

So I think that we need to tease that out in uh in the long thing.

So I'm sure Councillor McKenzie will head that off when she's at uh the the next meeting or have a greater discussion.

Councilor Rogers.

Yes, and and speaking to um uh the report in in general, this is the um um what was it um May 8th.

Um I was very impressed with the extraordinary amount of work and effort um that uh staff have done um to to maintain uh upgrade uh um uh the wide range of facilities and and uh and improvements.

It really is totally uh amazing.

I noted um um that um in on a horticultural basis uh they too have um uh redone their gardens to um um replant with perennials as and to uh maybe give more color and easier upkeep over time.

So perennials seems to be in fashion.

Um and um uh impressive that the first three weeks of april 323 youth attended the Friday night youth uh program so it continues to be hugely successful and and hopefully one day we're going to be able to have a better bus service that will take our um as I say east side of Van V V Royal to uh to that amenity.

One question that I did have on page 10 of 11 was the Royal Bay Easter egg hunt um on April 19th and I could not understand how the West Shore Parks and Rap were involved in the Royal Bay Easter egg hunt.

Yeah, they they we could do the same thing by inviting them to sponsor that.

We could have an activity here that uh their staff would come.

It would be on a cost paper service or whatever.

But but that's that's what it is.

So I guess it it would be um maybe someone reading this might not know that inside information like me.

Okay, that's uh that's good to know.

Thank you.

The one thing that I will ask for and I thought the reports as you did uh Counselor Rogers were great.

Um they did do something that they stopped doing Counselor McKenzie and I think they stopped doing it a number of years ago but what they would do is list their services that they provide and compare them to other recreation centers around, like here might here's how much it is for a drop-in.

Here's how much it is for the low-income um uh services that that we provide.

So having that table to see how we fit in the landscape of things, I think is useful to say, are we charging more or less?

Is it the same?

And because we're a non-CRD service, it would probably help to you know make sure that we're just aligned on there.

Not that we're in competition to them, but it just makes, I think, good sense of of where we're at.

Uh so we've got a mover in a seconder to receive.

Uh, and if there's no other comments, all those in favor.

Any opposed, seeing none opposed motion carries, and that's uh 83A to C.

Um and correspondence.

Uh just to remind folks that are on our agenda when we approved it, we're gonna table 92A for next meeting.

We've got 91A, which is an emailed uh dated from uh J uh Witrawell uh on a request for a reading room uh JBPL depot in the Admiral's walk area.

Um just wondering, Jerry, if you've got a comment about that.

I do, thank you.

Um I spoke with Mr.

Witcher yesterday, um, and uh he's he's shown some real real initiative in trying to secure more library services or an additional library service in V Royal.

He's actually gotten gotten spoken to the Esquimalt Nation to see if they'd be interested in um joining with us and presumably GVPL in establishing something.

I told yeah I I am in pretty much constant um conversation with the CEO of the Greater Victoria Public Library about how how V Royal could be served with with more focus.

And we you know lots of ideas go back and forth but of course money is an issue and and and government funding has not increased for the organization since um well 2009.

So you know ideas are welcome I and and I really encourage his input and more public input but um you know we had a we had a volunteer run library the reading room for 80 years and it kind of ran its course um most of the volunteers were you know they they were aging and then you know and and the financial support was diminishing um it was once the reading room was once established at um admiral's walk but the cost became prohibitive um so i don't know if if there were a new service or an adjunct service if admiral's walk would be the location because you know it's run by a business, run by a corporation, um, and we it's not not a volunteer.

Um but uh you know I would encourage him too if if if he's listening uh to uh build support build support and and um perhaps you know build you know talk to me talk to me um about some other ideas and ways that we can um better serve Pew Royal uh yeah I'm I'm listening and I will take I will take his I will take this to the uh library board um and have it tabled there thanks, Counselor Lemon.

Counselor Matz.

Yeah, so following up what Counselor Lemon said, I want to point out the obvious that we had a volunteer library here, which was once a public library, and then it's lost its public library uh status, and so they had to get funding on their own.

And the town made the decision.

Initially they were uh in this building to move them out and provide funding so that they could uh go somewhere else.

And they made that we made the financial decision that it was too expensive for us to keep providing this service.

And so my point is if the $25 or $30,000 we were spending was too expensive, you could only imagine what it would cost us if the library board put a another little office here.

So I I'm really dubious, and that again, I really miffed that we got rid of the mini library, our volunteer library, which was doing a great job for a number of people.

So I certainly don't uh see any way we can do it for uh just a fraction of the cost of what that service was being provided for.

Thanks.

And just to uh put some numbers around this, I think our rent was around 36 to 38 or less, even for the place over here was more over.

Update a little bit.

Yes, it was more for Admiral's walk.

Um uh and I think we give around 750k a year to the greater Victoria Public Library.

So, in context, if that was a new service we were establishing today, that would be a seven percent increase in taxes in V Royal on its own.

So we pay handsomely for a public service.

That doesn't mean just downtown, that means you can go to West Shore as well.

That's a free service, plus all kinds of digital subscriptions at home.

So I know people love to read actual books and actual public settings.

And I think there'll be probably room for that, but I don't think we can say just Admiral's Walk either, because V Royal is a big place, and we may have some space available to us with larger density things that might be a dual purpose.

My other concern with this is the operational cost.

We hear from public library staff that their main challenge right now is dealing with security.

And you know, and so the operational cost is not just rent.

Is no there's no more volunteers that are gonna be there to open it up.

It means that we'd have to hire a staff and we'd likely have to have trained security there as well.

So uh significant stuff.

Uh councilor Brown you're looking around different places uh I used NIMA for example but the chapters bookstore for example we don't have a big bookstore here but um you know they set up basically it is a reading room they've got uh coffee shop there in there and there may be an opportunity for a local business to uh set aside a portion.

There's a coffee shop on Helmkin, uh there's serious coffee across from the casino, places like that.

Uh they're just quiet places, you know, there's no reason why if people are really interested, they couldn't uh approach but it'd be a win-win because people are gonna buy their coffee, they're gonna buy their muffins and everything else and uh have a nice quiet place to sit down and and read a book.

And um yeah I know a lot of people like you know the paper reading the books.

However, uh I don't know uh in my case for example I've got a reader and I probably have a hundred books on it but um so in in some ways in some ways libraries are gonna become semi obsolete but uh um I think it's a great idea to have a space where people could go.

E even even if it doubles up as a cooling place or a place to get warm in the winter.

But again, you have to have someone on staff, whether it's a volunteer, but we can't afford to have a paid staff person run something like that just one more councillor lemon and counselor rogers sorry briefly um not everybody likes their books in digital format um a lot of people like like like a book in their hands and I think Mr.

Whitrow is is perhaps one of those there is also there is several uh little neighborhood libraries where there are real books and uh you take the book you take the book you finished with and if you're lucky pick one up at your neighborhood one or at the next neighborhood one.

So there are those and I'm and I'm sure that's not the full answer um but it is it is another source for getting a real book.

Good point okay uh counselor rogers, please, you know, he not only um wrote this letter to us, he wrote it to Esquamo, Sanich, and the two First Nations and CVPL.

So I I'd be interested and I hope that his letter is on correspondence for discussion at CVPL to the next um uh board meeting.

And uh yes, indeed.

Um uh and he did appreciate the history that um uh as counselor Madison said, it used to be the very old community hall when I was uh growing up with books, and then it was at the town hall here, and but that was then in 2002 when we joined the um um and the casino.

One of the conditions that Ms.

Palladis had for us to join the casino was that we had to um become a full-time membership of the Greater Victoria Library Association and the West Shore Rack.

So we did that, and but we still maintained our our reading center here in the building.

Then we needed the space, then it went to Admiral's Walk, which was highly successful.

Much better.

But uh again, as uh you know Councillor Lemon, you mentioned the costs were really, really uh challenging, and we weren't getting a break from the management, even though the library was drawing in customers to that shopping center.

Um I really do hope that um uh we could collaborate um with the First Nations and having a local center.

Maybe if everything's taken up at Eugle Creek as is Guam builds their commercial center, um, that might be an opportunity uh uh um to work with.

So uh I'd like to keep our options open, but um uh I I did explain to JJ that um uh the province has moved to have the transit-oriented development around VGH.

There's gonna be a lot of people there and great opportunities for having a a center of with a community center and and a library, much like we see with Oak Bay and and their their town.

So um options hopefully there will improve and and I'd be very interested to see what C VPL has back to um uh the three municipalities and the two First Nations.

Thank you.

Thanks.

I'll move your seat.

Uh second.

Seconded.

All those in favor.

Any of the opposed, seeing none opposed, motion carries.

And I think that brings us down to bylaws and our procedure by law.

Elna, is that yours?

Yes, it is.

So it's on for adoption this evening.

Move adoption.

Any other comments or questions on it?

Okay.

Very timely to see that it within the um uh the bottle.

If uh if uh the holiday falls on the Tuesday, we do the next day.

So here we are.

Well done.

Thank you.

Councilor Lemon.

Um I I would love to support this.

Um, but uh I I remained challenged with as as I think bit many residents will be with the notion of all meetings starting at six o'clock six o'clock um after 35 years of meeting starting at 7.

Certainly I'd, you know, the Committee of the Whole meetings, uh, six o'clock, because that that's that's where there's a lot of discussion and and um you know it's things are workshopped and we don't really have very um very many residents in attendance.

Uh and the meetings are long, so six o'clock beginning for committee of the whole makes sense to me.

But I think it's it's gonna be um surprising for people who show up at seven o'clock.

Uh that the meeting is well on its way.

I don't think we'll be done by seven, so uh councillor Lemon.

We never have been.

Yeah, uh to um to Councilor Lemon's point.

Uh Councilor Rogers.

Um one after adoption adoption and and our next meeting, could we have something on the town's website and bring big beautiful pink um to to let people know that uh the next meeting will be at six?

Thank you.

If the motion passes.

Council Lemon, I I hear you there's some days that I'd kind of like it to be seven, but there are other days that I'm waiting around at six, and let's get the meeting started so we can move on and and hopefully finish a little bit earlier and get into a closed agenda.

And I'm sure the folks at home don't want to hang out till 10 o'clock.

Although I know there's some dedicated folks that are that are tuning in right now or have it on their PVR or whatever to watch later.

Um but uh yeah, and and you know if it uh if it wrinkles the public or us so much and after a couple of months of trying this, there's nothing saying we can't amend it and push it back or compromise at 6 30, for instance.

But I'm I'm in favor of this to to to start um because you know the rationale is we get done an hour earlier, and I don't think our decision making is it's at its best at 10 o'clock at night.

So I'm I'm okay with starting at six.

Uh so we got a mover and a second, or all those in favor of adopting the bylaw?

Any opposed to it.

And note that Councillor Lemon opposes and uh motion carries, but good fight, Councilor Lemon.

Um and that brings us to question period.

Uh so do you have a question?

You do have a question, okay.

Oh, well, you're not allowed comments.

Okay, yeah, you can put a question mark at the end of it.

Thanks.

My name is Kathy Noel from uh One Noel Place, and just a comment I'm really excited that you've joined uh destination Greater Victoria.

I'm not speaking for Paul, but um I have a membership with Destination Greater Victoria.

And what you will find if you go to the networking, that because the Destination Greater Victoria also manages the conference center, they are the ones that are bringing all the conferences in.

So now your businesses, the amenities, the radar, right?

To being able to bring more people in.

One of the hats that I wear for the past 25 years is the GM and race director of the Royal Victoria Marathon.

And we will have 15,000 people descending on uh Greater Victoria, Oak Bay, and um Thanksgiving.

So having a hotel in View Royal, I fill all of the hotels in uh in Victoria.

So being able to expand out would be a huge asset.

Yeah.

Uh thanks, Kathy, for that.

And that uh that is great, and that's an insight that we didn't have.

But I think Councillor Brown had a question then, Counselor.

Yeah, it's a question period.

It's not for your questions.

Will you say the same to Colwood?

We need them to join.

I will.

Thank you.

I shall get my aunt to say it to Doug.

Counselor Brown, thank you for taking on the uh looking after the Royal Victoria Marathon.

I ran the first one 45 years ago.

Council Brown.

No, not the time signed up for this time and my at my my Boston Marathon qualifying time at 243.

It's 12th overall in the that time.

So uh out of 30 marathons it's one of my top counselor brown of my top out of order not the time thank you very much yeah thank you any other name dropping you can do yeah um okay good i'm gonna follow and i'm Doug Noel so it actually comes very very similar to Kathy's same idea we're right as somebody said right right in the middle of everything one of the things might be interesting, you might have thought about this.

Paul will have lots of data.

But that Royal Roads got me thinking, I know that the um the Howard Johnson or the Holiday inn is sold out when all the swim meets are on.

We we don't have a lot of facilities here, but we've got a squamalt right next door.

We've got perks, we've got all these sports facilities, lots of tournaments.

It would be interesting to go back to roads and have their students do a project on what kind of room capacity is happening with tournaments, what tournaments are out there.

And hopefully a developer comes with their due diligence and their their ROI on that kind of stuff, but it would also be maybe a feather in our cap to say, and here's another thing to think about.

This is the kind of room rates and events that go on in our community that you can have 10-minute drive to all these different municipalities to to pivot on.

So that was just my thought as I put the two together.

No, that's great.

Great, great thinking.

And maybe you could organize a uh View Royal Triathlon.

We've got lots of water to swim around and okay.

There's been lots of talk about that because um Elk Lake was closed for the most of this year.

It will open for the half iron, it didn't open for the first half iron.

So I did that one, uh the Victoria Half will be open, but the Iron Man, it didn't.

Um the challenge with our lake, it's an amazing lake, it's a beautiful lake.

It's one kilometer around the first island, 1.5 kilometers around the second island, so it's perfect.

I don't know, we need to be very careful about that because that's a pristine, beautiful lake, and the traffic that it brings in on an event is hard on it.

We could do it in Port of Jinla.

Um it's a gem we don't we don't have to do it in the lake.

We could also do it in the harbor.

Yeah, that's it.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, good.

Okay, anyways, that was my thank you.

Uh so uh next uh oh Carl, uh, do we have any questions that were uh sent in to us?

Um Mayor Tobias, we have no questions.

Thanks, Carl.

Uh and this goes to a rising report.

And what's so what's the rising report?

A rising report is we have an in-camera meeting, and sometimes we can release publicly what we say in the in the and and it's the intent.

We go in and and talk about things in camera and then are able to make uh an announcement about what we decided on.

Not always the case, but in this case it was.

So the assistant deputy minister of housing asked us our opinion on going in camera on items related to First Nations negotiation.

And council, I think, uh unanimously said that's not a good idea because we want our um opinions about our relationships and reconciliation with First Nations to be open and public.

And that on those issues that they may be sensitive enough to be in a closed meeting.

They would be anyway, because it has to do about land or government-to-government relations.

But in general, the council felt uh strongly that these decisions should be made in the open as much as possible.

Um so we've responded with a letter back to the minister and uh and said we disagreed with the intent of closing meetings on issues related to First Nations.

Um and that brings us to a closed meeting resolution.

Uh but thanks for coming out, folks.

Uh certainly appreciated your comments slash questions, and thank you for doing all of the work that you've done over 25 years and organization.

Thank you.