Council Meeting

Thank you, Sarah, and uh good evening.

I'll call the uh town of you Royal Council meeting to order for Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024, and we'll begin with a territorial acknowledgement and that we recognize the Conguin speaking people known today as the Esquamalt Nation, the Songhees Nation, and their historic connections to these land continue to this day.

This evening we'll hear from the public during public participation and question period portions of the agenda for members of the audience.

Um, please uh I think Sarah, did you brief everybody in the room yet?

No.

Okay, all right.

So I think we're good for that.

Uh so if you're online and want to talk to us, uh well, the bad news is you can't.

Um, and you can uh go under the URL or the QR code that's being displayed on the screen, and you can send a chat which at the appropriate time, Carl will read out on your behalf.

Please state your street name and your name for the record.

So the question will uh the public participation is five minutes for each speaker and question period is limited to two minutes.

You'll be timed the meeting will be recorded by participating in this webcast you are consenting to being recorded and the recording will be available to everybody forever.

Can I get an approval of a brief agenda moved by Councillor Mattson, seconded by Councillor Lemon.

All those in favor.

Any opposed.

Seeing none opposed.

Motion carries.

Should note that uh uh councillor Brown is joining us from uh out of Canada tonight.

It looks warm where you are, even with a fake background, Councillor Brown.

So thanks for joining us tonight.

Much appreciated.

You're missed for the festivities afterwards.

Can I get a motion to receive the minutes and adoption of the minutes for the three items we have?

So by Counselor Mattson, seconded by Councilor Rogers.

All those in favor?

Any opposed?

Seeing none opposed.

And I think this brings us down to staff reports.

Appointment of an external auditor.

Scott.

I'm comfortable with that, but uh I'll I'm just speaking to this report on behalf of uh Stephen Beller, manager of accounting tonight.

Uh staff are seeking uh confirmation to appoint MNP as our external auditors for 2024 through 2028.

Um and uh seeking authorization to execute the contract.

Uh we've been using MNP since 2019, so there is uh familiarity with how we do things here.

Um great price on the audit, and uh they seem to be doing a great job from what I hear from the finance department.

Scott, so we had uh movers or any questions for a staff.

Uh do we have a seconder?

Second.

Second by counselor McKenzie should beat you to it.

I just had one question, uh Scott, and see if anybody else does.

Do we put that out by RFP so people can bid on the uh audit service or how does that happen?

It it was put out in 2019 and uh we we plan on uh putting it out again in 2028 um but we're we're trying to buy ourselves a few years using the same auditors right now.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Seeing none, all those in favor of MNP being awarded uh the contract uh seeing no dissension, uh motion carries unanimously.

Uh yeah, Council McKenzie uh beat you to it.

She was quicker on the job.

Uh Mayor's report.

Um, welcome everybody this evening.

Um it will be glad to have an opportunity to chat with you after a brief agenda.

Um and uh just wanted to let everybody know that uh received an invitation to represent the town at uh uh former premier Horgan's uh funeral service, which will be on the Sunday the 15th at the Q Center um in uh in uh Langford at uh at the Wannafuca Rec Center.

Um so in lieu of flowers, um a family wishes uh donations to a food bank, uh West Shore Food Bank, Langford Food Bank, or any food bank of your choosing if you uh are so inclined, both council and staff and members of the public to uh donate something in remembrance.

Uh and that's all I have for a mayor's report.

We have our final special council meeting coming up next Tuesday.

That'll be the last one for December before we get into the new year.

Uh and so I think that is it for a mayor's report.

Um appointments to committee of the whole.

I think I've had an opportunity to discuss with you, and hopefully I got all of your preferences correct.

So that is attached on Schedule A.

And Sarah, are we okay to pass A through D.

Okay.

If is there any questions or comments about A through D at all?

Councilor Rudd.

Well, on with respect to to B, I just wanted to thank Councilor Kowalovich for all his work as member and chair of uh the West Shore Parks and Recreation, uh, you're always able to answer all my questions and queries and and stick handle the uh the whole thing really nicely.

So thank you very much for all the years of work on that.

Uh thanks for that.

Second that, John.

Um other comments, questions?

Uh if there's uh a challenge with um timing for acting mayor, we can sort that out on the fly.

Because uh it just happens that I don't happen to be available.

Hopefully, the acting one is so we can we can certainly adjust that as required.

Okay.

If there's nothing else, gonna get a motion to pass A through Delta Summit.

Moved by Councillor Lemon.

Second.

Seconded by Councillor Rogers.

All those in favor?

Any opposed?

Seeing none opposed.

Uh Don, I noticed you activate your hand.

No, just not quick enough on the hand.

Did you have a question or comment that I missed?

Sorry about that.

Okay.

Petitions and delegations.

There are none.

Would anybody like to address counsel on any matter related to the agenda?

Too slow.

We'll go to the phone.

Carl, have we got any um comments in uh from the public?

Uh Mayor Tobias, we have no caller.

Sorry, we have no uh messages from the public this evening.

Thanks, Carl.

And I think this brings us down to 9 1 staff reports, the official community plan contract award.

Leanne, I'm assuming that goes to you.

Good evening, Mayor Tobias and members of council.

My name is Leanne Taylor.

I'm the Director of Development Services, and tonight I am going to be presenting on the official community plan review and update and awarding the contract.

Next slide, please.

So a bit of background information.

Council received the request for proposal draft terms of reference at for the OCP review and update project at the regular council meeting on October 15th of this year.

Following that meeting, staff posted the RFP on BC bid on October 17th, 2024.

The RFP closed on November 8th, 2024.

And the town received one proposal from Urban Systems.

Next slide, please.

So this evening, Council will be considering awarding the RFP to Urban Systems and a little bit about the consultant.

Urban Systems has worked with more than 50 communities throughout British Columbia to develop and update official community plans, including many small communities such as the town of Asoyas, City of Kimberley, City of Cranbrook, and the District of Tefino.

I conducted reference checks with all of these municipalities, and the consultants received positive reviews, and all of these municipalities said they would ask them to come back and carry out more work in the future, and some have engaged urban systems on other projects within those municipalities.

The company has presence in the capital regional district and has worked with several neighboring municipalities on a variety of planning and engineering related projects.

Their local team, which submitted the proposal, has strong relationships with the local communities, understands the local and regional context, has access to local data, and has extensive knowledge and experience working on OCPs.

The consultants are aware that we will have one full-time senior planner as a lead on this project, which has considerably reduced the budget for this project.

We are also going to be carrying out all the communication and engagement in-house.

We have an internal team that will be doing that.

And the consultant would be providing content to assist us.

However, we will be leading all of that work, which really helps with the budget.

Next slide.

The project budget is estimated to be at 224,995.

I just totally said that wrong, $224,953 for phase one and phase two.

And this includes all applicable disbursements, but excludes GST.

And council may recall we must complete phase one by the end of next year in accordance with provincial legislation, which has to do with our housing section of our OCP to align with our in term housing needs report, as well as some of the other strategic objectives to do with our land use.

Funded by the local government housing initiatives, provincial grant, and casino revenue, and will not directly impact taxation or user fees.

The project costs to the end of 2024 are expected to be approximately $5,000 to help with the kickoff so that we can launch in January, because we have a very tight timeline.

And this is a result of the staff dedication to this project that we can do, provided we have the staff capacity.

Next slide.

Furthermore, the project budget will fund the consultant work for phase one and two.

The town's costs associated with communications and public engagement because we will have venue rentals, there'll be advertising, there'll be engagement materials that we'll have to print.

It includes our legal fees because our OCP needs to be reviewed by our legal council.

Capacity funding for the Esquimal and Songese Nations, because that is that is an expectation that we provide honorariums.

Staff time, there will be open houses and things on weekends.

So the development permit areas and design guideline review and update, which will start at the end of 2026 into 2027, which will be conducted in-house.

However, there will be some other external costs associated with that work, with engagement and perhaps some other capacity that we may need.

And this budget also takes into consideration any contingencies.

Next slide.

And council may recall that following phase one, there will be an evaluation and um prior to we get going on phase two of the project.

Thank you.

Thanks, Lan, for uh well-crafted uh report.

Uh question before I turn it over to my colleagues as with the new legislation that uh we're having to adhere to um our OCP has to be refreshed every five years with a 20-year outlook uh for each year.

Um have we baked in some way to kind of template our processes so they become repeatable every five years that may take advantage for cost savings or or other better.

Absolutely.

Um and that is why we are taking a larger staff role in this project because we need to build that internal capacity and um and obviously we need staff for that so in the long run i hope we can be less reliant on consultants for future um OCP updates to align with our um housing needs reports that we must complete every five years under the new legislation so this project will build that internal capacity provided we we move forward as proposed any other questions for anybody uh counselor rogers yes thank you and certainly have no problem with the recommendation and and Urban Systems, again, a well-known uh company in in in Victoria and and so that's great.

Um, I do have a question with respect to um uh again, not the uh the project costs with respect to urban systems, but um uh the the suggestion that um the current budget which was 400,000 would be uh could be reduced to 300,000.

Um but my concern is, and uh other folks have expressed concern um uh to me when they saw this, uh, is um hopefully we're we're still going to be able to have um the workshops, you mentioned open houses, but workshops as well.

My question is that um uh urban systems would obviously be involved in in um participating, preparing materials, I assume, uh, for the open houses and workshops.

Um so are we anticipating that in the budget reduction?

Through the mayor, um, because we are going to have an internal communications and engagement team working on this, urban systems will provide staff with the content.

However, we will have the capabilities in-house to to do a lot of that work.

So the budget has been modified recognizing that we have more in-house capacity to do to do that work.

In terms of printing like poster boards and things like that, again, we have the internal software like InDesign and other to to to do that.

We're gonna we're gonna we need to rely on the consultants um for some of the expertise that we actually don't have in-house, and some of that will have has to do with some of the content.

And uh so that's how we've structured it.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Comments?

Uh can I get uh recommendation?

Uh Councillor Rogers moves, counselor Matson second.

Uh all those in favor.

Any opposed?

Thanks for your report, Leanne.

And I think it's to item B, Island Highway Sidewalk Upgrades to Ivan.

Thank you, Mayor Tobias.

I'll first comment that um poinsettas look good.

I just want to put a plug that uh our parks team did well again, hand picking these pointsettas, they look lovely.

Um anyways, so this uh staff brings forward to you a staff recommendation on the award of a sidewalk project.

It's on the island highway in front of the two car dealerships between the Ashley Furniture and the uh casino.

And this project has been identified as a key upgrade in our active transportation network plan and is also in alignment with our strategic plan, shifting the primary mode of transportation away from vehicles to walking, cycling, and transit.

Um 11 bids were provided, which was a substantial amount.

We were pleasantly surprised about that.

And um at this time, no financial implications really.

The low bid is within our budgets, uh including contract administration costs and other um incidentals.

Um so what I have before you is our staff recommendation to awards the Island Highway cyberwalk project to our media enterprises an amount of $362,800 and 82 cents net of GST, and happy to take any questions.

Two questions I see.

We'll go with qu Councilor Mattson first, then Councillor Rogers.

Yes, thank you.

I I'm always impressed with the cost per per linear foot of uh sidewalk.

So how many how long is this piece of sidewalk?

Oh it's about a hundred plus change.

I'm gonna say about 120 meters.

Yeah, around there.

Does that work out to per meter?

Well, I can do it on my head right now.

Well, and by head I mean by this by this trusty calculator I have here.

I remember council or uh Mayor Tobias says to me that my math is not as good at this time of the day.

So three hundred three hundred and twenty.

It's about three thousand dollars a lineal meter, which is um lower than what we've seen in the past.

Might be have to do with the simplicity of the project, but it's up there.

Okay.

The only other question I would have is uh I think sometime previously we were waiting for somebody to come in and build, so they would have to be required to build the sidewalks.

Is there any latecomer charges or anything that we can put in place or are we just SOL for that or yeah, through Mayor Tobias?

Um there's no latecomers for this.

It's a capital project, so it it doesn't align with that.

Um staff did take a look because at one point I think one of the dealerships was was vacant and someone came in.

Um should that uh lot develop, then they would be subsequent to um frontage improvements.

But at this time there's been no um there's been no confirmation of any development in that area.

And in fact when I looked at the site they're pretty much using it for the the use intended so there's no there's no um none of that unfortunately so there's no frontage improvement costs that we can charge somebody who wants to come and put a a hotel or something on the site.

I I know what you're getting a counter mass and through the mayor to bias um unfortunately that sidewalk is not in front of that potential area that may house a hotel so that's yes, thank you.

Um the uh ministry highways is working on their bus shoulder uh lanes.

Uh is that uh project um also going to go up um uh where the sidewalk is?

Uh Mayor Tobias, or through Mayor Tobias, it doesn't go up that far.

So the BC Transit project which you see today, that only goes up to the Parsons Bridge.

And then the bus on shoulders quite literally is just the highway up to the Callwood Interchange.

It doesn't go further up.

Um BC Hi BC Transit does have long-term plans to extend up to this project, but it's a long-term endeavor.

And my next question, if if I can proposed sources of funding um in the report was um grants uh and casino.

Um what are we doing any grants?

Have we've been successful in that?

I can't remember.

Uh yes, uh, through Mayor Tobias, we haven't been successful in the grant.

Councilor Levin.

Yeah.

Um the construction of this Ivan, it will be happen on entirely on this sideway.

I'm thinking of how weary people are of um the bus lane construction.

This won't impact traffic, will it be strictly side of road construction?

Um, we'll work with the contractor to make sure that uh traffic is done as smooth as possible.

With construction, there is always cause for some disturbances.

So a healthy balance between um safety of the contractors on site um as well as the the communities that you see.

Um staff are very good at monitoring traffic, it won't be anything close to what we see for the BC Transit project.

It's quite literally a sidewalk.

Um there's three two to three lanes that could be used so there's gonna be very minimal disturbance I have another uh question for you um is that area completely unserved by a sidewalk or is the sidewalk there completely broken I remember there was bits of a sidewalk but not uh contiguous kind of uh yeah mayor to buy says completely unserved by a sidewalk right now it's just a pavement extension so and even then it's um it would be considered non-conforming to our subdivision development bylaw and will this bring us right to the Callwood border Ivan uh yes so basically from the um ashley furniture site all the way up towards the Wan Fuga rec center beyond Collwood there's only one other gap left and I think there's an empty lot closer to the Parsons bridge so should that area develop or should council wish to do a capital project in that area that would be when the sidewalk be triggered then okay and that would uh get us at least on that side uh all the way up and have we uh notified Callwood of our intentions or were you willing to do that just because they seem to be rich with grant money from their grant writer and they might decide to carry it on uh we can chat with them.

We did notify Callwood that's um of this small linkage project.

Um there's been no chats about extending into the rec center.

Um but uh we always have regular meetings with um college directors and the Langford directors to see what we can do to help synergize accessibility in the region.

Thank you.

John, do you have another one?

Go ahead.

Just on that point, um if I may, um, you know, it's great that we're going to be building up to COVID's uh boundary.

Uh and when you have that discussion with COVID, maybe they'll be happy to bring the sidewalk down uh to our boundary on the one figure rack, because that's very difficult uh and extremely dangerous uh that site.

And even though we have that chip trail, it's not meant for fuller accessibility by um those that are challenged in that regard.

Uh yeah, thank you for the for the comment.

Um I have comments on that with respect to this project, but as uh council will recall that we do have a transportation master plan scheduled for next year, certainly something that could be identified at that time.

Thanks, Ivan.

Any other uh comments, questions?

Seeing none, mover, seconder, moved by counselor uh McKenzie, seconded by councillor Lemmond.

Uh all those in favor.

Thank thank you, Councilor Brown.

Got you too.

Uh so it was unanimous.

Uh thank you, Ivan.

Uh, and that brings us to item C, which is council and committee the whole 2025 meeting schedule.

Sarah.

You may or may not need to hear this because it's pretty straightforward.

And that is before you is the schedule for next year's meetings.

Uh opening with a committee of the whole meeting on January 14th.

There are two statutory holidays under a procedure bylaw.

That means we meet the next day.

So that's Canada Day and Remembrance Day.

Uh we're suggesting May 13th be a special council meeting as opposed to a committee of the whole.

So it's listed as such in the proposed calendar, and that is to facilitate the adoption of the bylaws related to the budget, uh, given our changes in our finance department.

And finally, we have looked ahead at the conference convention events that council members may wish to attend, and there's no conflict.

So before you is the schedule for your consideration of approval for 2025.

By councillor Matson, do I have a seconder?

Councillor Lemon seconds it.

Uh questions for Sarah.

Councilor Rogers.

So uh do I understand then that there will be some council meetings um on Wednesdays?

New for us, but yes, under the procedure bylaw.

If the stat is a Tuesday, it falls to the next bit day.

So I see that's uh July 2nd and November 12th.

That is correct.

Thank you.

Any other comments or questions for Sarah?

And a bit of a spoiler alert.

Uh Sarah and Scott are reviewing our procedure bylaw right now because it's really old.

Uh and some of it uh doesn't apply.

Um so if you have input um as an early uh preemptive uh of things that you notice that need to be changed, adapted, updated, uh please let Sarah know as she's coordinating them.

I know that she's using the CRD procedures bylaw as one of the references that she's looking out to see if she can coordinate some of the good ideas there with our procedures.

But if you have any comments or questions or concerns, please reach out.

And HDF send us a copy of the existing.

So no, I think it's available online, but we can make sure a link gets out to everybody so you can have a review.

Sarah, if we could fire that in, we can fire that in Teams for comments, right?

Is uh just a punch up draft.

Cool.

That might help your work expedited.

So we got a mover and a seconder, or do we?

Yes, we do have a mover and a seconder.

Seeing none.

Any other comments or questions?

All those in favor?

Any opposed?

Seeing none.

Oh opposed.

Um the motion carries.

Thank you, Sarah.

And I don't think we have anything else.

We're down to our item 13 uh is a question period.

Does anybody have a question for counsel?

Looking first in the room.

Nobody has comments or questions.

Maureen Rogers, please uh yeah, please please go up and ask a question.

Oh, I couldn't even see it.

I know that.

I'm curious about the OCP um stuff.

So I'm curious whether or not we already have enough staff to go ahead with the reduced budget, or are we gonna have to hire more staff?

I think that's a good question.

Uh after reading Leanne's report, Leanne, you can correct me if I'm wrong.

I think we're okay with our current staff load with the consultants that we've just approved.

Uh yes, that is correct.

Am I correct?

Okay.

Because that will definitely change or affect the budget if we don't have enough staff in-house to do what we're gonna have to do.

So just was curious whether or not we had enough staff.

Great.

Thank you.

Thanks, Maureen.

Any other questions for council?

It's Christmas time.

You can ask anything.

Seeing uh nobody here uh wants to ask a question.

Carl, do we have any questions um online?

I don't even know what to call them.

Chats.

Uh Mayor Twice, no comments this evening.

Okay, uh I think that brings us up.

Can I get a move to terminate so we can enjoy uh some time with our residents and staff?

Second.

Moved by Counselor uh Matson, seconded by Councillor McKenzie.

All those in favor?

Any opposed?

Motion carries.