A finance committee shakeup
And a good property listing
Happy Monday: It’s really time to get yourself winterized because we’re going below -20 C this week.
I’m going to hold off writing about the rest of the Citizen’s freedom of information revelations on the destruction of court-protected homeless camp shelters until tomorrow, but here’s parts two and three published over the weekend (and part one, as well as my reaction to that, in case you missed it).
Instead, today I’m going to look ahead to tonight’s council meeting.
But first: here’s a roundup of stories you might find interesting:
Local gig workers met with provincial government officials to talk about their work and several had concerns, particualrly around new immigrants being exploited and dangerous driving conditions.
A new book by a longtime city councillor and volunteer is being released.
A new podcast focused on local enterepreneurs has been released.
From Reddit: a property listing that really lets you be one with nature. And only $3,500 a month.
A shakeup of the finance and audit commitee
It’s the first real meeting for the new mayor and council tonight after the swearing in ceremony, and there’s a fair amount of business to get to. A lot of it is routine zoning stuff like people wanting to build add-ons to their homes and properties but there are a few tidbits.
One I find interesting is the division of councillors between the city’s two major committees: The Finance and Audit Committee, and the Standing Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs.
For those not familiar, committees are where council work gets done outside of the biweekly council meetings. Finance and audit, for example, does all the pre-work on things like setting the budget and taxes before taking recommendations to council as a whole to vote, while the Intergovernmental Affairs committee works with groups like the Union of B.C. Municipalities, and looks into how provincial and federal legislation impacts the city.
Anyways, it’s not a huge deal but I note that the finance and audit comittee only has one experienced councillor on it: Cori Ramsay. Garth Frizzell, who previously chaired, is over on intergovernmental affairs along with all the other returning councillors. That leaves Ramsay as the one senior person, alongside these three newcomers.
Like I say: Probably not a big deal. Polillo and Bennett are both coming from school board, which also has to manage budgets, and it makes sense for Frizzell to be on intergovernmental relations given his recent stint as president of the national Federation Of Canadian Municipalities. Just a note.
New funding for downtown services:
The Prince George Post has the best writeup on this, but the city got some grant money to focus on services for downtown, including:
Providing secure and monitored access to the new downtown pool.
Installing modern needle drop boxes in targeted locations.
Reducing community concerns in neighbourhoods where unsheltered homeless populations are seeking temporary shelter with the addition of security.
Enhancing the capacity of the city to work with urban Indigenous service providers and leadership.
Training for city bylaw and outreach staff related to crisis de-escalation and trauma informed practices.
The city is also expanding the number of downtown lockers available for people to store their belongings.
Other bits and bobs
A few other thing of interest:
A new subdivision is being proposed for Chief Lake Road.
The developers of new apartments on Foothills want permission to build to 16 m instead of 15.
The Exploration Place is planning to team up with Grande Praire and Tumbler Ridge to create a tourism marketing campaign around dinosaurs.
A resident wants council to pay more attention to noise pollution:
As with the parable of the last straw and the camel’s back, the multiplication and accumulation of all of these noises can easily gang up on us to the point of being overwhelming, threatening our peace and quiet. Private citizens are powerless to effect any change, so they must rely on various levels of government to be diligent in monitoring and managing the things that individual citizens have no direct control over.