District of Sechelt council has endorsed the terms of reference for a new standing committee that will include all members of council and allow them to interact with public presenters.
Interim chief administrative officer Bill Beamish introduced the new committee of the whole concept at the April 1 council meeting, saying it would be “open to shirtsleeve-type discussion.”
Unlike the three existing standing committees that are specific in their functions, Beamish said, “the purpose of this committee is to allow a different opportunity for members of the public, members of council, staff to come forward with ideas or discuss large projects in the concept stage.”
He said the format could be limited to “as many as four presentations,” with meetings to be held every two months.
“The point really,” Mayor Bruce Milne said, “is to have one place where we can have long, full dialogues and discussions about issues that don’t lead to a decision. This committee actually can’t make a decision or recommendation. They can only send the issue to one of the operating committees.”
Milne said he will chair the meetings when he’s present, and councillors Darnelda Siegers and Alice Lutes would decide what items would appear on the agenda.
The committee would be a forum to discuss big issues such as the airport, he said.
Policing priorities
Council has identified traffic enforcement and road safety, police visibility and community safety, and property crime reduction as the District’s policing priorities for the next year.
In a letter to Sunshine Coast RCMP Staff Sgt. Vishal Mathura, Milne said the priorities are based on the detachment’s record of calls for service and council’s strategic plan.
“The issue of community safety has been identified to members of council by people who work in our downtown area. They reported feeling uneasy when walking in areas behind places of business, due to persons loitering in these areas,” Milne said in the letter. “Increased police visibility could help address these issues as well as promote greater community well-being, which is another priority area for Sechelt council.”
The priorities identified last year by the previous council were police visibility and public intoxication.
Budget numbers
After two conflicting numbers for the District’s 2015 operating budget appeared in staff reports, chief financial officer Victor Mema explained that neither was correct.
Speaking at the April 1 council meeting, Mema said the figure of $17.9 million that appeared in his report to council on March 18 had been a typographical error, while the $16.9 million figure that appeared in a previous committee report had been correct, but was later increased to reflect a surplus of $117,000.
The total operating budget is balanced at just over $17 million.
The budget and five-year financial plan were adopted at the meeting.
