The Coast's emergency shelter may be on the move to Sechelt.
Matt Thomson, of the Homelessness Outreach Project, told council at the July 27 committee of the whole meeting that he is looking to move the emergency shelter back to Sechelt.
"About three years ago in the winter of 2008/09 the emergency shelter for the Sunshine Coast moved from Sechelt to Gibsons and with that move we saw a significant decline in usage," Thomson said.
He said the reason for the decline is that people from Sechelt are no longer accessing the shelter because of distance. He also said that there is a greater need for the shelter in Sechelt as more people congregate in the community to be closer to services like the hospital.
"One of the pieces our advisory committee is exploring is moving the shelter back to Sechelt because we think we will be more effective and reach a wider variety of people," he said.
Councillors seemed supportive of the effort and offered staff's help to Thompson to find a suitable location.
Red tape committee
Councillors gave preliminary approval to forming a Mayor's Red Tape Reduction Committee, but council also wants to see an external audit done.
While the committee will be tasked with taking complaints from the public around perceived red tape issues at the District, and try to come up with solutions, an external audit will be done in September to further cut down on unnecessary processes.
Chief administrative officer (CAO) Rob Bremner said he plans to have the former CAO of Prince George, George Paul, come in as a consultant.
"That's already something that was in the works, and we're looking at having him come in September and do that audit per se, of some of our processes. So sometimes having those external eyes is advantageous and hopefully there will be something there that we can move on," Bremner said.
He noted the two red-tape initiatives could run concurrently as one may find issues at the staff level and one may find issues at the political level.
Elections bylaw
Council passed their elections and voting bylaw at the July 27 regular council meeting. The final bylaw does allow for mail-in ballots to be cast. Those ballots will be accepted until 4 p.m. on the Thursday two days before general voting day.
Sign bylaw
Council passed a sign amendment bylaw for election signs this year.
The bylaw states that signs cannot exceed one square metre in size and cannot stand more than 1.8 metres high. They also cannot be illuminated and must be removed within seven days after general voting day.
