{"videoId":"mzJOM0XZ8r0","source":"serpapi","segments":[{"t":0,"text":"Good evening everyone."},{"t":2,"text":"Like to call to order the souk regular council meeting of Monday, May the 11th, 2026."},{"t":12,"text":"First order of business is that I would like to recognize that we are meeting on the traditional territory of the SA"},{"t":19,"text":"nation su and didat nations and um we're appreciative of their friendship with us"},{"t":27,"text":"over the years and their looking after the land long before we were here."},{"t":33,"text":"approval. I will be seeking to approval of tonight's agenda and I would call for a motion. Moved by councelor St. Pierre,"},{"t":41,"text":"seconded by councelor Betos. All those in favor?"},{"t":46,"text":"Carried. Next would be adoption of the minutes. There's three one, two, three sets of minutes. Um I would move that. Any errors or omissions?"},{"t":58,"text":"All those Oh, seconded by councelor Bettos. Moved by councelor Baitman. All those in favor? That's carried unanimously."},{"t":68,"text":"Up next, item five, report of the chief administrative officer through the consent agenda. Is there anything, CEO Gray, that you would like to add?"},{"t":77,"text":"Uh, nothing to add at this time. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Do we have to move that for a receipt?"},{"t":85,"text":"No, we don't. Okay, perfect."},{"t":87,"text":"Up next number item six, public question and comment period. Please come to the mic if you have something to say. State your name."},{"t":107,"text":"Hello Veronica Peon Villing. I live in Souk. I'm speaking about uh"},{"t":116,"text":"the um item on the agenda which number escapes me right now. I should have written it down but it's the funding of"},{"t":123,"text":"the choir of the evolution choir. And uh I wanted to start just by saying I'm a"},{"t":129,"text":"huge fan of choirs. I'm a music teacher myself. I think everybody in the world should sing in a choir. I don't think we"},{"t":137,"text":"should be funding this. And uh and I'd like to say why. First of all, this is a southern Vancouver Island just island"},{"t":145,"text":"choir and souk appears to be the only municipality funding this. This is an adult activity. We didn't find fund pickle ball. [laughter]"},{"t":153,"text":"I think right now in our circumstances, the question needs to be for every funding request. everyone is this"},{"t":161,"text":"absolutely critical to the democratic and effective functioning of the district souk and its core responsibilities and I just like to use"},{"t":170,"text":"the 59 seconds I have to give you some statistics you may not know or you may Canada lost 111,000 jobs since the"},{"t":178,"text":"beginning of the year 47,000 last month 41,000 people left BC last year our"},{"t":187,"text":"economy is doing very very badly Rents have fallen in Vancouver by 14.5% which means some people are in a"},{"t":194,"text":"negative cash flow. There is a million pe no half of Canadians have to renew their mortgage in the next two years and"},{"t":201,"text":"a million people will not be able to renew this year. They will be negative equity. My house is worth less than I"},{"t":209,"text":"bought it. And despite being a told that I could defer my taxes, if I do that, if I use the government's new program for"},{"t":216,"text":"deferral within 17 15 years, I will have 70% less equity, assuming that I don't lose it already as the market declines."},{"t":226,"text":"We're in a very bad way right now. And I think we need to be cognizant of that regardless of the cause."},{"t":234,"text":"Thank you."},{"t":237,"text":"Any other members of the public that wish to speak tonight?"},{"t":254,"text":"Thank you, Nikki Logans."},{"t":256,"text":"Um, I'd like to take the opportunity to address two items on the agenda tonight."},{"t":261,"text":"Um, 8.5, which is the search and grant application. another grant application for the health summit that is planned"},{"t":269,"text":"for September and um the other one is uh 13.2 the souk food bank request to amend the service"},{"t":277,"text":"agreement. Um I'll start with the grant application the I don't I didn't see the those I"},{"t":285,"text":"didn't see the grant applications in the package that was online. So, I'm just making an assumption that uh counselors have that information about what that"},{"t":294,"text":"grant is all about. Um it's a 10 years ago, we did a health summit in the community. The district took a strong"},{"t":301,"text":"lead in that and funded it. Um along with Island Health and other important players."},{"t":306,"text":"Um 10 years later now, we're looking at um reviewing and renewing and bringing the community together for another"},{"t":314,"text":"health summit. Um the recommendation uh the options that council has to make a decision one two and three."},{"t":323,"text":"I want to request that you uh consider option three in the amount of $3,465"},{"t":334,"text":"rather than what's in your package. Um, the reason is that that is the amount on the budget that is the most of $5,000"},{"t":342,"text":"request for a professional facilitator and a professional report. I think it's really imperative that we have a professional report for the health"},{"t":351,"text":"summit. Indeed, this report may inform the next 10 years of the health and wellness activities and initiatives for"},{"t":358,"text":"our community. Please consider option three for that item. 13.2 to Souk Food Bank."},{"t":367,"text":"So, Miss Loggins, you're going to run out of time. I see that, but I have two items."},{"t":371,"text":"So, and that's fine. So, um I would ask that you you would come back if there if there is no other speakers, you could go now, but I would ask somebody else and"},{"t":378,"text":"then I would invite you to come back again to speak to 13. Thank you for the option."},{"t":385,"text":"Are there any other firsttime speakers?"},{"t":390,"text":"Oh, yes. Uh Susan Belelford. I live in Cenos. Some of you have heard this already. I'm speaking about I forget the"},{"t":399,"text":"number, but I'm speaking about my earlier request for Souk to send a resolution to UBCM"},{"t":408,"text":"uh supporting the property rights of uh the the owners of manufactured homes."},{"t":413,"text":"Um, and I'm basically going to read essentially what I said to the land use committee meeting last week, and some of"},{"t":421,"text":"you have heard it already. I apologize for that. Um, I'm grateful to staff for their report and for creating a draft"},{"t":430,"text":"resolution. However, I am hoping that you might be able to make some changes."},{"t":434,"text":"I realize that this is cheeky, but it's what I need to do. Um, first, because manufactured homes are not intended to"},{"t":441,"text":"be moved, it's a bit silly to keep referring to them as parks because there's nothing parked anywhere and they're certainly not parks. Um, even"},{"t":451,"text":"though this inaccurate misnomer is embedded in the legislation, we're hoping that gradually people can start to refer to these places as communities"},{"t":459,"text":"because that's what they are. Um, second, as approximately 99.8% of"},{"t":467,"text":"manufactured home residents are owners, it uh whereas too should be amended to remove the word often and replace it"},{"t":476,"text":"with typically. Um, third, we'd like to add eviction to clauses mentioning community closure and redevelopment."},{"t":484,"text":"This would apply to whereases two and four as well as the first. Therefore, to be be it resolved. Um, a reason for this"},{"t":493,"text":"is that last month, this this happens frequently, but last month a homeowner was evicted for non-payment of less than"},{"t":499,"text":"$600 rent. The landlord was given possession of his home, assessed value, $150,000."},{"t":507,"text":"He then destroyed it. He was left, the owner of the home was left with nothing and nowhere to move to. The current act"},{"t":514,"text":"allows this. And for reasons of fairness, it needs to be changed. And I'm about to run out of time. So, you will notice that there is a redline"},{"t":523,"text":"version, and I'm hoping that you can have a look at that and perhaps make some changes. I have to leave to go be a"},{"t":530,"text":"grandparent, but I will be. But by the time you get to this, I will be on my computer and watching your deliberations. Thank you so much."},{"t":538,"text":"Thank you, Miss Belfford."},{"t":550,"text":"Hi, Jeff McDonald. Um, tonight, uh, item 91, you're going to be dealing on a housekeeping issue regarding the ALR."},{"t":557,"text":"Um, I just wanted to comment that I think it's uh a good idea to have an alignment of the language and the"},{"t":564,"text":"definitions of the residential use of the three dwelling units. So, in the ALR regulation, it [snorts] clearly permits"},{"t":573,"text":"uh B&B use of a suite within or in a principal residence. Uh, and Souk"},{"t":579,"text":"doesn't share that clear definition. So, it's a bit confusing and um so I'm now"},{"t":586,"text":"in a little bit of limbo um trying to get a clear answer on this on what uh is permitted and exactly how an attached or"},{"t":595,"text":"within secondary suite would be defined in souk and whether or not that would align with the ALR's idea of it so that"},{"t":604,"text":"there's not a conflict it Any other firsttime speakers?"},{"t":616,"text":"Seeing none, I will invite Miss Longgins back up."},{"t":626,"text":"Thank you."},{"t":628,"text":"Um, this is regarding 13.2 on your agenda. Souk Food Bank requests to amend the service agreement. Um our letter"},{"t":637,"text":"clearly outlines the reasons and um primarily the accredititation requirements for the organization. Um"},{"t":646,"text":"they are uh they're they're a challenge. So we really need your support to um meet and"},{"t":654,"text":"continue to meet and sustain and maintain those accredititation standards. What is unclear I think in"},{"t":661,"text":"the letter that we presented is that um it's the flexibility of the agreement. So it's not just a request"},{"t":669,"text":"for increase in funding. It's also a request to allow flexibility in the agreement so that we can uh put some of"},{"t":676,"text":"that money towards administrative uh you know meeting safety standards, food safety primarily, health and safety uh"},{"t":683,"text":"work safe standards that as volunteers we um we will have to up the game on those things. It's going to cost a lot"},{"t":691,"text":"of money. Um I my request is that it in your agenda"},{"t":698,"text":"it looks to me as if it's being accepted as correspondence but it actually requires action and I'm not quite sure"},{"t":704,"text":"how that goes forward. Um it'd be great to have an opportunity to meet with counselors and staff to take a look at"},{"t":713,"text":"reviewing and revising and amending that agreement ASAP. Thank you."},{"t":721,"text":"Thank you. And are there any other second time speakers? Second."},{"t":727,"text":"Uh this is my name is Veronica Pam Billing. I'm from Souk. This is about uh item 83, a request for sponsorship for"},{"t":735,"text":"the souk dog good collective. This has to do with a pride event. The funding request is for $1,000. 800 of which is"},{"t":743,"text":"to support professional drag performers and 200 is for some kind of security at an event which is build as family. These"},{"t":752,"text":"events can be very controversial and drag queens, we don't really know what the performance will be, but they can be they often can be very sexually"},{"t":761,"text":"explicit. And just in the paper last week, you may have seen the Regina School coming under severe criticism for"},{"t":768,"text":"attending what was a play and it had a drag queen performance which was very, very explicit and they walked their students out of the play. the national"},{"t":776,"text":"post covered it and the sponsors of that which were a a law firm and others were lambbasted in a national newspaper and I"},{"t":786,"text":"don't think so I just don't think this is something souk should be sponsoring because of that possibility but even"},{"t":793,"text":"aside from that possibility just like coral evolution which I love their project I don't think these kinds of"},{"t":801,"text":"things they don't they aren't critical to souk and I don't think they should be funded by souk I think We need to be looking at everything through the lens"},{"t":809,"text":"of democratic, effective, critical to the council's and the district's core responsibilities."},{"t":816,"text":"Thank you very much."},{"t":826,"text":"Are there any other firsttime speakers?"},{"t":832,"text":"Thank you, Nick Dickinson World. I'm just uh I hadn't been planning on speaking on any of the items, but I did"},{"t":840,"text":"want to note that I have been to the Souk family pride events. They're 100% familyfriendly and I strongly support their inclusion in the donation process."},{"t":853,"text":"Thank you."},{"t":864,"text":"Are there any more second time or first time speakers?"},{"t":869,"text":"Seeing none, I'll close the uh public comments section off."},{"t":880,"text":"Next on the agenda is the consented consent items and the following items on the consent agenda be adopted by consent. 7.2 2 correspondent 7.3 report"},{"t":890,"text":"of the chief administrative officer 7.4 draft land use development committee minute minute committee minutes 7.5 3D"},{"t":899,"text":"technology and potential application to land use planning in the district of souk and 7.6 homebased business"},{"t":906,"text":"regulations in residential areas"},{"t":915,"text":"moving the block. Is there a second for second with the removal of some correspondent items? Okay. And which correspondence items?"},{"t":924,"text":"18. Okay. Oh, yeah."},{"t":926,"text":"Mike 18R Francis Road Speed Hump from Gordon Ross and 22V Reconciliation Corridor Initiative. Anna Russell."},{"t":937,"text":"Okay, that's for next meeting."},{"t":939,"text":"Next meeting. Thank you to staff. So, those will be forwarded at our next meeting. Thank you."},{"t":946,"text":"seeing anything. Councelor Haldane 7.3 report for CEO. Um"},{"t":955,"text":"there's one part in there that like to Oh, okay. Lillian Spock recognition."},{"t":964,"text":"Okay."},{"t":965,"text":"And 7.5 7.5 the 3D technology and potential application for land use planning in the district of souk."},{"t":974,"text":"Okay. And 7.5."},{"t":980,"text":"So, and you're pulling those. Okay. So, to the rest of that, I will call the question then if there's no no moved by councelor. No, it's already been moved by council."},{"t":989,"text":"I was voting ahead. Okay. Good."},{"t":993,"text":"With the exception of those two items, all those in favor. Sorry, it was three items. Okay."},{"t":1001,"text":"And those will come up later in the agenda. Is that correct, Mr. Toast? Thank you. Okay. 7.2 correspondence."},{"t":1012,"text":"So, we're right down here to number eight."},{"t":1016,"text":"8.1 commercial park use permit Sea Park. And that council authorized commercial parks"},{"t":1023,"text":"permit ENG0538 to Sea Park for holding yoga classes in Ed McGregor Park in accordance with section 6.0 zero of the community park"},{"t":1032,"text":"regulation bylaw number 101 and subject to the conditions outlined in the permit attachment number two. Is there a staff"},{"t":1040,"text":"report or is it just a straightforward permit? Here is a staff."},{"t":1052,"text":"It's part of the package. [laughter] No uh what it is."},{"t":1061,"text":"uh for commercial activities within the park. There's a procedure that's been established and"},{"t":1069,"text":"this is a new one for us to try which is yoga in the park. Uh they have gone through the procedure we feel it's a low"},{"t":1078,"text":"impact uh to the park. So there was some reduction in fees. They've also asked for a waving of uh one of the fees and"},{"t":1087,"text":"we are inclined to uh agree with that because it is the first time and this is an activity that will promote health and"},{"t":1096,"text":"wellness within our parks. Uh and we would like to give it a try and see how it works out and then come back next"},{"t":1104,"text":"year with either the same stance or a different opinion or see if C Park continues forward with it. Any questions from councelor shapier?"},{"t":1116,"text":"Just a quick question or comment and that's just that excuse me sorry since Edward Park has very limited parking I hope that cart recommends to their"},{"t":1123,"text":"practitioners that they maybe cycle in or walk as much as they can uh because the parking is super limited in that area. I love the idea. I think they just need a bit of warning ahead of time."},{"t":1133,"text":"That's all. We'll put that message to them."},{"t":1138,"text":"Councelor Councelor Councelor Ben is gonna go say no."},{"t":1145,"text":"Uh thank you chair. Um I'd like to propose a a friendly amendment. I don't know whe"},{"t":1152,"text":"it's friendly or not but um I was discussing with some people and there there may be some might be some problems"},{"t":1159,"text":"with Egg McGregor Park if we just put yoga yoga classes in the park and let Ca Park determine whether it's uh whatever"},{"t":1166,"text":"park they want to use. I mean, I don't think I don't think it's going to hurt uh you know, what they're looking for here, which is a pass on the uh the fees and then it gives them some flexibility."},{"t":1177,"text":"The instructor, as I heard by other people, Ed McGregor is pretty restricted for parking and uh the one down here is"},{"t":1186,"text":"is beautiful for it. So, if we just leave that off and let C park figure it out, I would think that would be a better thing. And I'll leave it up to my fellow councils if they wish to do that."},{"t":1197,"text":"But I think it would give them more flexibility. Is there a second? Yeah, I'll second that. Second."},{"t":1203,"text":"You wish you've already done your Yeah, pretty much."},{"t":1208,"text":"No, it makes it makes great sense. Um, yeah, I'll speak to the main motion."},{"t":1219,"text":"I just have a further question for staff about the amendment. Okay. Okay. I was curious from staff's perspective, is there any difference between Ed McGregor and any other park or anything we"},{"t":1227,"text":"haven't considered that has been previously considered for Ed McGregor?"},{"t":1230,"text":"Uh to the chair to the counselor, Se Park was the one who chose Ed Ed McGregor. Um I'm sure if we give them"},{"t":1239,"text":"the option, they will make the decision whether or not they want to move to a different park. So no problems."},{"t":1246,"text":"I don't think so. Perfect. Okay. your worship."},{"t":1253,"text":"Thank you. Just before you actually call a vote on that, um I did want to flag that you didn't actually call for a movement and a second on the original"},{"t":1260,"text":"motion. So instead of um so instead of amending it, it's probably easier to just interpret council beds as moving"},{"t":1267,"text":"the motion as being that council authorized commercial parks use permit 05348 to CC park for holding yoga classes in accordance with section 6 of"},{"t":1276,"text":"the community park regulation bylaw 101 subject to conditions outlined in the permit and then you can simply discuss that as a main motion without needing to"},{"t":1283,"text":"go through the amendment. Regarole counc anything to add?"},{"t":1290,"text":"No. Uh, thank you for council support on that. Thank you, councelor Bman."},{"t":1294,"text":"Yeah. So, yeah, thank you for this. I'm glad, you know, about 5 years ago, I brought forward a motion here at this table to uh encourage more use of our"},{"t":1303,"text":"remarkable park space and particularly for recreational activities. And Se Park is now stepping up and doing this. Um"},{"t":1311,"text":"the the waiver of the $200 3month uh license for park use is justified because they are reducing the fee for"},{"t":1319,"text":"these classes to $5 and that's um I think typically a drop in fee is 15 at C"},{"t":1326,"text":"Park. So yeah, I'm I'm very much in favor of this. Any other speakers?"},{"t":1333,"text":"Councelor Aldine."},{"t":1335,"text":"Yeah. And I think in this case, parku should be free even for these small businesses. I don't think most of the people are in it for making a pile"},{"t":1344,"text":"of money anyway. They're doing it to cover cost. Therefore, from a long time ago, I mean, it came up at this last council with you guys, but"},{"t":1351,"text":"it's come up years ago as well. So, I think it's time that we start offering these parks out. They do them in every country in the world. So, why not start doing them here? So, I totally agree"},{"t":1360,"text":"with everything we've been talking about."},{"t":1364,"text":"Any other speakers hearing? None. I'll call the question. All those in favor and that's carried unanimously. Thank you."},{"t":1376,"text":"8.2 8.2. Oh, worship. Sorry, the next part of the the second part of that question. Oh, yeah. So, there's another motion."},{"t":1385,"text":"Sorry. On the screen. I see it."},{"t":1388,"text":"Okay. Could I have a mover or could you read it out? Councelor B. The council the council exempt CE Park from commercial use fees for the use of"},{"t":1396,"text":"Edmmond Gregor Park for the yoga classes held between you're right for the use of any suit"},{"t":1404,"text":"park for the yoga classes held between July 8th and August 26, 2026 in accordance with"},{"t":1412,"text":"follow the bouncing motion with section 8.0 of the community park regulation bylaw and second"},{"t":1422,"text":"And I I've already just motivated for that. I I will note that um back in 2021 that motion of mine did reduce the um"},{"t":1431,"text":"the fees uh quite considerably. The three-month fee for parks at the time I think may have been as high as $500. So"},{"t":1440,"text":"there has been a move towards uh opening up these parks."},{"t":1445,"text":"Okay. Having the motivator and Okay."},{"t":1457,"text":"8.2 Commercial Park Use Permit, Western Education Adventures. commercial park use permit that council authorize a"},{"t":1466,"text":"commercial parks use permit05334 for western education adventures in souk incorporated for outdoor education"},{"t":1475,"text":"programs at Sun River Nature Park Trail Souk Potholes Gateway and Broom Hill Park in accordance with 6.0 zero of the"},{"t":1483,"text":"community park regulation bylaw number 101 and subject to the conditions outlined in attachment number two."},{"t":1494,"text":"That's been moved and seconded by councelor Boss. Over to staff to the chair. Uh this is a long time"},{"t":1502,"text":"user of the park system. Um, their main goal is to now expand out from the souk"},{"t":1511,"text":"potholes and Sun River and be able to use Broom Hill Park. And that is the major change. They have done this"},{"t":1519,"text":"program for several years and uh it is my understanding is very"},{"t":1526,"text":"successful and not a endangerment to the park."},{"t":1534,"text":"Thank you, Mr. Miller. Uh motivator from the mover and the seconder."},{"t":1540,"text":"Uh most of what's been said obviously really could just get good use of our parks. Uh I agree with councilor Haldane that at some point we might want to"},{"t":1547,"text":"revisit exactly how easy we want it to make for different groups to make use of the parks because just even dealing with the ministra is a barrier and we want"},{"t":1555,"text":"people to use the parks. So I think that revisiting at a later point would be worthwhile."},{"t":1560,"text":"Great. Couldn't agree more. So all those in Oh, sorry. Any other comments?"},{"t":1565,"text":"I have a question through um I do note in the application that the applicant refers to Broom Hill Trails and Forest."},{"t":1572,"text":"Now, you've in you've in your report you've given us an image of Broom Hill Playground."},{"t":1579,"text":"Um so the the only issue I would say is that as you move up Broom Hill on those trails, you're entering Crown Land."},{"t":1587,"text":"Yeah. So I I'm not sure if that's a complication here or not."},{"t":1594,"text":"Through the chair to the counselor, the intent would be that the children would remain in that area outlined, not go"},{"t":1602,"text":"exploring. Hopefully not without uh some supervision."},{"t":1608,"text":"Okay. All right. I'm just looking here on page 75 of our agenda description of park mic"},{"t":1615,"text":"microphone. uh description of parks page 75 of the agenda broomill trails and forest is referenced."},{"t":1625,"text":"So that's that's the distinction. Mr. Miller."},{"t":1631,"text":"Again, um I think what we'd see is the majority activities happening in the"},{"t":1638,"text":"grass areas and the children would maybe go into the other areas but only under supervision. Okay."},{"t":1648,"text":"So, yeah. So, can I just ask a question, Councelor Baitman? Are you referring to the big broom hill up the hill? I am referring to the big broom hill."},{"t":1657,"text":"So, those are two separate locations. Those are two separate locations, right?"},{"t":1661,"text":"So, okay. So, and I don't think that's in the application if I the way I read it, but Okay."},{"t":1670,"text":"Is that Mr. Miller? Is that my That's my interpretation. Okay. Okay."},{"t":1676,"text":"Any other comments, questions? Hearing none, call the question. All those in favor? And that's carried unanimously."},{"t":1690,"text":"Item 8.3 request for sponsorship souk dog good collective request for sponsorship souk dog good collective"},{"t":1697,"text":"attachment one souk pride events request June 2026 that council consider sponsorship"},{"t":1706,"text":"the sponsorship request from the souk dog good collective and community organization for community-led pride events in the June 26 in the amount of"},{"t":1714,"text":"$1,000 So moved by councelor St. Pierre. Is there a seconder? Councelor Pauline."},{"t":1724,"text":"Councelor St. Pierre. I think it's a good event that actually helps bring people together in the community and fosters understanding which is something"},{"t":1730,"text":"I think we all can use. Um at the same time I think that uh the 1000 is more or less what I think we should consider as"},{"t":1738,"text":"a policy in terms of sponsorships. uh helps to reduce discussion trying to decide between different groups and what they should have and what they shouldn't"},{"t":1746,"text":"have. Uh at this point of time I just think that it's a good idea to move ahead with this."},{"t":1755,"text":"Yes. Well, I'm okay with everybody doing whatever they want with their own money, their own time, and I've said it before,"},{"t":1762,"text":"even with pickle ball and adult sports and adults um you know, whatever they've got hobbies and going on. I don't"},{"t":1770,"text":"believe that $1,000 we should be spending at this time. Um, if they want to get sponsorship, they do what lots of the other groups do and they go around"},{"t":1778,"text":"the community and they ask for sponsors from from private donors and and so on."},{"t":1782,"text":"I mean, even the food bank has gotten sponsor money from private people over the years and stuff like that. And and again, this is an adult-led thing. I'm"},{"t":1791,"text":"okay with doing stuff for kids and and young family stuff, but I don't believe that thousand dollars spent here is in"},{"t":1798,"text":"in responsible with taxpayers money at all. So, I'm going to be voting no on this. Thank you."},{"t":1806,"text":"Any other counselors have any comments?"},{"t":1808,"text":"Councelor St. Pierre. Uh I would point out that it is for families and it is for children and it's meant to create a"},{"t":1816,"text":"welcoming space where you know families and kids can actually feel comfortable no matter where they might lie on any"},{"t":1823,"text":"sort of spectrum. So uh I think that it is actually exactly the sort of thing that councelor Haldane generally does"},{"t":1830,"text":"support. Um so hopefully it'll it'll pass and uh yeah."},{"t":1837,"text":"Okay. Councelor Betos."},{"t":1841,"text":"Yeah, I'll uh I'll support this. I mean, um I have to look past um you know, I"},{"t":1847,"text":"mean, for the the gay portion of it, our pride event,"},{"t":1855,"text":"uh they're entitled to apply for our sponsorship money. We have a fund for that. uh lots of groups apply for it and"},{"t":1863,"text":"it's up to us to determine whether it's the betterment of the community and uh I think in uh when dealing with the pride"},{"t":1871,"text":"requests um we do need a lot more understanding in the world between different groups and uh uh I think this is goes a long way to show that we're"},{"t":1879,"text":"we're in our community it's in our charter to be inclusive to everybody and I think we need to be inclusive to this group as well and I do consider uh you know I don't like to throw money around."},{"t":1891,"text":"Uh but it is sort of the essence of our community. If we don't spend anything and then the community just, you know, no Canada Day, no all these sort of"},{"t":1900,"text":"things like that, then it's not much of a community. And this this portion, this parade is uh they do it in other communities as well. This shows you that"},{"t":1909,"text":"we are a diverse community and we have to make it uh available for everybody."},{"t":1914,"text":"It's my Well, thank you, Councelor B. Very well said. Um,"},{"t":1921,"text":"I think I think there's a few caveats here. Uh, first that this likely should have been requested through the community grant process. It's coming"},{"t":1928,"text":"very shortly after that process and I suppose that it's being organized quickly. So perhaps um consideration of"},{"t":1938,"text":"this event uh postdated the the deadline for that. Um I see that um staff has the"},{"t":1946,"text":"discretionary ability to approve up to $250 per sponsorship. So through you I'd like I'd like to ask um"},{"t":1956,"text":"staff h how how do you I know you recommended this go forward. If it had come at in at 250, you would have gone"},{"t":1964,"text":"ahead automatically with the sponsorship uh through the chair. Uh unfortunately,"},{"t":1973,"text":"I don't think I can respond to a hypothetical question. So, the context of the ask was up to $1,000. So, that's why it was presented to council for a decision."},{"t":1981,"text":"Okay. So, that wasn't such a hypothetical question. How do you determine um a a $250 ask from the community? What what is your your criteria?"},{"t":1992,"text":"It's not an NAS that comes from staff."},{"t":1994,"text":"It's an NAS that comes from the organizers."},{"t":1999,"text":"Well, I'm an organization and I seek a $250 sponsorship. What criteria do you measure my request accordingly?"},{"t":2009,"text":"Alignment with council strategic priorities and uh the district's existing initiatives."},{"t":2016,"text":"Excellent answers as ever. and on the spot. So yeah, thank you."},{"t":2023,"text":"Okay, I have one quick any other questions, councelor holding."},{"t":2027,"text":"Yeah, so again, it's not that I have any issue with inclusivity. I believe that public funds should be used for something else. Um, I'll donate the"},{"t":2036,"text":"first $250 towards this event with my own personal money, but I don't want to use taxpayers money to fund something"},{"t":2044,"text":"that's adultoriented. I get if kids show up to the event, that's fantastic."},{"t":2048,"text":"whatever. I do believe that um all suit day done by the community association is always looking for for people to do put"},{"t":2055,"text":"on shows there. We have a bunch of the um dancers come from Sea Park and a bunch of the band stuff. All local"},{"t":2062,"text":"people get involved with that organization. It'll be free. It wouldn't cost you anything and you could do that under you could still do whatever kind"},{"t":2070,"text":"of show, whatever kind of setup you want. We're uh the the community association is inclusive of everybody and all groups. My whole point is I"},{"t":2078,"text":"don't like spending taxpayers money when we can do private funding for this stuff or free events. So again, that's that's the only reason for this. Thank you."},{"t":2102,"text":"Correct."},{"t":2128,"text":"the council selected. Oh, okay."},{"t":2136,"text":"Okay. Yeah, sorry. Yeah, sorry. He should have told me before he left. I was reading now."},{"t":2143,"text":"I didn't know why he was leaving. Okay."},{"t":2145,"text":"The determination of community grant application 2026 coral evolution that council select a preferred option 1, two, or three for allocating funding to"},{"t":2155,"text":"the coral evolution society application under 2026 community g grant program and direct staff to implement the selected"},{"t":2163,"text":"option which the options should be on our screen. I think are they coming up on our screen?"},{"t":2195,"text":"So through you to to staff um under the the new policy the new community grant policy uh this is the fourth year I"},{"t":2204,"text":"believe for coral evolution and they're seeking to expand the music library. So, as as you interpret the policy, does"},{"t":2214,"text":"that qualify as a new initiative to expand the the music library?"},{"t":2226,"text":"Sorry. Through the chair. Um, as I personally interpret the policy, no."},{"t":2235,"text":"And I I believe in in going through our uh our process uh two weeks ago, we we did indeed identify that a number of"},{"t":2244,"text":"groups including South Island Performing Arts Society, Souk Youth Theater Company, and Souk Harbor Players"},{"t":2251,"text":"from the Culture and Arts uh section, we each we gave each of them $1,000 from the sponsorship fund"},{"t":2259,"text":"um as opposed to the community grant fund. So that's we have a precedent."},{"t":2265,"text":"So I would like to move um option three of $1,000 to the Coral Evolution Society."},{"t":2276,"text":"Is there a second? I'll second that."},{"t":2279,"text":"Aman made the motion. And then that is Okay. So we don't have to make an amendment here. We're just Oh, sorry."},{"t":2287,"text":"Um so there's no amendment. We are just selecting option three out of are you happy with that Mr. Lois? Yes, your worship that."},{"t":2295,"text":"Okay. So that's been moved by councelor Baitman seconded by councelor Btos."},{"t":2300,"text":"Councelor Baitman any Well yeah so as I say this this is a new policy and we're working through the"},{"t":2306,"text":"wrinkles and um here is an example of um a worthy initiative that does not meet"},{"t":2314,"text":"the new criteria. So I think we we found a a solution here to ensure that we give a little bit to to these various uh"},{"t":2323,"text":"initiatives as you'll see in the minutes earlier. Um we have the full list of what we've we've agreed to."},{"t":2331,"text":"Mhm."},{"t":2332,"text":"And um this would align with that. It's all I'll say."},{"t":2338,"text":"Yeah. I uh I appreciate I struggle a little bit with the the newness of this too. Uh I I did you know cross the line"},{"t":2345,"text":"saying well they're expanding new music but I think they do that every year anyways. Um but this is a new uh new"},{"t":2353,"text":"criteria which we sort of struggled with. uh it's not perfect, but it's it's going in the right direction and uh so I"},{"t":2361,"text":"would like to air on the side of giving them something as opposed to just uh leaving them out in the cold and then uh"},{"t":2369,"text":"staff can review it after this year and determine if we need to be a little bit more explicit in what we mean by new and"},{"t":2378,"text":"maybe have some examples there because uh when I went through this whole process, I had a number of them uh in my spreadsheet that was given to us that I"},{"t":2386,"text":"said no because it wasn't new and then there was a bit of a change of heart by everybody to get through this first"},{"t":2394,"text":"year. So I'm I'm inclined to agree with councelor Baitman. It's only well what did they ask for five? It's only one of"},{"t":2401,"text":"what they asked for and uh we'll let them get some new music and uh see what they do next year. Thank you, Caldane."},{"t":2411,"text":"Yes, through the chairs just so I'm up to speed. Why were they turned down for the 5,000?"},{"t":2419,"text":"I could I could point everyone to the community grant uh website page which has a remarkably robust fre there I used the word again robust."},{"t":2429,"text":"Yay. A fre what does a new initiative mean? And there is a very a very substantial definition. This may include"},{"t":2438,"text":"launching a brand new event service or pilot program, expanding an existing program to reach a new audience."},{"t":2443,"text":"introducing a new component format or creative approach testing an innovative idea that responds to an emerging community need. So this is the new"},{"t":2453,"text":"policy and um the reason we we uh well 5,000 first of all uh we would have been"},{"t":2460,"text":"up to 100 I mean we had double the double the amount of ass than our $65,000 budget. So we did go through a"},{"t":2469,"text":"process. You were you were away the time. Um, we uh we each vote uh voted or or we I could go on."},{"t":2479,"text":"Yeah, Mr. Chair, if I Yeah, go ahead."},{"t":2483,"text":"Probably because unfortunately, Councelor Haldane wasn't here. We went through a big spreadsheet and of course as you know there's uh more people"},{"t":2492,"text":"asking for money than we had money and we were there to pair it down and we were able to go through percentages and"},{"t":2499,"text":"uh come through with uh a number and so the 5,000 wasn't going to float regardless but uh some of the other ones"},{"t":2507,"text":"were at 2500. So uh it it is an exercise and it takes quite a bit of work and a lot of work went into it and uh that's"},{"t":2515,"text":"sort of where we landed in the end and because we didn't have quorum with councelor St. Pierre leaving the room on the day we did this we had to leave it"},{"t":2524,"text":"till now. So the idea was to I said some of these others to give them something but not the $5,000. So that's where in"},{"t":2533,"text":"the background, right? So I guess one more question would be so these groups that do I mean plays and they do um I guess in this"},{"t":2543,"text":"case the course and stuff like that do they not charge for any of their events?"},{"t":2546,"text":"Do they not make money? So why do they come to us for money then? Why why are they not selfsufficient? And why are"},{"t":2553,"text":"groups not fundraising to cover the cost of their their own hobbies and their own events and stuff?"},{"t":2560,"text":"May I suggest I got a counselor counselor? Uh, may I suggest that the next time when they're here presenting Yeah. you're"},{"t":2567,"text":"there to ask the question because uh we do ask those questions not of everybody."},{"t":2572,"text":"Uh but they generally in in what they give us, they'll give us a financial statement where they make their money and where the money is going to. They"},{"t":2580,"text":"have all the finances there and we're to look them over and make that decision."},{"t":2585,"text":"So, uh, and then they're here to answer questions. If they're not here to answer questions, then to me, they don't get money. But, uh, that's that's for them."},{"t":2594,"text":"And I can't remember each individual one, but I've looked at their, uh, spreadsheets of their income versus their expenditures. And, uh, so, yeah."},{"t":2604,"text":"Well, I'm I'm thinking that probably because they're they're talking now with the new way we're doing it is the seed money to get you started and, get you"},{"t":2612,"text":"going, whatever. The whole idea is for them to become self-sufficient over a period of time. No, if that doesn't happen, they shouldn't expect that the every taxpayer to cover"},{"t":2621,"text":"the cost of their their hobby, their event, their, you know, what whatever people want to do. Most people, if you"},{"t":2629,"text":"want to golf, if you want to fish, you pay for yourself. And and that's where I'm having a tough time with with all these things. And again, it's only"},{"t":2637,"text":"because I think we're having a tough time coming up with the money to cover the cost of of taxes in our homes and"},{"t":2644,"text":"stuff. So anyway, thank you councelor Haldane and councelor bed house for your spirited debate across table. Um friendly debate. Yeah. No, no, it's it's"},{"t":2653,"text":"always good to have discussion and I think uh uh to uh councelor Haldane is that this is sort of after the fact because there wasn't quum reach. This"},{"t":2661,"text":"would have already been a decision that was made. So it's coming back to council for for deliberation. It's kind of a little bit out of sequence in my way of thinking is because the applicants came"},{"t":2670,"text":"and had an opportunity to make the presentation to us which based us on or put us into our base how we were making decisions going forwards which I did"},{"t":2679,"text":"take part in that part but not the debate. So hearing no more questions um I will call the question all those in"},{"t":2689,"text":"favor in option three in the amount of 1000 more. So that's carried. Are you opposed? Councelor Haldane."},{"t":2698,"text":"Councelor Haldane is opposed. I must recuse myself. Okay, another one."},{"t":2707,"text":"Thank you."},{"t":2709,"text":"So for the record, Mr. Lois, counselor Councelor Pabin is left."},{"t":2721,"text":"Okay, he's out. 8.5 determination of the community grab grant application 2026 souk region communities health network"},{"t":2730,"text":"April 28th 2026 committee the whole item 6.3 was deferred due deferred back due"},{"t":2737,"text":"to the lack of quorum determination of the community grant applications 2026 souk region commi comm communityities health network that council select a"},{"t":2746,"text":"preferred option one two or three for allocating funding to the souk region communities health network application under the 2026 community grant program"},{"t":2755,"text":"and direct staff to implement the selected option. Do we have a mover for that? Councelor"},{"t":2764,"text":"Councelor St. Pierre and seconded by councelor one depends on"},{"t":2772,"text":"uh as requested by the member of the public with good reason. I think that option three option three and I'll go down here and read that"},{"t":2779,"text":"and I think there was a specific amount that of 3,200 that would pay for a report that would make the event actually have more longevity in terms of its utility."},{"t":2793,"text":"3,465 putting it out there. I'm trying to see where it is. 3."},{"t":2803,"text":"Do we have a seconder for that?"},{"t":2805,"text":"I need a clarification. Is uh option three for that specific amount. I just need to know that."},{"t":2812,"text":"I try. Well, right now what I proposed is that."},{"t":2816,"text":"Oh, okay. So, we have a mover councelor St. Pierre and councelor Haldane seconding."},{"t":2823,"text":"I'm just going to go back and see if it's on that page. I don't see it. Wait 6. It's on the 2000. It's on page two of the report. Option three, alternative."},{"t":2834,"text":"Yep. Okay. Okay. Okay."},{"t":2840,"text":"Councelor St. Pierre, any questions, comments?"},{"t":2843,"text":"Uh, no. The main comment would be that uh having events is all fine and well, having conferences is all fine and well, but uh having the report following to"},{"t":2851,"text":"actually present what was learned, make sure that you can actually act on what was learned. uh basically creating more"},{"t":2860,"text":"value from the event itself is extremely important and I think that's a good good reason to make sure that that money is available to do that work."},{"t":2872,"text":"No, I have no question."},{"t":2873,"text":"Okay. So, uh councelor Betto I mean yeah just drawing attention that this is every 10 years. this is fairly new and"},{"t":2882,"text":"very necessary in the community and uh yeah I'm okay with okay my comments are is that um I did"},{"t":2891,"text":"support it initially because I do think it is important and I like the amendment or the opportunity to have that report come back and become part of our"},{"t":2900,"text":"baseline for a lot of other discussions in our strategic plan around community health. So I will be supporting that motion."},{"t":2908,"text":"Yes sir."},{"t":2910,"text":"I'm hoping that report will also stress the importance of the province being held accountable and not necessarily local government."},{"t":2916,"text":"Just I'm just going to throw that out there. Okay, good luck with that."},{"t":2918,"text":"Thank you. Okay. Um all those in favor?"},{"t":2926,"text":"Opposed? Council. All opposed. Okay. Councelor Baitman can return."},{"t":2937,"text":"Could someone get him? I've been given him permission to"},{"t":2961,"text":"the recommendation is that council establish a tourism advisory committee with a term to end to the end of the calendar year 2027. And that council"},{"t":2971,"text":"adopt the attached tourism advisory committee terms of reference attachment one. And that council instruct staff to advertise for members of the committee."},{"t":2982,"text":"If I'm assuming that passes, do we have a mover for the first part?"},{"t":2990,"text":"Councelor Beos seconded by councelor St."},{"t":2992,"text":"Pierre. Councelor Beos, would you like to speak to it?"},{"t":2995,"text":"Yeah, I think it's very important that there's a community group uh looking after this. It's a fair amount of money and it's supposed to be spent uh in the"},{"t":3005,"text":"area. So, uh yeah, I think that's uh that some people that are in the business comment about where to spend"},{"t":3012,"text":"the money because it shouldn't be up to council to do that."},{"t":3019,"text":"Councelor St. Pierre, uh I do support uh the motion for all reasons given. I do have a question"},{"t":3026,"text":"though and that's that uh given that the MRDT can actually provide assistance for making sure that uh workers in workers"},{"t":3035,"text":"in in in the service industry in tourism actually have accommodations. Uh I didn't see anything in this that"},{"t":3042,"text":"actually indicate there was any expertise being brought forward for that sort of thing. Did I just miss it or"},{"t":3049,"text":"in the terms of reference uh through the chair. Um I did have a"},{"t":3056,"text":"presentation actually to to introduce this but if you're happy to carry on I don't need to do the presentation."},{"t":3065,"text":"So I myself personally I would like to see the presentation because I do have some questions that myself are"},{"t":3073,"text":"okay over to you Mr. Marshall. Sorry. Do you want to continue with the motion? Oh, you've got a first or Okay."},{"t":3082,"text":"Great. Um, so this is the municipal regional"},{"t":3089,"text":"district tax or the MRDT which is uh also considered a hotel tax or"},{"t":3096,"text":"accommodation tax. This is a tax 3% tax that is placed on um hotels, Airbnb,"},{"t":3105,"text":"lodges, any kind of tourism accommodator um and then that money is uh collected"},{"t":3112,"text":"by the municipality uh on a monthly basis um and uh used for promoting tourism in the community."},{"t":3127,"text":"So, uh, we started collecting the tax in November of 2025 and, uh, to date we"},{"t":3135,"text":"have received, uh, $87,000 and sorry, that's a an update from the 59,000 or that was in the report, but that just is"},{"t":3144,"text":"an extra month of the uh, proceeds. So, we have received to date 87,000. We are expecting on an annual basis to receive"},{"t":3153,"text":"approximately 440,000 in uh revenues from this tax."},{"t":3159,"text":"So the intent of uh this uh MRDT tax is to provide long-term tourism development"},{"t":3168,"text":"priorities, marketing strategies, and potential affordable housing initiatives. And that's where perhaps"},{"t":3176,"text":"what uh councelor Sierre was talking about in terms of affordable housing which could be used for uh service"},{"t":3183,"text":"workers. Um the initiatives for this are based on stakeholder identified"},{"t":3190,"text":"opportunities. So um the advisory committee that is the sort of recommended approach would have the"},{"t":3197,"text":"stakeholders in the tourism industry cultural and uh sectors um being present uh represented on the committee and"},{"t":3205,"text":"would be able to speak to those uh priorities."},{"t":3210,"text":"So there are two uh so as part of the application process for this uh to to be able to collect these funds uh the"},{"t":3218,"text":"province requires that you fill out an application uh that you get uh consensus from the uh majority of the"},{"t":3227,"text":"accommodators in the community and that you put together a five-year budget for those revenues and a one-year tactical"},{"t":3235,"text":"plan. So, in terms of the five-year budget that was presented to the province and which the province expects"},{"t":3243,"text":"you to follow, so it it doesn't uh once once you get approved to to to to"},{"t":3250,"text":"collect these funds, you are committed to following your budget because that's the budget that the province has approved."},{"t":3259,"text":"So uh in terms of the uh priorities so uh just going to the five-year plan"},{"t":3267,"text":"priority so priority uh the the first priority is to strengthen organizational capacity and governance and actually one"},{"t":3276,"text":"of the implement the main implementation of that uh goal first goal is uh setting"},{"t":3282,"text":"up a tourism advisory committee. what we're doing tonight. Um the uh second goal is to develop Souk's brand position and year-round engagement strategy."},{"t":3294,"text":"Um the third goal is visitor services and visitor experience development. And just as an example of what that could"},{"t":3302,"text":"mean, uh it's looking at our natural beauty and combining it with other uh uh"},{"t":3310,"text":"sectors in the community like uh uh culinary arts. So it might be combining"},{"t":3316,"text":"the natural uh plants and uh farming in the community with uh the culinary uh"},{"t":3323,"text":"sector could be agriculture and culinary sector but creating these experiences for people to want to come to this"},{"t":3329,"text":"community uh and and do these uh unique experiences."},{"t":3335,"text":"Uh the fourth goal is to strengthen regional partnerships and collaboration."},{"t":3340,"text":"Um and a big part of that would be this advisory committee that would include all those stakeholders uh in the on the"},{"t":3349,"text":"committee and that could provide uh recommendations and input to council. Uh"},{"t":3356,"text":"the fifth goal is advance sustainable tourism initiatives. So this is uh uh ideas of how to reduce tourism sector"},{"t":3364,"text":"environmental impact, promote sustainable business practices and protect natural assets."},{"t":3374,"text":"In terms of the one-year tactical plan, so this is uh a a more detailed plan of how you're going to spend the first year of the revenues that you've received."},{"t":3386,"text":"And so um the sorry"},{"t":3395,"text":"so the kinds of things I didn't make an exhaustive list because the one-year tactical plan has about 20 different"},{"t":3401,"text":"initiatives that uh could be included in that plan but just to give you a sense uh has to do with upgrading the website"},{"t":3411,"text":"uh to promote offseason travel uh marketing brand development uh create distinctive memorable impressions for visitors."},{"t":3421,"text":"Um marketing collateral collateral production and distribution which is uh a lot to say that providing more printed"},{"t":3430,"text":"material and not everybody is uh digitally savvy or um uh social media or"},{"t":3438,"text":"or uh other computer uh platforms. So some people still do uh and I'm part of"},{"t":3445,"text":"that like to have a map to look at uh guides to refer to and itineraries that people have put together. So providing"},{"t":3454,"text":"some of that written material um marketing media advertising and production. So putting in uh"},{"t":3461,"text":"advertisements in uh sort of key tourism magazines and things um and leveraging"},{"t":3469,"text":"various computer or social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest. So just getting our our brand"},{"t":3476,"text":"and our our uh community front and center."},{"t":3482,"text":"Um supporting uh consumer events and shows."},{"t":3488,"text":"uh and uh visitor center oper uh center operations. One of the ideas for the"},{"t":3497,"text":"first year tactical plan was to uh uh support a um mobile uh tourism center."},{"t":3505,"text":"So on the picture there, this isn't the exact mobile visitor center, but this type of thing where it could be a bike"},{"t":3513,"text":"or a small van or something that can go from place to place and and uh go to uh events, uh farmers markets, uh various"},{"t":3523,"text":"festivals, that kind of thing. So to get uh the information out to the people."},{"t":3529,"text":"So uh those are the types of things that the first year funds would be uh spent on. And then at in uh May of 2027, we"},{"t":3538,"text":"would need to provide the one-year tactical plan for the following year."},{"t":3547,"text":"Um so the options for uh managing the MRT funding."},{"t":3555,"text":"So staff uh did a survey of what some of the other communities in the uh South Vancouver Island area were doing to help"},{"t":3564,"text":"manage their MRDT funding. Um there are basically kind of five uh options that"},{"t":3571,"text":"we identified. Uh the first one is hiring an outside agency um to to manage"},{"t":3578,"text":"the funds and implement the uh one-year tactical plan um and five-year budget."},{"t":3585,"text":"Um the uh there is a number of groups that can do this. Actually, there are one or two groups that do this,"},{"t":3594,"text":"organizations that do this. 4VI was the main one that we found and 4VI is the group that helped us to uh put together"},{"t":3603,"text":"our application package. So they're very familiar with Souk and um they uh signus"},{"t":3610,"text":"with communities uh that identifies the what the relationship between council or the the"},{"t":3617,"text":"community and and the organization and how the money is going to be spent. They usually sign a two to fiveyear contract."},{"t":3625,"text":"That TR contract can be renewed. Um the uh benefit of that is that you're"},{"t":3632,"text":"getting a company that's familiar with how these uh how to manage these funds, what the"},{"t":3639,"text":"province's expectations are. There is a lot of work for staff or for an"},{"t":3645,"text":"organization to uh identify how the funds have been spent at the end of each year."},{"t":3652,"text":"um how you followed your plan. So there's a lot of documentation and uh verification that you have spent the"},{"t":3660,"text":"money the way you said you'd spend the money. And if a municipality veers too far off what the budget and tactical"},{"t":3669,"text":"plan are, then they that that ability to collect those three that that hotel tax can be pulled away from the community."},{"t":3677,"text":"So it is important that we're doing uh we're documenting things properly and providing the province with the"},{"t":3685,"text":"information they need. So that is um a big job for staff that is already"},{"t":3692,"text":"working at capacity to just take that on as a sort of sideline thing or off the corner of their desk. So um so that's"},{"t":3701,"text":"the benefit of having an organization do that. The the downside of hiring an organization like this is that you are"},{"t":3708,"text":"paying them a percentage of those funds to do the the the managing of it."},{"t":3714,"text":"They'll also hire staff to help with the management of the funds. So there is more money being paid for staffing and"},{"t":3722,"text":"the management and then therefore less money to actually implement the work that you want to do in the community to promote tourism."},{"t":3732,"text":"Um uh so that's the and there's less oversight in hiring an outside"},{"t":3738,"text":"organization because they will present a budget to council at the beginning of the year. Council passes that budget and then they're off and running. They spend"},{"t":3747,"text":"the money. You you might hear uh once a year or something some summary of how the money was spent, but you don't have"},{"t":3754,"text":"any say on an ongoing basis throughout the year how that money is going to be spent. Um so uh there's less sort of"},{"t":3763,"text":"transparency and oversight of the funding."},{"t":3768,"text":"Uh going to the second uh option which is to hire staff um either part-time or full-time to manage this uh these funds."},{"t":3778,"text":"um sort of similar to the organization, you are then spending more money on staff and less on rolling out the uh the"},{"t":3788,"text":"tourism promotion. Um but it is uh relieving staff of of some of that work."},{"t":3795,"text":"Uh the third option is the district of Oak Bay Tourism Committee. uh they"},{"t":3800,"text":"uh set up their committee in um 1989 and they have a kind of arms length committee that is somewhat autonomous."},{"t":3812,"text":"Uh that style of committee is no longer possible due to changes in legislation."},{"t":3818,"text":"Um but kind of like the uh option with the outside organization doing the work, this com the Oak Bay committee, they"},{"t":3827,"text":"present a a a budget to council at the beginning of the year and then they do all the work of hiring contractors and people to to do the implementation."},{"t":3837,"text":"Um and they have uh a uh mayor and council can sit as exeicio"},{"t":3845,"text":"uh adviserss on the committee but they don't have a vote. Um and they literally this committee literally does you know terms of reference for work that needs"},{"t":3854,"text":"to be done. That's I I I was thinking, wow, this is a lot of work for a volunteer committee of individuals to be"},{"t":3861,"text":"actually going through the process of hiring out all this work and managing all these uh contractors and things. And"},{"t":3868,"text":"but uh anyway, uh that's the the the district of Oak Bay, uh approach. Um the"},{"t":3876,"text":"fourth, uh option is to appoint a commission by bylaw. Um so this is a a"},{"t":3883,"text":"committee that is uh set up by bylaw and as such um can be set up in a way that"},{"t":3890,"text":"is uh more independent than the advisory or select committee approach that we're"},{"t":3897,"text":"recommending. a committee set up by bylaw um could provide a budget at the"},{"t":3905,"text":"beginning of the year and council approves that budget and then staff would just be off and running doing the work. Uh but that sort of depends"},{"t":3914,"text":"somewhat on how the the comm commission is set up. Um the benefit of that is that you have"},{"t":3923,"text":"stakeholders in the community who are part of this uh committee uh providing recommendations to council. Um staff are"},{"t":3932,"text":"the ones doing the work. Um so that's the downside. You don't have any help in doing the work. Um and then the final"},{"t":3940,"text":"option is the recommended option that is setting up a tourism advisory committee."},{"t":3946,"text":"uh in the legislation. It's a it's called a select committee. Um and uh we'd be looking at uh setting up a"},{"t":3954,"text":"committee. We're suggesting uh in the terms of reference that the committee would be a minimum of eight members of"},{"t":3960,"text":"the public to a maximum of 13. Um and that they would come from the local tourism sector. Of course, we would"},{"t":3969,"text":"include some of the larger hotels on the on the as as members. Um, arts and"},{"t":3978,"text":"culture providers, uh, agurism, outdoor adventure, indigenous community, uh, CRD regional tourism destination"},{"t":3986,"text":"management service providers, the museum. So, we've listed in the terms of reference a fairly not exhaustive but uh"},{"t":3997,"text":"good list of key stakeholders in the community in and around tourism and"},{"t":4003,"text":"would uh not a requirement to include all these people because you may not get volunteers but those are the types of"},{"t":4011,"text":"people we want to see sitting on the committee."},{"t":4014,"text":"um the committee would be to the end of 2027. And the reason that we're using this even though staff wouldn't have any"},{"t":4022,"text":"help with from an organization or an additional staff member, it would give us a year and a half or so once this"},{"t":4029,"text":"committee actually gets set up to uh identify how much money we're actually going to make each year in revenues from"},{"t":4037,"text":"this 3% tax because right now we're just guessing. So we could have a budget and a tactical plan and have all the best"},{"t":4046,"text":"ideas in the world and think we're going to get, you know, upwards of four or $500,000 and maybe it turns out that"},{"t":4053,"text":"it's only $200,000. So um by hiring a staff member, committing to hiring somebody or an organization for two to"},{"t":4060,"text":"five years, you're committing money that you don't know for sure you have. Um the other thing is that we would have an"},{"t":4067,"text":"opportunity over that year and a half to get a better understanding of how much work is actually involved in running"},{"t":4074,"text":"this uh managing this uh ad revenues and"},{"t":4081,"text":"um and at the end of the 2027 uh calendar year the idea is that we would have an overview or summary or a look at"},{"t":4090,"text":"you know what did we learn over this last year and a How much money did we make? What makes sense going forward? Maybe it's renewing"},{"t":4099,"text":"this committee for another period of time. Maybe it's a combination of some part-time staff and the committee or"},{"t":4106,"text":"anyway, we we can we have the opportunity over a year and a half to get some uh experience dealing with uh"},{"t":4114,"text":"this and finding out how much work it actually is. and then before we commit to an outside organization or a staff"},{"t":4122,"text":"member having that experience first. So that's why staff are recommending the uh advisory committee uh as opposed to the"},{"t":4131,"text":"others uh listed. And again the terms of reference for that advisory committee"},{"t":4136,"text":"are attached to the report um if uh you have any questions about that. and the"},{"t":4144,"text":"5-year budget and one-year tactical plan summaries are attached to the report as well."},{"t":4156,"text":"Well, thank you for that. Um, lot of lot a lot of information there"},{"t":4162,"text":"that you just gave us. Thank you. Um, I'll save my comments. Uh anybody from"},{"t":4171,"text":"uh council have any questions, comments, comments? Go ahead."},{"t":4174,"text":"Just finish finish my previous question now that we've had a wonderful report."},{"t":4178,"text":"Uh so I'm back to asking about the terms of reference. Uh one of my thoughts and I think uh probably a lot of people's minds is tourism industry offers great"},{"t":4187,"text":"possibilities for jobs for young people and keeping out people in souk which often is a bit of a challenge but uh accommodations affordable accommodations"},{"t":4195,"text":"are always going to be a bit of a bit of problem as well. uh and certainly within the MRDT you know possibilities there's an affordable housing component to look"},{"t":4203,"text":"at that uh I didn't see any expertise in that direction and I understand that we're still going to be developing you know one-year tactical plans and so on"},{"t":4210,"text":"and so forth but we want to make sure that for example various restaurants can stay open because they have enough staff that we're actually"},{"t":4219,"text":"this can actually develop properly because we actually have the staffing options available and one of the critical things needed for that is at least having a a bird's eye view on"},{"t":4227,"text":"what's happening in terms affordable housing. So, is there anything that I missed there in terms of actually providing that that angle in this in the terms of reference and the committee membership?"},{"t":4239,"text":"Uh so through the chair the um certainly as you said the MRT funds can be used"},{"t":4247,"text":"towards affordable housing. Um there is no uh in the one-year tactical plan"},{"t":4253,"text":"there isn't anything in relation to affordable housing. Um that doesn't mean that in"},{"t":4262,"text":"following years you couldn't include that. Um and I agree that that there isn't I mean"},{"t":4272,"text":"indirectly you know the local accommodators the hotels they'll understand as will the whole business community understand the"},{"t":4280,"text":"need for affordable housing. So if that committee made up of those people who need that staffing uh are telling us"},{"t":4289,"text":"that you know affordable housing is the key to uh to focus on uh in following years then certainly we can uh include that."},{"t":4301,"text":"Okay. Followup question. Yeah. What uh would it be possible to uh include some language that effect? My"},{"t":4310,"text":"concern is that if you're not asking the questions to begin with, you're not necessarily getting the answers to those questions. Uh if there's no expertise in"},{"t":4318,"text":"the room, if there's nothing in the terms to indicate that we're looking and that we're aware that affordable housing might be an issue, then that's not necessarily people are going to look at the terms of reference and going to say"},{"t":4326,"text":"that's what they want from us. Uh why should we bring forward these other concerns? But uh clearly Neymar DT does consider making sure that the workers"},{"t":4335,"text":"actually have affordable housing part of what we should be looking at. uh that doesn't mean that it's necessarily uh the major part of the responsibility,"},{"t":4343,"text":"but at least making sure that the people with the expertise are presenting that information as well because they know that that's part of the job. Um I would"},{"t":4350,"text":"love I would love to see this amended in some way to include some aspect of that because my concern is that if it's not in gear at the beginning, then it may"},{"t":4358,"text":"never show up and at that point might be missing a very critical element into the future."},{"t":4365,"text":"Councelor Reynolds, you have a comment."},{"t":4367,"text":"Uh, thank you, chair. Um, I like the idea of establish establishing the advisory committee."},{"t":4374,"text":"It's we're going to put some of these decisions back into the people that are working in this industry and it's not me. So, I mean, uh I would value that"},{"t":4384,"text":"input and uh from those people and uh and as was said previously, I'm not even sure who said it, but um allow that"},{"t":4393,"text":"group to best determine how to tackle this problem. We've been, you know, starving to promote tourism in this"},{"t":4401,"text":"community and now we found a way to get some dollars uh to do it. And I can't think of a better group than the the"},{"t":4409,"text":"local people working this industry from the hotels and uh some of the other groups to make these decisions. And as Mr. Marshall said, um this is solid."},{"t":4419,"text":"We're going to get some data over the next year and the next council can make the difficult decision whether we stay with the committee uh contract it out or"},{"t":4428,"text":"do it with a side but until we get some more information till we get [clears throat] a solid idea of what we're dealing with in dollars I think this is the best approach in uh the"},{"t":4437,"text":"short term and I think it was well thought out and I think I would like to support it as it stands um the option"},{"t":4445,"text":"five councelor Haldane thank you councelor Yeah, I I think I agree with the same"},{"t":4451,"text":"process. I mean, they've got $232,000 938 for uh net administration fees. So,"},{"t":4459,"text":"when you're collecting just over $500,000 and almost half of it's going towards administration fees, I think we could find some efficiencies in there"},{"t":4467,"text":"that could be a lot better than that. I mean, rather than hiring somebody here at the district or giving it to a private group, I mean, they're going to eat up half the money with with wages"},{"t":4476,"text":"and and I think that's kind of defeating the purpose of charging people a bunch of extra money. So, I'd rather see it run through a a committee first, find"},{"t":4484,"text":"out where we're at. Maybe maybe the revenues would might not even be this high as well, or maybe there'll be more or there'll be more work. So I'd rather"},{"t":4492,"text":"I'd rather do a dry run and then you're right ne next council can decide you know a fiveyear plan or three or four"},{"t":4500,"text":"year plan or something. So appreciate that. Thank you councelor Payment."},{"t":4505,"text":"Yeah, thank you Mr. Marshall for that report and we always have to drop Gail Scott's name at this moment in time"},{"t":4512,"text":"because she has led us to this point and it's good to see that she will continue to be involved in the as as a advisory"},{"t":4520,"text":"uh in capacity non- voting. Um it's it's important to note that the five-year strategic business plan does recommend"},{"t":4527,"text":"this model uh moving forward a tourism advisory committee which is effectively a select committee council selects those"},{"t":4537,"text":"individuals put they put the ad out there and that is as we discovered with the standing committees uh last year and I'm speak for the community economic"},{"t":4545,"text":"development committee that was a little frustrating because we had very lively group of people who wanted to see stuff done But uh we relied on council to send"},{"t":4555,"text":"us directions to move forward. So in this case, the select committee just like the land use and CED committees in"},{"t":4562,"text":"the previous term uh will um bring bring their motions forward. They'll come to council and council will have direct"},{"t":4569,"text":"oversight over how this would move forward. I'm interested in the these uh committee structure and membership. You've got 11 positions identified here."},{"t":4578,"text":"You say a minimum of eight and a maximum of 13."},{"t":4582,"text":"Um you me you cited them all. You you didn't mention the biking representative. So perhaps the suit bike club would would be able to step up. Um"},{"t":4592,"text":"the one missing piece was a youth member. I was wondering whether SE park is is um the commission has a young"},{"t":4600,"text":"person involved and very important as I'm sure councelor Betos could confirm."},{"t":4606,"text":"So perhaps a youth member belongs on this group. Um otherwise um"},{"t":4614,"text":"yeah thank you. You know thank you councelor Baitman."},{"t":4620,"text":"My questions are my own personal questions are is that it are we are we kind of at a bad time"},{"t":4629,"text":"like you know we have a municipal election coming up within five months or something like to that effect and then you're overlapping it has to be a year"},{"t":4637,"text":"and a half into the next so it's a year into the next council but you said April of 2027 it'll have to be redecided"},{"t":4646,"text":"um the committee will have to be reappointed in in April of 2027. Is that what you're saying?"},{"t":4651,"text":"Um I think the recommendation is to the uh end of the calendar year 2027. Okay."},{"t":4658,"text":"Um it's an I don't I don't know if I like the idea"},{"t":4665,"text":"of a 13 member committee. Um seems there seems to be you get you know there gets to be a size where it's effective and unaffective. And I sometimes I think that there's a a maximum and a minimum."},{"t":4676,"text":"And I think even the minimum at 8 is is pretty unwieldly at times. Um it feels to me like the fit like my own just"},{"t":4683,"text":"comment is the fit would be uh a project a royal roads project somehow involving"},{"t":4691,"text":"you know looking at because they have been here on the past about economic development and and um and tourism. So,"},{"t":4698,"text":"it's kind of there's a lot of there's a lot of questions that I have that um that are coming at us, you know, sort of like drinking out of a fire hose just"},{"t":4706,"text":"because there's so much information here. But the um I I'm not opposed to establishing a um a committee, a"},{"t":4714,"text":"steering committee. I think that I mean I I'm hearing around the table that that's sort of the the appetite, but"},{"t":4724,"text":"so many unknowns. How much money do we get? We certainly don't want to start pairing off and and going, you know, a direction of hiring somebody to manage"},{"t":4733,"text":"this and if we don't have the funds that to support that because we get into collective agreements, etc., things like that. So,"},{"t":4741,"text":"so with I'm I'm cautious. I'm I'm saying I'm cautious. This is a great idea and it's a it's been wonderful to get it to fruition and get this money and and"},{"t":4749,"text":"promote it. I just I don't want to waste that opportunity. That's my my my trepidation is around, you know, if we get this money, we could do something"},{"t":4757,"text":"really really cool and really good. So, um, and and I and and I've heard the enthusiasm around this council table for the, you know, since this got started,"},{"t":4766,"text":"you know, a number of years ago, but, you know, finally here, we're we're getting money now we have to do something with it."},{"t":4772,"text":"Okay. Well, I I just turned it off. uh your worship when it comes to motions I believe you"},{"t":4780,"text":"uh moved at the beginning of this the uh first recommendation that being that council establish a tourism advisory committee with a term to the end of"},{"t":4788,"text":"calendar year 2027. So that would be the motion currently on the table. Yes, that's sorry."},{"t":4796,"text":"Okay. So I any more motivation? Councelor St. Pierre."},{"t":4802,"text":"Yes. Uh, as a matter of fact, I do think that the committee is a good way to go forward at this point in time. I I I hear what you're saying, but I do think that it's relatively low commitment, low"},{"t":4811,"text":"risk, but actually covers a lot of bases, allows us to get the data to do better in the future. Uh, what I would like to see is actually councelor"},{"t":4818,"text":"Baitman's suggestion uh as a friendly amendment on the committee structure of membership to include one youth representative. And that would actually"},{"t":4827,"text":"make me perfectly happy in terms of affordable housing because they're the ones that are hit and they'll know. Uh, and at the same time that can cross over. I mean, if the CRD provider, the"},{"t":4836,"text":"bike rep, or anybody else happens to be a youth, then you're covered and you're golden. But I think that would that would cover a lot of bases very easily."},{"t":4843,"text":"Y yeah, I I see that our our corporate officers because that would be in the terms of reference, wouldn't it not?"},{"t":4850,"text":"Absolutely correct, your worship. Um, that's certainly a valid change which has been proposed by councelor Syia, but that will be on the next recommendation"},{"t":4858,"text":"once you decide whether or not to establish I see. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Good. Okay."},{"t":4863,"text":"I would like to speak on that, but I wait. Uh, sounds like terms of reference."},{"t":4866,"text":"Terms of reference. We're going to come up with that next. Okay. Yeah."},{"t":4870,"text":"I would assume I have concern the right. Okay. Councelor Pment."},{"t":4875,"text":"Yeah. I think this is on clause one. Um, effectively it's important to note there will be no hiring of staff, right? uh with the creation of this committee as"},{"t":4884,"text":"it states very clearly here st quote staff will be able to take on this additional work for the short term but it's not sustainable for this work to be"},{"t":4892,"text":"done by existing staff beyond the 2-year mandate of the advisory committee so that's the caveat but at the same time"},{"t":4899,"text":"there will be support through the end of 2027 thank you for that point so then we have"},{"t":4907,"text":"a motion okay so now we have a motion on the floor and I think it's the First yeah first right and any other comments"},{"t":4916,"text":"questions so I'll call the question on the first motion all those in favor okay that's carried unanimously so now on the terms of reference I think is where"},{"t":4925,"text":"we're going to go to next that council adopt the attached tourism"},{"t":4934,"text":"committee terms of reference attachment one so councelor SPR you're proposing amendment to the terms of reference yes uh Just adding one more bullet. Uh,"},{"t":4943,"text":"one youth representative there. Second."},{"t":4949,"text":"I'll second that. Great. So, councelor CPR any motivation?"},{"t":4954,"text":"Uh, yeah. Mostly, uh, our youth are actually needing those jobs. Uh, they don't generally have much of a voice."},{"t":4959,"text":"This is a great place for them to actually have some input. And I don't think we necessarily have to have a youth that's just a youth. I think"},{"t":4967,"text":"looking for one of the other uh options that actually provides expertise really works well. I'd like to see that included because it'll cover a lot of bases and really makes it much more inclusive."},{"t":4975,"text":"Okay. When you say youth in your terms of reference, what do you mean by youth? Because that would be specific."},{"t":4983,"text":"Oh, well that would be specific. Well, not me."},{"t":4988,"text":"Um certainly not me."},{"t":4991,"text":"No, not not no. Uh I'd say definitely under 25. My preference would be under 18, but uh yeah, under 19 basically"},{"t":5001,"text":"someone that's under age of majority because uh often they end up in those jobs too and but realistically uh definitely under 50."},{"t":5013,"text":"But I asked the question because somewhere in my history somebody wanted to recommend youth and there was a a spirited debate on what youth meant."},{"t":5021,"text":"It's a very good question. So if we we don't have a definition in our terms of reference to what youth is, then we would we'll be around this table for"},{"t":5029,"text":"quite a while tonight. Does the district have a preferred definition of youth that it uses in anything? No. What about the province?"},{"t":5039,"text":"Can I defer this to anyone?"},{"t":5045,"text":"I'll I'll go next. And I'll just note that SE park does have a position. And I I'm curious what how you define youth."},{"t":5052,"text":"Uh your representative is an EMCS student and that might be a good category, a teenager um who can uh contribute to the committee."},{"t":5063,"text":"Yes, we do. But uh there is there is I don't know whether to speak about it now. I guess for me I I have I'm all in"},{"t":5071,"text":"favor of you on the committee, but I think you should be a non- voting member. I think there is an advisory and my concern is uh when you deal of course"},{"t":5081,"text":"it puts me in a bit of a conflict with when it comes to the one on Cart because that member does vote um when you're"},{"t":5089,"text":"spending money and you're 17 years old and quite large sums of money. Uh I I'm not so sure we need want to put them in"},{"t":5098,"text":"that position. Uh I like the idea of having a youth member from the school appointed by the school. uh of what we"},{"t":5105,"text":"do with Cart to be part of this committee uh but as the adviser and there's some great things come out of"},{"t":5112,"text":"it. I love the idea of having somebody uh from the school and they they could be up 19year-old and still be in school."},{"t":5120,"text":"Uh but I I just I have a bit of a problem when they come to spending money and hiring contracts and things like that and uh staff will have to comment"},{"t":5129,"text":"about the uh liabilities uh because you know when you're spending money you can run into all sorts of grief. So I'd rather not put"},{"t":5138,"text":"a student in that position but to have their input of what's good for their community and tourism I think it's excellent. Matter of fact, you can have"},{"t":5147,"text":"a whole class of them there. But I'm I really have some problems with having a youth uh spending money like that."},{"t":5153,"text":"Correct."},{"t":5158,"text":"Yeah. So, World Health Organization youth is 15 to 24, Statistics Canada 15 to 24, and United Nations 15 to 24. So, we want to use those terms."},{"t":5172,"text":"Okay. Some somebody want to make a motion that the youth make a motion that we use 15 to 24 for the youth component seconded."},{"t":5180,"text":"Okay. So that add the motion to include one youth age 15 to 24."},{"t":5187,"text":"Okay with that Mr. Lewis uh in the terms of reference you worship that's an absolutely"},{"t":5195,"text":"acceptable uh amendment. I just wasn't sure if you were getting consensus from the committee or if you were confirming that's actually"},{"t":5203,"text":"if you intend on voting on that or if that's simply your announcement that that's the consensus. I call for a mover"},{"t":5210,"text":"and a seconder on the so therefore uh I'll call the question on the amendment if you're if so please so all those in favor of that amendment"},{"t":5219,"text":"okay now back to the original are you opposed council just to the 15y old okay 24y old 19"},{"t":5227,"text":"but it says they are voting for you I I'm directing the staff so uh yeah I I have I have problems with"},{"t":5236,"text":"that okay so you're opposed Yeah. To the 15-year-old land. And the motion and the motion carries. Yeah. With councelor Betos being opposed."},{"t":5245,"text":"Okay. Now to the main motion to accept the terms of reference to include"},{"t":5253,"text":"a youth member. We have a Oh, we already have a move. Councelor St. Pierre and councelor Bto."},{"t":5259,"text":"Uh I think that it's actually a good opportunity for youth to act to exercise this kind of discretion. Uh I do think that in this particular situation given"},{"t":5267,"text":"there's a lot of other committee members I don't think that one single voice is going to carry the day most likely especially if it's often attention due to lack of experience good chance to get"},{"t":5276,"text":"experience and honestly not everyone always has great ideas even when they're 50 or 60 I know that for a fact. So uh"},{"t":5284,"text":"the the the group mind is what's supposed to make the decisions. I think that it's good to have that voice. uh and in a voting capacity, I think you"},{"t":5292,"text":"pay more attention and it's it becomes more important and there's a greater sense of responsibility. I think it's good to have it."},{"t":5298,"text":"Thank you, Elento."},{"t":5302,"text":"Yeah, I support the motion in the fact that I think it's imperative to have that youth there. I still have a problem with the 15year-old"},{"t":5309,"text":"uh possibly making some money decisions and staff can probably check the legal on that if there's any sort of problem."},{"t":5315,"text":"So, I'll leave it in their hands. But again, I'm I'm happy with the idea of having a youth member and uh I think it will be"},{"t":5324,"text":"it's great for Se Park. I mean, we've got some great ideas coming from from this young fellow that we have now polls all the students and finds out what's great for them."},{"t":5333,"text":"So, I'm okay. Councelor Beth David."},{"t":5337,"text":"Yeah. So, yeah, I'm I'm in absolutely in favor of this. I I just will note that uh in our staff report it's clear that"},{"t":5346,"text":"the uh committee quote would prioritize the work needed to be done and once council approved the recommendations and"},{"t":5354,"text":"district staff would proceed with solicit soliciting qualified consultants contractors. So those financial decisions will be made by staff."},{"t":5364,"text":"The next question is okay with the youth we're now up to 12 potential members."},{"t":5368,"text":"Now you spoke of your concern around a large group minimum eight maximum minimum eight [clears throat] of maximum"},{"t":5375,"text":"13 of course 12 is you get tie votes 12 um I I would I'm in favor of the larger"},{"t":5383,"text":"group there's a lot of very enthusiastic people they're eager to get going on this and um"},{"t":5390,"text":"yeah so if we go with a a group of 12 I think that's fine take the chances there will be one district pursue counselor as"},{"t":5399,"text":"appointed by council as well on this select select committee. Thank you corporate officer law."},{"t":5412,"text":"Thank you your worship. I did just want to um just to make sure that all of council were fully aware of the type of committee which is being suggested. I wanted to reiterate as councelor Baitman"},{"t":5420,"text":"has indicated that this is a select committee and therefore would have no delegated authority. it would only have the power to make advice and"},{"t":5428,"text":"recommendations to council and so no member could have any uh authority to make any decision on anything."},{"t":5436,"text":"Thank you councelor Haldane."},{"t":5439,"text":"Yes, in the spirit of inclusivity I would like to have a youth member as well. Um, but I was thinking if um, uh,"},{"t":5448,"text":"councelor Beto's here, if you do it during school hours, would they get them 18 and over? For sure."},{"t":5454,"text":"So, you can make a motion. Okay. Okay. Okay. Hearing no more comments."},{"t":5463,"text":"Yes, sir."},{"t":5465,"text":"Yeah. Go ahead. U, Council Bait brought up uh, 12 members, but my understanding I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page. I thought it was 8 to 13, not 12."},{"t":5475,"text":"Yeah. And and one more category shouldn't make a difference in the numbers. Still 8 to 13. We're not Is that Yes. Okay. Because I I didn't think"},{"t":5485,"text":"we're in split vote territory because of adding one more category, but I wanted to be very sure. Thank you."},{"t":5494,"text":"They don't make any decisions anyways. Just recommendations. Question."},{"t":5504,"text":"I I just Okay, so yes, there's a minimum of eight and a maximum of 13. However, we have 11 categories here. How will we"},{"t":5511,"text":"determine is this to be done at a later date or are we going to accept these 11 categories with an additional youth"},{"t":5519,"text":"member? Take us to 12 categories. IPSO facto 12 members. No,"},{"t":5528,"text":"spec specifically members holding more than one assigned position shall hold only one vote but that uh members may hold more than one assigned position."},{"t":5535,"text":"Oh god that's just okay hearing no more comments. All those in favor that's carried unanimously."},{"t":5551,"text":"Okay."},{"t":5554,"text":"8.7 resolution your worship. Yes, sir."},{"t":5557,"text":"I apologize. There is one more vote on that section. That being to instruct staff to advertise for members of the committee."},{"t":5564,"text":"Moved by Councelor St. Pierre, seconded by councelor Alane hearing. None. No comments. No comments."},{"t":5574,"text":"All those in favor? Carried."},{"t":5578,"text":"U. Mr. Sure. I I I would like to uh also address the fact that uh our"},{"t":5586,"text":"economic development officer, Gail Scott, was the primary writer of this report and did all the background work for this. And so uh I'm just the uh"},{"t":5595,"text":"mouthpiece for her work. So just want to thank her. She's on holidays right now, but just want to thank all the work she's done on this. Yep."},{"t":5604,"text":"Thank you for that. And thank you to Miss Scott. Can you pass on our thanks?"},{"t":5615,"text":"that's come to us is that the land use and development committee recommend that council endorse and submit a resolution substantially in the form of an attach"},{"t":5624,"text":"to this report attachment one to the union of British Columbia municipalities requesting that the province of British Columbia review and strengthen protections for manufactured homeowners"},{"t":5632,"text":"affected by redevelopment including fair compensation and relocation assistance measure So moved."},{"t":5639,"text":"Moved by councelor Haldane, seconded by councelor St. Pierre. Councelor Haldane."},{"t":5645,"text":"Um I think it's a fair ask and um with this ever changing world, I don't think we want to leave people who are in um"},{"t":5654,"text":"manufactured home parks, you know, having to foot the bill and cost. I know there's been some issues in some of the parks we've had removed over the years"},{"t":5663,"text":"and and the renumeration is quite small and relocation's been really tough. So, I' I'd be a"},{"t":5672,"text":"big supporter of this and I'm not sure who's going to write it, but I mean I'm not much of a writer, but I'd like to"},{"t":5679,"text":"see maybe staff or somebody come up with a solution for us here. Thank you. Here, Council St. here."},{"t":5687,"text":"Um, as councelor Halding was saying, I think it's an important form of housing in our community, something that needs more protection for the people that are actually affected by uh, redevelopment."},{"t":5697,"text":"Uh, I would like to see attachment one change to attachment three. I don't know if that's a friendly amendment or not. I think the gen that's the red line version provided by uh, someone who"},{"t":5707,"text":"actually has a lot of expertise and has spoken at length on the sub subject at the will of council. I would like to see that amended to attachment three. I have"},{"t":5716,"text":"looked carefully through attachment three uh as I'm sure everyone has but and it seems to be more or less the same"},{"t":5723,"text":"sense with uh tweaks in terms of language that are more reflective of a reality that I don't actually know. [clears throat] So uh I would suggest attachment three."},{"t":5736,"text":"Councelor Pedos."},{"t":5739,"text":"Yeah, just I'm going to support that motion and u councelor St. Pierre's suggestion here. Uh, this of course goes"},{"t":5747,"text":"to UBCM along with all the other ones about the same thing and they take all the wording from all of them and make a resolution that's brought to the floor"},{"t":5756,"text":"at UBCM that we all vote on. So, it doesn't have to be the exact wording as long as they get the gist of it. And"},{"t":5764,"text":"some of these suggestions in here, I think, are are very appropriate. So, I would like to send a redline version in"},{"t":5770,"text":"and uh let UBCM sort it out with all the other because there's other municipalities putting this exact same thing in. And whatever it is, it is. But"},{"t":5779,"text":"uh I'd like to see our resident went to a lot of trouble to wordsmith this uh even beating councelor Baitman, which is"},{"t":5787,"text":"odd. So, uh so that was that was that was a friendly shot. Sorry. Uh so but"},{"t":5794,"text":"no, I I think uh I think that it is there's some terms here that we've used in the past that really don't apply anymore. So I'm happy with the red line version."},{"t":5804,"text":"I'll support that friendly amendment."},{"t":5806,"text":"I have um I think it's about time that this act was updated. U so I have a question to Mr. Marshall, our director"},{"t":5814,"text":"of planning. Uh one of our zones is MHP um manufactured home parks. So, is there"},{"t":5822,"text":"any uh discussion anywhere in the planning world about changing that designation?"},{"t":5830,"text":"Uh, no. To be fair, that's the first time I've heard any concern with that uh title. I understand the connotations and"},{"t":5838,"text":"so I appreciate the the change in the language and perhaps when we do our zoning bylaw review, that's something we can take into account and re rename."},{"t":5850,"text":"Councelor Bman."},{"t":5853,"text":"Yeah. So, it was very good last week to see uh in the land use uh committee agenda the manufactured home park redevelopment policy of 2008."},{"t":5865,"text":"So, Souk is in actually a quite a a strong position to be making these these uh recommendations to the province. I"},{"t":5873,"text":"think we have to send a final version and I I agree with Councelor St. here and you and in um Wow."},{"t":5881,"text":"Wow."},{"t":5884,"text":"No, I I think we we should go with the redline version, make that the final version as recommended by Miss Belelfford. Um and great thanks to staff"},{"t":5895,"text":"for coming up with a very substantial uh uh realignment of what she originally gave us and now she's come back as the"},{"t":5904,"text":"former president of the uh BC manufactured home association with these uh very substantial recommendations. So um yeah, I'm in favor of the amendment."},{"t":5918,"text":"Okay. I move we do the amendment."},{"t":5929,"text":"Your worship. So far, councelor Haldane moved the original resolution seconded by councelor St. Pierre. Then councelor St. Pierre moved an amendment seconded by councelor Meadows. So at this point,"},{"t":5938,"text":"we are in the wonderful world of voting on an amendment and then the motion as amended."},{"t":5948,"text":"All"},{"t":5950,"text":"[laughter]"},{"t":5951,"text":"taking someone's job."},{"t":5954,"text":"Um, okay. On the main motion, all those in favor, you heard you."},{"t":5969,"text":"Section nine, bylaws. Section. Oh, I pushed the wrong."},{"t":5976,"text":"Section nine, zoning amendment bylaw number 942600-1172026."},{"t":5984,"text":"Housekeeping amendments. Housekeeping amendment. Zoning amendment bylaw 942600-117 20226. Attachment 01 zoning amendment"},{"t":5993,"text":"bylaw 942600-117 2026. That council give first, second, and third reading to zoning amendment"},{"t":6001,"text":"bylaw 942 600-1172026 to amend zoning bylaw to number 60021."},{"t":6011,"text":"Reinstate provisions recognizing additional residents on parcels located within the agricultural land reserve in RU1 and RU3 zones in accordance with the"},{"t":6020,"text":"agricultural land commission act, the agricultural land reserve use regulation, and remove section 3.2 24"},{"t":6028,"text":"steep slope setbacks and that council direct zoning amendment bylaw 942600117"},{"t":6035,"text":"2026 be sent to the ministry of transportation and transit for approval prior to adoption. So, so moved."},{"t":6043,"text":"Councelor Haldane, seconded by councelor. Yeah, I do have something to say."},{"t":6047,"text":"Oh, yeah, that's fine. Cheryl, uh, I guess my concern, I don't want to jump into councelor Haldane, but there's a gentleman asked some questions and I'm"},{"t":6055,"text":"wondering if staff could answer those questions before we actually took a vote. I hope they took a note of it."},{"t":6062,"text":"Mr. Riley, do you have I was going to ask if you have a presentation. I know we've got a motion on the floor and seconded. So yeah, I did have a brief presentation,"},{"t":6070,"text":"but I think um it's self-explanatory enough. We did discuss this at length at LUDC and at council somewhat. So if council's uh comfortable proceeding,"},{"t":6079,"text":"then we could just answer questions unless unless you wanted a six slide presentation."},{"t":6093,"text":"Councelor Haldane as the motivator."},{"t":6095,"text":"Yeah, I think the only thing um that I I talked to the gentleman and it was about uh suites, detached suites, suites over"},{"t":6103,"text":"garage, suites attached. His uh concern was that there was an expectation in our building bylaw that he had to have like"},{"t":6110,"text":"a some sort of a roof attached to the suite if the suite was over top of the garage separate or whatnot. Can we have a a suite in the agricultural zone"},{"t":6119,"text":"whether it's attached, detached, or otherwise? Could there be some flexibility? I guess would be my thing. So maybe to staff, Mr. or the chair."},{"t":6128,"text":"Yes, thank you through the chair. So um the bylaw that's being presented right now does have some uh specificity in it"},{"t":6135,"text":"and the conditions of use that are clear that you can have a secondary suite, a single family dwelling as well as an additional residence in accordance with"},{"t":6143,"text":"the ALR uh regulation. So yeah, there's some flexibility just within our existing uh definitions for secondary"},{"t":6150,"text":"suite. Currently, they're limited by size um as is the ALR regulations for the additional residents, but uh we"},{"t":6157,"text":"believe or I I can contest that the um uh definition and bylaw amendment is is quite clear and it's it's available as attachment one to the report."},{"t":6167,"text":"Okay. Thank you. Uh no, I have nothing further to say."},{"t":6179,"text":"Hey, I just wanted to make sure the gentleman's uh concerns were answered and sounds like they were. So, I don't see him rushing out the door. So,"},{"t":6187,"text":"yeah. Did you um can I call you to the microphone just to see?"},{"t":6192,"text":"I want to ask you in the audience. I'm going to ask you at the mic."},{"t":6196,"text":"So, do you feel your questions were answered here?"},{"t":6198,"text":"Uh not exactly. No. So, uh it's very specific. Um the definition of secondary suite uh is the term that's used is"},{"t":6208,"text":"within. Uh our question to uh planning was about a suite over a garage whether or not that would be considered an"},{"t":6216,"text":"attached garage would be considered uh within the principal residence. U we don't have clarity on that. the there"},{"t":6224,"text":"was a bit of back and forth and some of the language that came back was suggesting that it might be uh designated a different type like an ADU"},{"t":6231,"text":"additional dwelling unit or accessory dwelling unit uh depending so I don't have clarity yet my concerns so we've been waiting for since 2019 actually to"},{"t":6240,"text":"get all all for everything to align so I'm trying to get that all done at once um so in the building code there's some"},{"t":6248,"text":"definition of what uh how the suite would be attached to a principal dwelling uh shared foundation um and"},{"t":6258,"text":"sometimes it says heated space things like that but soup doesn't have that in the ALR it specifically states that you"},{"t":6264,"text":"can have a B&B in a secondary suite but if the if it if it were to end up that"},{"t":6273,"text":"somebody was going to try that their B&B was going to be allocated as an accessory dwelling unit then it could ALR could take that as the accessory"},{"t":6281,"text":"three dwelling within the LR. So that's So those three dwelling units now get"},{"t":6288,"text":"conflated and confused. So I I don't have an answer yet whether or not um a"},{"t":6295,"text":"suite above an attached garage is within a principal residence cleanly within a which is what you would ask then then"},{"t":6302,"text":"you would be presenting to the ALC under your NOI this is going to be a suite that is within"},{"t":6310,"text":"and you don't want any confusion there then on the back of that would be that uh clearly in the ALR regulations you're"},{"t":6318,"text":"allowed to have a B&B within a suite within your principal residence. But soup does not use that definition. It"},{"t":6327,"text":"just uses the term within the principal residence and doesn't specify the suite."},{"t":6333,"text":"So I'm still I still don't have clarity yet."},{"t":6336,"text":"So can I ask someone in staff to respond to that please? I'm kind of looking sort of at you, Mr. Ryland."},{"t":6344,"text":"Yeah, sorry. You pass Mr. Bar. The question being uh can a secondary suite be considered above a garage attached to"},{"t":6351,"text":"a dwelling? Yes, it can. It has to be considered part of the dwelling though."},{"t":6355,"text":"So, I mean there's lots of nuances here and and we've spoken to um the the gentleman speaker as well a few emails back and forth um to provide some"},{"t":6364,"text":"clarity. So, and we're happy to follow up further if there's if there's further questions."},{"t":6369,"text":"And the last email was that I was waiting for that clarity. Um, it seems like it should be a pretty straightforward question. I guess it's"},{"t":6376,"text":"just that what what is required for a suite to be considered within a primary"},{"t":6383,"text":"residence? Um, but or what does it what does attach mean? I so um what are the criteria for that?"},{"t":6392,"text":"So, can I ask um can I ask uh through the CAO that if we can if we can get a definition"},{"t":6400,"text":"to to the applicant there? Thank you, councelor Shier."},{"t":6408,"text":"Uh I think that uh this entire exercise was meant at least in large part to bring our bylaws in alignment with the"},{"t":6416,"text":"ALC. Correct. Okay. So it sounds to me as if we need to make sure that our definitions are actually also in"},{"t":6422,"text":"alignment with the ALC. That's not is is that what we're going to be looking at in the as to clarify this because it"},{"t":6430,"text":"makes sense that if we're trying to clarify the definitions my opinion would be not not exactly the"},{"t":6437,"text":"same issue. So, one is yes, the the ALR should or the Souk should allow three dwelling units within the ALR, which is pretty clear and that's that's where"},{"t":6446,"text":"we're going forward with. My concern is that there would then be some other definition interference"},{"t":6453,"text":"that would cause a a concern with the LC or whatever. So, okay. And I'm just suggesting that at"},{"t":6461,"text":"this point if we can as much as possible align our definitions as well so that you know we have clarity. Excuse Mr. Ronnie has his hand up. Yes, sir."},{"t":6468,"text":"Yeah, just just to add to that. So, um as council St. Pierre uh is aware through the LUDC, um we have brought"},{"t":6476,"text":"forward uh some well received direction, sorry, from the LUC and then from council to bring uh forward some amendments to modernize our short-term"},{"t":6484,"text":"rental regulations. So, we'll be adding some additional clarity there and there's some tie into homebased business regulations which you've heard in this"},{"t":6491,"text":"discussion briefly as well. We are also looking at agurism, a maggot tourism accommodation uses. And then finally,"},{"t":6497,"text":"this uh is basically to reinstate um uh the additional residents in the ALR that"},{"t":6504,"text":"was uh mistakenly uh amended and removed uh during the SMO bylaw amendments uh at the end of last year or beginning of"},{"t":6511,"text":"last year, sorry. Um so there's a lot of uh balls in the air, so to speak. Um and we'll make sure that the clarity and consistency is there when we bring"},{"t":6518,"text":"forward the final uh amendments. This is one part of of an overall package. Thank you very much. The patches will keep coming."},{"t":6526,"text":"Question. The patches will keep coming."},{"t":6528,"text":"Yeah. Um just do do you have to have an internal connection or access between an"},{"t":6536,"text":"a suite above an attached garage and the principal residence."},{"t":6541,"text":"So I'll put that through to staff. That's not a question I can answer at council. Mr. Charlie."},{"t":6550,"text":"Yes. So, uh, we don't have the definite."},{"t":6551,"text":"It's not clear, uh, if there needs to be an internal connection to the the dwelling. So, it' be something I'd refer to our building department to confirm"},{"t":6558,"text":"what exactly is considered, uh, an appropriate attachment under the building code. We call the question. That's where I'm trying to get to."},{"t":6566,"text":"Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Okay."},{"t":6570,"text":"All those in favor of the motion, that's unanimous. Thank you."},{"t":6578,"text":"Okay."},{"t":6582,"text":"Okay. We're off to new business. There any new business agenda? And I have a question. Uh motion. Does motion arising fall under new business?"},{"t":6592,"text":"Believe it does."},{"t":6594,"text":"I have a motion arising if this is the right place for it. Now. Yes. Okay."},{"t":6602,"text":"I'll ask Mr. Mo now. I think it's now."},{"t":6606,"text":"to provide your worship. I would normally advise that a motion arising would be best attached to the item that it's arising"},{"t":6613,"text":"from. But if there's something say which has already been dealt with on the agenda which um you would like to bring"},{"t":6620,"text":"up now then new business is as good a place as any for that. But if it's [clears throat] still to come then I would suggest waiting until that item."},{"t":6626,"text":"Okay. Okay. Or or it might be notice of motion. Basically, um, I'm noticing how much back and forth we're having over the mics and having them on and off, and"},{"t":6635,"text":"I believe there might be better technological solutions at this point in time. I'd like a report from staff on something we could do about this because this is ridiculous."},{"t":6644,"text":"I will second that motion. I also have a complaint about the technology in this room. No, sir."},{"t":6652,"text":"That's it. That's all I got. Okay. Um, it's been brought up to me on several occasions that people who are watching from home get this little teeny screen."},{"t":6661,"text":"They can't see people. They can't. So, could we could we in this motion? Could"},{"t":6668,"text":"we include a technology upgrade or some suggestions from a staff report? uh your worship I can advise you that we've been"},{"t":6676,"text":"looking at a number of different ways to do audiovisisual of these meetings in uh in recent weeks including one unfortunately failed but somewhat"},{"t":6684,"text":"different way of broadcasting a committee of the whole uh several weeks back and one of those changes is that anybody watching this meeting right now"},{"t":6691,"text":"I would hope based on the setup that we configured shortly before the meeting is watching a big picture of all the members debated okay although now I've"},{"t":6700,"text":"just been flashed a picture and I'm not sure that's happening But that's certainly the intent that we're going for."},{"t":6705,"text":"Okay. So, um, we still have a question on the floor and a motion and no a motion arising."},{"t":6711,"text":"Yeah. So, I don't want to make a huge amount of work for Steph. I understand staff is probably already trying to address some of these issues. I was hoping that I assume it could maybe"},{"t":6720,"text":"bring forward uh some idea of how we can I mean honestly I think I'm just inspired by various teams meeting"},{"t":6728,"text":"YouTubes where automatically you get the picture of the person who's speaking uh the mic's turn on and captured immediately. Uh right now we're still"},{"t":6734,"text":"losing audio regularly. So I know that people are listening on these and are not getting what some people are saying because we're forgetting to turn the mics on. So, it's just if there's a"},{"t":6743,"text":"better way, I would love to know that we're moving forward on that. I'm not sure if it's really uh council's place to get involved in operational matters"},{"t":6751,"text":"like this, except that we're so directly affected. So, there we go. I guess I'm looking for a report and maybe some ideas of options"},{"t":6760,"text":"on solutions. Uh so through her through his worship um as I indicated I can advise that this is something that staff"},{"t":6768,"text":"are certainly very aware of and we're looking at looking into and we would very much like to improve the experience and make it better for both residents watching and for members participating."},{"t":6777,"text":"Uh my advice at this point would be that it feels that this is a notice of motion about instructing staff to bring forward a report and investigating staff time."},{"t":6786,"text":"In which case, I would recommend that that should be filed as a notice of motion if it's something that you would actually like to investigate."},{"t":6796,"text":"How does council feel? Let me turn this back on."},{"t":6802,"text":"Does anybody else have any comments about the technology in this room? I do."},{"t":6807,"text":"So, I was waiting to see if anybody else has our what our our our I feel our um technology is kind of antiquated and"},{"t":6814,"text":"it's it just I our report would please me to know what the options are, how much they cost. I know we have a a tight"},{"t":6822,"text":"budget, but um I've received several complaints as of late about the technology from the home viewing because"},{"t":6830,"text":"a lot of people do want to, you know, given the times of day and all of these things that are there, they do want to watch from home and they do want it to be interact. Not interactive, they want"},{"t":6837,"text":"to be able to watch it and understand what's going on. So yeah. So I guess we're looking at council sadly."},{"t":6851,"text":"But that would be a not a notice of motion in the next section. Correct? Yes."},{"t":6854,"text":"Okay. I'll try and craft something quick. Okay."},{"t":6860,"text":"Notice motions for which notice has been given. 12.1 potential zoning bylaw amendments detached suite and size limits review. Councelor Haldane"},{"t":6868,"text":"provided notice of motion notice provided notice of the following motion that council instructs staff to bring forward a report on floor area limits on"},{"t":6877,"text":"detached suites in zoning bylaw 600 including potential amendments to the zoning bylaw to remove the current limit of 90 square meters and to align with the BC building codes standard."},{"t":6890,"text":"Councelor Hallane, do you wish to comment?"},{"t":6893,"text":"Yeah, I mean at this point it's just a um some municipalities are changing."},{"t":6898,"text":"They're allowing suites, detached suites to be any size. The province allows it in the building code now. They're trying to come up with as many ways of getting"},{"t":6906,"text":"people into housing as possible. The problem with the 90 square meters is it limits you to two-bedroom. So lots of retirees would like to have those third"},{"t":6915,"text":"bedroom or to have a 12 or 1400 square foot detached area. So the whole idea here is to give you some more flexibility than we"},{"t":6924,"text":"already have. It's allowed in the building code. People are following it all over the province now anyway. We just have to update our bylaws to be able to allow it as well. And the other"},{"t":6932,"text":"component that's been um sort of part of this for a number of years is if you were to build a house with a suite, the"},{"t":6941,"text":"suite can only be a maximum of 40% of whatever the total square footage of the house is. So that would have to be changed as well and that's not in here."},{"t":6950,"text":"But maybe when the staff brings back the report, we can come up with some of those. It was a 60/40 split, meaning you you couldn't have a, you know, a"},{"t":6959,"text":"detached suite bigger than than the house. In this way, it could be either either. And with a lot of people now deciding to move into maybe the smaller"},{"t":6968,"text":"suite or the house and that's their principal residence and they're renting out the bigger one. That's why this whole thing makes a lot of sense in"},{"t":6974,"text":"today's world because a lot of people who own property are the senior people and they would like to to build a place for themselves on that property that"},{"t":6983,"text":"would be their principal residence and they could either rent, sell or give the other house which may be bigger to the kids, you know, or to the younger"},{"t":6991,"text":"family. So, anyhow, that's what this is all about for me. So, Oh, you're making a motion to Oh, yeah. I thought it was self-explanatory."},{"t":7000,"text":"Yeah. Yeah. I'd like to make the the motion that council will instruct staff to bring forward report on floor area limits, detached suites, and zoning bylaw 600, including potential"},{"t":7008,"text":"amendments to the zoning bylaw to remove the current limit of 90 square meters, and to align with the BC building code standard. Have a second."},{"t":7016,"text":"Second by councelor Payton. Question. Yep. Um you're okay. Yeah, go ahead."},{"t":7023,"text":"Uh I just don't think it's What is the build BC B building code standard? Do they have a number or do they"},{"t":7031,"text":"they allow a detached suite to be any size though, whatever size you decide? Councelor Bman."},{"t":7038,"text":"Yeah. So I'm very happy to to second this. I I did bring a similar motion forward in um June 12th, 2023."},{"t":7048,"text":"And yes, the um the BC building code of 2018, revision number two of December"},{"t":7054,"text":"12th, 2019, removed all size restrictions on secondary suites. Um and"},{"t":7063,"text":"as a result, um yeah, that motion didn't move forward because we had lack of uh staffing in the planning department at"},{"t":7071,"text":"that point in time. But we're now we have a full compliment and I think uh this kind of I'm just getting work at this point."},{"t":7079,"text":"Oh, we'll get Yes. Okay. So, yeah, I'm very much in favor of this. You know, we have back in 2023, we had 349 permitted"},{"t":7088,"text":"secondary suites in Souk. Um an unknown number of illegal suites. I think the feeling was that by by making this kind"},{"t":7096,"text":"of amendment we would see more um compliance and um yeah we we need these"},{"t":7103,"text":"kind of more more more secondary suites please. So thank you councelor Haldane for bringing this forward. Any other comments?"},{"t":7111,"text":"Yes Mr."},{"t":7113,"text":"just for clarity purposes as we'll be writing this report but is it the intent uh to focus on detached suites or attached or all?"},{"t":7122,"text":"I would say all at this point and if I can give some clarity on that. Um a few years ago I built a duplex for two"},{"t":7130,"text":"sisters and the problem was there um they had to do a duplex instead of a they wanted to do a house with a suite but they couldn't because they both"},{"t":7138,"text":"wanted to have a two-bedroom side and so in the end we ended up making one bedroom in one side and a threebedroom"},{"t":7146,"text":"in the other side and they worked it out between the two of them but it was because we had that 60/40 split thing and so I'd like that to be included in"},{"t":7154,"text":"the report if if that's possible or do we have to amend to do It's a report anyway, right?"},{"t":7157,"text":"It's a report on the whole thing is to include flexibility to try and make it easier, especially through families and family members and stuff because there going to be a lot of sharing of property coming"},{"t":7165,"text":"up over the next little while and I'd [clears throat] like to give bigger, easier, better ideas for people to be able to make all this stuff work. So,"},{"t":7174,"text":"so yeah, I appreciate the more information the better."},{"t":7176,"text":"You have information, Mr. Ryan, to make that report."},{"t":7182,"text":"Okay. It just says on detached suite. So we would be removing that word detached I would assume. Right. Yeah."},{"t":7188,"text":"Can we do that Mr. Lois on the fly or do we have to have a amendment?"},{"t":7193,"text":"Uh your worship the motion has uh as in the agenda has already been moved and seconded. So if you would like to amend it then that amendment would need to be moved seconded and voted upon."},{"t":7206,"text":"Just curious u I thought notice a motion uh just being read in at this point in time. No."},{"t":7214,"text":"No, no, this is a motion for which notice was given. This is I'm confused. Ignore me."},{"t":7220,"text":"We're giving staff instructions with this notice. Okay. So, do you want to move an amendment? Councelor Holiday."},{"t":7224,"text":"Yeah. Friendly amendment to include all suites, detach and detach."},{"t":7229,"text":"Second. Second's okay with that. On the amendment, all those in favor carried unanimously. Now, on the main motion,"},{"t":7236,"text":"all those in favor? Unanimous. Thank you. Well,"},{"t":7245,"text":"13.1 Souk budget input Eric Bucher requested for discussion by councelor Batesman Baitman uh souk budget input"},{"t":7252,"text":"Eric Buchcher and that council received the correspondence title souk budget input Eric Buchet for information."},{"t":7258,"text":"Councelor Baitman over Yeah. So thank you. So, Colonel Bouche came to our budget openhouse and um he"},{"t":7266,"text":"he spoke um eloquently as ever on the fact that um"},{"t":7273,"text":"he was concerned about policing costs related to the federal gun buyback program and uh he he was he's now"},{"t":7281,"text":"forwarded this this letter. He's as he says he's writing on behalf of 1100 registered firearm owners in the Souk region. as he says, \"The purpose of this"},{"t":7290,"text":"letter is not to open a local public debate on firearm regulation. His concerns are about the use of local RCMP"},{"t":7297,"text":"police time and resources to enforce the program.\" Um, and he closes by saying, \"I strongly encourage council to make it"},{"t":7305,"text":"clear in the ongoing budgeting process that no suit resources or funding will be made available to implement or support this federal program.\""},{"t":7315,"text":"So I did follow up with the detachment commander and he he says um from my understanding there is going to be a"},{"t":7322,"text":"mobile colle so the anesty period ends on October October 30th of this year and once that"},{"t":7330,"text":"happens um there has been partial um response not a very strong response to"},{"t":7336,"text":"the the government's call for um returning these these uh these guns. Um, so the staff, here I go again."},{"t":7349,"text":"Detachment Commander Will Cox, he there will be mobile collection units set up after October 30th, likely in Victoria"},{"t":7356,"text":"andor Langford. The firearms will be destroyed on site will not be need need to be handled by local RCMP."},{"t":7363,"text":"So most detachments, including ourselves, do not have the capacity for collection or destruction. So that is why they're setting up these mobile"},{"t":7370,"text":"collection sites. So basically um Colonel Buchet's made a good point. We should not be spending uh directing our"},{"t":7378,"text":"SUK RCMP to engage in federal programs without receiving grant monies to so do but it doesn't sound like uh that will"},{"t":7386,"text":"be an issue. The detachment commander says he will report back to us as more information comes in. So basically I'm"},{"t":7394,"text":"moving that we receive this for information. I'll second. Seconded by councelor Boss. Anyone?"},{"t":7402,"text":"Any comments or questions? No. All those in favor? Carried unanimously."},{"t":7409,"text":"Okay. 13.2."},{"t":7411,"text":"Request to amend soup food bank service agreement Kim Kadall. Request for discussion by councelor Baitman. Request to amend soup food bank service"},{"t":7420,"text":"agreement Kim Kadal. that council received the correspondence titled requests to amend soup food bank service agreement Kim Kadall for information"},{"t":7428,"text":"over to you councelor baitman so I'll move that for"},{"t":7436,"text":"council by seconded by councelor yes okay yeah microphone under the new system"},{"t":7444,"text":"someone will have a kill switch somewhere and an activation spitch who will that be probably the mayor"},{"t":7451,"text":"Anyway, carrying on here that Miss Logan's tonight and Miss Caldell in her her letter to us made it very clear that"},{"t":7460,"text":"times are changing. Uh there is now accreditation required by food banks Canada and food banks BC as a condition for for their continued funding and this"},{"t":7470,"text":"adds a slew of new responsibilities to the food bank um which as Miss Logan says it's severely challenged to meet."},{"t":7477,"text":"financial audit training volunteers in food safety courses, works safe BC standards, cloud-based data systems for client information and reports,"},{"t":7486,"text":"emergency crisis planning, risk management planning and much more besides um as a number of us met with uh"},{"t":7493,"text":"Miss Cadell and Miss Logan's back in February and we we heard from them directly at that point and I shared some notes from that meeting with all of"},{"t":7502,"text":"council and Miss Gray and it was very clear that they there is a need for a full-time paid coordinator at at the"},{"t":7510,"text":"food bank and Kim has worked miracles as an unpaid volunteer and this simply is no longer sustainable in this new new"},{"t":7518,"text":"reality that they face. So, um I could go on, but I I do have a a motion"},{"t":7525,"text":"arising here that I'd like to read into the record, and I'll do that now. that council"},{"t":7534,"text":"direct staff to report on one possible funding sources for the additional $35,000 requested by the Souk Food Bank,"},{"t":7542,"text":"including a potential Capital Regional District contribution service funded by District of Souk and Wanduke Electoral"},{"t":7549,"text":"Area taxpayers. And number two, amendments to schedule A of the current service agreement to allow funds to be"},{"t":7557,"text":"used at the discretion of the Souk Food Bank board of directors. So if someone's prepared to second that."},{"t":7567,"text":"Thank you."},{"t":7568,"text":"That we have motion. Yes, you wish. That's okay. Trying to be more efficient."},{"t":7576,"text":"Sorry. No, I'm not."},{"t":7580,"text":"Suggest you could just call the question to receive for information and then carry on with motion."},{"t":7584,"text":"Perfect. Okay. So on the original motion which is that the council received the"},{"t":7592,"text":"correspondence title request to amend soup food bank service agreement for information. We already have a mover and a seconder. So I'll call the question on"},{"t":7601,"text":"that. All those in favor that's unanimous. So now, okay, so I'll motivate on that motion"},{"t":7608,"text":"that I've just read into the record. And um I so we we recently I think a couple"},{"t":7617,"text":"years ago upped the soup food bank uh service agreement to 50,000 and now we have this new era and the extra 35,000"},{"t":7625,"text":"um is is uh the the amount requested by the food bank. the CA the Capital"},{"t":7633,"text":"Regional District Contribution Service um the mayor did reach out to the CRD's"},{"t":7639,"text":"uh corporate officer and indeed um there is a possibility that this could well happen. This would involve as it states"},{"t":7646,"text":"in the motion uh every one of us um who are taxpayers contributing a small amount on our annual CRD requisition that would go directly to the food bank."},{"t":7658,"text":"Um so that that is an opportunity. Uh it would require the district pursuit to"},{"t":7665,"text":"reach out to director Wickham from the JDF and determine his interest in this"},{"t":7672,"text":"and then it would be up to the new board at the uh Capital Regional District to uh consider this as per perhaps as part"},{"t":7681,"text":"of their strategic planning process starting in late this year and into the new year. Um, so that's that's a"},{"t":7689,"text":"possibility to raise that 35,000. This this this motion does request staff to scour"},{"t":7697,"text":"if you can any further after this budget process to see if there's 35,000 lying around, which is highly unlikely. Um, so"},{"t":7707,"text":"anyway, that that's that part one. Part two is amendments to schedule A."},{"t":7711,"text":"Schedule A of the current service agreement requires I don't have it in front of me, but I believe it's just strictly uh food purchases um for the $50,000."},{"t":7723,"text":"What what uh Kim and Nikki would like to do on behalf of the food bank board of directors is to use that this money at"},{"t":7731,"text":"their discretion potentially to to contribute towards funding for that full-time coordinator."},{"t":7739,"text":"So, that's what I've got."},{"t":7741,"text":"Thank you, councelor Baitman. Uh, councelor Hallane, you're the seconder."},{"t":7746,"text":"Sure. Yeah. Um, looking through government acts and so on. I mean, municipalities aren't legally part of the funding for food banks obviously."},{"t":7758,"text":"Um, the other thing is even with if you take we got poor, Jordan River, Shirley, East Souk and Machosen. I've done"},{"t":7766,"text":"deliveries before as well. So, it does it it's broad very broad. and who's getting these services. What we also go over to um First Nations, more than one."},{"t":7778,"text":"So, I think we're in a position now. I mean, the funding has to come from a more diverse than just even us and CRD."},{"t":7786,"text":"I mean, I'm happy to come up with some funding option, you know, or something we could contribute, but we can't be the sole part of it for sure. And it it"},{"t":7794,"text":"should also not just burden just on homeowners, should burden on all taxpayers, similar to uh cell phone bills being done $5 a time rather than"},{"t":7803,"text":"it be homeowners paying for 911 services, you know. So, I think we need to come up with a modeling. We need to come up with a plan on how we get there."},{"t":7812,"text":"And I don't doubt I mean, Kim deserves to be paid. I mean, she's been doing it for a long time, obviously. I don't know what that looks like, but we have to"},{"t":7821,"text":"come up with something somehow. I'd rather see her get paid than suspended on the the tourism stuff. So, I mean, if"},{"t":7828,"text":"we can find out how we can come up with monies to make this work, you know, I'm I'm in support of of finding out how we"},{"t":7835,"text":"can make that work. So, uh I support the motion. I think it's a really good idea to actually uh see"},{"t":7844,"text":"about getting monies from the CRD and from regional governments for something that is being services are being provided on a regional level by souk. So"},{"t":7852,"text":"makes sense to just turn that around a little bit and uh see if we can actually do a little bit better and actually spread the burden and make sure we have"},{"t":7861,"text":"the services. Uh my concern continues with this stuff to be that uh I don't think that necessarily as a local"},{"t":7868,"text":"government we should be the ones on the hook for this but we cannot allow our residents to not have these services. So"},{"t":7876,"text":"I think this is a very important advocacy piece that we need to take wherever we can to UBCM wherever. Uh I would suggest that I do have a"},{"t":7884,"text":"resolution that could be brought forward to UBCM which would address at least some of it but not all of it because our food bank also provides haircuts. Uh it"},{"t":7891,"text":"catches people just as they're about to lose their homes. It helps with all sorts of different services and make sure that people don't end up homeless ended up honestly costing taxpayers even"},{"t":7900,"text":"more. So it is a critical service to actually save ourselves money and at the same time protect people. So I do agree with spending the money one way or another."},{"t":7909,"text":"But the flip side is that this should actually be something that is handled at a higher level in better ways. Uh the"},{"t":7917,"text":"resolution that I would have in mind would be to make sure that grocery stores are legally bound to basically lower the price of food that's about to"},{"t":7924,"text":"expire progressively until it gets to a very cheap point. that would actually allow grocery stores to act as food banks and allow people to maintain"},{"t":7932,"text":"dignity while they grab their food and allow an organization like the one that Kim has built to continue providing the services they are which are still desperately needed and aren't covered by"},{"t":7941,"text":"a grocery store. But anyway, I'm just I'm getting a little off track, but yeah, I mean there's there's no doubt we"},{"t":7948,"text":"need to do something here. The problem with the first part of it is that we've just passed a budget and and part of that budget was the a lotment that we"},{"t":7957,"text":"gave to the food bank uh which we up from previous amount. So that gets a bit complicated. Uh I like this uh business"},{"t":7966,"text":"about going to the CRD uh because this food bank and we just talk about the food. to do other services. I"},{"t":7973,"text":"understand. But like for me, I go out once a month uh to Port Renfruit and I take uh Jane and I take 50some campers"},{"t":7982,"text":"out there and I know they do it out to Beer Bay. I know uh all over uh Shirley"},{"t":7988,"text":"all these places. So I think the burden needs to be spread out a bit more. And I I know it's going to get councelor"},{"t":7996,"text":"Haldane a little upset, but I think the uh I think it might have to come back on to the homeowners, but at least it'll be"},{"t":8002,"text":"in the homeowners of the whole area as opposed to just the residents of zoo."},{"t":8007,"text":"And uh just like we do for the museum, just like we do for Seapart, uh if there's an assessment on the taxes that"},{"t":8015,"text":"go to the food bank, put it to the residents of all these areas saying, would you be willing to pay 10 $10 a"},{"t":8022,"text":"year on your taxes and it has to be a a referendum type. Uh we did it for SEAPART. um that would be the way to go"},{"t":8031,"text":"and that would get them some stable funding as it did with the museum uh the historical society a number of years back they were all struggling and then"},{"t":8039,"text":"they made made an effort and they got it put on your taxes so you see on your tax notice that you're paying so much for the museum um I don't like to go to the"},{"t":8049,"text":"residence again for this but uh man oh man people are people are hungry and uh I' I've seen the hampers uh they're"},{"t":8057,"text":"pretty sparse I mean, I wish we could do better. Uh, I'm kind of embarrassed sometimes, but then again, I also see at the other end"},{"t":8065,"text":"of things when I see them waiting at the truck because they don't have anything and what little we're giving them at least gets them gone for two or three"},{"t":8074,"text":"days. So, we need to do something. And I like this second uh motion. Uh, I know it puts a little bit of a burden on our"},{"t":8081,"text":"staff, do a little bit of research. Uh but I guess you know it's part of being in the community and I certainly think"},{"t":8089,"text":"that Wafuca and uh has to step up in this whether it's on a someotment that"},{"t":8096,"text":"we get uh to the taxpayers I don't know but we need to do something and I think this is a good start. So I'll support the motion."},{"t":8104,"text":"Thank you councelor and thank you for the work that you do at the food bank as well. Um we love our food bank and and"},{"t":8111,"text":"and we love what it does. where unfortunately that it has to do it and and and uh we've got to come up with solutions and and some of those"},{"t":8119,"text":"solutions are within our control and some are not. I think we have to I think we have to I you know we've got to look for corporate sponsorship and things"},{"t":8127,"text":"like that that there's people out there that I I think will will help and and I think that um communicating with UBCM it"},{"t":8136,"text":"gets you know councelor um Bettos's earlier statement that things get lost in bureaucracy and in UBCM and and and"},{"t":8143,"text":"sometimes I feel almost I don't embarrassed that we ask UBCM and it gets you know resolution number 323 three and"},{"t":8152,"text":"I think we have to I think we have to act locally which is the CRD. And I think we have to reach out to our partners, our business partners that are"},{"t":8159,"text":"in our communities and and you know I don't and I don't know what that looks like. We have to see if we can develop some forms of sponsorships where where"},{"t":8168,"text":"it's something that we're that we're we're celebrating and and proud of doing. So, I um I support the motion"},{"t":8175,"text":"because we do have to do something and and our most vulnerable are at risk and and sometimes it's not the ones that we"},{"t":8182,"text":"see, it's the people who are at home and waiting for that truck. So, anyways, thank you for bringing this forward. I"},{"t":8190,"text":"will uh would you like to come to the microphone, Miss Lockins?"},{"t":8199,"text":"Hard to tell, but I kind of got the hint."},{"t":8203,"text":"And normally we wouldn't get away with it, but the food bank is near and dear to all of our hearts as you can hear, and we have to somehow be creative and figure it out."},{"t":8211,"text":"Thank you. I appreciate it. Um the uh I really encouraged by the discussion about seeking more support for the food bank. Timeline worries me."},{"t":8222,"text":"The uh the motion looks like a long drawn out process with reporting and CRD involvement and so on. At very least, can I request that the second part of"},{"t":8230,"text":"that amended that motion be um acted on in a faster way immediately if possible?"},{"t":8238,"text":"And that is the um the um revision of the use of the funds in the current service agreement. Thank you."},{"t":8250,"text":"Thank you, Councelor Baitman. Your motion originally. Well, I could easily add amend to part two is immediate"},{"t":8256,"text":"amendments to schedule A though I suspect Pat staff have heard this request and over to our CO."},{"t":8266,"text":"Uh could I just ask that I I guess the idea was staff was going to report back on that and look into that and just"},{"t":8272,"text":"confirm uh any legal concerns with just leaving it open-ended like that. um how that might impact other service"},{"t":8280,"text":"agreements because that would be a fundamental change in how council normally has distributed those funds and the parameters put around that. So my"},{"t":8288,"text":"recommendation would be staff understand the urgency and would bring back a report even if it's just on that item um sooner rather than later if the CRDP"},{"t":8296,"text":"takes a little longer versus directing us to just change this today would be my request. Um and and thank you for that"},{"t":8303,"text":"uh CEO Ray and and I could could st could council request that an expedited"},{"t":8311,"text":"turnaround on on this because because of the urgency stated by the for sure. Yes. Um definitely the first part um to to the point contacting the"},{"t":8320,"text":"CRD will take a little more time, but that's not to say we can't report back on the second part uh sooner and and we'll do that. Okay."},{"t":8332,"text":"Oh, could turn the microphone off. Okay."},{"t":8338,"text":"Okay. So, on the on the original motion of to direct staff to report on possible funding sources. So, I've already read that once. Do I need to read it again?"},{"t":8350,"text":"No. We've already have a mover and a secretary. All those in favor that's carried unanimously. Unanimously."},{"t":8357,"text":"So, Miss Loggins, before you go, thank you for the work that you do in our community. Thank you."},{"t":8370,"text":"Receive the correspondence title daylight savings time, city of Lford, for information. How else do they Well, it was a particularly juicy"},{"t":8379,"text":"correspondence file. They often are, and I opted to pull this. Um, I I'm a genuine fan of the current City of"},{"t":8388,"text":"Langford Council and they often take note of the remarkable care, concern, and first rate planning they pour into"},{"t":8396,"text":"the uh future of their community. Um th this is a very thoughtful, caring and um"},{"t":8404,"text":"letter um good logic, effective advocacy, and it's being sent to Premier Eie and other senior ministers regarding"},{"t":8413,"text":"the uh the impacts of permanent daylight savings time on children and parents who will be in the dark on their way to"},{"t":8420,"text":"school. you know, at on December, I think it was December 15th, the sun will not rise until approximately 9:00 am."},{"t":8429,"text":"So, these, you know, schools already underway and you've got there in the dark. So, this council, Langford, has stated very clearly they would like um"},{"t":8437,"text":"the immediate reopening of BC's active transportation infrastructure grant program explicitly for safe routes to school"},{"t":8445,"text":"projects. Now of course this has been a casualty of the 2026 BC budget but um the ask here is to to open that up for"},{"t":8454,"text":"those very explicit projects. Second part is uh establishment of a program that would ensure all students have"},{"t":8461,"text":"access to lights and reflective gear and they would also like to see the expansion of the walking school bus"},{"t":8469,"text":"program which has been initiated here in Souk I think with Parier he says looking over and the head is"},{"t":8476,"text":"nodding. Um so those are three great things. So I I would I do have a motion that I brought forward tonight a very simple one."},{"t":8486,"text":"[clears throat]"},{"t":8486,"text":"Can we that council receive the correspondence? Let's do that. Yes. I have a motion. You make that motion."},{"t":8492,"text":"Do I have a seconder for that? Councelor Haldane. Yeah. All those in favor? Okay."},{"t":8497,"text":"So, I knowing um Yeah. So, my follow-up motion is that council direct the mayor to write the province in support of the"},{"t":8505,"text":"city of Langford's resolution of March 30th, 2026 titled Permanent Daylight Saving Time and the Impacts on Safe Routes to School."},{"t":8516,"text":"Second for that."},{"t":8518,"text":"Councelor St. Pierre, you've kind of motivated already. So, yeah, I have. Councelor St. Pierre, any questions, comments? All those in favor?"},{"t":8529,"text":"Carried unanimously."},{"t":8533,"text":"Item 14, items removed from the consent consent agenda."},{"t":8541,"text":"Over to you. Uh you wore that there were two items removed from the consent agenda being 7.3 CEO report and 7.5 3D tech and land use planning."},{"t":8549,"text":"Okay. 7.3 I think."},{"t":8557,"text":"Yeah."},{"t":8559,"text":"Yeah. Yeah, the 7.3 um I heard it on Adam Sterling and I've heard it on the radio from numerous"},{"t":8566,"text":"municipalities that have um talked about the passing of councelor Lillian Spock who put in many years of service. So I"},{"t":8575,"text":"mean I'd like to recognize that here as well. So rather than just go into the report and you know fall through the"},{"t":8582,"text":"cracks, you know, I'd like to openly, you know, give our regards to councelor Spock and her passing."},{"t":8590,"text":"I would ask any other counselors if they have any comments. Go ahead, councelor Sier."},{"t":8599,"text":"I had the good fortune to spend some time on the bus with Lillian."},{"t":8602,"text":"Uh she was pretty wonderful. Uh she was a huge uh she was a force to be reckoned with and"},{"t":8610,"text":"a beautiful person. Uh she will be missed um especially at conferences was generally the only time that I get to see her regularly and I won't get to see"},{"t":8619,"text":"her again and it's it's a sad passing council."},{"t":8626,"text":"No, I agree. Somebody of that caliber needs to be acknowledged and I thank you uh councelor Haldane for bringing that out and uh yeah I think I don't know"},{"t":8634,"text":"whether we need a vote on that. I just notice from the chair I extend our condolences to the family and uh yeah"},{"t":8644,"text":"yeah thanks for that opportunity. you know, at at the AVIC, the Association of Vancouver Island Coastal Communities"},{"t":8650,"text":"Conference, she was there as ever, and on on the final day, she was wearing a a birthday hat with a big candle on it."},{"t":8659,"text":"She and um I I hear she was out on the dance floor again, just"},{"t":8665,"text":"great moves. And she also has served Langford remarkably well for so many years. I didn't know her at all well, but um yeah, my my condolences."},{"t":8676,"text":"Yeah. Yeah. Eline."},{"t":8679,"text":"Yeah. Um I've known her for a long time. I mean, I met her back in 2008 and and uh she's adversarial, but she is also agreeable."},{"t":8692,"text":"I mean, she was on the same side on a lot of the issues that that I was part of. I sat on the water commission with her for a number of years, and you know,"},{"t":8700,"text":"she was a great lady. she liked to have a good time and she definitely let you know that when you went on these um ABICC's, UBCMs and so on and she showed"},{"t":8709,"text":"up to everything. She was she was dedicated to being a counselor. So um the big thing here is you put in a lot"},{"t":8715,"text":"of time in this job. So thank you. My own experience with uh Lillian was uh first met her on the"},{"t":8724,"text":"Wandafuca water commission and and uh what struck me early on was the tenacity that she had for Langford if there was"},{"t":8732,"text":"an issue and she want she wanted clarity on how that was going to affect Langford. She said Langford she"},{"t":8740,"text":"enunciated it. She was an advocate for Langford. She was an advocate for women in politics. She was an advocate for uh"},{"t":8748,"text":"healthy living, riding her bike to all these meetings. And it's um an absolute"},{"t":8755,"text":"um unfairness that that she left us uh so soon because she was a truly remarkable woman in in local politics"},{"t":8763,"text":"and and a force to be reckoned with. So, uh, I enjoyed all the time with her and like I say, we got to say happy birthday to her, uh, less than two or 3 weeks ago"},{"t":8772,"text":"and very sad passing and on behalf of Sue Council tonight, we'd like to extend our condolences to, uh, Lillian's family"},{"t":8781,"text":"and the city of Langford. So, thank you, council, for your participation."},{"t":8789,"text":"Next item, removed from consent agenda, councelor Haldane."},{"t":8794,"text":"Yeah. Um well I appreciate this coming forward for the whole idea you know trying to give people more clarity in the downtown and so on and so forth. Um"},{"t":8802,"text":"I think it's incumbent that the developers just pay they bring a report forward with their application. They"},{"t":8809,"text":"they provide the service at their expense. I don't believe that we need to do anything major with the district buy"},{"t":8817,"text":"hard or you know software train people and and new bunch of things. It's just going to be another cost again to taxpayers and we don't have a lot of"},{"t":8824,"text":"development that goes on in our downtown anyway. Who are we kidding? So really what little stuff does come, you can do a 3D model for it. Everybody can have a"},{"t":8832,"text":"look at it and it can be done and born by the the applicant and the development company themselves. So I mean I'd like it to stay at that level, but I'm only"},{"t":8841,"text":"one of many at this table. So thank you. Anybody Oh, go ahead. Councelor St."},{"t":8850,"text":"Pierre, I'd just like to maybe provide some more information because I I was I was chairing the meeting and one of the things that was very clear is that we"},{"t":8858,"text":"already uh have access to the software through licensing. So, we wouldn't have to pay for that. uh and this would be uh"},{"t":8865,"text":"more for the use inhouse of informing our plans and helping us figure out for example we could do modeling to see what"},{"t":8872,"text":"the impacts of a change in a bylaw might be in terms of you know things like massing and what is it what what can"},{"t":8879,"text":"this stuff actually do so it's actually a tool for us to do better planning work and have better bylaws and have better ways of actually"},{"t":8887,"text":"uh actualizing things like the OCP in the ways that people want to see it happen."},{"t":8892,"text":"So, it's not so much a tool for developers to present their vision."},{"t":8895,"text":"They're going to have to do their own job as you've said. Uh it's more of a tool for our staff to actually"},{"t":8902,"text":"help guide us and we have most of the uh the costs already inhouse covered. So, it's a very small training amount that"},{"t":8910,"text":"would actually get us an additional benefit that can be built upon in the future in other ways. So, there's good potential for savings as well. Y Elser Pavement."},{"t":8921,"text":"Yeah. So I I did bring this motion forward. This was uh recommended by uh Rob Barry from our land use and"},{"t":8928,"text":"development committee and um indeed the staff report that we received at the um"},{"t":8935,"text":"land use committee very clearly said um and I'll quote again here uh 3D modeling would be useful for illustrating how"},{"t":8943,"text":"permitted heights, densities and zoning standards may translate into built form testing general massing transition and"},{"t":8951,"text":"shadow implications. s showing relationships among buildings, streets, public spaces, and access points. Um,"},{"t":8958,"text":"very very important in as visual. We're a visual society now, and we need to see these sort of things. Um, in in 3D, not these two-dimensional flat um diagrams."},{"t":8971,"text":"So quote again, this may be particularly relevant when the district wishes to update the town center plan in a way that gives more practical effect to OCP"},{"t":8979,"text":"direction respecting public access, view corridors, built form, and public realm."},{"t":8984,"text":"And as council St. Pierre said that we already have the software, um it will take approximately $9,000"},{"t":8992,"text":"to um do the training and implementation support for uh GIS and planning staff."},{"t":9000,"text":"uh it would take about uh 3 to five weeks of GIS staff time."},{"t":9005,"text":"So we at the at the land use committee voted unanimously in favor of that and I hope we do so again tonight."},{"t":9014,"text":"Councelor Meadows."},{"t":9016,"text":"Yeah, I think uh I agree with councelor Baitman. I think this will be a tool that that it's not just used. Uh, I think when the developer comes in, he's"},{"t":9024,"text":"going to show his building and all these other things, but this is a planning exercise and we have planners here and"},{"t":9033,"text":"the downtown. I know there's not much moving at the moment, but if it does come in, I would be interested in seeing where the shadows are different times of"},{"t":9041,"text":"day and I don't think it's a high price to pay to get into the, you know, the 21st century. So, I'll be supporting this motion as I did in the land use uh committee."},{"t":9062,"text":"uh your worship."},{"t":9064,"text":"The motion has not yet been moved and seconded. You are correct. We have a motion."},{"t":9068,"text":"I'll move that the council direct staff to begin implementing the ArcGIS urban 3D modeling application."},{"t":9078,"text":"Seconded by councelor Betos. All those in favor? All opposed. Councelor Alane."},{"t":9087,"text":"Council verbal reports. Sir."},{"t":9095,"text":"Okay. Uh first of all, I give a little update from C Park. We had our meeting on Tuesday. uh the skate park, the new skate park, uh replacing the old one put"},{"t":9104,"text":"in by the Rotary Club, which we're very indebted for all those years that that skate park. It opened on Friday, went by"},{"t":9112,"text":"there on Saturday and it was full of kids and not when I mean kids, youth, some of them were 24, some of them are"},{"t":9119,"text":"older than that. So, uh and we're also Se Park is doing a grand opening celebration May 31st. It'll be quite a"},{"t":9127,"text":"splash. There'll be food trucks there and open it officially and a couple of speeches, you know, all this stuff. We already did the shovel thing. We might"},{"t":9135,"text":"cut a ribbon, I guess. So, that's coming up. Ice allocation policy was upgraded in lines with the best practices. There is our continued high demand uh on ice"},{"t":9144,"text":"at Sea Park uh stated the recreation infrastructure growth plan. We'll be uh consulting with HCMA and Cornerstone"},{"t":9152,"text":"Planning about the possibility of another ice rink in the future. Uh we're just about at the limit of our uh use of"},{"t":9160,"text":"our ice time. There is sometimes about 3 or 4 in the morning, but it's pretty hard to fill that. Fees and charges for 2627 were approved the average of 3 to"},{"t":9169,"text":"4% membership and admission rates are just below medium across the region."},{"t":9174,"text":"However, prime ice rates are quite low and may need a larger increase in the future. So, we're looking at those"},{"t":9181,"text":"pricings. So, that's basically what's going on with Sea Park. Uh hopefully uh people come out to the Sunday May 31st"},{"t":9188,"text":"event and see these kids do all these wonderful things with me. Not me. I fall down, I break. So uh yeah, and I was at"},{"t":9198,"text":"the uh Vancouver Island Regional Library audit. I went up there to I had some concerns last year about the finances of"},{"t":9206,"text":"the Bank of Riley Regional Library and before that I had some concerns about cutbacks that they're happening in suit"},{"t":9213,"text":"and uh I'm happy to say that uh they have got their house in order. I was quite surprised that the auditor came in"},{"t":9221,"text":"and uh I I sat through another audit which is always fun to sit through and uh uh they have their house in order."},{"t":9230,"text":"Their their reserve funding is up. Uh so they've dissolved a lot of their problems. And the last thing I got"},{"t":9238,"text":"involved is is I got uh volunteered I was going to say sucked in, but I got volunteered uh for MCappy days on"},{"t":9246,"text":"Wednesday and I was selling socks for happy socks, these colorful socks at the drive-thru window at McDonald's for two"},{"t":9254,"text":"hours and uh I think I sold I 354 pairs of socks at six bucks each. It was it was a lot of fun to stand at that window"},{"t":9263,"text":"and see a lot of Souk residents and every second one has a dog. Uh nine out of 10 pay with card. Nobody uses cash"},{"t":9272,"text":"anymore. Two tried to pay with a $100 bill and uh nobody takes a $100 bill anymore. So it it was fun. I enjoyed it."},{"t":9281,"text":"Good. elsewhere severe."},{"t":9285,"text":"Uh nothing in the way of verbal reports except that I do have a uh notice of motion that I hand over to staff about uh getting some better AV situation"},{"t":9294,"text":"happen. So I don't know if we want if we can still do that tonight. Uh I did send a uh submit notice of motion"},{"t":9302,"text":"on a motion arising on the AV request from AV report. So we haven't actually dealt with that."},{"t":9311,"text":"Uh thank you chair. Um, councelor S."},{"t":9313,"text":"Pierre did of course discuss this earlier and has now handed me uh text."},{"t":9317,"text":"So if council wished it to be entered uh in accordingly, then the motion recorded um motion announced at this uh meeting"},{"t":9325,"text":"would be that council direct staff to provide a report outlining options for improving the AV experience of users and viewers of district of souk meetings and"},{"t":9333,"text":"that would then be appear in the uh agenda for the next meeting for discussion."},{"t":9338,"text":"Okay. You don't need a seconder for that. He's just reading it if No, this is simply announcement at this time. Thank you. Cool. Cool."},{"t":9346,"text":"Good. Uh, councelor Haldane, anything to report verbal reports?"},{"t":9350,"text":"No, nothing to report verbally. And I did send in a notice motion on Thursday as well. So, will that be coming to the next council meeting?"},{"t":9362,"text":"Uh your worship, I have not been sent a notice of motion from councelor Haldane,"},{"t":9368,"text":"I'm afraid. Uh so I'm not in um under the procedure bylaw. Uh notices of motion need to be sent to corporate"},{"t":9376,"text":"services at least 24 hours prior to the meeting by councilors in order to be read in um in the meeting, which was why I indicated that um councelor S."},{"t":9384,"text":"Pierre's motion tonight would technically require consent of council, which did appear to be gained."},{"t":9392,"text":"Um, on Thursday I sent it to to Rachel and"},{"t":9404,"text":"I will send everything to Rachel. Do you do you have it? It'll be on the next agenda."},{"t":9411,"text":"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, CEO."},{"t":9413,"text":"Councelor Baitman, verbal reports. Of course, if it's on the next agenda, then we won't be debating it for another two weeks following the next meeting."},{"t":9424,"text":"So, could we put it on tonight and then um through his worship? Uh to clarify, motions are announced at one meeting and"},{"t":9433,"text":"then they appear on the agenda of the next meeting for discussion. So, if anything which is announced tonight will"},{"t":9440,"text":"be on the agenda of the next meeting uh for discussion and debate. Okay."},{"t":9447,"text":"So, can we put councelor Aldain's on the agenda tonight with consent of councel?"},{"t":9454,"text":"Uh, this would be in the minutes of the agenda tonight to go in the agenda for the next meeting. Uh, so if there is something that council would like to"},{"t":9462,"text":"read out, then that would be perfectly acceptable. Okay."},{"t":9467,"text":"Why don't I do my council, you do your real work. So, I'll just note that um on behalf of the mayor, I attended the uh CRD committee the whole meeting on April"},{"t":9476,"text":"29th. This was when the the board of directors reviewed the the four years the look look back and offered some"},{"t":9484,"text":"direction to the new board that will first meet in November. Um the the highlights as as as iterated by the"},{"t":9492,"text":"various board members long-term bioolid strategy and the continuing um campaign"},{"t":9499,"text":"to find a home for our bioolids both at the cement plant in Richmond and up"},{"t":9506,"text":"island in uh in Cedar. Uh establishment of the CRD transportation service to which all of us can attend a workshop"},{"t":9514,"text":"next month. Um I think those invitations have gone out. Uh launch of new CRD services dedicated to biodiversity, food"},{"t":9523,"text":"lands access and performing arts facilities and very much a strong um prioritization of relationships with CRD First Nations."},{"t":9534,"text":"So there was a recognition at the table that affordability will be a major election issue in the fall and the"},{"t":9541,"text":"recommendation is no no more new services. Um the both the transportation and the performing arts and food lands"},{"t":9549,"text":"access u are gaps that had been discussed going back at least a decade and so those have now been uh initiated."},{"t":9560,"text":"Um and there were some motions made for consideration at the strategic planning session uh that will once the new board"},{"t":9567,"text":"is in place for their their 20 26th 2030 or 2027 to 2031 actually um enhance the"},{"t":9576,"text":"advocacy strategy first introduced in 2020. Uh the feeling is letters and inerson meetings are not really doing"},{"t":9584,"text":"it. So there there needs to be a more creativity brought to bear. um on on"},{"t":9591,"text":"advocacy efforts. Um also inclusion of the reconciliation corridor strategy in the next strategic plan. This is the"},{"t":9598,"text":"route along the EN uh railway covering 15 kilometers from West Hills station to Victoria West Vic West. Um yeah, so so"},{"t":9608,"text":"that's that and I think I've that's all I've got to say. Thank you. Thank you."},{"t":9615,"text":"Um I only have one meeting in the last week which was the Wafuka water distribution meeting. Uh started off"},{"t":9623,"text":"with a uh a somber meeting because it was very very soon after Lillian's box passing who was a member of the chair of"},{"t":9631,"text":"both commissions uh the water fical water as well as the regional water supply. Uh Alicia Fraser, GM for U"},{"t":9640,"text":"Victoria Water. Stage one um water restrictions start May 1st and and are in place for till September 30th at this"},{"t":9648,"text":"point. Uh CRD will be pushing education on irrigation times, not on the hour."},{"t":9654,"text":"So, they're going to strongly encourage people, and we can say, read it into the minutes here, that you don't turn your irrigation on at exactly 4:00 a.m. or"},{"t":9663,"text":"exactly 5:00 a.m., you take it at 5:05 or 5:15 or something like that because that demand, that peak water demand,"},{"t":9670,"text":"it's, you know, it really pulls down the system. Um, CRD is, uh, Vancouver uh went into stage"},{"t":9679,"text":"two watering at the May 1st, which is almost unheard of. uh their snow pack which they rely on is somewhere it was"},{"t":9687,"text":"at 41% now it's down somewhere around 29% in the Vancouver uh they're they're"},{"t":9695,"text":"experiencing um a serious drought based on on snowpack um we don't rely on"},{"t":9702,"text":"snowpack and we are about 98% um our seasonal trends are continue to be normal at this point they they shift"},{"t":9709,"text":"about a week uh one way or the other this year it It looked like we were going to have a"},{"t":9716,"text":"a slow start to the reservoir filling, but mother nature took care of us in the end. Um the big ticket items for uh uh"},{"t":9725,"text":"Wafuka water is the asset management like all organizations. They have $2 billion of assets in the ground, various"},{"t":9735,"text":"things across municipalities. Um 68% of those are in low. uh 8% is in medium"},{"t":9742,"text":"risk, 868 is low risk, medium risk, 17 or 1% is in high risk and 22% is unknown"},{"t":9750,"text":"in so that's kind of a scary number. Um so their high level performance is based"},{"t":9757,"text":"on 70% is preventative and 30% is reactive. So um overall Wafuka water is"},{"t":9766,"text":"in still in in really um good standing."},{"t":9771,"text":"Um they've request one staff for 2027 and it's a utility operator position and that's what they need. And monthly water"},{"t":9780,"text":"quality dashboard is now online and it's it's new category. So if you have time to go look at it, it's treated versus raw water. So you'll there you go."},{"t":9792,"text":"That's it for CRD water and I think that's it. Motion to adjurnn. Oh, sorry, councelor all day."},{"t":9799,"text":"Sorry."},{"t":9800,"text":"Oh, so I'm going to read out that was the whole idea. You got dementia already, I think. So,"},{"t":9807,"text":"um my the motion is to include the senior center in new build at 6651"},{"t":9814,"text":"Watam's Way on lot A. This is the same facility being built by Catalyst Development Group which has up to 5,000 square feet of space not rented"},{"t":9823,"text":"presently and I feel a plebite will not accomplish the goal of a senior center."},{"t":9828,"text":"So that's why I'm putting this for that'll be for whenever it shows up again."},{"t":9839,"text":"Um thank you. So yes, I can confirm that we have the text of this and it has been read out. Um, I did just want to say my"},{"t":9848,"text":"concern about this as a notice of motion is that it's not clear what passage of"},{"t":9854,"text":"this would result in council being um committed to doing because it doesn't contain a statement say that council"},{"t":9861,"text":"instructs staff to take action. It doesn't contain a statement that council uh say makes a declaration. Um there's"},{"t":9870,"text":"we'd certainly be more than happy to work with uh councelor Haldane to say uh establish what it is that he wants to accomplish and to put forward"},{"t":9877,"text":"legislative language that would achieve that. But at this point uh my immediate thought is that the um first thing this"},{"t":9885,"text":"appears to be is a look at uh reconsidering the vote at the last meeting to um uh bring a plebeite"},{"t":9893,"text":"forward on the ballot. although I I'm not entirely sure if that's actually the main intention or so I if um council"},{"t":9902,"text":"Haldane is insistent then we can place this on the agenda but I'm not sure that it would be ideal I would prefer that um we sit down and discuss the actual"},{"t":9910,"text":"language of what he'd like to accomplish although that would delay things by one meeting so essentially it's up to the counselor can you do that between now and the next"},{"t":9918,"text":"meeting or do you would you and councelor Haldane like to do we can do it abs yeah we can we can we can sort this in the next couple of weeks for sure. Okay, perfect."},{"t":9961,"text":"your worship. Sorry, your microphone was off, so I'll just read it. The motion is to close the May 11th, 2026 meeting to"},{"t":9969,"text":"the public pursuant to section 91E of the community charter. Correct. Seconded."},{"t":9978,"text":"All those in favor?"},{"t":9991,"text":"You're not kidding."},{"t":9993,"text":"Hey says when?"}],"words":25441,"fetchedAt":"2026-10-03T01:21:33.143Z"}