City of Powell River councillors have voted to establish a harbour users advisory committee as a select committee of council.
At the December 7 city council meeting, corporate officer Chris Jackson said the purpose of the committee would be to provide advice to council on work plans, objectives and long-term planning, however, all management operations of the harbour remain the responsibility of city staff. He said there would be no delegated authority for the committee to oversee and direct harbour staff or operations.
Jackson said what has been put forward is a seven-member committee, with one member of council and six members of the public. He said in the terms of reference, rather than having six seats assigned and allocated to different users, the suggestion is to have six seats, and based on the expressions of interest from those wanting to be on the committee, council has the opportunity to look for balance and diversity on the committee.
Jackson said four-year terms are suggested, with half of the initial intake having two-year terms, and half having four-year terms, to provide continuity. He said there will be advertising for the positions. A deadline of January 22, 2024 was suggested for the application deadline.
In terms of costs, Jackson said there would be a couple of staff assigned to the committee.
Harbour user Ken Kolba said his understanding was that harbour users would have the opportunity to provide input on the terms of reference before adoption. He said he sent councillors an email reminding them of that and asking if the decision could be deferred for a couple of weeks. He said he didn’t hear anything back.
Jackson said it was within council’s purview to delay for the public to provide input.
Councillor George Doubt said it was important to get the committee moving and that the terms of reference were a general document.
“If you want to delay it until January to look into details, we can do that,” said Doubt. “My choice would be to get it moving and get a committee going. It’s a pretty straightforward set of rules.”
Councillor Cindy Elliott said she would be prepared to postpone the motion. She said the terms of reference were not something she would recommend seeing for the first time at a council meeting and approve at the same time.
“I concur with Mr. Kolba that the proper process is to have it at a committee of the whole and get some input and then have it go to a council meeting,” said Elliott. “I’m not entirely happy with the terms of reference at this point and I would love to have community input as well.”
Councillor Trina Isakson said when the committee meets, if it wants to alter the terms of reference and ask council to approve the updated terms, they can. She said that may delay the committee’s business but it’s possible to go that route.
Councillor Jim Palm said it would not be the first time a committee had been struck and terms of reference had to be changed and sent back to council for endorsement.
“This is something we could pass tonight and have the committee meet, look at the terms of reference and make any changes they want and bring it back to us for endorsement,” said Palm.
Council voted to establish the harbour users advisory committee and that it approves the committee terms of reference, as well as setting the date of January 22 as the deadline for public expressions of interest.
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