qathet Regional District directors have been updated on the Accessible British Columbia Act and regulation requirements for regional districts.
At the September 6 committee of the whole meeting, Electoral Area D director and committee chair Sandy McCormick said to make things truly accessible, it is going to require major capital costs.
“How are we anticipating dealing with those extra costs, removing barriers and putting in appropriate facilities?” asked McCormick.
Special projects coordinator Cheris Roberts said consideration has not been made yet.
“We don’t know exactly what the costs will be and that is something we will address in the accessibility plan,” said Roberts.
McCormick then asked about the joint accessibility and inclusion advisory committee that has representation from the regional district, City of Powell River and Powell River Public Library.
“Typically, advisory committees are appointed by boards,” said McCormick. “That was not the case with this particular committee so I’m wondering why there were members appointed to this committee differently than what we typically do.”
Chief administrative officer Al Radke said the Accessible British Columbia Act was trumping the Local Government Act in how committees were being created. He said the accessibility act spells out who should be on that committee.
“That is why we went directly to the public and bypassed the Local Government Act,” said Radke.
City councillor Cindy Elliott mentioned that correspondence had been received at the committee meeting about accessibility at Willingdon Beach for the logger sports this past July. She asked if it was appropriate to forward pieces of correspondence pertaining to accessibility to the joint accessibility committee.
Roberts said they have been forwarded to the committee.
City director George Doubt said he was struggling to determine the role of the advisory committee.
“Is it to work on the accessibility plan and to create a plan for the regional district, the city and the library all together?” asked Doubt. “Or, is it to respond to questions and issues that the public has about accessibility in the region?”
Roberts said the purpose of the committee is to provide advice and feedback to the regional district, city and library to help identify barriers and how to prevent them from occurring in the future.
“They are also responsible for providing feedback on our accessibility plan and we are also going to provide them with feedback that we receive through our accessibility feedback mechanism, to help us identify solutions,” said Roberts.
Doubt said he believes the answer is that the regional board and other boards can expect to receive communications from the advisory committee, asking for action.
Electoral Area C director and regional board chair Clay Brander said he liked the idea of the feedback mechanism. He said he was curious about how it would work and how it would be advertised so the public knows about it.
Roberts said there is a web page on the regional district website that outlines the different ways people can provide feedback.
Because the report was presented to directors for information purposes only, there was no recommendation from staff on how to proceed.
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