Ratepayers inform City of Powell River Council about coalition

Two ratepayers group representatives have informed city councillors of a new coalition that has been formed.

At the April 16 committee of the whole meeting, Townsite Ratepayers Society president Stephen Miller and Westview Ratepayers Society president Rick Craig appeared as a delegation to outline concerns such as community-to-community-to-community (C3) forums and the prospect of an intergovernmental working group. Both matters are the subject of motions at the April 18 city council meeting.

“In light of recent major issues that have arisen in Powell River and the effect these issues have or will have on the ratepayers of Powell River, the Townsite Ratepayers Society, Westview Ratepayers Society and Wildwood Ratepayers Association have joined together to create a coalition of Powell River ratepayers,” said Miller. “The terms of reference for our group are as follows: the coalition will strive to provide information and representation for all taxpayers in matters that affect their lives in the municipality of Powell River.”

Miller said that while the coalition had been formed by three ratepayers associations and societies, each organization would maintain its independence and function without oversight from the coalition. He said the coalition will create task forces with representatives from each organization, and a designated task force leader, to deal with various issues.

“We will communicate our work through marketing to our constituents throughout the city and to all authorities,” said Miller.

Craig said the group has discussed what types of issues it would work on and six issues came out of the meeting.

The first was transparency of government and a key item is the community-to-community-to-community meetings, and a proposed intergovernmental working group with Tla’amin Nation, said Craig.

“We think it’s important to have a strong working group representing the city and it should represent the diversity of the city; it needs the strongest community support,” said Craig. “We’ve written on that recently because we are concerned about what is happening. There needs to be some conversation about that. There is concern about who is being proposed and why the mayor is not being proposed as a representative.”

The second issue is the Catalyst Paper Tis’kwat mill site, its uses and how they will affect neighbourhoods both socially and economically, and the necessary cleanup, added Craig.

Another issue is finance, budget, and all matters affecting ratepayers, according to Craig.

“Obviously, everyone is worried about taxes and how the city uses its funds,” said Craig. “We want to have an opportunity from time to time to have input.”

Supportive housing and homelessness is another issue. Craig said there is going to be a need for more supportive housing.

“We want to make sure it is done in a way that works well with communities,” said Craig.

The fifth issue is the potential name change for the city. He said ratepayers need to be part of the process in some way.

The final issue is all other efforts to strengthen the community and build community cohesiveness, safety and resilience.

“We want to coordinate things like block watch, maybe different kinds of neighbourhood parties – things to bring together the community.”

Mayor Ron Woznow said he was pleased to see the coming together of the three ratepayers groups to provide council and staff some advice on very important issues.

Miller said the coalition’s hope was that it is taken seriously by council and staff of the city, and that there is open, two-way communication on issues that the coalition has, and that it is not just one-way communication from the coalition to the city.

“It makes it much easier for us to be more responsible in terms of making recommendations,” added Miller, “if there is two-way communication happening.”

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