Committee of the whole and city council meetings were held on Jan. 22, touching upon the city’s wastewater system, the Racquet Association’s building renovations following a fire last fall and the Lester Centre’s leaky roof.
Prince Rupert’s 2024 budget is already seeing some funds being reshuffled, as city council approved plans to divert funds from a faulty stoplight to address the Lester Centre’s roof woes.
The Third Avenue and Fulton Street stoplight was meant to be addressed with this year’s annual budget, but council decided the Lester Centre was a higher priority.
The Five Year Financial Plan initially allocated $200,000 for repairs to the Lester Centre and $315,000 to fixing the downtown stoplight. However, the roof’s full repairs will total approximately $1 million, making the postponement of work to the stoplight necessary in council’s eyes.
To fund the remaining $500,000, the city is hoping for a grant from the Prince Rupert Port Authority’s Community Investment Fund.
“There is no new money,” said Chief Financial Officer Corrine Bomben.
“We’re actually applying for a grant for half of the project costs… it is an aspirational hope. It’s hopes and dreams.”
Councillor Wade Niesh said the budget shuffle is representative of the dire financial straits the city is in, though argued that fixing up the Lester Centre must take priority.
“The state of the town where you have to rob Peter to pay Paul, and here’s a prime example of how we can’t afford to do everything and we have to steal from one bank account to pay for something and we need that money in another bank account,” Niesh said.
“To me, I can live with a flashing red light… versus having a leaky roof destroying a legacy building in our community.”
Councillor Barry Cunningham shared a similar sentiment, saying council needs to maintain the Lester Centre, which he described as an asset it needs to protect.
Also on Jan. 22, Magna Engineering and Prince Rupert Crime Stoppers made presentations at the committee of the whole, with Magna providing an update to the city’s wastewater project.
Jennifer Massig, CEO of Magna, told council about the company’s new plans to move their project’s location from the Omineca area to a plot of land near the Moresby Pond.
After Magna’s pilot project, the construction of the new treatment centre will be going through after a Jan. 23 announcement by the city. Currently, the city’s wastewater drains into the ocean.
The Prince Rupert Racquet Association wants to do renovations on its building after a November fire devastated much of the city-owned building. However, the city found that they had been left in the dark regarding plans the tenants are pursuing to revamp the property.
“It’s a little backwards in the process to have the tenant seek funding, we weren’t aware of the scope of the changes until receiving the plans,” said Corporate Administrator Rosamaria Miller.
Nevertheless, council approved a letter of support for the Prince Rupert Racquet Association to seek funds from the PRPA’s Community Investment Fund to begin work on the building.
The city’s noise bylaw was once again brought up at council, with Cunningham bringing up the noise complaints made by a resident. He wondered if the city’s noise bylaw lacked strength and whether it would be admissible in court.
“It’s been brought to my attention that enforcing our noise bylaw is very difficult, if not impossible,” he said.
“The way it was explained to me… if it ever goes to court we’re going to lose in court.”
While Mayor Herb Pond said this was an isolated incident, City Manager Rob Buchan agreed the bylaw was too vague and said the city would look into amending it.