What's happening at New Westminster city council?

Liquor licenses, fair wages and an overview of the City of New Westminster’s 2023 annual report are among the recent happenings at city hall.

Here’s a rundown of some of the topics covered at the council table in recent weeks:

Disability Pride Month

Coun. Nadine Nakagawa acknowledged that July is Disability Pride Month.

“Something that I think we don't talk about enough is how many Canadians actually live with disabilities,” she said. “It's 22 per cent, and that's probably a low estimate because there's such deeply embedded ableism in our society that many people don't want to identify with as being disabled.”

Countries around the world, including Canada, celebrate Disability Pride Month each July.

“I just want to recognize that it's a very diverse category in itself. That includes people with physical disabilities, neurodivergent, invisible and undiagnosed disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, and sensory disabilities,” Nakagawa said. “And so, I just really want to acknowledge that and recognize that those folks are active in our community and to wish them happy Disability Pride Month.”

Capital budget updates

New West council has approved a $18.7-million adjustment to its 2024 capital budget.

In addition to approving the budget adjustment at its July 8 meeting, council also approved the revised multi-year capital budget of $199.1 million, which reflects that net increase of $18.7 million.

But Shehzad Somji, the city’s chief financial officer, confirmed that no new money is going into the five-year plan. He explained that the $18.7-million adjustment relates to work that was not completed last year.

“It's not an increase in dollars,” he said. “A large part of it is work that wasn't completed in 2023 and the funding for that work is just carried over into 2024. When the budget was approved for 2024, we estimated what we thought would be a carryover amount, and after the audit is completed, now we know what the actual carryover amount is. And that's what this adjustment is. So, it's not new dollars. It's just a shift from one year to the next year.”

The staff report outlined some of the major capital projects being funded in New West in 2024: advance metering infrastructure for the electrical utility; təməsew̓txʷ Aquatic and Community Centre; West End sewer separation; West End watermain repair; Massey Theatre renovation; pavement management program; Sixth Street Great Street; active transportation network plan; sewer separation; Westminster Pier Park expansion; Crosstown Greenway construction; and Sapperton District Energy.

“That it is a lot of money. It's also money that is not necessarily additional or new money but has been adjusted for different reasons,” said Coun. Ruby Campbell. “Sometimes work can't happen because there's a weather issue or supplies aren't there, or contracts aren't there or site conditions.”

Operating revenues up

The City of New Westminter’s operating revenue budget for 2024 is “surpassing expectations” and expenditures are also higher than budgeted.

“As of March 31st, the 2024 approved operating revenue budget of $312.1 million is surpassing expectations by $1.4 million, driven by higher than anticipated utility rates income and interest income,” said the report. “The 2024 approved operating expenditures of $272.89 million are trending higher than budget by $1.3 million mainly due to higher than anticipated contracted services and supplies and materials costs.”

According to the report, the operating budgets face a number of potential risks and pressures.

“There also continues to be significant challenges arising from staffing shortages and the need to fill vacancies. While savings in salaries are being actualized, the strain on staffing and recruitment expenses and increasing WorkSafeBC premiums are impacting the city budgets,” said the report. “Vulnerability to climate emergency events and inflationary price increase in supplies and materials continue to put pressure on expense accounts.”

SkyTrain noise

TransLink has received an exemption from the city’s construction noise bylaw to do some nighttime work at the Sapperton SkyTrain station.

Council has granted an exemption to the noise bylaw to TransLink from Monday, July 15 to Saturday, Aug. 25 from midnight to 6 a.m., for a maximum of five days a week (including some Sundays but excluding all statutory holidays).

The bylaw exemption will allow TransLink to install new maintenance walkways, demolish and restore original maintenance walkways, and make operational equipment modifications to the station.

To safely conduct the demolition, modifications and installations to the guideway, much of the work must be done when trains aren’t running, said a staff report.

“Noise disruptions are expected to be minimal,” said the report.

Pride designation

New West Pride has been declared as an event of municipal significance in New Westminster.

Council has supported the declaration of New West Pride, produced by the New West Pride Society, to be of municipal significance and will forward this resolution to the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch.

A staff report stated this designation would allow New West Pride to sell liquor products at the festival at a higher price than the maximum price set out by the LCRB. The report noted this would permit the non-profit to engage in fundraising activities that go beyond cost recovery and to provide for opportunities to collaborate with local beverage sellers to generate additional funds.

“These funds are used by the New West Pride to provide space for recognizing and celebrating the local 2SLGBTQQIA+ community,” said the report.

Legion license

The Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 2 is looking to change it liquor license so non-members can enter the premises without a member.

Council has supported the Legion’s application to change its liquor primary club license to a standard liquor primary license. The Legion is located at 631 Sixth St.

“Approval of this application would open up the establishment to the community by allowing non-Legion members to enter the establishment without a Legion member escort,” said a staff report. “There would be no change to the total maximum occupancy of the business, which would remain at 145 people, and the permitted operating hours will remain 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. Sunday to Saturday.”

Annual Report

$627.6 million in building permit value; 588 new housing units granted occupancy; 5,598 building and plumbing inspections; 7,446 fire and rescue service calls; 19,285 youth centre drop-in visits; and 50 unplanned power outages. These are just a few of the statistics included in the City of New Westminster’s 2023 annual report.

Lisa Spitale, the city’s chief administrative officer, gave a quick overview of the city’s 2023 annual report at the July 8 council meeting. Spitale’s presentation had originally been scheduled for the June 24 meeting but was postponed because of the length of that evening’s meeting.

“I think it does provide a very good snapshot of the work that has been taken,” she said.

The complete report, as well as Spitale’s presentation, is available online at Newwestcity.ca/annualreport.

Fair wage

The City of New Westminster is continuing to work towards the implementation of a fair wage policy.

In September 2023, council directed staff to bring a report to council outlining a process to adopt a fair wage policy that’s similar to what’s offered in Burnaby or North Vancouver. A June 24 staff noted that other Canadian cities having fair wage policies include Toronto, Brampton, Hamilton, London, Sarnia, Sudbury and Thunder Bay.

The staff report stated that fair wage policies typically apply to industrial, commercial and institutional work. This includes buildings (including their electoral, plumbing, heating and cooling systems); roads, sidewalks, bridges and related structures; sewers and water mains and other utilities installations; transit stops and transit rights of ways; or heavy engineering.

“Traditional fair wage policies do not apply to city employees or service contractor wages,” said the report. “In the case of Burnaby, the City of North Vancouver, and New Westminster, these workers fall under a living wage policy.”

Implementing a fair wage policy at the City of New Westminster would not conflict with or impede the city’s current living wage policy, said the staff report.

New Westminster council voted in support of a recommendation directing staff to proceed with developing a draft fair wage policy and implementation plan.

“Adopting a fair wage policy would not be onerous and would have positive benefits to construction workers in the community,” said a June 24 report to council. “A fair wage policy would complement the existing living wage policy and would demonstrate council’s continued commitment to local government best practices and civic leadership.”

More council coverage

ICYMI, here are some other recent stories from New Westminster city council that have recently appeared in the Record: