After a six-week break, New Westminster city council returns to council chambers on Monday – for a jam-packed day of meetings.
After a closed session at 12:30, council will meet for a 2:45 p.m. workshop, where they’ll receive presentations about the city’s flood resilience plan, the sewer and drainage asset management plan, and Anvil Centre.
The evening’s hefty agenda includes a number of reports for presentations and council discussion, including school zone enforcement hours, train whistle cessation, a Good Neighbour agreement and advisory committee terms of references (related to a supportive housing project that’s been approved at 422 Sixth St.) and the parks and recreation registration process. Budget 2024 and boulevard trees in a Quayside neighbourhood are also up for discussion.
The Aug. 28 meeting’s consent agenda – items that are approved unless a member of council specifically “pulls” them from the agenda for discussion purposes – includes 14 items. These includes recommendations regarding the city’s heat plan, efforts to accelerate the city’s climate action work plan, terms of reference for the city’s new community advisory assembly (which will replace some of the city’s advisory committees) and temporary relocation of the downtown dog off-leash area from Agnes Street to 68 Sixth St.
The meeting also includes bylaws, open delegations, and the proclamation of September as Literacy Month in New Westminster.
Two motions from councillors are also up for consideration at the meeting:
* A motion from councillors Nadine Nakagawa and Tasha Henderson regarding cooling equipment in rental units, which would have the city explore the tools available to the city that would require rental units to have cooling equipment “or passive means” that prevent at least one room of the unit from exceeding 26C (79F) . It also recommends writing to the province to confirm that these upgrades wouldn’t trigger legal renovictions.
* A motion about hydro rates from Nakagawa, which, if approved, would have council asking the electrical commission to explore piloting a program to provide rates geared to income for low-income community members.
The agenda also includes several notices of motion, which will be discussed at the next council meeting. These relate to fair wages and living wage policies (submitted by Mayor Patrick Johnstone); a review of the cause and cost of a recent oil spill on the Fraser River (Coun. Paul Minhas); increasing access to fresh drinking water from local residents and their pets (Minhas); supporting seniors by increasing operating hours at Century House in the summer (Coun. Daniel Fontaine); and supporting local businesses by implementing a pilot project to reduce parking fees (Fontaine).
