With voters readying to pronounce judgement on a proposed $20 million amenities referendum next week, Mayor Ian Sutherland has produced a written legal opinion to back his argument against providing cost estimates for the various projects on the amenities wish list.
Bill Buholzer of the law firm Lidstone, Young, Anderson reaffirmed in writing a recent legal opinion he verbally presented to the District of 樱桃视频(DOS).
"You have requested that we confirm the opinion at our Community Charter seminar in 樱桃视频last Nov. 30 and in subsequent conversations with District staff members, concerning the level of detail required in loan authorization bylaws and information provided to the public in connection with elector approval of such bylaws," Buholzer wrote in a letter he drafted on Feb. 9 addressed to the director of administrative services.
"Under s. 178(2)(b) of the Community Charter, a loan authorization bylaw must set out, in brief and general terms, each of the "purposes" for which the debt is to be incurred and the amount allocated by the bylaw to each of the purposes for which the debt is to be incurred," the lawyer wrote.
"At the time that the issue came up in November, the District was having difficulty with the latter requirement in relation to its proposed recreation facilities borrowing, because planning had not progressed to the point where the District had information on the cost of different facilities that might be identified in the planning and consultation process it intends to undertake. Nor did the District wish to state rough estimates of the cost of such facilities in the bylaw, as that would preclude it from exceeding those amounts should final costs for that particular facility exceed the rough estimate."
(The clause in question is actually s. 178(2)(c) of the Community Charter.)
Reiterating what he said when the referendum concept was introduced, Sutherland told council members on Tuesday (Feb. 15) if the District gives an estimate for any of the projects the estimate becomes the maximum allowable amount for the individual project.
"If you give a number for each one of them you have to live with each one of those figures," Sutherland said.
Putting together project estimates costs money. Coun. Dave Fenn said the early analysis costs can be as much as 10 per cent of the entire project cost.
"We'll spend those early dollars so they are not wasted," Fenn said.
Sutherland said the issue comes down to whether council wants to spend early analysis money just to discover the people don't support spending even more money when the issue goes to referendum for approval of the borrowing bylaw. The District is choosing to present only the $20 million figure and choosing not to assemble cost estimates for each individual amenity.
"If you give a number you can't exceed that number on each individual item," Sutherland said. "You give the real exact number or you give no number."
According to Sutherland, provincial legislation makes it this way.
Coun. Corinne Lonsdale opposes the way the amenities issue is being handled. She wants individual project costs released so residents better understand exactly what they are voting for.
Buholzer addressed that particular issue by writing, "We suggested that the District describe the purpose for which debt is being incurred in this bylaw in a more general way than it had to that point been considering, such that particular facilities and associated costs do not have to be specified in the bylaw. It was our opinion that the term "purposes" in s. 178(2)(b) need not be interpreted to mean "facilities" in cases where several separate facilities are being considered, if the planning for such facilities has not progressed to the point that the municipality is committed to providing individual facilities separately from one another, or has not settled on locations for them such that individual cost figure may be identified."
To help residents decide how they will vote, an information open house is taking place on Thursday (Feb. 24) at Municipal Hall between 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. The DOS organized the information meeting.
The Chief is also presenting a public discussion forum on Monday (Feb. 21) in the Eagle Eye Theatre starting at 7 p.m.Advance voting is taking place Saturday (Feb. 19) from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Municipal Hall and then again on Wednesday (Feb. 23) between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Polling day is next Saturday (Feb. 26) from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. and a free transit shuttle service to Brennan Park is available between the polling place and the bus stop at Industrial Way and Queens Way.
