While they can't do anything to change the outcome, members of council expressed regret over the effect the increase to off-street parking rates is having on residents.
During Monday night's meeting, Coun. Lyn Hall initiated a discussion about the feedback the group has received since the Sept. 23 vote to finalize the bylaw that triggers a 12 to 85 per cent hike in monthly rates as of Jan. 1, 2014.
"One of the primary questions that we're being asked is why not [have] an implementation piece?" said Hall, citing the approach taken during the core review process with business licences and recreation fees.
It boiled down to what council chose to do with the information at the time, according to Mayor Shari Green.
"Council received the core review, we made changes to a staff recommendation, we had conversations and council chose not to make adjustments to this item, they accepted it as presented," she said.
Increases to off-street parking rates have been in the works for the past few years, with the last increase in 2011, explained public safety and civic facilities director Rob Whitwham.
"The approach has been to increase the rates incrementally and that's been happening. The increase this year was to do the last piece of that," he said.
Staff looked at rates in the private sector as well as in parking facility rates in comparable municipalities.
"So all of that work came together to result in the table and fee structure that was before council during the core service review process," said Whitwham.
Couns. Frank Everitt and Albert Koehler both expressed concern that there was no mechanism by which a decision of council could be adjusted after the fact.
"I think it's a sad state of affairs when we can't recognize the amount of increase we've put on people in our parking facilities and be able to deal with it," said Everitt. "I understand that we don't want to be flipping back and forth but I think we have a legitimate problem in front of us and we as a council need to be able to find a way to review that for people."
"This group has to be able to somehow, not necessarily to reverse that, to fine tune it or correct it," said Koehler.
But according to the city's council procedures bylaw, the time for reconsideration has passed, explained legislative services director Walter Babicz.
A councillor who voted in favour of a successful motion can only bring it back for reconsideration at the next council meeting. The Community Charter allows for the mayor to bring a vote back for reconsideration within 30 days.
"We need to move forward when we make a decision," said Green. "We've made a decision and if we were to respond and react every time somebody sent us a letter after the fact and we changed our mind, how would we get anything done? That's the challenge around the bylaw."
Council has heard "loud and clear" from people that the parking rates were too hard and too fast a hit, said Coun. Brian Skakun.
"When we discussed these issues, we discussed them with a number of other issues and some people feel they didn't even know about this until they got their bill and I think that's really unfortunate," he said.
Suggestions in feedback from residents that there wasn't any consultation isn't accurate, said Green, pointing to the 15-month long core services review process as well as the three times the increase was before council.
"And the onus is on the taxpayer as much as it is on us to find out what's going on at city hall. Lots of people don't watch what we're doing, don't necessarily follow up the blow by blow of the things we do and the decisions we make," said Green. "So I just wanted people to be assured, that it wasn't something that was done outside of the public eye it was very much done in the public eye and they were unanimous decisions."
The decision wouldn't be unanimous if some councillors had the opportunity for a do-over.
"We, as a council, have been cautious about impact," said Coun. Dave Wilbur. "And if I had a fresh go at this, that's exactly where my mind would be set because that's what I've done in the past."
Coun. Murry Krause said he discussed the issue with downtown Northern Health employees who are going to be feeling the pinch.
"So I think as we move through other recommendations around fees and charges to our community, we have to be really cognizant, I certainly need to be a little bit more astute, in watching those as they go by me and making sure I'm keeping in mind the effect those decisions are having on families in our community," Krause said.
