City council will consider a seven-point proposal from Coun. Brian Skakun to deal with the state of Prince George's roads when they meet again in three weeks time.
Skakun submitted a notice of motion Monday that suggests selling city-owned property, lobbying for a share of the provincial fuel tax to pay for roads, dipping into proceeds from the Terasen Gas lease-in, lease-out agreement and gaining authority and local voters' assent to levy the city's own tax on gas, all in the name of raising more money for road upgrades.
Skakun's motion also calls for directing staff to look at the costs and benefits of writing an extended warranty into the city's paving contract and create a two-to-five year plan for meeting the estimated $3.5-million annual shortfall on funding for road work.
Council voted 6-3 to include the item on its March 28 agenda with councillors Murry Krause, Dave Wilbur and Cameron Stolz voting against, largely over a procedural issue -- namely that notices of motion are supposed to be presented to fellow council members by no later than the Wednesday before the council meeting.
"For me, it's about process," Krause said. "In order to help manage how we do our business, if that notice of motion had been delivered to city hall in a timely fashion last week, it would've been include in our homework and you wouldn't need to have a special motion to have it considered three weeks from now."
Wilbur noted Skakun was part of the group that drafted the policy and while council will still have three weeks to think about the proposals, rules should be followed.
"I'm a process junky and I like things to follow according to the way we set it up and it wouldn't make any difference whether it was brought by Cameron, brought by Murry or by Brian, I would still want it to follow the process that we've set up," Wilbur said.
Skakun acknowledged he failed to adhere to the rules but contended he needed to get the item on the agenda to give council time to draft resolutions in time for the next Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention.
Asked why he could not have had it ready by last Wednesday, Skakun said he simply did not have time due to work and council commitments as well as the Lakeland Mills explosion. He noted the last two council meetings were only a week apart.
Stolz maintained there is no rush to deal with Skakun's proposals and a handful of them are being considered through other avenues, such as the core review.
"None of the items that he's bringing forward are going to fix the roads this year," Stolz said. "And of the items brought forward, half are already being dealt with by council, whether it was Coun. Koehler talking about liquidating the properties, whether it was Lyn Hall looking at a two to five year strategy, whether it was me during the budget discussions talking about the need to increase our funding for roads and our other assets and that's an ongoing discussion."
Stolz reiterated a proposal he's made in the past to seek a share of resource royalties the provincial government gains from this region, similar to the Fair Share agreement local governments in the Peace River Regional District have secured with Victoria.
.png;w=120;h=80;mode=crop)
