PORT McNEILL—A statutory public consultation on the Town of Port McNeill’s 2014 Annual Report failed to draw a single member of the public, but councillors had plenty to say in favour of the document while voting to approve the report during their regular meeting Monday in council chambers.
“I was pretty impressed with the fella that came and talked to us and walked us through it,” coun. Grant Anderson said of Port Alberni auditor Don Jones. “If there was ever a chance we were to do this again under our watch, I would certainly recommend him. We got a lot of information out of that sit-down.”
The Annual Report, compiled by Port McNeill treasurer Dan Rodin following Jones’s meeting with himself and council, covers strategies, goals and objectives set by the Town, how much progress was made on those objectives in 2013, and how they might be adjusted in the current year.
“The other thing I was impressed with is the fact that our ‘qualified’ audit from last year was removed because of the information Dan was able to provide, as well, for our tangible capital assets,” coun. Gaby Wickstrom added.
UBCM nomination
Coun. Wickstrom earned unanimous approval from council to put her name forward for nomination to a spot on the Union of BC Municipalities Executive Board, representing small communities of 2,500 or less.
The request by Wickstrom came in the wake of a UBCM call for nominations dated June 10 and submitted to Port McNeill and other municipal and regional authorities.
“I just think that, oftentimes there are small communities in the vicinity of larger communities, and they don’t have the same obstacles to overcome that we do when we’re rural and remote. And some small communities are very remote, and I don’t think that’s really captured there, so I’d like to put my name forward.”
Coun. Shirley Ackland asked whether Port McNeill fell within the 2,500 population threshold for small communities. Wickstrom replied that the last census, completed in 2011, showed the Town with a population of 2,504, but that she had contacted the UBCM’s nomination chair and was assured she was eligible to stand for the position.
Harbour rates OK’d
Council unanimously gave final passage to its Harbour Fee-Setting Bylaw No. 558.10, 2014, without discussion. Councillors on June 16 had approved the first three readings of the bylaw, which establishes daily, weekly, monthly and annual rates for moorage, boat launch and loading docks for pleasure craft, commercial fishing vessels and other commercial vessels, along with vehicle parking, live-aboard and emergency pump-out charges.
