Arms-length groups won’t be spared scrutiny in the City of Nanaimo’s core services review.
Nanaimo city councillors tweaked the scope of its review during an open meeting Monday, writing the Vancouver Island Conference Centre and Downtown Nanaimo Business Association into its new project charter.
The core review got underway with Western Management Consultants in December, and the organization recently presented a project charter outlining goals to governance and areas of the city set to go under the microscope.
The city has opted against examining fire services and the RCMP. Council is unable to affect how the police force performs its mandate, the charter shows, and acting mayor Jim Kipp told the News Bulletin council didn’t believe fire department needs to be looked at with a current review of its 10-year strategic plan and operational plan underway.
The focus will instead be on areas like permissive tax exemptions, grants, transportation and sanitation as well as arms-length groups that get city dollars, like the Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation, Vancouver Island Conference Centre and Downtown Nanaimo Business Improvement Association.
The city is going to look at how it pays for its external agencies and what it gets for it, Kipp said.
“People have wondered and wanted to look at the operation of the DNBIA and we thought it was important because it’s one of the arms-length groups that we deal with and fund,” said Kipp.
The conference centre was also added, and he said has been a “very big question” for people over a number of years, regarding lack of a hotel, and perhaps, lack of conventions and the use of the building.
A consulting team had initially nixed the conference centre from the review. Council agreed in December to do a market study on the centre and a hotel.
But Coun. Bill Yoachim called the conference centre an “elephant” council needs to tackle, and Coun. Bill Bestwick pointed out that information gathering related to the hotel is a different undertaking than a core services review and said he’s not in favor of eliminating the centre from review.
“[The list is] not inclusive of our largest and most expensive asset that has a considerable amount of interest in the community and has for seven years,” he said.
Coun. Diane Brennan was the only politician ultimately opposed to approving the charter with its amendments, preferring to get answers about what the additions mean for the project’s time frame.
The work was originally aimed to be completed in March, but city documents show the competition date is now May 13 with a $228,900 cost, but that was prior to any changes.
Brennan also expressed disappointment the time frame is so short and tight and provides “so little opportunity for the public to comment along the way.”
Mayor Bill McKay was the only politician absent from the open meeting.
