Nanaimo city councillors will be advocating for an end to the electoral-approval requirement for certain infrastructure and capital projects that are deemed necessary for the delivery of municipal services.
At a meeting Monday, Dec. 16, council approved a resolution on the topic to take to the next Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities convention.
The resolution comes after the City of Nanaimo's third failed alternative-approval process related to the long-term borrowing of up to $90 million for public works yard upgrades. Through an AAP, eligible voters have the opportunity to sign a form indicating opposition, and 10 per cent opposition is enough to block the borrowing bylaw.
This week's resolution was brought to the table by Coun. Janice Perrino, who told the News Bulletin that the AAP's failure made some councillors take a look and ask why the process was necessary when other provinces don't have the same requirements around electoral approval for long-term borrowing for necessary infrastructure projects.
"If you have to go out for electoral approval, [as] we've had to do through AAPs or referendums, if it fails, then by the time you finally get the money raised or somehow get it passed it's often hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars more," Perrino explained.
The resolution will next be considered for discussion at the AVICC convention in April in Nanaimo. If endorsed at that time, the resolution will then be brought to the Union of B.C. Municipalities. If the UCBM endorses it, it will be forwarded to the province for consideration.
Perrino estimated this process will take years, and likely won't be used in relation to any public works yard upgrades in Nanaimo. Instead, she said it could help the city borrow for future necessary builds.
"Nanaimo is definitely going to face a future need for a police station and fire hall in the future years, and these are serious. If these fail, you can actually have your police station … close. Things like that can happen."
Perrino pointed to her time in Summerland, where a referendum for a new police facility failed.
"We had three referendums to try to get a new police station because we were told, 'You either get a new police station or the police will leave the community' …Unfortunately, by the time we finally got it through it was more than a million dollars to build [more] than when we first started, because the public didn't want to pay for it."
