Editor’s note: the last New West council meeting on May 29 was not completed. We recommend reading the recap from that meeting here. 

Additionally, Brianna was the live-tweeter for the evening. Find her play-by-play recap here and give her a follow if you’re interested in things about New West and Burnaby!

There were a number of items in the ‘unfinished section’ of Monday night’s agenda (which we’ll talk about later in this piece). Among these were:

• Supporting the victims of random and violent crimes in New Westminster (submitted by Coun. Paul Minhas)

• Implementing initiatives to reduce catalytic converter thefts in New Westminster (submitted by Coun. Daniel Fontaine.

Massey Theatre renovations to get part of the Growing Communities Fund

While the Massey Theatre is in desperate need of certain repairs, city staff noted in one of its reports to council that it’s going to need another $6M to complete the full scope of fixes.

This is one of the first times we expect to see the Growing Communities Fund used: you may remember a certain $15M payment that came from the provincial government. For those needing a refresher, read about that here.

There was a previous discussion about whether to go with the minimum viability option (MVO), though in February city staff had said they’d be sharing a decision about whether to pursue the MVO or something else—looks like they chose to go with the something else, in the form of a revised option.

This would include more theatre enhancements, and some HVAC work, along with life safety upgrades to the entire building.

There was—at one point in the evening—a discussion to look at other forms of funding, including $3M from the Growing Cities Fund and $3M from reprioritization of previously earmarked funding.

While there were some concerns from Mayor Patrick Johnstone and Coun. Nadine Nakagawa on an opportunity for making the building more green and sustainable, the option to fund the upcoming upgrades through the Growing Communities Fund to the tune of $6M went ahead unanimously.

Some delegations

The Monkey Rebels: these young people have been advocating for a 15-minute city, mainly to address the issue of climate change. The ideas they presented to council included adding more bike lanes, wider sidewalks, more benches, and more water fountains—to name a few.

Elder Abuse Awareness Day. The day takes place on June 15.

HUB Cycling. Representative Fulton Tom wanted to remind the public that there will be a number of related events happening around the city.

You can find the full recap of council delegations starting here.

A 15-minute city

Couns. Tasha Henderson—who teamed up with Coun. Nakagawa to help bring forward this motion—noted that their joint motion was in tandem with comments made by The Monkey Rebels earlier in the evening. One of these requests was to make New Westminster a 15-minute city, something they’ve said they were inspired to do after previously attending a Youth Climate Action Forum.

“When we got back to school, we kept thinking about how we could make an actual difference—something with impact, that helped push our city towards a more sustainable future. We invited two environmentallists [sic] to speak with us, and they came to share their knowledge—it was amazing to learn…how much trouble we all are [in],” a statement on their website explains.

Enter the concept of the 15-minute city: a space in which people can access a variety of amenities like schools, shops, parks, and their health practitioners within a 15-minute walk or bike ride from their homes.

The group noted it worked with Coun. Nakagawa and Henderson to get the motion to the floor. 

Coun. Fontaine said he supported 15-minute cities, but felt the city was already built out, and that it would take a lot of work to change that. That prompted Fontaine to put forward an amendment stating the following: requesting a report back from staff regarding impacts of the proposal on city budgets and operations prior to endorsing the concept of a 15-minute city. Additionally, there is a request to speak directly to Queensborough, and to look at how it would protect them.

Ultimately, the amendment was defeated, and the main motion supporting 15-minute cities—and the goal of creating a plan to implement the concept by 2030—was supported by all but Couns. Minhas and Fontaine.

Council remuneration

The item on the motion was to receive a report regarding the notification of a 6.8% to council remuneration for 2023 retroactive to Jan. 1 of this year.

“Based on the updated Council Remuneration Policy…that was approved by Council in September 2019, annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) adjustments to Council remuneration in the years between formal remuneration reviews are provided to Council. The Statistics Canada CPI for British Columbia from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022 was 6.8%. As such, Council will receive a 6.8% remuneration increase for 2023,” page 764 of Monday night’s agenda reads.

The 2022 salary for the mayor was $137,645, while the 2023 salary with the nearly 7% bump will be $147,004. For councillors, the 2022 salary was $52,940, while the increase result in a 2023 salary of $56,539.

The 22nd St. Station area bold vision relaunch

This builds on previous discussions related to the 22nd St. Station area’s bold vision. The goal here is to relaunch those talks, with a particular focus on First Nations engagement, and building climate resilience.

Coun. Ruby Campbell made a comment regarding someone else hosting an event related to the Connaught Heights area, which Coun. Fontaine took issue with, calling for point of order. Campbell retracted the statement, restating with the word “attended.”

The event in question appears to refer to the townhall forum in which residents were invited to talk about the pros and cons of densification of Connaught Heights. A link to the original event can be found here.

Next steps: upgrading the city logo

This springboards off last year’s Royal City Moniker and yellow crown discussion. At this stage, there is a $40,000 cost: $35,000 would go towards engaging with a designer, while $5,000 would be used for public engagement. Staff explained they wanted to put together a community working group that would be selected by open call—adding these plans are in the early stages.

While Couns. Henderson and Campbell supported the suggestion from city staff, Coun. Fontaine was opposed, saying the timing to invest in rebranding the logo wasn’t good, and that it should go through a wait for a year or two.

The recommendation went ahead with Couns. Minhas and Fontaine opposed.

Supporting victims of random and violent crimes

This motion, which began discussion at the last city council meeting, was previously split into parts. The first part was talked about before the last meeting abruptly ended, after the motion not to extend the meeting didn’t garner enough support.

The second half of the motion went ahead: the request for a meeting with the New Westminster Police Board to develop a joint strategy in addressing this issue. This went ahead.

Catalytic converter thefts

Also a carryover from the last council meeting, the aim with this motion from Coun. Fontaine was to implement an anti-theft campaign similar to one in Surrey, known as “You Etch It. We Catch It.” The Surrey program launched last April.

The motion was defeated with Mayor Johnstone, and Couns. Nakagawa, Henderson, McEvoy, and Campbell opposed.

Enhanced livability in New West

The motion by Coun. Nakagawa aims to bring an approach to New Westminster that would be akin to the Chinatown Stewards model. While some work will need to be done to look at feasability, it was unanimously passed.

The Right Person, The Right Time, The Right Place

This motion came from Coun. Campbell, who said she was especially inspired by some of the points brought up in presentations by Century House representatives during the last council meeting.

The motion would include staff providing a report back to council based on the report completed by Century House in tandem with a number of participating partners, including the provincial seniors’ advocate and the Fraser Health Authority board chair.

Coun. Paul Minhas said he was in opposition of the motion, saying that such an idea should be debated and discussed at the provincial level. Despite his concerns, the motion was carried.

Temporary low-income energy assistance program

In this instance, Coun. Fontaine wanted to take money from the Climate Action Reserve Fund to cover the cost of the program—he suggested a similar move, albeit on a different topic—see the embedded tweet below.

This time around, Fontaine looked to borrow funding from the Climate Action Reserve Fund to provide up to $500 for low-income residents to install a new air conditioning unit, or to replace an older one.

Mayor Johnstone suggested the cost of the program Fontaine was proposing would sit somewhere closer to $9.5M, pointing to the language in the motion. After some back and forth in chambers, Coun. Jaimie McEvoy suggested referring the issue to the electrical utility commission, which is slated to meet next week.

The motion to refer the issue was opposed by Couns. Fontaine and Minhas, but nonetheless went through.

The next city council meeting is scheduled for June 26, and includes a public hearing for 6pm, followed by a council meeting at 7-ish. (Depending, of course, on when the public hearing wraps.)