City council members had their hands full Monday evening dealing with issues that keep coming back to haunt them.
Palestine
The council members were on the receiving end of three more delegates who criticized their handling of a letter to the Yukon government and Yukon MP Brendan Hanley endorsing the federal government’s call for a ceasefire in the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
Earlier this month, Mayor Laura Cabott sent the letter to the senior levels of government following the failure of a May 21 motion by Coun. Michelle Friesen that urged the the city to formally call for a ceasefire.
The controversy over that motion sparked a flood of protests from 24 delegates who nearly overwhelmed the June 3 standing committee meeting.
City administration is now studying ways the motion can be brought back for council’s scrutiny. Under current rules, it could not be introduced for a year after it was originally raised.
On Monday, all of the delegates asked why Friesen and Coun. Mellisa Murray were not consulted on Cabott’s letter.
It was not clear how they knew the councillors had not been a part of the process – and council did nothing to clear up the question.
Two of the delegates, Molly Swain and Anya Close, were particularly animated, saying the letter didn’t go far enough.
Close in particular made it clear that she expected the letter from council to repudiate what she constantly referred to as “the so-called Israel” in every way.
She briefly got into an exchange with Coun. Kirk Cameron. He bluntly asked why she never referred to the Hamas organization, which was responsible for the attacks in October of 2023 that ignited the conflict.
Close said the organization was simply using every resource at its disposal to fight against what she viewed as “Israeli oppression”.
Swain asked council to consider making a sister city partnership with a Palestinian town or city as a visible means of expressing its support.
Other than Cameron, the council members listened without comment.
Audit
After the annual audit report, the city’s finances appear to be in good shape.
The report was presented Monday evening to an attentive council.
One of the most interesting parts of the presentation by city staffer Svetlana Erickson concerned the city surplus.
Nominally, the city has about $79 million in reserves, she told council. However, that figure is a bit misleading, as it does not mean that money is being held in cash at a bank somewhere.
Instead, much of it is spoken for, Erickson told the council, and is allotted to other projects and held in various reserves.
The $79 million is mostly an accounting artifact, she said.
Realistically, the city has about $29 million that is available to finance unexpected projects and costs, Erickson said.
Canada Games Centre
The city is preparing for changes to its transit system which have been largely panned by the public.
One of the most contentious changes involves the transit routes leading into the Canada Games Centre.
Traditionally, buses have used a stop quite close to the entrance of the centre, but that will be changing. Instead, two stops on Hamilton Boulevard will replace the parking lot stop.
That has annoyed many people, who have expressed their dissatisfaction with the changes.
Council was told by municipal staff members the changes were made due to problems with the parking lot stop.
Buses have regularly been delayed by traffic in the parking lot, the members were told – sometimes for 20 minutes at a time, throwing off their schedules to a serious degree.
More buses
Council has been asked by city staff members to approve purchasing replacement buses for the transit system.
“The city is set to retire two transit buses in 2025, which are at the end of their useful life and are scheduled for replacement, and three additional transit buses are required for continued implementation of the Modernized Transit Route Plan,” the report reads.
“Two projects relating to 2024 transit bus purchases (with bus delivery in 2025), funded by the Public Transit Stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP); Two buses for $1,400,000; three buses for $2,100,000.
“The cost estimates used for these projects were based on estimated CPI increases at time of budget development, as per the price increase provision in the city’s contract with Nova Bus, which expires December 31.”
The request is up for approval next week at the regular council meeting.
