In Friday’s letter I talked about how busy last night’s council meeting was going to be. Case in point, the focus of today’s recap is almost completely different than the items I flagged. So let’s get into it, starting with the plan for a new Prince George fire training facility, where crews would be able to … train for fires. Right now this is being done at six different locations throughout the city, in small spots like this one along Ospika at Firehall #2 — please note that the caption reveals it is condemned:

(By the way, if you want the full report you can read it here or look at the powerpoint here).

Basically the findings of this report is that the facilities available in Prince George are old, aging, small and generally not up-to-snuff for modern needs. In some cases, crews have to travel to Quesnel to undergo exercises because nothing in town meets their needs. The proposal to council is to support the construction of a single, centralized training site that would have three main parts:

There are also three areas in town that are identified as being able to accomodate this. The top choice is off of Highway 16 on the way up to College Heights, just behind Firehall 3.

The other two choices are land out by the airport, assuming YVR would allow it, and along Ospika at Firehall 2 in conjunction with a demo and rebuild of that facility. There is also less room for future expansion here.

The report did not share the estimated costs for building this facility but did say that there is a strongly-stated need for it in the region.

The following is my live notes on the council Q&A on this following the presentation:

• Brian Skakun wants to know what the estimated costs might be? Administration says it would be phased funding over multiple years, with money coming from the annual capital plan and budget details shared in more detail during those time periods.

• Trudy Klassen wants to know how far away they might expect other crews to come to Prince George to travel at this new facility. Answer is — everyone in the industry is traveling right now. Texas is very popular because they can do something called “black smoke'“ training there, which is highly regulated. There are actually only two places in Canada regulated to do this training: The Toronto Airport and the Prince George Airport, so if you were to build a modern training facility in Prince George and incorporate black smoke training at the airport into it, you would likely be attracting crews from across the country. (Note to self: Look into this for a future story. Note to readers — if you have more info on this, let me know!)

• Susan Scott wants to know if the Lheidli T’enneh have been consulted on this. Answer: We reached out but did not get a response, yet, but are committed to following up and making sure First Nations are engaged.

• Kyle Sampson — how much of a business case will be built into the final presentation when you come to us asking for money. Answer: It will be more detailed, but there is no version of events where this is a money-maker, that simply doesn’t exist. The benefit will be we don’t have to send people away to travel as much and offset that by attracting others to come here and train.

• Ron Polillo would like to know if other levels of government would contribute to paying for this. Answer: If there are grants available, the city will pursue them, but the city sets the level of fire service we have, so generally funding for the fire department comes from city taxes.

• Polillo again: If this is such a great model, why aren’t other cities doing it (ie. is there something unique here that makes us better suited). Answer: 1. We are a northern hub. 2. Other cities are looking at this hub model as well — specifically cited Edmonton as a place that is looking into it, as well. But the costs are prohibitive. (Note to self — keep an eye out for actual cost estimates!)

• Cori Ramsay: What is the actual timeline if we move forward on this? Answer — if we move forward, a year from now we’ll come back with a more detailed budget and business case.

• Ramsay: Didn’t we talk about building this training centre alongside a new firehall? Answer: Yes, but there’s no space available for this. We could put the firehall on city land near the BCR site but not the training facility. Ramsay says she is in support of a new training centre but she will want to see a lot more detailed cost analysis of what this will mean to the city’s budget/people’s taxes before making a decision

• Mayor Simon Yu: This would be a nice facility but we need more of a cost analysis. He’s also worried about impact on whichever neighbourhood gets this facility. Will want far more details in the future — and please keep an open mind to other locations.

The decision to move ahead to the next phase of study was passed.

Curbside composting???

There was also a report to council on the possibility of adding curbside compost collection to city services. Doing so, though, would require the expansion of the Foothills landfill to include food waste, as well as the infrastructure needed to collect compost.

The ask last night was simply that council approve staff’s ability to hire a professional analysis of the city’s waste management needs. This would also include things like looking at whether recycling should be increased from once every two weeks to once a week and whether garbage collection should stick to a weekly schedule or move to once every two weeks. This analysis procurement was approved with the mayor adding that he’d like to see information about how to prevent attracting bears.

Should the Legion be treated differently than other non-profits?

I won’t recap what I wrote about this on Friday, you can read what this was about here in that newsletter. The very quick version is the Legion is asking the city to eliminate all costs associated with holding Remembrance Day ceremonies on city properties, which would be about $1,000 on top of the $8,000 the city already provides through money, subsidies and staff. Here are the discussion notes:

• Coun. Klassen confirms the additional cost to the city to subsidize the ceremonies further than it already does will be another $1,000. This is confirmed and she says — veterans fought and died for our freedom, this is a no-brainer, let’s waive all fees.

• Coun. Ramsay says she grew up in cadets, has attended and participated in ceremonies every year and has tremendous respect for the work of the legion. But she says there are lots of other worthy groups who do important work, and it wouldn’t be fair for the city to waive fees for just one non-profit organization based on personal feelings, and the legion has already shown that if it asks the community for money, it will get it.

• Coun. Skakun disagrees with Ramsay — he says the Legion is “a cut above the rest.” He doesn’t think this sets any precedent whatsoever.

• Coun. Scott, who is the chaplain who performs the Remembrance Day ceremony and is a 45-year member of the Legion says “I am going to surprise you all,” and says she does not support waiving the fees further. She says she deals every single day with non-profits who are struggling as much or more than the Legion — and points out Remembrance Day is a Legion event which the public attends, not an actual public or municipally-run one.

• Coun. Sampson wants to know how what the city gives the Legion compares to other non-profits. The answer is — it’s about the same, but the Legion does get subsidized slightly more than other groups, already. He also wants to know if they would qualify for the MyPG grants that are available to non-profits. The answer is — yes, they would be a strong candidate. He says — we already support the Legion significantly, moreso than others, and there is a granting process they can go through to get even more money and while he is a big supporter of the Legion in his personal life, as a councillor he doesn’t think it would be fair to give them (even more) special treatment than other non-profits. He says if they apply for these grants and don’t get them, somehow, they should come back and ask for the $1,000 and they can make a decision at that point.

• Coun. Polillo says he understands the desire to waive all fees but agrees with others that there is a process the Legion can follow to get more funding, and they already get signficant city support.

• Coun. Frizzell recalls that in 2014 the city passed a community covenant pledging to support veterans. Says — we haven’t actually done much since then, so we should start exploring this.

• Mayor Yu: I will, any day, set a special precedent for the Legion. But I don’t think we need to do that.

In the end, the report was simply received with no additional funding committed at this time.

Converting the old Greyhound into a B.C. Ambulance station

I had missed this, but apparently B.C Emergency Health Services spoke to council over the summer about the possibility of turning the old Greyhound bus station downtown into a new ambulance bay. Last night, they asked for council’s formal support for the project:

The ask of council is just a letter of support — it would be up to the province to ultimately fund the project. But if it were to happen, this would certainly address one of the biggest empty properties in the downtown core. Council voted in favour of providing a letter endorsing this plan.

Other council notes:

• There was a long discussion about a request from a company that operates treatment facilities. Basically, they bought a property on Grouse Road only to discover it wasn’t zoned in the way they thought it was and they can’t actually start running a youth care facility there — and they wanted council to change it under a quick process. In the end council said they aren’t ruling it out but this company will have to go through the proper channels. CORRECTION: They approved it: https://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/local-news/divided-prince-george-city-council-approves-new-youth-mental-health-facility-7860606

• Council voted in favour of the proposal to lobby to make Holocaust education mandatory in elementary schools.

• Northern Health asked for permission to build its proposed parkade, recognizing that it will add shade in the afternoon to nearby homes but arguing it will be a benefit overall. They provided a chart of the shadow. Passed!

• The Airbnb discussion didn’t happen last night — it was a notice of motion, meaning it will be discussed at a future meeting and this is just giving council notice to prepare for it. Here’s Brian Skakun discussing it, though.

Quick news:

• Conservation officers received just shy off 4,000 calls for service from August through September — an “uneard of” number. 73 bears have been killed from January through September.

• RCMP are investigating what they are calling a “suspicious death” on Sintich Road. If it turns out to be a homicide, it will add to what is already the deadliest year recorded in the city.

• The B.C. First Nations Justice Council has expressed “profound concern” and “disappointment” with the province’s decision to close the Prince George Youth Custody Centre, saying they are worried about what it means for Indigenous youth who will be sent further from their home communities and that there has been no consultation on the decision.

• Remember that roundabout video the city made using toy cars? It’s now being used by other municipalities.

• The B.C. Conservatives have decided who will run against Shirley Bond in the next provincial election. Bond has received more than 50 per cent of the total vote in the last four elections. The last time a B.C. Conservative ran in the riding was 2013, and they got just over five per cent.

• The average home price in the city has climbed back up to $495,000.

• Brian Skakun explains why he thinks the city should opt of the province’s new short-term rental prohibitions.

• Cindy Heitman on her new role with CNC.

• Vanderhoof’s high school football team is headed to the provincial semi-finals on Saturday.

• The Black Clover is hosting a talk on Canada’s place in the world this Thursday.

• Downtown Prince George is hosting Plaid Friday this week, encouraging people to support local businesses during the holiday season.

• Nove Voce is presenting more performances of the Grinch due to its past popularity.

Today’s song is from Andre 3000’s new flute album which is… good actually? And the title is great:

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