Nanaimo council has voted in favour of trying again to use an alternative-approval process to get authorization to borrow up to $90 million to fund a new public works centre.
If it goes ahead, it will be the third time the city has attempted the process as part of its effort to replace the aging Nanaimo Operations Centre, which is close to 70 years old.
But Mayor Leonard Krog said it’s not yet a done deal.
While council approved the concept, it still needs to pass a borrowing bylaw at an in-camera special council meeting on Monday.
“It’s not a done deal, but I do expect it to pass,” said Krog. “The alternative-approval process was designed by the B.C. legislature for projects such as this.”
Under an alternative-approval process, at least 10 per cent of eligible voters need to file their opposition to the proposal for it to fail. The total number of eligible electors in Nanaimo is 79,736.
The city first attempted the AAP last year, but it was tossed out after an administrative error was discovered.
In February, it tried again, but the process was cancelled again following a complaint that forms for filing opposition to the borrowing were not available as soon as the first notice of the approval process was published, as required under legislation.
If it goes ahead again this fall, the deadline for receiving elector responses will be Oct. 31.
John Treleaven, chair of the Grumpy Taxpayer$ of Greater Victoria, calls the AAP process “negative option voting.”
“They stopped it twice before and it is intriguing that it’s coming back.”
He questions why council chose to use an alternative-approval process rather than a borrowing referendum, which requires a 50 per cent plus one vote to be successful.
While he acknowledges that referendums are more expensive, he said they are more democratic, adding the municipality also has the option of funding the project through its normal budget process.
Krog, who has been mayor of Nanaimo since 2018, said the alternative-approval process allows the electorate to express its trust in the people that they elected.
Should the alternative-approval process succeed in the fall, the city will take out long-term loans to fund the project, which includes construction of vehicle maintenance and administration buildings for public works staff.
