The process is still on hold to get quick approval for construction funding to build a new RCMP detachment, or to send the question to a full referendum.
The construction of a new building will be about $26 million, according to the municipality's estimates, and the full project will cost a little less than $40 million. The city has pre-approval to borrow most of the money (almost $24 million), but still needs public approval to finance some of it (about $14 million) of it.
For that they must hold a referendum to get the public's permission, unless it passes through the so-called alternate approval process (AAP). If enough people protest the initiative in writing, the question will go to a full referendum, but if people do not protest in threshold numbers the referendum can be skipped. There is a month of public consultations that goes with the AAP rules. The clock has not yet started on that.
"Where it stands right now is, the loan authorization bylaw that received first three readings by council is sent off to the inspector of municipalities, as required," said Walter Babicz, manager of legislative services for the City of Prince George. "The inspector needs to approve the form of the bylaw. Once we receive it back from the inspector of municipalities then I will be doing a report to council which sets out the specific dates for the AAP. So that process has not begun yet, we are waiting for the bylaw to be returned by the inspector. We don't proceed unless the inspector gives us that OK. We don't anticipate any problems, but that is just our process."
The city is hoping the AAP happens without the threshold of opponents, in order to save the amount of money that would be spent on the referendum and potentially an even larger amount of money if B.C.'s cheaper construction rates get more expensive during the waiting period.
Should the AAP pass, the tendering process could begin virtually immediately, but the AAP itself takes one month.
"Under the Community Charter (the provincial legislation regulating local governments), the AAP period starts with an advertisement in two consecutive weeks in the newspaper," explained Babicz. "There is a 30-day timeline that begins after the second advertisement, a 30-day process for reception of responses against the bylaw."
This will be spelled out "in great detail" in Babicz's report that will be disclosed to council and the public once the inspector makes a ruling on the proposed bylaw.
The AAP calls for more than 10 per cent of registered voters to officially sign in on a petition against a bylaw, if opposed to the issue presented.
