Duncan North Cowichan Amalgamation Initiative
The 36 member Duncan North Cowichan Citizens’ Assembly presented their report jointly to the City of Duncan and the District of North Cowichan on Tuesday May 23rd. The final recommendation to the two councils was to amalgamate. They also recommended that the two councils create a working committee to create a plan to communicate with citizens and to come up with a strategy and common “binding question”under Section 4 of the Local Government Act.
Monday June 5th
I attended the Duncan Committee of the Whole Meeting. They had two motions around the proposed amalgamation on their agenda:
That the Committee support the Citizen’s Assembly recommendation to hold an Amalgamation referendum at the time of the 2018 municipal elections.
And That the Committee appoint 2 Councilors to a joint amalgamation information working group to make recommendations to both Councils on a process for developing sufficient information for a binding referendum question on Amalgamation.
Duncan council combined the two motions into one, then discussed the merits of holding a special referendum, either this fall or next spring, to avoid being lumped into a possible province wide ‘electoral reform referendum’ (which may or may not happen) and to allow a single joint council to be elected at the October 2018 Local Elections. The motion passed, after amendment, to give the two Duncan Councilors the freedom to recommend an earlier referendum, should the Joint Council working group decide to do so. The COW motions now have to go to a Regular council meeting for ratification. Staff was asked to send the approved motion to North Cowichan in time for their COW meeting two days hence (I didn’t record the exact wording of the motion – it will be available as soon as their minutes are approved).
Duncan councilors Duncan (that’s not a typo) and Bruce were appointed as Duncan reps to the amalgamation working committee.
Wednesday, June 7th
I attended the North Cowichan Committee of the Whole Meeting. The meeting was called specifically to decide on ‘next steps and they were in receipt of the motion approved by Duncan COW on June 5th. A similar discussion took place on when to hold the binding referendum and there was support for looking at an earlier date. North Cowichan council, sitting as Committee of the Whole, passed the same motion as Duncan and appointed Councillors Mauve Maguire and Al Siebring to the amalgamation working committee.
I didn't stay for the Regular Council meeting that afternoon, but it was their intent to pass the motion as council the same date.
I will follow the progress of the working committee and provide posts from time to time.
Today, I learned the cost of this amalgamation study was $138,000. Of that, $78,000 was the amount spent by the Citizens’ Assembly and $60,000 to have a technical analysis done by Urban Systems. The Province granted the two municipalities $47,000and the balance was funded by the two municipalities
- Colin Nielsen
The 36 member Duncan North Cowichan Citizens’ Assembly presented their report jointly to the City of Duncan and the District of North Cowichan on Tuesday May 23rd. The final recommendation to the two councils was to amalgamate. They also recommended that the two councils create a working committee to create a plan to communicate with citizens and to come up with a strategy and common “binding question”under Section 4 of the Local Government Act.
Monday June 5th
I attended the Duncan Committee of the Whole Meeting. They had two motions around the proposed amalgamation on their agenda:
That the Committee support the Citizen’s Assembly recommendation to hold an Amalgamation referendum at the time of the 2018 municipal elections.
And That the Committee appoint 2 Councilors to a joint amalgamation information working group to make recommendations to both Councils on a process for developing sufficient information for a binding referendum question on Amalgamation.
Duncan council combined the two motions into one, then discussed the merits of holding a special referendum, either this fall or next spring, to avoid being lumped into a possible province wide ‘electoral reform referendum’ (which may or may not happen) and to allow a single joint council to be elected at the October 2018 Local Elections. The motion passed, after amendment, to give the two Duncan Councilors the freedom to recommend an earlier referendum, should the Joint Council working group decide to do so. The COW motions now have to go to a Regular council meeting for ratification. Staff was asked to send the approved motion to North Cowichan in time for their COW meeting two days hence (I didn’t record the exact wording of the motion – it will be available as soon as their minutes are approved).
Duncan councilors Duncan (that’s not a typo) and Bruce were appointed as Duncan reps to the amalgamation working committee.
Wednesday, June 7th
I attended the North Cowichan Committee of the Whole Meeting. The meeting was called specifically to decide on ‘next steps and they were in receipt of the motion approved by Duncan COW on June 5th. A similar discussion took place on when to hold the binding referendum and there was support for looking at an earlier date. North Cowichan council, sitting as Committee of the Whole, passed the same motion as Duncan and appointed Councillors Mauve Maguire and Al Siebring to the amalgamation working committee.
I didn't stay for the Regular Council meeting that afternoon, but it was their intent to pass the motion as council the same date.
I will follow the progress of the working committee and provide posts from time to time.
Today, I learned the cost of this amalgamation study was $138,000. Of that, $78,000 was the amount spent by the Citizens’ Assembly and $60,000 to have a technical analysis done by Urban Systems. The Province granted the two municipalities $47,000and the balance was funded by the two municipalities
- Colin Nielsen