Islands Trust Council regular meeting, June 1, 2022

[0:00:00] Trustee Grove: it the

[0:00:00] Voice 20: meeting rather okay

[0:00:02] Trustee Grove: thank you so you have before you an agenda for this meeting um any ads

[0:00:09] Trustee Grove: changes or thoughts on that agenda hearing none i'm going to take it by general consent that it's

[0:00:17] Trustee Grove: approved uh chair

[0:00:20] Voice 20: locum if i may i mean i beg your pardon chair grove if i may

[0:00:24] Trustee Grove: it's a different old

[0:00:25] Trustee Grove: habits die hard uh there was a

[0:00:29] Voice 20: late there was a late item that the audit committee just sent

[0:00:32] Voice 20: to FPC this morning just a few minutes ago and I sent it by email. It's the financial audited

[0:00:40] Voice 20: statement.

[0:00:43] Trustee Grove: Which we will be looking at as part of this agenda. Yes

[0:00:50] Voice 20: it's 7.1.

[0:00:52] Trustee Grove: Right okay and let us

[0:00:55] Trustee Grove: move through the agenda. Public comment period. I didn't believe we have any public

[0:01:06] Trustee Grove: persons wishing to comment at this time so we have a correspondence

[0:01:14] Trustee Grove: mr chair there was a

[0:01:16] Trustee Grove: here go

[0:01:18] Trustee Luckham: ahead oh hi theresa thanks for calling me by just give me a quick

[0:01:23] Trustee Luckham: second so i just

[0:01:24] Trustee Luckham: want to make sure david marler

[0:01:28] Trustee Fast: david marler mr

[0:01:31] Voice 11: chair uh there was a i think there was someone who wished a public comment

[0:01:36] Trustee Luckham: Maya Reid Boland is online and wishes and did send an email that she wished to address.

[0:01:41] Trustee Luckham: So I

[0:01:42] Trustee Grove: beg your pardon.

[0:01:43] Trustee Grove: We'd certainly like to hear from what is the name?

[0:01:46] Trustee Grove: I'm sorry.

[0:01:46] Trustee Luckham: Maya Reid Boland.

[0:01:48] Trustee Grove: Yeah, very much like to hear from that.

[0:01:50] Trustee Grove: So, Robert, can you arrange that?

[0:01:53] Voice 20: Yes, Murray now can speak.

[0:01:57] Voice 1: Thank you.

[0:01:59] Voice 1: I couldn't actually join the meeting until a few about a minute ago.

[0:02:03] Voice 1: go just as a heads up i i don't think you were live streaming um until i i tuned in i was waiting

[0:02:11] Voice 1: and then i tuned in when it was saying okay connecting now just as a as a factoid okay

[0:02:17] Voice 1: thank you for the opportunity to speak um i'll just read my public comment to you without further

[0:02:23] Voice 1: ado so i'm more more eighth boland i'm from saturn island uh this is the comment with respect to item

[0:02:32] Voice 1: item 8.2 review of the budget consultation timing it's good to see that the timing of the public

[0:02:38] Voice 1: consultation survey on the budget is on the agenda for discussion and that a proposal has been made

[0:02:45] Voice 1: to alter that timing however the proposed alteration and timing is not sufficient to create

[0:02:52] Voice 1: early and meaningful engagement as is the stated goal of the trust in the current methodology

[0:02:59] Voice 1: methodology, assumptions are made, a budget is created over many months and meetings, and then

[0:03:04] Voice 1: the public is asked for feedback when it's too late for their input to have any meaningful impact.

[0:03:10] Voice 1: How to have early and meaningful engagement. The key to change is to invite the public to

[0:03:16] Voice 1: participate in the actual construction of the budget, in asking what should be in the budget,

[0:03:22] Voice 1: change the timing and the value of the consultation design the survey now you already

[0:03:29] Voice 1: know the elements of the expenses the strategic plan projects and the ltc project work base the

[0:03:37] Voice 1: consultation on those elements the exact financial details are not needed discuss the strategic goals

[0:03:46] Voice 1: goals and the 2023 budgetary principles of the Trust. For instance, how will the budget

[0:03:53] Voice 1: accommodate implementation of the recommendations of the governance review? How will that be

[0:03:58] Voice 1: funded? List key assumptions. List the strategic projects. Summarise the timeline and cost

[0:04:08] Voice 1: to date, the planned end date and the estimated expenditure for next year. List the LTC projects

[0:04:16] Voice 1: on each island, those particular to an island and those planned for rollout across other islands

[0:04:22] Voice 1: with timeline and estimated expenditure for next year. The questions asked in previous years

[0:04:29] Voice 1: surveys could be asked again. What budget principle do you support? Ask people to

[0:04:35] Voice 1: prioritise the strategic projects. Refine the survey in September and launch the consultation

[0:04:41] Voice 1: the consultation immediately. Use the results as a reference throughout the budget process.

[0:04:47] Voice 1: Follow the lead of the province. The consultation paper for the February 2023 budget is out

[0:04:54] Voice 1: and the survey opened on May 30th and ends on June 24th.

[0:04:59] Voice 1: So I really believe that if you want to open true proper engagement about the work of the

[0:05:09] Voice 1: islands trust there's an opportunity by engaging very very early on the budget for next year thank

[0:05:17] Voice 1: you for the opportunity to speak thank

[0:05:21] Trustee Grove: you very much your points are well taken and will be

[0:05:23] Trustee Grove: considered uh in all by this committee and um will be taken to trust council i'm sure

[0:05:32] Trustee Grove: any comments from anybody in our on this committee hearing none let us press on to

[0:05:41] Trustee Grove: the correspondence on pages three to five um any thoughts as to what needs to be done about that

[0:06:02] Trustee Grove: just we just need to receive it thank you so be it

[0:06:13] Trustee Grove: any thoughts concerns changes requested hearing now we will take that by general consent that

[0:06:25] Trustee Grove: they are approved. The follow-up action list, Julia would you like to take us through that please?

[0:06:35] Voice 13: Sure I'm happy to chair. As usual I will speak primarily to the items that are listed in progress.

[0:06:41] Voice 13: So the first item listed in progress looks at some analysis associated with our offices that

[0:06:46] Voice 13: are on islands. Staff are suggesting that this item be removed from the follow-up action list.

[0:06:51] Voice 13: As you may recall, we are releasing the majority of our on-island office leases, and that was approved by Trust Council as part of the budget in March.

[0:07:00] Voice 13: So staff are suggesting that be removed from the follow-up action list, and we'll receive direction to do that at the end of review follow-up action list if this committee wishes.

[0:07:09] Voice 13: The second item listed in progress, second and third item, actually relate to some policy review.

[0:07:14] Voice 13: So there's plans to review our reserve and surplus policy, as well as trustee remuneration policy.

[0:07:18] Voice 13: The plan is to have those policies reviewed over the summer months and bring them back to Financial Planning Committee in August with the intent to take them to Trust Council for approval in September.

[0:07:31] Voice 13: At the top of page 15, there's a discussion around earlier consultation on the budget.

[0:07:37] Voice 13: And as mentioned, Director Frader has prepared a briefing for the committee today and will be reviewing some options for earlier consultation at this meeting today.

[0:07:45] Voice 13: And the last item listed in progress is assigned to Director Marler and our CAO.

[0:07:50] Voice 13: that's associated with building permit review cost recovery so I will actually let our CAO

[0:07:55] Voice 13: speak to that item as it's in their wheelhouse so over to you thank

[0:07:58] Voice 3: you we have a question from

[0:08:00] Voice 3: Paul Brent did you want to ask a question now Paul I'm sorry Mr. Chair

[0:08:04] Trustee Grove: I didn't quite hear you

[0:08:06] Trustee Grove: beg your pardon I should plug myself in I see Paul Brent's hand is up but on the other hand

[0:08:12] Trustee Grove: we're waiting for CAO Russ Watson-Pillow I

[0:08:14] Voice 2: can defer to Trustee Brent just

[0:08:17] Voice 19: a quick question

[0:08:18] Voice 19: in respect of the office leases.

[0:08:20] Voice 19: I agree, I concur with no need

[0:08:24] Voice 19: to continue examining the satellite offices.

[0:08:26] Voice 19: I'm wondering if there is continued examination

[0:08:31] Voice 19: of office leases at the head office

[0:08:35] Voice 19: to see if we can shrink that space a little bit.

[0:08:39] Voice 19: Yes, no?

[0:08:40] Voice 19: Is that ongoing or is it off the table as well?

[0:08:44] Voice 2: I can speak to that, Mr. Chair.

[0:08:46] Voice 2: Thank you, yes, please.

[0:08:47] Voice 2: Indeed, that is on the table. I don't know if it would end with the clause that you've described, shrink that space up. But there is certainly consideration of how we match our staff and occupational need to take on this space versus the new way of working that we're living through.

[0:09:08] Voice 2: And the first domino to fall there was the signing or is the current signing of telework agreements that have followed the dispersion of staff out of the pandemic.

[0:09:18] Voice 2: I'm happy to report that 80 to 90 percent of those have been signed.

[0:09:23] Voice 2: Each staff has a different version of a telework agreement, essentially.

[0:09:26] Voice 2: essentially, and we're now matching up office needs with the presence of staff and how to

[0:09:34] Voice 2: maintain opportunities for staff to come together, maintain the culture of the organization, but also

[0:09:40] Voice 2: not have empty office space. The one other challenge that's of consideration, and Julia

[0:09:45] Voice 2: will know this because she's got a lot of this space, is there's only certain portions of this

[0:09:50] Voice 2: building that can carry weight. And we have a number of files that we're required to keep.

[0:09:57] Voice 2: So reconciling our storage space with our office space is another part of that work. Thank you.

[0:10:05] Trustee Grove: Thank you, Russell. Could you tell me what a telework agreement is? And Paul, your hand is

[0:10:09] Trustee Grove: still up. A

[0:10:12] Voice 2: telework, just so committee knows that our employees are provincial employees,

[0:10:18] Voice 2: as well as employees at the Islands Trust,

[0:10:21] Voice 2: which, you know, the governance report actually pointed

[0:10:23] Voice 2: to some interesting elements associated with that,

[0:10:26] Voice 2: but they're governed by the BCGEU,

[0:10:28] Voice 2: the collective agreement and so forth.

[0:10:30] Voice 2: And as the employees have come out of the pandemic

[0:10:37] Voice 2: and the strictures and opportunities that were provided

[0:10:39] Voice 2: for staff working at home,

[0:10:43] Voice 2: individual staff throughout BC

[0:10:44] Voice 2: who work for the provincial government

[0:10:46] Voice 2: can sign to mutual benefit telework agreements which describes the workplace for a staff person

[0:10:54] Voice 2: any sort of accommodations they might have whether they'd work full-time in the office

[0:11:01] Voice 2: part-time in the office part-time at home or fully remotely and the intention of the agreements is to

[0:11:09] Voice 2: indeed do that get an agreement and understanding between the employer and the employee as to what

[0:11:14] Voice 2: that means so that's what we've that's the process we've undertaken over the last couple of months

[0:11:20] Trustee Grove: thank you very much any questions of our cao and julia let's go back to um

[0:11:30] Voice 2: sorry i was going to answer the uh the uh or just provide an update on the item um february 16th

[0:11:41] Voice 2: 2022 exploring options for building permit recovery cost recovery if you want to

[0:11:47] Voice 2: yes please

[0:11:48] Voice 2: so um the committee got a report in january what it basically outlined two options for the work

[0:11:57] Voice 2: that we do associated with building referrals and um one and that there's a cost associated

[0:12:05] Voice 2: with those and the islands trust absorbs that cost in previous times um the building departments of

[0:12:11] Voice 2: the various regional districts kind of did their own planning assessment and over time we realized

[0:12:16] Voice 2: that that wasn't working and staff have undertaken that work we do some 400 a year and there were two

[0:12:24] Voice 2: options available to the committee one was to outreach to the various regional districts see

[0:12:30] Voice 2: what they think about them potentially providing an extra fee and then remitting that fee over to

[0:12:35] Voice 2: to the Allens Trust. The second was, you know, a bigger piece of work, a regulatory amendment that

[0:12:42] Voice 2: would allow us to charge that kind of fee, and it's an authority we don't have. So I've

[0:12:46] Voice 2: outreached to the CAOs. I've spoken with three out of four, Bob Lapham from the CRD, Brian Carruthers

[0:12:52] Voice 2: from the CVRD, and Doug Holmes from the Regional District of Nanaimo. None of them jumped up and

[0:12:57] Voice 2: down with joy, but none of them dismissed the concept out of hand. They described a couple

[0:13:03] Voice 2: things that I'll pass on to you and that will ultimately form a report when I get to final

[0:13:08] Voice 2: discussion with the last CAO. The volume is primarily, you know, two-thirds of it to three-quarter

[0:13:17] Voice 2: of it comes from the CRD. There is something possible. They would want to look at whether

[0:13:24] Voice 2: they could charge another fee on top of the building fee that they charge already. The

[0:13:31] Voice 2: The challenge is ultimately that will become a political decision of each of those boards

[0:13:34] Voice 2: as they amend their fees bylaw and that they have no interest in increasing the fee, but

[0:13:42] Voice 2: we do so that there would be some sort of communications work that would need to be

[0:13:49] Voice 2: done.

[0:13:49] Voice 2: The other consideration would be that there would be administrative costs for setting

[0:13:53] Voice 2: up the program and ongoing administrative costs to administer it as we move forward

[0:13:59] Voice 2: if we can get to an arrangement where this seems to work.

[0:14:02] Voice 2: They asked me a couple of questions, how much volume, that kind of thing,

[0:14:05] Voice 2: and why is this simply not absorbed by the planning staff of our organization

[0:14:09] Voice 2: like it is in all of the regional districts,

[0:14:12] Voice 2: where there is not an example that I've found so far

[0:14:16] Voice 2: of a separate fee for a building referral.

[0:14:18] Voice 2: I think there was one in the Comox-Rathcona Regional District

[0:14:22] Voice 2: a number of years ago, but otherwise, the question they came to us with was,

[0:14:26] Voice 2: wouldn't your planning staff do that?

[0:14:27] Voice 2: as in the RDs they just walk these down for a planning referral.

[0:14:32] Voice 2: So that's one and the second is what is the cost basis for this. I think if you look at an average

[0:14:41] Voice 2: initial building permit between $75 and $150 depending upon the house and the complexity

[0:14:46] Voice 2: of the building permit, those fees run around between $75, $150 more complex buildings into $500

[0:14:53] Voice 2: and then as you depending on how complex your development is that could go a lot of different

[0:14:59] Voice 2: ways and a lot of different fees applied but at a basic level you know if we say it's between 100

[0:15:04] Voice 2: and 150 dollars to someone coming in for a billing permit how much could we charge reasonably for

[0:15:11] Voice 2: that additional work that would be a not basically an island fee as opposed to a fee that's

[0:15:17] Voice 2: charge to a constituent in the electoral area, probably in the $30 to $50 range.

[0:15:25] Voice 2: I think overall it would return, given the 400 permits we have out there, approximately

[0:15:30] Voice 2: $16,000 of revenue.

[0:15:32] Voice 2: And of course, we'd have to remove the administrative costs and the transfer costs and the

[0:15:36] Voice 2: maintenance of those agreements.

[0:15:38] Voice 2: So that's where I've gotten to so far.

[0:15:40] Voice 2: We haven't gotten to a process at this point, but we've had the initial conversations and

[0:15:47] Voice 2: And some of the potential pros and cons of this have come up.

[0:15:53] Trustee Grove: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[0:15:54] Trustee Grove: And you'll be presenting a report at some stage.

[0:15:58] Trustee Grove: Any questions of our CAO?

[0:16:03] Voice 5: Julia, can you proceed then?

[0:16:08] Voice 13: So that is everything else in the follow-up action list is noted as completed.

[0:16:13] Voice 13: So there's nothing else to report, but I'm happy to field any questions if there are any.

[0:16:19] Trustee Grove: Any questions?

[0:16:20] Trustee Grove: And you'll have to raise your electronic hand if you have a question.

[0:16:24] Trustee Grove: because my screen has taken over with other data.

[0:16:32] Trustee Grove: Thank you.

[0:16:33] Trustee Grove: So we have at 7.1, the audited financial statements,

[0:16:38] Trustee Grove: and you received that copy by email just before this meeting.

[0:16:45] Trustee Grove: So are we having those up on the screen, Julia?

[0:16:50] Voice 13: We can pull them up on the screen.

[0:16:52] Voice 13: So the audited financial statements were reviewed mere 20 minutes ago

[0:16:57] Voice 13: go by the audit committee with the appointed auditors KPMG. So partner Lenora Lee was there

[0:17:02] Voice 13: again this year to present the financial statements and the audit report. In summary there were no

[0:17:08] Voice 13: concerns that were noted during the audit with our policies or their application in the financial

[0:17:13] Voice 13: reporting and subsequently we've been issued a clean audit report again this year. Audit committee

[0:17:18] Voice 13: has forwarded the financial statements to trust council for approval and has forwarded them to

[0:17:24] Voice 13: financial planning committee simply for information. Because the audited financial

[0:17:28] Voice 13: statements are presented in a different format than we typically present the financial results

[0:17:33] Voice 13: each quarter to trust counsel, we do have in this agenda package also a briefing that looks at the

[0:17:39] Voice 13: same financial data in the format that trustees are used to seeing. And so we'll review the

[0:17:43] Voice 13: financial results a little bit more in depth when we get to that briefing.

[0:17:50] Trustee Grove: So shall we turn to that

[0:17:51] Trustee Grove: briefing on page 18 of your package?

[0:17:57] Voice 13: Certainly, if there's no questions on the audited statements

[0:17:59] Voice 13: or the audit.

[0:18:01] Trustee Grove: Peter Luckham has a question. Go ahead.

[0:18:04] Trustee Luckham: This is on the financial results. I'll let

[0:18:08] Trustee Luckham: Director Mobs continue and then you could answer. I'll ask a question.

[0:18:13] Trustee Grove: Very good. Thank you,

[0:18:14] Trustee Grove: Director Mobs. Press forward.

[0:18:19] Voice 13: Okay. So we are moving on then to the March 31st, 2022 fiscal

[0:18:24] Voice 13: year financial results. So I mentioned a bit earlier, I'm on new technology today. I've had

[0:18:30] Voice 13: had some trouble with it. So I've got some paper notes in front of me. If the rustling of the paper

[0:18:34] Voice 13: is too loud, please feel free to jump in and let me know. So as I mentioned, the audited financial

[0:18:40] Voice 13: statement presentation is a bit different to what trustees and councillor used to seeing. And so

[0:18:44] Voice 13: this briefing before you looks at things in a more customary format. What we have added this year is

[0:18:50] Voice 13: a little bit of information at the start of the report to look at changes year over year in the

[0:18:54] Voice 13: balances that are presented on the statement of financial information, or sorry, on the statement

[0:18:58] Voice 13: of financial position and that's the statement that reflects the values of assets liabilities

[0:19:04] Voice 13: and accumulated surplus at the end of the year for islands trust so one of the primary changes

[0:19:10] Voice 13: that you'll see year over year is a change in the distribution of financial assets held between

[0:19:15] Voice 13: cash and equivalents and longer term investments and that simply is a result of more cash invested

[0:19:22] Voice 13: in long-term investments at the end of the year and so we see a reduction in cash year over year

[0:19:27] Voice 13: of $1.3 million, with a corresponding and offsetting increase of $1.2 million seen in

[0:19:32] Voice 13: the investment balance. The accounts payable and accrued liabilities balance year over year has

[0:19:39] Voice 13: increased by $125,000. That's primarily due to timing of payables. So the amount that's reflected

[0:19:46] Voice 13: on the statement reflects approximately 10% of expenses shown in the fiscal year, and that's the

[0:19:52] Voice 13: exact same percent that we see represented in the previous fiscal year, so no change there.

[0:19:56] Voice 13: And that represents just over one month's worth of expenses, which is not considered unreasonable.

[0:20:04] Voice 13: Our deferred revenue balance has increased by about $45,000, and that's primarily due to new grants that were received in the year that have not yet been spent.

[0:20:15] Voice 13: Employee benefit obligations have also increased by about $30,000, and that's primarily due to staff overtime and vacation liabilities that have increased year over year.

[0:20:24] Voice 13: So we do have significant work programs and staff are working some overtime.

[0:20:28] Voice 13: and taking less vacation. And so we're seeing those liability balances increase. And this is

[0:20:34] Voice 13: not too far off of the percentage that's represented as an increase in salaries expense

[0:20:39] Voice 13: on the statement of operations. So nothing unexpected there. Obligations under capital

[0:20:46] Voice 13: lease are reduced for payments on our capital assets or payments on leased capital assets in

[0:20:51] Voice 13: the year. And so we've seen a reduction in that balance of about $13,000. The reduction of about

[0:20:56] Voice 13: $18,000 in cost recovery deposits is simply because we had less deposits held on application

[0:21:02] Voice 13: at year end. I can pause there for questions. I know this is a new section on this report.

[0:21:11] Voice 13: Primarily, we look at just changes in actuals over budget. So I'll just pause briefly to see

[0:21:16] Voice 13: if there's questions before I move on. I see Chair Luckham has his hand raised.

[0:21:26] Trustee Luckham: Thank you, Chair. I just note that on thank you, I'll just say first of all Julia,

[0:21:34] Trustee Luckham: just thank you very much for this enormous amount of work in lining all these numbers up and

[0:21:40] Trustee Luckham: reporting out to us in a very comprehensive way. But I note on page 24 on the consolidated

[0:21:47] Trustee Luckham: expenses by object that the percentage over under budget the last column in that table

[0:21:54] Trustee Luckham: doesn't appear, it appears that legal, that particular line, there's a positive number there

[0:22:02] Trustee Luckham: and it doesn't seem to drive and I think it should be, in any case, it should be a negative number

[0:22:10] Trustee Luckham: and then the total at the bottom of that column at minus one would, in any event, seem to me,

[0:22:19] Trustee Luckham: in my reading appear to be different than what's shown there I'm sure that you've probably noted

[0:22:24] Trustee Luckham: that already but just ask about that

[0:22:28] Voice 13: yes so you would have seen the agenda circulated quite late

[0:22:32] Voice 13: on Friday afternoon so things were put together in a bit of a whirlwind manner and there are

[0:22:36] Voice 13: mistakes in that table I will be noting those mistakes and their corrections when I get to

[0:22:40] Voice 13: that part of the report and they will absolutely be corrected before this information is forwarded

[0:22:45] Voice 13: on to Council.

[0:22:45] Trustee Luckham: Oh, perfect. Okay, thank you.

[0:22:48] Trustee Grove: Thank you for spotting that, Peter, and thank you for

[0:22:50] Trustee Grove: your answer, Julia. Any other questions?

[0:22:58] Voice 13: If there aren't other questions, I'll move on to the

[0:23:00] Voice 13: remainder of the report and look at how things shook out in the year against budget. Yes, please.

[0:23:07] Voice 13: Okay, so now we've moved on to page 19 of the agenda package, and this begins discussion of

[0:23:15] Voice 13: the financial information that's represented in the Statement of Financial Operations.

[0:23:19] Voice 13: operations. So this statement represents financial activities that took place over the course

[0:23:23] Voice 13: of the year. So our financial operations over the course of the year have resulted in a

[0:23:27] Voice 13: reduction to our accumulated surplus balance of about $364,000 and that was primarily due

[0:23:34] Voice 13: to a transfer from the general revenue fund of $278,000. We do still remain in a healthy

[0:23:40] Voice 13: position with the general fund. That's always something that we look at each year, make

[0:23:43] Voice 13: sure that we've got enough cash sitting in that fund for a rainy day and at the end of

[0:23:47] Voice 13: the year we are still in a healthy position with that fund. So the total of accumulated surplus

[0:23:53] Voice 13: balance at the end of the fiscal year is 2.56 million. It is broken out between three different

[0:24:00] Voice 13: funds and amounts invested in capital assets and that's reflected in the table in the middle of

[0:24:04] Voice 13: page 19 there. Below that table is a brief explanation of what's contained in each of those

[0:24:11] Voice 13: funds. So this information is primarily for the benefit of trustees at the council table who don't

[0:24:17] Voice 13: sit on financial planning committee and may not necessarily recall what's in each of those

[0:24:22] Voice 13: balances and so this is just a reminder for them. I won't go through that information today but it's

[0:24:27] Voice 13: there for reference if it is of interest. At the bottom of page 19 we dive into the details of

[0:24:36] Voice 13: what's been received for revenues and what's been spent for expenditures. So overall we came in

[0:24:42] Voice 13: higher than budget on the revenue side of things by about a hundred thousand dollars and that's due

[0:24:47] Voice 13: primarily to increases in approved grants that were received in the year. So we have a list of

[0:24:53] Voice 13: those increases in grant funds at the top of page 20. You'll see that the largest increase is due

[0:24:59] Voice 13: to the Healthy Watershed Initiative as well as increase in the Species at Risk program.

[0:25:05] Voice 13: And these were approved grants that we knew about and we simply received additional funds in the

[0:25:09] Voice 13: year. I guess they were feeling generous. Moving on to consolidated expenses, of course the first

[0:25:16] Voice 13: thing that we do every year is reconcile our budget methodology with financial reporting

[0:25:20] Voice 13: methodology is there is a difference between those two methodologies once we've completed

[0:25:25] Voice 13: the reconciliation we see that we have a net underspending against budget of about 340 000

[0:25:30] Voice 13: the breakdown of that underspending is seen in many different places within the financial

[0:25:37] Voice 13: statements so council services which is our first area of function represented on the statements

[0:25:43] Voice 13: had total expenses of higher than budget by approximately $64,000.

[0:25:51] Voice 13: Buried underneath that are a number of different areas with underspending and overspending.

[0:25:56] Voice 13: So Trust Council actually came in lower than budget.

[0:25:59] Voice 13: And that was primarily due to increased attendance at electronic meetings and hybrid meetings,

[0:26:05] Voice 13: where we had planned for more in-person meetings.

[0:26:08] Voice 13: As well, we had a change in the allocation of insurance costs in the year,

[0:26:12] Voice 13: which put more of the expense to council than budgeted executive committee costs were slightly

[0:26:21] Voice 13: higher than what we budgeted and that was due mainly to increased sponsorship of applications

[0:26:25] Voice 13: by executive committee in the year so trust area services is showing actual spending higher than

[0:26:33] Voice 13: budget by approximately 104 000 now this sounds alarming but this this was a planned and approved

[0:26:39] Voice 13: overspending by trust council so you may recall that there were two resolutions passed by trust

[0:26:44] Voice 13: Trust Council throughout the year. The first one was to approve an additional draw from surplus

[0:26:49] Voice 13: funds of $75,000 to put towards the policy statement project. And the second one was to

[0:26:55] Voice 13: draw, I think it was an additional $62,000 from surplus, and then reallocate funding from within

[0:27:01] Voice 13: the budget to increase the cost put towards the policy statement project. We did see some higher

[0:27:09] Voice 13: salaries and benefits costs incurred in the area of trust area services. Again, that's because staff

[0:27:14] Voice 13: we're working hard primarily on the policy statement project functional area number two

[0:27:20] Voice 13: which is our local planning services department discussion of that starts midway on page 21.

[0:27:26] Voice 13: overall expending expenditures in this area came in lower than budget by about half a million

[0:27:32] Voice 13: dollars so this isn't unusual for islands trust we do see underspending in the area of planning

[0:27:37] Voice 13: services quite frequently that's primarily driven by staff turnover and vacancies in the year

[0:27:43] Voice 13: and then with those staff vacancies there's usually less work that's achieved on planned

[0:27:47] Voice 13: projects and those are definitely two top areas contributing to underspending in local planning

[0:27:52] Voice 13: services this year. Local trust committee costs were underspent against budget by about $27,000

[0:27:59] Voice 13: again that's due to continued electronic meeting attendance there were no special projects that

[0:28:04] Voice 13: were undertaken by local trust committees this year we also had some reduced general legal costs

[0:28:09] Voice 13: again also because there were no special projects undertaken, as well as reduced by law enforcement

[0:28:14] Voice 13: costs due primarily to an extended vacancy in the bylaw enforcement staff area. So as I mentioned,

[0:28:25] Voice 13: the area of projects was underspent, again another area that we see quite often. So local planning

[0:28:31] Voice 13: service projects were underspent against budget by about $180,000. A large portion of that was

[0:28:37] Voice 13: due to the groundwater recharge mapping project and I have asked Director Marlar to be prepared

[0:28:42] Voice 13: to speak to any of these projects if there's questions around why we had underspending outside

[0:28:46] Voice 13: of staff vacancies. That is the largest contributing underspending as well as

[0:28:53] Voice 13: overspending that's offsetting that for the regional freshwater strategy and that's because

[0:28:57] Voice 13: we had additional grant funding that was received in the year as noted in the revenue section.

[0:29:04] Voice 13: Local planning services facilities are comprised primarily of the items that are listed in this

[0:29:13] Voice 13: report however when we were going through we did notice that there's a couple of errors in what's

[0:29:18] Voice 13: noted as contributing to local planning services facilities so the report notes that training

[0:29:22] Voice 13: travel salaries and benefits are rolling up into the local planning services facilities line which

[0:29:27] Voice 13: is incorrect so we're going to fix that before this report goes on to council and total expenses

[0:29:33] Voice 13: in this area were higher than budget by about eleven thousand dollars and that's primarily due

[0:29:37] Voice 13: to increased costs associated with the gabriola island office as well as the victoria office as

[0:29:43] Voice 13: we're seeing increased lease costs in both of these locations. When we move on to the Islands

[0:29:51] Voice 13: Trust Conservancy, that's on the bottom of page 22, we see that the board costs

[0:30:00] Voice 13: under budget by about $7,000 and that was due to reduced meeting expenses as a result of less

[0:30:06] Voice 13: meetings held than anticipated. Staff costs for the Conservancy were over budget by approximately

[0:30:12] Voice 13: $8,000. That was due to increased spending on communications associated with increased work

[0:30:17] Voice 13: on species at risk as well as increased legal costs also in line with increased work on property

[0:30:23] Voice 13: management. We tend to see those two things fall in line with one another. Property management

[0:30:29] Voice 13: costs were increased primarily as a result of new species at risk funding, as we've mentioned

[0:30:35] Voice 13: previously. On the top of page 23, we scroll up there, we begin discussion of general administration.

[0:30:46] Voice 13: So general administration, of course, these are overhead costs that are allocated out to the three

[0:30:50] Voice 13: areas of function. We do see that senior management costs were under budget by about $33,000. And

[0:30:56] Voice 13: and that's primarily due to underspending

[0:30:58] Voice 13: in salaries and benefits.

[0:30:59] Voice 13: So the allowed increase for excluded staff members

[0:31:03] Voice 13: in the last fiscal year was capped

[0:31:05] Voice 13: by the provincial service agency.

[0:31:07] Voice 13: And so we had a lower than budget increase

[0:31:10] Voice 13: for excluded staff members.

[0:31:13] Voice 13: Administrative services was also under budget

[0:31:16] Voice 13: by approximately $30,000.

[0:31:18] Voice 13: Again, the cap on excluded staff increases

[0:31:20] Voice 13: as a contributor there.

[0:31:21] Voice 13: And we also had staff leaves in the year

[0:31:24] Voice 13: that were not backfilled.

[0:31:28] Voice 13: Office operations came in higher than budget of about $12,000. So as is known by everyone,

[0:31:34] Voice 13: I would assume we are seeing a rising cost in office supplies, which is contributing to this

[0:31:39] Voice 13: increase. We also had increases in the office lease, as I mentioned, as well as an increase

[0:31:44] Voice 13: in insurance costs, which is in line with expected market activity. Information services costs were

[0:31:52] Voice 13: almost right on budget, so we don't have much information in the report on that as it's a

[0:31:56] Voice 13: the negligible variance. Computer furniture and equipment is where things get interesting. We did

[0:32:02] Voice 13: overspend against budget by about twice as much as planned. So the budget is around $33,000. We

[0:32:08] Voice 13: spent about $65,000. That was due in part to the unplanned purchase of LTC hybrid meeting streaming

[0:32:15] Voice 13: kits. So you're all aware we've moved to the hybrid meeting model for local trust committees,

[0:32:21] Voice 13: which was a new event in the year. And we needed to purchase new computer equipment

[0:32:25] Voice 13: to make that a reality.

[0:32:27] Voice 13: We've also seen a change in how software assets

[0:32:30] Voice 13: are being treated in the financial statements.

[0:32:32] Voice 13: And we've also had an increased need for hardware

[0:32:35] Voice 13: as in situations where we have a single full-time position,

[0:32:38] Voice 13: we are often filling it with two part-time staff positions,

[0:32:41] Voice 13: which of course includes or increases the need for hardware

[0:32:45] Voice 13: for these staff members.

[0:32:49] Voice 13: At the top of page 24, we move into the discussion

[0:32:52] Voice 13: discussion of the same financial information in a different format. So, you know, different

[0:32:58] Voice 13: individuals process financial information in different ways. Presenting the financial

[0:33:02] Voice 13: information by object is often an easier way to understand and interpret financial results.

[0:33:08] Voice 13: And so this is the table that Trustee Luckham had brought up previously, where there are errors

[0:33:13] Voice 13: noted. We have noted a few errors in the over and under column, as well as some totals. And so we'll

[0:33:20] Voice 13: be correcting that before this report goes on to council one of the things to note is uh what we're

[0:33:26] Voice 13: seeing here in trends is fairly similar to what we see most fiscal years and that's being that our

[0:33:32] Voice 13: primary area of underspending is in the salaries and benefits expense line um again due to turnover

[0:33:40] Voice 13: and we're also seeing an underspending in the area of programs and again that's due to

[0:33:46] Voice 13: projects that have been on hold again because of staff vacancies so i'm happy to take some

[0:33:53] Voice 13: questions on that information i know it's a lot of information uh to take in all at once

[0:33:58] Voice 13: um but happy to field questions if there are any a

[0:34:01] Voice 3: great deal thank you so much julia

[0:34:05] Voice 5: any questions trustee rogers thanks

[0:34:14] Voice 11: director mods as always a very detailed and uh enlightening

[0:34:18] Voice 11: report um i guess i guess this is sort of a generic question but i just want to make sure

[0:34:24] Voice 11: that this is sort of recorded but uh we we saw some of the trends particularly around

[0:34:30] Voice 11: underspending starting you know as we put together the budget concept process and and my understanding

[0:34:37] Voice 11: would be we built some of the assumptions uh or some of the trends we're seeing around that

[0:34:42] Voice 11: and projects into the new budget that we adopted in March.

[0:34:48] Voice 11: Is that a fair characterization of how some of the things,

[0:34:53] Voice 11: some of the trends, for example,

[0:34:54] Voice 11: the underspending on meetings, et cetera,

[0:34:57] Voice 11: where we know we've moved to a different model?

[0:35:00] Voice 11: I just wanted, that would be my understanding.

[0:35:02] Voice 11: Am I correct?

[0:35:04] Voice 13: You are correct.

[0:35:05] Voice 13: So many of the areas that were reduced

[0:35:07] Voice 13: in the budget for this year are reflective

[0:35:10] Voice 13: of traditional areas of underspending.

[0:35:12] Voice 13: so the largest one there is in the area of salaries and benefits. I don't recall the exact

[0:35:17] Voice 13: reduction that we saw in the current year budget but it was reflective of what's historically been

[0:35:21] Voice 13: underspent so you're correct.

[0:35:25] Trustee Grove: Thank you. Sue Ellen Fast.

[0:35:28] Trustee Fast: Thank you chair. Just a quick question for

[0:35:30] Trustee Fast: Julia. I think it's probably a typo but page 22 about the Islands Trust Conservancy you have in

[0:35:39] Trustee Fast: the text that there were less electronic meetings or did you mean in-person meetings uh less in

[0:35:47] Voice 13: person meetings and i think maybe less meetings in general i would look to okay chair stanford

[0:35:53] Voice 13: is shaking her head so that's incorrect so yes it would be less in-person meetings okay thank

[0:35:57] Voice 13: you just to we'll correct that well

[0:36:01] Voice 5: spotted thank you any other questions so that was a

[0:36:17] Voice 16: Thank you. My internet's spotty, so hopefully I won't freeze up or anything. It's a question,

[0:36:25] Voice 16: and I don't even know if it's for Julia, to do with the LTC projects, which are,

[0:36:30] Voice 16: ever since I've been a trustee, which is a while now, they...

[0:36:39] Trustee Grove: Laura, you're cutting out. We can't hear you.

[0:36:42] Trustee Grove: Could

[0:36:43] Voice 5: you try turning

[0:36:44] Voice 12: your video off?

[0:36:44] Voice 5: You may wish to turn your

[0:36:44] Voice 5: camera off.

[0:36:49] Trustee Grove: Laura, the suggestion

[0:36:50] Trustee Grove: is you switch your camera off.

[0:37:01] Voice 5: Laura,

[0:37:02] Trustee Grove: that is not working for us.

[0:37:06] Trustee Fast: Robert, can you turn our camera off?

[0:37:09] Trustee Fast: No, I guess

[0:37:10] Voice 5: that wouldn't help. Never mind.

[0:37:12] Voice 5: Okay.

[0:37:16] Trustee Grove: We're going to have to press on, and Laura, maybe we can come back to you in a bit.

[0:37:20] Trustee Grove: So let us move on, because Laura's connection is clearly not working.

[0:37:28] Voice 5: So can we move to that page before we ...

[0:37:37] Voice 13: We're unable to hear you, General.

[0:37:40] Voice 13: When

[0:37:40] Trustee Grove: you turn your face away.

[0:37:41] Trustee Grove: Thank you.

[0:37:41] Trustee Grove: Let us turn to 7.3, the allocated financial statements briefing.

[0:37:47] Trustee Grove: Thank you.

[0:37:50] Voice 13: I will note, historically, I believe FPC has forwarded this briefing on to Council. Certainly,

[0:37:56] Voice 13: no obligation to do so as the audited financial statements do get forwarded to Council or have

[0:38:01] Voice 13: been forwarded to Council. But if you wish for this to go forward as well, you may do so.

[0:38:07] Trustee Grove: Sorry, which are you referring to, the financial results briefing?

[0:38:11] Voice 5: That's right.

[0:38:13] Trustee Grove: Yes, I think it should be. And Trustee Rogers is about to make that.

[0:38:17] Trustee Grove: Yeah, despite

[0:38:19] Voice 11: risking the ire of those that think we send too much material to Trust Council, I'll move we forward the financial results briefing to Trust Council.

[0:38:30] Voice 19: I'll second that. I think it's a good idea. It's quite informative, and I think it's important Trust Council sees this. Cheers.

[0:38:38] Voice 19: Mr.

[0:38:40] Trustee Grove: Peter Luckin, you had your hand up briefly, but now it's gone.

[0:38:46] Trustee Grove: So any discussion that's been moved and seconded? All those in favor? Any contrary?

[0:39:05] Trustee Grove: That carries unanimously. Thank you very much.

[0:39:11] Trustee Grove: Let us move to 7.3, the allocated financial statements.

[0:39:16] Trustee Grove: Ms. All

[0:39:17] Voice 13: right. Thank you, Chair. So once a year, the team has worked very hard to prepare

[0:39:23] Voice 13: pair of the allocated financial statements and have them ready at the same time as the audited

[0:39:28] Voice 13: financial statements. Historically, these would go forward at a later date to the September council

[0:39:33] Voice 13: meeting. We have married up the timelines. We think it works better. So I just want to publicly

[0:39:38] Voice 13: thank the finance team, primarily Nancy, for her hard work on this. The results of the allocated

[0:39:43] Voice 13: financial statements are on page 30 of the agenda package. The statements do balance to what we see

[0:39:49] Voice 13: in the audited financials. If ever they do not, it means we have a problem. So I'm glad to see

[0:39:53] Voice 13: that they do balance. These statements, just as a reminder for everybody, have been a request

[0:39:58] Voice 13: of trustees historically, so these are not required statements. These are internally

[0:40:03] Voice 13: prepared statements for the benefit of trustees, and they break down our financial

[0:40:08] Voice 13: results by local trust area, so local trust areas can see what revenues they are providing to the

[0:40:14] Voice 13: trust as a federal whole, as well as the estimated amount of expenses that they are drawing down for

[0:40:19] Voice 13: for work in their particular local trust areas.

[0:40:23] Voice 13: So it's an imperfect allocation.

[0:40:26] Voice 13: We do have direct revenues and direct expenses

[0:40:28] Voice 13: that are easily allocated out

[0:40:30] Voice 13: to different local trust areas.

[0:40:31] Voice 13: And then we have indirect costs

[0:40:33] Voice 13: and those are allocated out

[0:40:35] Voice 13: to the various local trust committees

[0:40:36] Voice 13: based on specific methodologies.

[0:40:38] Voice 13: One of the allocation basis is staff time.

[0:40:41] Voice 13: So we do collect planning staff time throughout the year,

[0:40:46] Voice 13: staff enter their time in a time collection system.

[0:40:48] Voice 13: And we use that information

[0:40:49] Voice 13: to distribute the expenses by local trust area.

[0:40:52] Voice 13: This is an area of struggle for Islands Trust.

[0:40:54] Voice 13: We have noted in previous years that oftentimes we don't get complete

[0:40:58] Voice 13: or timely time information from staff, and so this year was no different.

[0:41:03] Voice 13: We did have some extra struggles this year.

[0:41:05] Voice 13: We had a number of staff who left the organization

[0:41:08] Voice 13: without having their complete information in the time collection system,

[0:41:11] Voice 13: and that left their supervisors having to estimate hours incurred

[0:41:16] Voice 13: in order for us to have full information to allocate expenses so it remains an area of

[0:41:23] Voice 13: ongoing challenge we are working to improve the process there and hopefully then we will have

[0:41:27] Voice 13: better data so that we can have better allocated results when we look at the final results of the

[0:41:36] Voice 13: allocated statements we see some shifts this year in local trust areas in which local trust areas

[0:41:42] Voice 13: or contributors versus drawdowns on financial resources at the trust.

[0:41:46] Voice 13: And so it's always of interest to trustees.

[0:41:50] Voice 13: And I thought it was of particular interest this year to see how things had changed.

[0:41:54] Voice 13: So I can happily take questions on these statements if there are any.

[0:42:00] Trustee Grove: Peter Luckham, you'll have your hand up and then Sue Ellen Farr.

[0:42:07] Voice 13: You're muted, Chair Luckham.

[0:42:09] Trustee Grove: Peter, you're muted.

[0:42:12] Trustee Luckham: Thank you.

[0:42:13] Trustee Luckham: I was just prepared to make the motion

[0:42:14] Trustee Luckham: and perhaps I'll do that in advance

[0:42:17] Trustee Luckham: of frame any conversations that come.

[0:42:20] Trustee Luckham: But I would just move that the March 31st, 2022

[0:42:23] Trustee Luckham: allocated financial statements be forwarded

[0:42:26] Trustee Luckham: to council as presented.

[0:42:28] Trustee Grove: I'll second

[0:42:29] Trustee Grove: that, I'll grant.

[0:42:31] Trustee Grove: That's been second.

[0:42:32] Trustee Grove: So perhaps

[0:42:36] Trustee Luckham: I'll speak to that.

[0:42:37] Trustee Luckham: So that's all right, Chair?

[0:42:39] Trustee Grove: That's fine.

[0:42:41] Trustee Luckham: I find this to be a really important document

[0:42:45] Trustee Luckham: Not only for myself and other trustees that I've heard speak to it, but I want to also note, because there was an emphasis on an interest of trustees,

[0:42:55] Trustee Luckham: I have members of the public across the Islands Trust region that are very interested in this also to understand what their net contribution or what their net benefit is from working within the federation.

[0:43:08] Trustee Luckham: and so I think that this is important information

[0:43:12] Trustee Luckham: and I'll note that I'm very pleased

[0:43:15] Trustee Luckham: that in this particular report for the first time

[0:43:17] Trustee Luckham: that I've been a trustee,

[0:43:18] Trustee Luckham: Thetis Island LTC is contributing more to the Federation.

[0:43:22] Trustee Luckham: So thank you very much for noting that on our sheet.

[0:43:26] Trustee Luckham: Thank you, Sue Ellen Fast.

[0:43:29] Trustee Fast: Thank you, Chair.

[0:43:30] Trustee Fast: I would just note that as usual,

[0:43:34] Trustee Fast: Bowen does not pay more than other islands,

[0:43:37] Trustee Fast: which I've heard from over the years from different members, even of this committee,

[0:43:43] Trustee Fast: and neither does it pay more than on non-planning than other islands. I just had a, which is normal.

[0:43:52] Trustee Fast: So this is great. Thank you for this, Julia. I have a quick question regarding the North Pender

[0:43:59] Trustee Fast: column. It seems looking down in total administration allocation, it seems high.

[0:44:06] Trustee Fast: And I'm wondering if you could just help me understand why that would be so high.

[0:44:12] Trustee Fast: Total administration allocation row, North Pender column.

[0:44:17] Trustee Fast: Perhaps you could give me a number to reference that might help.

[0:44:21] Trustee Fast: 295-109, whereas that's for North Pender, whereas, for example, South Pender is 46-148.

[0:44:33] Trustee Fast: okay

[0:44:34] Voice 13: so these are allocations um by they're allocated out by net converted assessment value

[0:44:39] Voice 13: for each local trust area so if we've seen

[0:44:41] Voice 13: a shift between years we'll see a rise um that

[0:44:44] Voice 13: actually is reminds me um that chair grove had mentioned normally across the top of this um page

[0:44:51] Voice 13: the allocated financial statements we indicate what the net converted assessment value is for

[0:44:56] Voice 13: each of the local trust areas which can be helpful so we can add that to this statement again before

[0:45:01] Voice 13: before this goes to council,

[0:45:02] Voice 13: and that may help answer some of these questions.

[0:45:04] Trustee Grove: Thank you.

[0:45:06] Trustee Grove: Good, Pam, thank you.

[0:45:07] Trustee Grove: And I do echo Peter Lockham's comments

[0:45:10] Trustee Grove: about the value of this,

[0:45:11] Trustee Grove: but this document is fraught with problems.

[0:45:14] Trustee Grove: So in terms of trying to defend it,

[0:45:19] Trustee Grove: it's a very general overall picture,

[0:45:22] Trustee Grove: and do not get sucked into dealing with details

[0:45:25] Trustee Grove: by any of your constituents,

[0:45:27] Trustee Grove: because you'll lose the battle.

[0:45:30] Trustee Luckham: John, I would suggest we amend my motion to be as amended.

[0:45:35] Trustee Luckham: Thank you,

[0:45:36] Trustee Grove: Sue Beatt. Sue Ellen Fast.

[0:45:39] Trustee Fast: Just one suggestion, because perhaps like others, I just print off the one page and have a number

[0:45:45] Trustee Fast: of them over the years. Maybe you might want to put an asterisk at the bottom and say this was

[0:45:52] Trustee Fast: was a particular year when the data is even less robust.

[0:46:00] Trustee Fast: I don't know, but that's just a question, a suggestion.

[0:46:05] Trustee Fast: Thank you.

[0:46:06] Trustee Grove: I'm not sure about that.

[0:46:08] Trustee Grove: Is there any more discussion

[0:46:10] Trustee Grove: because we have a motion on the floor?

[0:46:14] Trustee Grove: Hearing none, all those in favor,

[0:46:16] Trustee Grove: show your hands and or electronic hands.

[0:46:26] Voice 5: Drop your hands.

[0:46:32] Trustee Grove: Any contrary votes?

[0:46:33] Trustee Grove: it's seeing now the motion carries unanimously thank you very much we've

[0:46:44] Voice 13: lost your audio again

[0:46:45] Voice 13: peter sorry

[0:46:46] Trustee Grove: uh that's better annual

[0:46:47] Trustee Grove: report as uh it's going to as um being presented up on pages

[0:46:52] Trustee Grove: 31 to 34 julia do you have anything to add to that uh

[0:46:56] Voice 13: i don't need to speak to it and this is an

[0:46:59] Voice 13: annual exercise that each committee undertakes so the the draft section for financial planning

[0:47:04] Voice 13: committee is included in the agenda for review which begins on page 33 the annual report process

[0:47:10] Voice 13: This process is coordinated each year by the Trust Area Services team, and they have had eyes on the section for financial planning committee to make sure that sort of writing style aligns with the rest of the annual report.

[0:47:22] Voice 13: So feedback on this section. Certainly welcome from the committee if there is any. There's less to include in the financial planning committee annual report than we might see for other committees is a lot of the work of FPC is quite cyclical in nature.

[0:47:34] Voice 13: and so we see the same information presented year over year but if there's particular information

[0:47:39] Voice 13: you'd like to highlight or changes you think should be made I will receive that feedback

[0:47:43] Voice 13: and incorporate before it goes forward to council.

[0:47:47] Trustee Grove: Thank you. Any comments? If there's a motion if

[0:47:51] Trustee Grove: somebody would like to read it please. Hearing none I'm going to move that the financial planning

[0:48:03] Trustee Grove: committee approve the attached text for inclusion in the 2021-22 annual report for approval by trust

[0:48:08] Trustee Grove: council and submission to the minister of municipal affairs i'll second it thank you

[0:48:15] Trustee Grove: peter luck and your hand is up no

[0:48:17] Trustee Luckham: i was just seconding that's fine okay

[0:48:20] Trustee Grove: any discussion all

[0:48:24] Trustee Grove: those in favor any contrary no countries everyone's in favor thank you so much um now let us turn to

[0:48:41] Trustee Grove: pages 35 to 38 review of the budget consultation timing and we had a presentation earlier in this

[0:48:47] Trustee Grove: meeting on that very subject. Julia over to you.

[0:48:51] Voice 13: Director Frater will actually be presenting this

[0:48:54] Voice 13: today so I would look to her.

[0:48:57] Trustee Grove: Over to you.

[0:48:58] Voice 14: Thank you very much. Good morning Financial Planning

[0:49:01] Voice 14: Committee. We've brought you this briefing at your request in February to bring an option around

[0:49:08] Voice 14: earlier consultation on the budget. Particularly we had understood a request to have longer to

[0:49:15] Voice 14: to consider the public engagement results.

[0:49:17] Voice 14: So with that, we've presented with you some background

[0:49:20] Voice 14: on the policy that guides budget consultation

[0:49:23] Voice 14: or budget engagement,

[0:49:25] Voice 14: which is outlined here on page one for you.

[0:49:28] Voice 14: And this is guided by trust council policy.

[0:49:31] Voice 14: Further down in the briefing,

[0:49:32] Voice 14: we outline for you some options around having longer time

[0:49:37] Voice 14: to receive your public engagement results.

[0:49:40] Voice 14: Noting that it would make for tricky timing

[0:49:42] Voice 14: in that it would have you receiving the engagement in January when you don't have to make

[0:49:47] Voice 14: recommendations to Trust Council until February, but would then have you engaging over the holiday

[0:49:53] Voice 14: period, which I note in that first box in the middle of the screen there might result in some

[0:49:58] Voice 14: negative public feedback. So I've outlined there the various options around timing. This all presumes

[0:50:04] Voice 14: that financial planning committee meetings are scheduled as they typically are in mid-January

[0:50:09] Voice 14: and mid-February. Further down in the briefing, you'll note also that I've included some options

[0:50:17] Voice 14: in discussion around other feedback that we receive on the budget as well, around their

[0:50:22] Voice 14: budget consultation, sorry, around everything to do from this, you know, the methods we use to engage

[0:50:28] Voice 14: the amount of information that's provided and that sort of thing. So we're happy to receive

[0:50:34] Voice 14: feedback as per the delegates presentation earlier we have not presumed to we have not

[0:50:42] Voice 14: understood from FPC that you had an intention to sort of engage at the strategic planning level

[0:50:47] Voice 14: around what project should be undertaken by Islands Trust early in the process and you'll

[0:50:53] Voice 14: note high in the briefing as well that we have not recommended engaging before the budget is drafted

[0:51:00] Voice 14: As you likely know at this point in the term, usually our percentage increases start out very high, and then by the time the budget is looked at by Trust Council in December, they've really come down.

[0:51:11] Voice 14: But certainly, if you wished, you could engage earlier on budget principles and assumptions.

[0:51:16] Voice 14: I would just note that the process that we undertake is very similar to that undertaken by most local governments in terms of letting Council decide on its budget and then engaging the public on the specifics.

[0:51:27] Voice 14: effects. But certainly we'd be interested in your views and happier to take your direction on what

[0:51:32] Voice 14: next steps you'd like staff to take. Thank you.

[0:51:36] Trustee Grove: Thank you, Claire. Any comments or thoughts?

[0:51:41] Trustee Grove: Laura Patrick?

[0:51:45] Trustee Patrick: No, thank you very much. I did take a look at several of the other

[0:51:51] Trustee Patrick: municipalities in the areas, and they actually do two different surveys. And I think that's

[0:51:56] Trustee Patrick: some of the what we're seeing is a lot are doing them like right now into July sort of pre

[0:52:04] Trustee Patrick: strategic planning time to get input on level of services you know are you happy not happy

[0:52:11] Trustee Patrick: kind of a broader based community you know some call them community health surveys so they have

[0:52:17] Trustee Patrick: different titles but they're intended to be sort of the pre-planning and then most of those then

[0:52:25] Trustee Patrick: than have a budget survey or outreach at the same time we do.

[0:52:31] Trustee Patrick: So that's, I think the tough thing.

[0:52:33] Trustee Patrick: And I think over time, I think I look at a lot of the

[0:52:36] Trustee Patrick: surveys we see in other areas and I think there are benefits

[0:52:38] Trustee Patrick: of having some sort of a broader community survey,

[0:52:41] Trustee Patrick: but I think that's a whole different beastie

[0:52:43] Trustee Patrick: than being a budget survey.

[0:52:50] Trustee Grove: Thank you.

[0:52:53] Trustee Grove: I have Laura Bushaken and trustee Brent.

[0:52:58] Voice 17: Hi, can you hear me?

[0:53:00] Voice 17: Hi, can you hear me now?

[0:53:02] Voice 17: Okay, I've got the phone.

[0:53:03] Voice 17: my audio um yeah thanks um I feel like this is just one of those uh very tough um challenges

[0:53:13] Voice 17: and I appreciate the suggestion and I certainly think it's worth a try to go for you know that

[0:53:20] Voice 17: slightly earlier public engagement but I you know like I wonder if if it would be worthwhile

[0:53:31] Voice 17: while doing something earlier instead but making it clear that it is it is about general principles

[0:53:38] Voice 17: and not about a draft budget so that we have not created before we've created a draft budget or

[0:53:44] Voice 17: that yeah before the draft budget has has been um really clarified to ask people general questions

[0:53:52] Voice 17: around priorities um the you know like here's what's in the strategic plan how would you like

[0:53:58] Voice 17: it reflected in the budget um yeah i just i do feel like the there's a frustration around getting

[0:54:05] Voice 17: this budget uh consultation information back invariably late in the process um and also um

[0:54:15] Voice 17: you know the the type of feedback and the nature of the feedback and the the confusion around

[0:54:21] Voice 17: should is this do we need to i heard you know the word obey we need to obey the people who brought

[0:54:26] Voice 17: brought in feedback versus is it something just to take into account and um you know what if we

[0:54:34] Voice 17: feel that it's not very representative or it's been um you know you understand what i'm getting

[0:54:41] Voice 17: at i just find the whole thing problematic and i you know i just wonder about saying okay no we're

[0:54:45] Voice 17: just going to ask about general principles and general priorities at the very beginning

[0:54:50] Voice 17: and I know staff didn't recommend that and I guess I'd like to hear specifically what the

[0:54:58] Voice 17: well the cons are I mean I can understand the pros and cons I'd like to hear other people's

[0:55:03] Voice 17: thoughts on that.

[0:55:04] Trustee Grove: Thank you Laura. Peter Luckham.

[0:55:08] Trustee Luckham: Thank you I wasn't expecting I'd speak next

[0:55:12] Trustee Luckham: but I think that there's we should definitely be giving some consideration to providing more

[0:55:20] Trustee Luckham: opportunity for this consultation. I think that what I'm interested in is the broad principles,

[0:55:29] Trustee Luckham: like the principles and assumptions document, and you've heard me speak to that in the past,

[0:55:34] Trustee Luckham: that if we disagree with the principles and assumptions document, which is what guides

[0:55:39] Trustee Luckham: the development of the budget, then we should consider changing it, and so be it. But the other

[0:55:47] Trustee Luckham: part of this that um i would also be like to reflect upon is the uh the strategic planning

[0:55:56] Trustee Luckham: and the projects um and the direction of council as all of the island's trust as a whole which

[0:56:04] Trustee Luckham: indeed um we do do a consultation in our communities with respect to um the budget

[0:56:10] Trustee Luckham: and particularly with work that is of local interest but of course that local interest at

[0:56:16] Trustee Luckham: at the LTC level feeds into what is the thematic elements

[0:56:22] Trustee Luckham: of activities that are interested in being undertaken

[0:56:25] Trustee Luckham: like water, for instance,

[0:56:27] Trustee Luckham: or other environmental protection methodologies.

[0:56:34] Trustee Luckham: And so that contributes

[0:56:36] Trustee Luckham: to a broader Federation-wide strategy.

[0:56:40] Trustee Luckham: And so I wonder about what the opportunities are

[0:56:43] Trustee Luckham: are with respect to advancing that conversation at the LTCs

[0:56:48] Trustee Luckham: to one, inform the LTCs of what the local opinion is,

[0:56:53] Trustee Luckham: but then also bring that information into the budget

[0:56:56] Trustee Luckham: requests and process as it advances.

[0:57:02] Trustee Luckham: And so I think there's real value in doing that

[0:57:07] Trustee Luckham: rather than just surveys and things that honestly,

[0:57:10] Trustee Luckham: Honestly, not a lot of people, even though we've had great responses, not a vast majority

[0:57:15] Trustee Luckham: of people participate in.

[0:57:17] Trustee Luckham: The real opportunity I think exists is doing this work at the LTC level in our community

[0:57:22] Trustee Luckham: meetings.

[0:57:25] Trustee Grove: Thank you.

[0:57:26] Trustee Grove: And Paul, your hands up.

[0:57:27] Trustee Grove: Sorry, it was down there for a while, but now I see it's back up.

[0:57:30] Trustee Grove: So over to you, Paul.

[0:57:31] Voice 19: Yeah.

[0:57:31] Voice 19: For starters, I'm having a devil of a time raising my hand or being able to mute or anything.

[0:57:36] Voice 19: So I may have to leave the meeting to reconnect.

[0:57:38] Voice 19: connect. But I tend to agree with Trustee Patrick. You know, if there's one thing we've learned over

[0:57:44] Voice 19: the last little while, we need to do a little better job of communicating. We need to tie our

[0:57:49] Voice 19: strategic plan to our cost structure. I mean, that's absolutely crucial. I think we saw that

[0:57:55] Voice 19: in the governance review. Good Lord, we've got this governance review. This is a time for change

[0:58:02] Voice 19: and we're not going to be able to do it quickly. So in terms of what Claire was suggesting, I think

[0:58:07] Voice 19: we need to do that in terms of what Trustee Patrick is suggesting, going out early and

[0:58:13] Voice 19: getting feedback. I think we need to do that. I think we need to double down on communication

[0:58:18] Voice 19: and understanding what our constituents would like to see. Whether we want to ignore that or not,

[0:58:27] Voice 19: that's our decision, but I think we really need to find out. I don't think we can say,

[0:58:31] Voice 19: you know if we receive 12 or 1300 responses to a survey that it might not be representative

[0:58:37] Voice 19: we're never going to get all 28 000 people to respond so i think we got to do a better job

[0:58:45] Voice 19: than what we're doing now and and what claire has put in front of us is a good start to be

[0:58:51] Voice 19: augmented by additional stuff and i may have to try to uh sign out and sign back in because i can't

[0:58:57] Voice 19: I can't mute myself, and I can't turn down my hand.

[0:59:02] Trustee Grove: Thank you very much, Trustee Stamford.

[0:59:11] Trustee Grove: Kate, Liz, you're muted.

[0:59:12] Trustee Grove: We cannot hear you.

[0:59:15] Trustee Stamford: I think, okay.

[0:59:20] Trustee Stamford: I have to agree, but I would like to double down

[0:59:23] Trustee Stamford: that if we increase our communications,

[0:59:26] Trustee Stamford: which is incredibly important, we've got a budget for it,

[0:59:31] Trustee Stamford: and we keep tightening around the communications department.

[0:59:34] Trustee Stamford: And this is the result is this confusion and reactionary responses and an inability to really respond appropriately to people's concerns and be able to get our message across.

[0:59:52] Trustee Stamford: So I think this is perfectly in line with what we should expect with a lack of proper communication.

[1:00:00] Trustee Stamford: Fine, budgeting.

[1:00:02] Trustee Grove: Thank you, Tim Peterson and then Laura Bushekin.

[1:00:07] Voice 10: Thank you, Chair.

[1:00:08] Voice 10: Yeah, I'd just like to agree

[1:00:09] Voice 10: with a lot of what I'm hearing.

[1:00:11] Voice 10: I think that it's important that we do the best job

[1:00:18] Voice 10: communicating to our constituency as we can.

[1:00:21] Voice 10: And as Kate Louise pointed out,

[1:00:23] Voice 10: it's important that we fund that appropriately.

[1:00:26] Voice 10: appropriately um and uh certainly we all um seem to be on the same page as as having some

[1:00:34] Voice 10: understanding and some sympathy with the um the public desire to to have a an input period uh on

[1:00:43] Voice 10: the budget that's perhaps not so compressed and um you know it doesn't help that the uh the mandated

[1:00:51] Voice 10: dated cycle sort of falls in the midst of the Christmas holiday season of course that's not

[1:00:57] Voice 10: something that we have any control over but it does make things awkward um so I just want to

[1:01:03] Voice 10: support the uh the uh staff recommendation or the staff option presented here um to get a little

[1:01:14] Voice 10: bit earlier on this process and also what Trustee Patrick said was mentioning about trying to get

[1:01:20] Voice 10: some communication out earlier in the cycle as well pretty

[1:01:26] Trustee Grove: much um laura your hands up uh hello

[1:01:33] Voice 17: um yeah i i wanted to um echo and build on of what trustee stanford was saying that this is really um

[1:01:40] Voice 17: you know switching the timing of our um public outreach on the budget by you know a few weeks

[1:01:50] Voice 17: is i think a good move but there's a much much bigger and deeper and more complex picture which

[1:01:56] Voice 17: is i don't think that we are uh in any way resourced enough to uh have the proper communications

[1:02:03] Voice 17: and um public engagement um strategy and identity and approach that we we need to have and i think

[1:02:12] Voice 17: it's it's there's an overlap i mean there's a communications includes how we engage the public

[1:02:18] Voice 17: How we communicate within the trust, how we, you know, promote our events, promote is the right word, the type of language we use, and also how we receive that and how we build it into our decision making.

[1:02:34] Voice 17: making, it's a really, it's a big, big thing and we can, and nothing wrong with, you know,

[1:02:40] Voice 17: turning the dials a bit, but I think we need to kind of open up the whole box and have

[1:02:44] Voice 17: a look at it and that will mean, it will mean resourcing, you know, I would say probably

[1:02:52] Voice 17: a staff person or a project around communications, public outreach, public consultation, that

[1:02:59] Voice 17: whole ball of wax.

[1:03:02] Trustee Grove: Thank you, Cynthia.

[1:03:03] Trustee Grove: Yeah, you've been given a lot of feedback there, and I see your hand is up now. Has that been

[1:03:07] Trustee Grove: helpful for you?

[1:03:10] Voice 14: Yes, thank you. It's very interesting to hear all this discussion.

[1:03:14] Voice 14: Just a couple things for the community to consider as you move towards a recommendation or making

[1:03:18] Voice 14: some resolutions here. I'll just start with, it's so great to hear the support for ongoing

[1:03:23] Voice 14: improvements to communications and perhaps more resources. I think in recent years, there's been

[1:03:29] Voice 14: just a huge culture shift within Islands Trust and our communities in terms of their engagement.

[1:03:34] Voice 14: with Islands Trust and their desire for detailed information and their desire to be engaged. We've

[1:03:39] Voice 14: known this for a long time that communities wish to be engaged but I think there's just been with

[1:03:44] Voice 14: technology changes and with meetings moving online particularly we've really just seen a desire from

[1:03:50] Voice 14: the community that somewhat outstrips our ability to deliver which causes me a great deal of anxiety

[1:03:54] Voice 14: sometimes. So really pleased to hear the support from trustees for that. As you consider what to

[1:04:01] Voice 14: to do with changes around engaging the public around more strategic approaches to the budget

[1:04:06] Voice 14: and earlier consultation particularly this year I would just ask you to contemplate that we have

[1:04:12] Voice 14: the election in October and best practice typically is not to go to the public with

[1:04:17] Voice 14: these types of engagements during that election period so it does make for tricky timing this

[1:04:22] Voice 14: year so I would I think staff would benefit hearing your reflections on that of course

[1:04:26] Voice 14: you're discussing this in generalities in terms of best practice for the trust but in this election

[1:04:31] Voice 14: year there are some complexities so we'll just highlight that for the committee thanks very good

[1:04:37] Trustee Grove: point ross you have your hand up

[1:04:39] Voice 2: yes i was just going to point that out um i doubt there will be

[1:04:42] Voice 2: a solidified budget there we will be in um in the process of working um new trustees through the

[1:04:50] Voice 2: budget process um in early december so then a week later to go out so one thing is i'm not sure

[1:04:58] Voice 2: there's a staff recommendation that's so clear you're going to want to clarify that if if there's

[1:05:02] Voice 2: a staff recommendation to go out over the christmas period with budget consultation i i didn't hear

[1:05:08] Voice 2: that in the reporting so if that's being referred to as the staff recommendation i think we just

[1:05:13] Voice 2: have to pause um if more and better communications which we all agree with is needed indeed we have

[1:05:19] Voice 2: one fte that that is directed towards this at this at this time and half of that position at least

[1:05:25] Voice 2: Mayor Mrakas, works towards daily communications efforts as opposed to longer range planning stuff and Claire can provide a little bit more detail around the the horsepower there i'm just referring to some of the comments made earlier, I think, trustee was shaken was mentioning if we want to enhance something we're either going to leave something by the wayside from a communications perspective or we're going to need to add.

[1:05:51] Voice 2: Mayor Mrakas, A bigger discussion, thank you.

[1:05:54] Voice 2: Thank

[1:05:59] Trustee Grove: you. I mean, I feel this was a very useful conversation. I don't see any motions coming out of it. Does anybody have anything in particular they want to promote? I've got Tim Peterson on the line.

[1:06:10] Trustee Grove: on the line yeah

[1:06:13] Voice 10: i was just um looking at uh although it's clear it's not a recommendation

[1:06:17] Voice 10: but the other option the slightly earlier um option that's presented here and uh it occurs

[1:06:26] Voice 10: to me that um if we're interested in exploring that then perhaps we need to direct uh staff

[1:06:34] Voice 10: to provide some uh some more in-depth um analysis of what that's going to look like

[1:06:42] Voice 10: um for so we can make a better informed decision was just

[1:06:46] Trustee Grove: my thoughts so i i guess you're asking

[1:06:50] Trustee Grove: for some firm recommendations from staff as to what we might do to respond to the points that

[1:06:55] Trustee Grove: have been made yesterday well

[1:06:57] Voice 10: i'm suggesting that perhaps staff would like us to um ask them for

[1:07:03] Voice 10: some uh a little firmer uh direction on this um

[1:07:08] Trustee Grove: claire and russell you can reverse that order

[1:07:11] Trustee Grove: of you rather russ

[1:07:13] Voice 14: would you like to go first no you go ahead

[1:07:16] Voice 14: robert if you

[1:07:17] Voice 14: could scroll to

[1:07:19] Voice 14: the bottom of the briefing please there are some options provided to the committee um and yes i

[1:07:24] Voice 14: would note it is not a staff recommendation that you engage over the christmas period or over the

[1:07:29] Voice 14: winter holiday period um it depends on what your intentions are if your intention is to more deeply

[1:07:34] Voice 14: be able to consider the feedback before you make a recommendation to trust council then certainly

[1:07:40] Voice 14: going earlier is beneficial if your intention is to provide a good opportunity for the public

[1:07:48] Voice 14: that period of time of any point in the year is probably the most challenging

[1:07:52] Voice 14: and I think you may receive some feedback from the public that they don't wish to be engaged

[1:07:57] Voice 14: in that very busy time of the year really but certainly to you to determine what is best

[1:08:02] Voice 14: so there is some language here that could be moved into a motion if that's what you wish

[1:08:06] Voice 14: if you were to um want staff to move this ahead um of course the change to council policy that

[1:08:14] Voice 14: would support a change in the time timing would best go in september such that we could then

[1:08:19] Voice 14: initiate those changes following the september meeting or best go in june so that we can get

[1:08:24] Voice 14: going through all so my apologies um would best go to council no sorry if you pass it now we'll

[1:08:30] Voice 14: get it to council in september which would then inform the next steps sorry well

[1:08:44] Voice 19: brent so

[1:08:46] Voice 19: So, you know, I'd really like to do something other than just, so I have a question.

[1:08:53] Voice 19: We approve a draft budget and draft budget assumptions and principles at our November

[1:09:01] Voice 19: FPC meeting.

[1:09:03] Voice 19: Certainly, Trust Council hasn't had an opportunity to review that or anything else.

[1:09:09] Voice 19: But what if we scheduled our public opinion survey based on FPC's recommendation?

[1:09:20] Voice 19: I mean, it would help inform ultimately trust counsel.

[1:09:26] Voice 19: And that's, you know, we'll have that in November.

[1:09:29] Voice 19: We'd be in advance of the holiday season.

[1:09:34] Voice 19: So we'd avoid all the criticism that would come there.

[1:09:37] Voice 19: And it would actually show that we're doing something, that we're listening.

[1:09:41] Voice 19: thing um thoughts from either staff or other trustees does that make sense well

[1:09:57] Voice 15: i see the

[1:09:57] Voice 15: cio's hand up so maybe i won't speak until he's had his opportunity yes

[1:10:01] Voice 2: that's over to you well

[1:10:03] Voice 2: i know claire can correct me i enjoy it when that happens you know i think there's some strength to

[1:10:09] Voice 2: that idea the problem will be or the challenge will be a communication around the initiative

[1:10:18] Voice 2: a preference or a recommendation to to communicate around the initiatives that that are to be funded

[1:10:25] Voice 2: um because you'll you'll have such a challenge we'll have such a challenge with the specifics

[1:10:31] Voice 2: around the numbers at that point and the reason why i think of that is last year i think we were

[1:10:37] Voice 2: looking at 14 to 18 percent at that meeting for fbc um which was so far from what we ended up

[1:10:44] Voice 2: up with at 2%, that if that early engagement was, like many institutions do, all about

[1:10:53] Voice 2: this, you know, what services, more of a service question that's coming through the budgeting

[1:10:57] Voice 2: process for the upcoming year, as opposed to a specific number.

[1:11:01] Voice 2: That would be my first thought, but I turn it over to Claire for more detailed thinking,

[1:11:06] Voice 2: I'm sure.

[1:11:08] Voice 14: Thank you, CAO.

[1:11:10] Voice 14: Just looking at your calendar, it looks like you meet on November 30th, so it actually

[1:11:13] Voice 14: looks like a very tight turnaround this year particularly from the FPC meeting to Trust

[1:11:18] Voice 14: Council so there actually isn't a great deal of time so that the if we were to run a survey after

[1:11:25] Voice 14: that November 30th meeting we wouldn't be able to probably get it launched until probably the

[1:11:34] Voice 14: 5th of December maybe maybe the 2nd if we really pushed depending on what changes happened and

[1:11:40] Voice 14: then trust council meets on the 6th and so it wouldn't be informing that december trust council

[1:11:45] Voice 14: i wouldn't think um so just wanted to flag that um but certainly we could do that again i echo that

[1:11:52] Voice 14: that sometimes the fpc budget is quite different so if there was something for you to consider

[1:11:56] Voice 14: would be if trust council were to make big changes to what was proposed would you then need to engage

[1:12:01] Voice 14: again

[1:12:02] Voice 19: chair if i could um you know the one thing maybe is if the fpc realized that it was going out

[1:12:10] Voice 19: out for public engagement.

[1:12:12] Voice 19: They might be a little bit,

[1:12:14] Voice 19: they might sharpen their pencils a little bit more

[1:12:16] Voice 19: than they currently do because, you know,

[1:12:19] Voice 1: we

[1:12:19] Voice 19: always have trust council to moderate or to make changes.

[1:12:24] Voice 19: And so I think we might act differently

[1:12:26] Voice 19: in that particular situation.

[1:12:29] Voice 19: And yeah, it's not good this year,

[1:12:31] Voice 19: but I think if we did it and try to formalize that

[1:12:37] Voice 19: that for future years, it would be a good practice.

[1:12:42] Voice 19: I'm going to move it.

[1:12:43] Voice 19: I'm going to move that we base our survey

[1:12:50] Voice 19: and begin our survey of the public based on the results

[1:12:55] Voice 19: of the November FPC budget deliberations

[1:13:01] Voice 19: and proposed budget.

[1:13:10] Trustee Grove: I'm not hearing a lot of seconding.

[1:13:13] Trustee Grove: Trustee Stamford, your hand is up.

[1:13:15] Trustee Grove: Is that seconding?

[1:13:16] Trustee Grove: It isn't.

[1:13:17] Trustee Grove: So can we just leave that for the time being

[1:13:19] Trustee Grove: and we can come back to something else.

[1:13:22] Trustee Grove: Kate Louise Stamford and then Sue Ellen Fast.

[1:13:27] Trustee Stamford: It's more just a general comment again

[1:13:30] Trustee Stamford: that I'm willing to support something,

[1:13:34] Trustee Stamford: but until I know what it is,

[1:13:37] Trustee Stamford: because I think the approach has to change.

[1:13:40] Trustee Stamford: When you talk about, oh, well,

[1:13:41] Trustee Stamford: well, we have to at least make it look like

[1:13:45] Trustee Stamford: we're listening to constituents.

[1:13:48] Trustee Stamford: Well, we did listen.

[1:13:49] Trustee Stamford: We are listening.

[1:13:51] Trustee Stamford: And so obviously the questions are part of the problem.

[1:13:56] Trustee Stamford: The approach is part of the problem.

[1:13:58] Trustee Stamford: If we have it coming on November 30th,

[1:14:00] Trustee Stamford: we can have it earlier in the year, I'm fine with that.

[1:14:03] Trustee Stamford: But we have to come up with a different way

[1:14:05] Trustee Stamford: of bringing this forward.

[1:14:08] Trustee Stamford: Because what happened to me, in my view,

[1:14:11] Trustee Stamford: is um whoever spoke the loudest was the one that we ended up listening to or the people we ended

[1:14:20] Trustee Stamford: up listening to which which is one approach but i don't think um we we can base our budgets on that

[1:14:29] Trustee Stamford: and we have to let the communities know that we can't base our our budgets on whoever is yelling

[1:14:35] Trustee Stamford: yelling the loudest. There's got to be more to this. And so I know it's incredibly challenged

[1:14:42] Trustee Stamford: and come out with a better way of approaching the budget with the community engagement and make it

[1:14:49] Trustee Stamford: meaningful. But I just found this completely unhelpful, our previous experience. So I really

[1:14:56] Trustee Stamford: want to go back to basics and figure out a better way to approach the communities on

[1:15:02] Trustee Stamford: on budget questions.

[1:15:04] Trustee Stamford: So it's more than just timing.

[1:15:06] Trustee Stamford: It's a bigger question for me.

[1:15:09] Trustee Stamford: So I want that question answered

[1:15:10] Trustee Stamford: before I can say when it should go out.

[1:15:14] Trustee Grove: Ms. Sue Ellen, Laura Patrick, and then Laura Bushekin.

[1:15:17] Trustee Fast: Thank you, Chair.

[1:15:18] Trustee Fast: I just wanted to say, I think it's a,

[1:15:23] Trustee Fast: I'm not in favor of a committee

[1:15:27] Trustee Fast: putting a proposal out in front of the public

[1:15:31] Trustee Fast: like when it's actually trust council's budget.

[1:15:34] Trustee Fast: And I wonder if people might not feel represented

[1:15:38] Trustee Fast: or confident that the smaller number of people

[1:15:44] Trustee Fast: on financial planning committee could represent

[1:15:48] Trustee Fast: what council actually intended,

[1:15:52] Trustee Fast: particularly in the first year of term.

[1:15:56] Trustee Fast: So I'm concerned with the,

[1:15:59] Trustee Fast: i can't think of another uh municipality or regional district that um puts a draft budget

[1:16:08] Trustee Fast: from a committee in front of um uh the public i'm maybe i maybe i'm wrong there but i've i

[1:16:16] Trustee Fast: haven't heard that i think it's a um a principle of uh uh this is our intention and we would like

[1:16:23] Trustee Fast: you to provide your valuable input on this and I take Claire's point that we could be going back

[1:16:35] Trustee Fast: out to the public again with another budget and would this create trust would this create more

[1:16:42] Trustee Fast: work or the opposite so that's a principle kind of thing I think it should any budget that goes

[1:16:50] Trustee Fast: out should be a proposal of council and it i wonder if that's actually what what are the rules

[1:16:58] Trustee Fast: about putting out about budget consultation perhaps um uh somebody on staff could answer

[1:17:05] Trustee Fast: that doesn't it have to be uh from the elected body over oh

[1:17:14] Voice 14: i can speak to that um with through

[1:17:16] Voice 14: the chair is that all right yes

[1:17:19] Trustee Grove: please hey

[1:17:20] Voice 14: um islands trust is not required to engage on the

[1:17:23] Voice 14: budget so there aren't any legislative guidelines this is a discretionary activity for the trust

[1:17:29] Voice 14: certainly in my view i think it is best to come once council's had its say

[1:17:34] Voice 14: but i can see merit in going earlier to get better information but particularly this year that's not

[1:17:39] Voice 14: going to be meaningful but i think you would then again this has generally been my principle you

[1:17:46] Voice 14: You would want trust council to weigh in

[1:17:47] Voice 14: to ensure you have agreement before you ask your community.

[1:17:52] Voice 14: That's my personal view.

[1:17:53] Voice 14: The CAO may have a different view,

[1:17:54] Voice 14: but that's been my experience with trust council

[1:17:57] Voice 14: is that, you know, many trustees would want

[1:17:59] Voice 14: to have their input recognized

[1:18:01] Voice 14: before it goes out for engagement.

[1:18:03] Voice 14: But certainly there may be differing views

[1:18:05] Voice 14: politically on that.

[1:18:07] Trustee Grove: You're clear.

[1:18:07] Trustee Grove: I think you're absolutely correct.

[1:18:09] Trustee Grove: Laura Bushekin for, by Laura Patrick,

[1:18:12] Trustee Grove: followed by Keith and Lachlan.

[1:18:19] Trustee Grove: Laura Bushekin.

[1:18:22] Trustee Grove: over to laura patrick in that case do

[1:18:26] Voice 17: you hear me now uh

[1:18:27] Trustee Grove: yes we can hear you now okay um

[1:18:31] Voice 17: thank you i'm gonna go ahead um uh yeah it just first of all it's a very good discussion um

[1:18:39] Voice 17: i am i'm tending to think there isn't really anything i would support changing now in terms

[1:18:46] Voice 17: of timing because it's just changing the timing i don't think it's going to help it's just going to

[1:18:53] Voice 17: create maybe a different shade of frustration among the various different frustrated partners

[1:18:58] Voice 17: in this process. The only way I could imagine a significantly earlier consultation, like early

[1:19:07] Voice 17: on in the process, is if it wasn't even linked to numbers. If we said, okay, this was what we did

[1:19:12] Voice 17: last year, we're in the early stages, this is what's in our strategic plan, you know, and then

[1:19:20] Voice 17: have a few questions to really start with like the idea like what types of things do you think

[1:19:27] Voice 17: we should prioritize and I really the more I think about it the more I think just asking people do

[1:19:32] Voice 17: you want us to spend a certain amount of money on this that and the other it's very hard to get good

[1:19:37] Voice 17: results it does tend to bring out the loud voices or the concerted efforts where citizens groups get

[1:19:43] Voice 17: together to to weigh the answers and and let's face it when you ask people do you want to pay

[1:19:49] Voice 17: pay more taxes they they mostly say no and when you put numbers in front of them that it's a hard

[1:19:54] Voice 17: to understand and it's taken me years sometimes to understand why certain things cost what they cost

[1:20:00] Voice 17: um it seems almost disingenuous to ask the public about very specific numbers and then they get

[1:20:08] Voice 17: frustrated because we don't necessarily listen to them because it just is so complex so um and i'm

[1:20:14] Voice 17: I'm not really saying this to suggest we actually do that, but partly to explain why I wouldn't support an earlier consultation with an earlier budget that hasn't been worked through.

[1:20:26] Voice 17: And I take Trustee Brent's point that FPC could sharpen their pencils earlier, but the iterative approach in the back and forth where we start with a bigger budget and whittle it down does, I think, reflect a lot of deep thinking and thoughtful conversation around what our priorities are and what that means and how to balance one priority against the other.

[1:20:51] Voice 17: and it's not easy and it does take time and it is iterative and it I think that's best and not

[1:20:57] Voice 17: just go we're cutting this in half and we're cutting this out because we have to cut cut cut

[1:21:01] Voice 17: without taking the time to think it through and so again I guess back to I think this needs

[1:21:06] Voice 17: a much deeper look and I with some regret think that we should leave it as it is for next year

[1:21:16] Voice 17: year and perhaps have as part of the budget consultation a little bit of information about

[1:21:23] Voice 17: why we've done that just to bring the public in and let them know we're not ignoring them

[1:21:28] Voice 17: thank you thank

[1:21:30] Trustee Grove: you laura and laura patrick and then peter luckham the

[1:21:35] Trustee Patrick: laura laura combo um yeah

[1:21:37] Trustee Patrick: no i think i think it's apples and oranges um and i think it is worth taking the time not it might

[1:21:43] Trustee Patrick: might not happen this year but as as i think the strategic plan is evolving and i think that's a

[1:21:48] Trustee Patrick: great thing and i think there's opportunities for it to get even better and that this earlier type

[1:21:54] Trustee Patrick: of survey i think is a is is not a financial planning committee survey it would it would

[1:22:01] Trustee Patrick: provide input to the financial planning committee but it had would have a broader meaning i think

[1:22:09] Trustee Patrick: so I think this is something that is evolving I think it's good to have the conversation

[1:22:13] Trustee Patrick: and to think how how do we make sure this type of an earlier survey gets designed who does it belong

[1:22:20] Trustee Patrick: to what process is it so I think there's that needs to be carefully thought out and budgeted

[1:22:26] Trustee Patrick: for so that it can be done you know in subsequent years and have a much stronger process thank you

[1:22:33] Trustee Grove: Peter Luckham. You're muted, Peter. We cannot hear you.

[1:22:41] Trustee Luckham: Yeah, thank you, Chair. You know, I find myself agreeing with some of the theme about

[1:22:51] Trustee Luckham: what are we changing and why are we changing it and how are we changing it and how do we engage?

[1:22:55] Trustee Luckham: How do we ensure that this work is coming from the body of council rather than a small,

[1:23:00] Trustee Luckham: rather than financial planning committee? We've always deferred to council with respect to

[1:23:07] Trustee Luckham: we provide a recommended budget and council then determines to send that out for public engagement.

[1:23:15] Trustee Luckham: There was a notion in the last cycle provided to us by members of the public about why do a survey

[1:23:25] Trustee Luckham: when the survey questions weren't any different or potentially weren't any different and

[1:23:31] Trustee Luckham: And, and, and what did you do with the last survey of information that you did? And, you know, to some extent, in fact, some of the broader principles and some of the broader discussion around the budget are actually include the comments and reflections

[1:23:51] Trustee Luckham: are already included in the survey from last year.

[1:23:55] Trustee Luckham: And I think I had said that some of those components

[1:23:58] Trustee Luckham: in that request for some dramatic changes

[1:24:03] Trustee Luckham: in how we budget should be considered

[1:24:06] Trustee Luckham: was too late in the cycle.

[1:24:07] Trustee Luckham: And that's what we're hearing.

[1:24:09] Trustee Luckham: It's too late in the cycle to make those changes.

[1:24:11] Trustee Luckham: So there is lots of material for us to

[1:24:17] Trustee Luckham: observe in our discussions around future budgets. It could be considered now at any point in

[1:24:25] Trustee Luckham: time by ourselves or an incoming council that would inform the budget. And it is to some

[1:24:33] Trustee Luckham: extent the assumptions and principles about maintaining staff levels, continuation of

[1:24:38] Trustee Luckham: strategic items, supporting application or projects within LTCs. And indeed, many of these,

[1:24:46] Trustee Luckham: and it's been pointed out by the public too, is that the projects and these other things are

[1:24:50] Trustee Luckham: actually a smaller component of the overall budget than the gross budget and what considerations

[1:24:57] Trustee Luckham: would need to be made there in order to accommodate that. But of course, the work that we do is very

[1:25:03] Trustee Luckham: very important. And other agencies through the province are not doing the work, and that's

[1:25:10] Trustee Luckham: why we undertake it. And that's sort of an assumption and a principle for me is that

[1:25:14] Trustee Luckham: we need information and data to advance the work necessary to preserve and protect the

[1:25:19] Trustee Luckham: Islands Trust area. So certainly that more general conversation, we have feedback already

[1:25:26] Trustee Luckham: that could be considered as we advance through the process. I'm not saying that we shouldn't

[1:25:30] Trustee Luckham: to a survey at a point that we've got a draft budget but that's the significant piece is that

[1:25:37] Trustee Luckham: a draft budget has the numbers and as director frader has suggested often it comes with

[1:25:42] Trustee Luckham: significant increases but it also gets rolled back quite a bit typically

[1:25:51] Trustee Luckham: once the discussion about the realities of the numbers becomes apparent and so yeah i'm sort of

[1:26:00] Trustee Luckham: inclined to indeed advance the discussion but i also believe that that is post-election

[1:26:08] Trustee Luckham: because that's when new trustees will be orientated and understand the budget process

[1:26:13] Trustee Luckham: and what the requirements are and then that will most definitely positively feed into a future

[1:26:20] Trustee Luckham: budget and we need to provide that opportunity more so than inheriting a budget from a previous

[1:26:26] Trustee Luckham: Council, which is necessary if you want to continue projects and the like, but provide the

[1:26:32] Trustee Luckham: opportunity for a new Council coming in to embrace a budget in a more fulsome way as their first

[1:26:39] Trustee Luckham: budget of the term. So that's my kind of long rant, I suppose. Thank you.

[1:26:48] Trustee Grove: Thank you. Laura, you still have your hand up. Did you want to speak again? No. So it seems to

[1:26:56] Trustee Grove: to me, there's two points. One is I don't think we should ever put any numbers before the public

[1:27:00] Trustee Grove: that the Trust Council has not approved. It should not be coming from FPC. Every budget that the FPC

[1:27:07] Trustee Grove: has put to Trust Council, in my experience, has been significantly changed by Trust Council. So

[1:27:13] Trustee Grove: I don't think that's a helpful thing to do. But really, this is a decision for Trust Council and

[1:27:21] Trustee Grove: and our executive committee. So, I mean, I kind of think punting the ball, but really maybe we

[1:27:27] Trustee Grove: should have the executive committee consider this discussion and come up with some recommendations

[1:27:32] Trustee Grove: and plans for staff. I see Peter Luck in the grinning.

[1:27:43] Trustee Luckham: Yeah, only because indeed that is

[1:27:45] Trustee Luckham: punting the ball. And, you know, executive committee gets its own share of criticism

[1:27:52] Trustee Luckham: associated with what it does and the reason we have committees is to make recommendations

[1:27:58] Trustee Luckham: that then executive committee I like to think when a recommendation or an RFD or anything of

[1:28:06] Trustee Luckham: that nature comes forward to be advanced to council that we look at it without judging

[1:28:11] Trustee Luckham: the merits of it but be to be sure that council has enough information to make an informed decision

[1:28:20] Trustee Luckham: And, yeah, so I'd be careful about punting it, quote, unquote.

[1:28:25] Trustee Luckham: At this point,

[1:28:26] Trustee Grove: we've had a very difficult conversation, and we have some comments on it.

[1:28:30] Trustee Grove: But, I mean, I would like to start to consider what you said and maybe come up with some thoughts.

[1:28:35] Trustee Grove: And actually, you know, we're never going to please everybody.

[1:28:39] Trustee Grove: It's a very difficult exercise squished into a fairly short time frame.

[1:28:44] Trustee Grove: and I think

[1:28:46] Voice 17: we've been doing pretty well hearing you yeah

[1:28:48] Trustee Luckham: your audio is I'm

[1:28:49] Trustee Grove: sorry it's a it's a

[1:28:51] Trustee Grove: difficult subject we're never going to make everybody happy it's trying it's a big process

[1:28:56] Trustee Grove: squeezed into a short time frame and I'm not sure really that we can improve very much on it but

[1:29:03] Trustee Grove: I'm happy to have Claire and her group think about it and get back to us Peter

[1:29:15] Voice 3: Luckham yeah

[1:29:16] Trustee Luckham: Yeah, thank you for entertaining me raising my hand again. Because the other thing that's in

[1:29:21] Trustee Luckham: the back of my mind here is, of course, we can hear from the public on this topic at any point

[1:29:28] Trustee Luckham: in time. And those people that are very interested in this, if they're writing to FPC, providing

[1:29:35] Trustee Luckham: providing solutions and suggestions for changes, then I fully expect that I for sure would

[1:29:46] Trustee Luckham: embrace that and consider that in my thoughts.

[1:29:51] Trustee Luckham: And so we don't need a formal process to necessarily solicit public input.

[1:29:58] Trustee Luckham: Public input

[1:29:59] Trustee Luckham: but bring

[1:30:00] Trustee Luckham: bringing good ideas to us and recommendations for improvement on the delivery of the mandate

[1:30:04] Trustee Luckham: would be welcome at any point in time.

[1:30:11] Trustee Grove: Thank you, Laura Boucherkin. And then somehow I'd like to

[1:30:13] Trustee Grove: wrap this conversation up. I'm not entirely sure how.

[1:30:17] Trustee Luckham: And Director Frater has... Can

[1:30:19] Voice 17: you hear me?

[1:30:20] Trustee Grove: Yes, we can, Laura. And then I'd

[1:30:22] Voice 17: like to help

[1:30:23] Trustee Grove: us wrap it up.

[1:30:25] Voice 17: Whether I'm muted or not. Yeah, I think, I don't know if it's something to make a motion about

[1:30:33] Voice 17: out because it wouldn't change anything um i think that we need to go ahead as

[1:30:40] Voice 17: according to the policy for next year i think we don't we're not ready yet to change the policy

[1:30:47] Voice 17: um uh but i think it needs a deeper look and um my like if i were to make a motion it would be

[1:30:55] Voice 17: something like that that we go ahead with public consultation according to the schedule and the

[1:31:02] Voice 17: the current policy, but we don't need a motion for that. But the other thing is that something

[1:31:08] Voice 17: along the lines of the reconsideration of how we do public outreach on the budget be included as

[1:31:18] Voice 17: part of a deeper analysis and creation of a public engagement strategy. But again, I don't know if

[1:31:26] Voice 17: there's a need for a motion around that. And I will just, while I have the floor, add that

[1:31:31] Voice 17: that I appreciate the reminder that people can indeed participate at any time.

[1:31:36] Voice 17: They can come and speak to us and they can write letters and people do that, write emails and read our packages.

[1:31:43] Voice 17: But I think the point of a formal public engagement is that we're looking to create a mechanism to go beyond that.

[1:31:50] Voice 17: So to hear from the people who maybe aren't as motivated because simply they don't have a particular special interest

[1:32:00] Voice 17: or they aren't angry because anger motivates people so we want to hear from everyone and

[1:32:05] Voice 17: invite people in who are not just the people who come to meetings because that can just be

[1:32:11] Voice 17: I think that there I believe it was trustee Sanford said just hearing the loudest voices

[1:32:16] Voice 17: is not the responsible way to do it and not that I would discourage someone from

[1:32:22] Voice 17: participating and giving input but it needs to be balanced with I think the input we get from a more

[1:32:26] Voice 17: more formal process. So I'm going to leave that. I'm not going to make a motion, but I'd love to

[1:32:31] Voice 17: hear from staff if a motion makes sense or if anyone else wants to do that. But otherwise,

[1:32:36] Voice 17: I think we just move on. We've had a really thorough discussion.

[1:32:41] Trustee Grove: Claire,

[1:32:41] Voice 17: you had your hand

[1:32:42] Trustee Grove: up a moment ago, and now it seems to be down. Do you have something to add?

[1:32:48] Trustee Luckham: Just ask a point of order, Chair. Is there not a motion on the table? Did it get seconded?

[1:32:53] Trustee Grove: I do not think there is, no.

[1:32:56] Trustee Luckham: Thank you.

[1:33:00] Trustee Grove: So, Claire, do you have any comments at this point?

[1:33:03] Voice 14: Well, perhaps I see Trustee Peterson's hand is up, so perhaps I'll reserve any

[1:33:06] Voice 14: comments until after all the elected folks have spoken.

[1:33:10] Trustee Grove: Okay, Tim, go ahead, then we'll hear from Claire.

[1:33:15] Voice 10: Okay, thank you, Chair. I'd like to see us do something, and so in the interest

[1:33:20] Voice 10: of that, I'm going to move the second option here, and after I've made the motion, and if it's

[1:33:26] Voice 10: seconded i'll explain a little bit more my rationale so i move that the financial planning

[1:33:32] Voice 10: committee requests staff to research alternate budget engagement methods and provide options

[1:33:37] Voice 10: to fbc with cost estimates

[1:33:39] Trustee Grove: seconded thank you and it's been moved and seconded um do you wish

[1:33:44] Trustee Grove: to speak to your motion yeah

[1:33:47] Voice 10: essentially i would like us to um to do something rather than nothing

[1:33:54] Voice 10: And I think that this option,

[1:33:57] Voice 10: as opposed to the first option doesn't push us

[1:34:02] Voice 10: into a position where we're trying to change for this year,

[1:34:04] Voice 10: but we're trying to gather information.

[1:34:07] Voice 10: And in fact, if we don't choose

[1:34:11] Voice 10: to make any changes this year,

[1:34:12] Voice 10: then at least that information has been gathered

[1:34:14] Voice 10: for FPC going forward into the next cycle.

[1:34:18] Voice 10: So that's my rationale.

[1:34:20] Trustee Grove: Thank you, Tim.

[1:34:21] Trustee Grove: That was very helpful.

[1:34:22] Trustee Grove: Any further discussion from anybody?

[1:34:27] Trustee Grove: Then I'm going to call the motion. All those in favor, hands up, please.

[1:34:38] Voice 5: Hands down. Any contrary,

[1:34:44] Trustee Grove: hands up. That motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much, everybody, and thank you, Tim, for wrapping it up.

[1:35:01] Voice 5: We've

[1:35:01] Trustee Grove: lost your audio

[1:35:02] Voice 5: again, Peter.

[1:35:03] Voice 5: Sorry,

[1:35:03] Trustee Grove: I'm embarrassed to say I really didn't pay any attention to 8.3, and I have no idea what we're talking about. Julia, can you help me with that?

[1:35:11] Trustee Grove: 8

[1:35:14] Voice 13: .3 oh okay so this is uh a new activity proposed activity this year uh which director

[1:35:21] Voice 13: freighter i will be speaking to you about yeah

[1:35:24] Voice 14: so thank you through the chair i'll address this one

[1:35:27] Voice 14: so um and robert or nancy if you are scrolling it's right at the very top on the agenda cover

[1:35:33] Voice 14: um so what we've done with um in the past with trust programs committee is have last term had

[1:35:40] Voice 14: had the committee chair with the advice and input from committee members write a letter

[1:35:45] Voice 14: to the incoming FPC. So from one committee to the next terms committee with sort of lessons learned,

[1:35:51] Voice 14: thoughts, advice, anything like that. So we were recommending that all council committees

[1:35:57] Voice 14: contemplate this, certainly at your discretion. And this offered a segue from the prior conversation

[1:36:03] Voice 14: that this letter could offer an opportunity for you to highlight some of the things you've

[1:36:07] Voice 14: considered this term or struggled with or things you think the committee should make a priority

[1:36:12] Voice 14: so what could happen if you chose to do this is pass a resolution at this meeting to ask the

[1:36:18] Voice 14: chair to draft a letter that could come back to your say August meeting for review prior to the

[1:36:24] Voice 14: election period kicking off to advise the next FPC of the types of things you've dealt with this

[1:36:30] Voice 14: term what you've learned and things you think they might want to consider so certainly completely up

[1:36:34] Voice 14: to you it's just an activity trust programs committee has done and I think the committee

[1:36:38] Voice 14: the trust programs committee got off to a good start with some of that advice from the prior term

[1:36:43] Trustee Grove: seems like a good idea to me any thoughts from anybody would somebody make that first

[1:36:54] Voice 14: and I'm sorry we don't have a draft motion for you so someone would have to

[1:36:58] Voice 14: develop one on the fly here so again Nancy it would be it could be something along the lines

[1:37:05] Voice 14: that financial planning committee request the chair to draft a letter to the post-election FPC

[1:37:10] Voice 14: see would

[1:37:12] Trustee Grove: somebody like to

[1:37:12] Trustee Patrick: say no move i can i can stab it i i move that the financial planning

[1:37:21] Trustee Patrick: committee uh prepare uh a letter from the chair to

[1:37:31] Voice 5: the post-election financial planning committee

[1:37:34] Voice 5: setting up with recommendations and

[1:37:44] Voice 5: we can't hear you peter

[1:37:45] Trustee Patrick: yeah peter your audio keeps bouncing yeah do you do you want further

[1:37:55] Trustee Patrick: information in there just uh yes with recommendations and advice to the new

[1:38:02] Trustee Patrick: committee is that better okay yes

[1:38:05] Trustee Grove: that's helpful and

[1:38:10] Trustee Luckham: let's make sure the future chair gets a good

[1:38:12] Trustee Luckham: microphone

[1:38:13] Trustee Stamford: i'm seconding that you're

[1:38:17] Trustee Grove: going to have to spend more money on on the chair's budget

[1:38:20] Trustee Luckham: I paid for mine.

[1:38:22] Trustee Luckham: I'm out of my own pocket, actually.

[1:38:24] Trustee Grove: You're amazing.

[1:38:26] Trustee Grove: Kate Stanford, your hand is up.

[1:38:29] Trustee Stamford: I'm seconding it.

[1:38:31] Trustee Grove: Thank you.

[1:38:32] Trustee Grove: Do you wish to speak to your motion?

[1:38:36] Trustee Grove: Does anybody else wish to speak to the motion?

[1:38:40] Trustee Grove: Hearing none, all those in favor?

[1:38:47] Trustee Grove: Anyone contrary?

[1:38:51] Trustee Grove: Thank you.

[1:38:52] Trustee Grove: That motion passes unanimously.

[1:38:54] Trustee Grove: unanimously. So let us work, move to the new business and the work program request for decision

[1:39:02] Trustee Grove: on pages 39 to 41.

[1:39:10] Voice 13: It's over to me for a brief introduction.

[1:39:12] Trustee Grove: Yes, please, Julia.

[1:39:15] Voice 13: Okay, so as is

[1:39:16] Voice 13: customary, the top priorities for financial planning committee will be approved and sent

[1:39:21] Voice 13: to trust counsel for their approval. So it is the responsibility of the committee to determine what

[1:39:27] Voice 13: what they would like to see on that top priorities report.

[1:39:29] Voice 13: The current top priorities are listed on page 40.

[1:39:33] Voice 13: So this was the report that went to council previously

[1:39:35] Voice 13: for their approval.

[1:39:36] Voice 13: And the staff proposed updated top priorities report

[1:39:39] Voice 13: is on page 41 of the agenda.

[1:39:42] Voice 13: As is standard, the work of financial planning committee

[1:39:44] Voice 13: is fairly cyclical.

[1:39:45] Voice 13: So we see some common items on there.

[1:39:47] Voice 13: The first being the draft, first draft of the budget,

[1:39:50] Voice 13: as well as public consultation planning.

[1:39:52] Voice 13: And then we'll be turning our minds

[1:39:54] Voice 13: to the financial policy review as well so we would be looking for direction from the committee to

[1:39:59] Voice 13: either approve the proposed top priorities report as is or to amend it to reflect activities that

[1:40:05] Voice 13: the committee wishes to see there so

[1:40:08] Trustee Grove: any comments or inputs thank you julia would somebody like to

[1:40:16] Trustee Grove: make that motion good heavens would somebody oh tim peterson good for you uh

[1:40:31] Voice 9: thank you chair i

[1:40:32] Voice 9: I move that the Financial Planning Committee approve the proposed top priorities report

[1:40:43] Voice 5: and forward it to Trust Council.

[1:40:48] Voice 5: Thank you.

[1:40:49] Trustee Grove: Is there a seconder?

[1:40:53] Trustee Grove: Laura Patrick seconding it.

[1:40:55] Trustee Grove: Thank you very much.

[1:40:56] Trustee Grove: Now, any of you wish to speak to your members?

[1:41:01] Trustee Grove: All those in favor?

[1:41:09] Trustee Grove: Anyone contrary?

[1:41:14] Trustee Grove: Laura Bushikin, are you?

[1:41:17] Trustee Grove: So that motion passes unanimously.

[1:41:19] Trustee Grove: Thank you very much.

[1:41:21] Trustee Grove: I appreciate that. Now, our next meeting is scheduled for August 31, 2022, from 10 to 3

[1:41:27] Trustee Grove: o'clock. And we'll all look forward to that. And is there any need for a closed meeting at this

[1:41:33] Trustee Grove: point? No agenda.

[1:41:40] Trustee Grove: What did you say?

[1:41:41] Trustee Luckham: There is no agenda for an in-camera meeting.

[1:41:44] Trustee Grove: No, there is

[1:41:44] Trustee Grove: none. But somebody could desire one, I suppose. And we have nothing to rise and report. So I look

[1:41:51] Trustee Grove: for a motion to adjourn the meeting mr chair yes russ i believe julia was going to we'll be doing

[1:41:59] Voice 13: that after the meeting adjournment so we're not live streaming oh

[1:42:03] Trustee Grove: yes yes don't rush away after

[1:42:06] Trustee Grove: the adjournment as julia has something to to add thank you so motion to adjourn

[1:42:15] Voice 5: i move to

[1:42:16] Trustee Grove: adjourn

[1:42:17] Trustee Grove: the move to adjourn by everybody thank you very much so um the meeting is ended out but uh julia

[1:42:24] Trustee Grove: you have something to say.