Islands Trust Council regular meeting, December 4, 2025

[0:00:14] Voice 22: Good morning, trustees.

[0:00:15] Trustee Patrick: We're going to reopen our third day of our meeting.

[0:00:19] Trustee Patrick: I note that some of our San Juan colleagues are already joining us this morning,

[0:00:26] Trustee Patrick: and I wish them a warm welcome.

[0:00:28] Trustee Patrick: Good morning, Chair McVeigh.

[0:00:30] Trustee Patrick: And we will be starting that session at 945.

[0:00:35] Trustee Patrick: You get to witness us working on some budget and other fun things for a while this morning.

[0:00:40] Trustee Patrick: So let's get going, trustees.

[0:00:44] Trustee Patrick: I hope everyone thought about budgets last night as here we are we just left off and I want to make

[0:00:53] Trustee Patrick: sure there were no further questions on the Islands Trust Conservancy protected areas

[0:00:57] Trustee Patrick: management operations and planning increase that is on page 319 of your agenda package

[0:01:03] Trustee Patrick: did we complete that were there any remaining questions all right not seeing any there are

[0:01:15] Trustee Patrick: are three items that are in the unfunded requests beginning on page 330. We're not going to go

[0:01:22] Trustee Patrick: through those three. Are there any trustees that wish to advance questions on any of those three?

[0:01:29] Trustee Patrick: It'll be up to you to bring that forward of the unfunded requests. I'm not seeing any. I'm going

[0:01:42] Trustee Patrick: to turn to, I think, Director Mobbs as to next steps of where we are in the budget process.

[0:01:47] Trustee Patrick: us?

[0:01:50] Voice 12: So if there's no further adjustments to the budget that the Trust Council would like to make

[0:01:56] Voice 12: today, I can give you an update on where the tax increases are looking. Would you like me to do

[0:02:03] Voice 12: that, Chair?

[0:02:04] Trustee Patrick: Yes. So

[0:02:07] Voice 12: the budget that's in the agenda has been updated for the decisions you've

[0:02:11] Voice 12: made. So there's the addition of funding for two additional in-person Trust Council meetings.

[0:02:15] Voice 12: We have made the additions related to the CAO's operational review report.

[0:02:20] Voice 12: We've also taken out the items that were listed as recommended by the CAO in his report.

[0:02:26] Voice 12: The freshwater sustainability project funding has been reduced by $10,000,

[0:02:31] Voice 12: and there's been the removal of the two staff requests per your resolutions yesterday.

[0:02:37] Voice 12: So as of right now, we're looking at about 11.8% tax increase for local trust areas

[0:02:43] Voice 12: and 37.8% for Bowen Island Municipality.

[0:02:51] Voice 12: And if there's no further adjustments that Trust Council wants to make to the budget today,

[0:02:55] Voice 12: we would be looking for your decision as to whether or not you'd like to put this budget forward to public consultation,

[0:03:01] Voice 12: and the Director of Trust Area Services can talk to you a bit about that.

[0:03:06] Trustee Patrick: Yes, if we could hear about what was intended by the Financial Planning Committee for the public consultation.

[0:03:13] Trustee Patrick: So, go ahead.

[0:03:16] Trustee Patrick: Good

[0:03:16] Voice 15: morning, Trust Council.

[0:03:19] Voice 15: Yes, at their August meeting, Financial Planning Committee approved a project charter for engagement on this budget

[0:03:27] Voice 15: following the pre-budget survey that was undertaken earlier this year to inform your budget guidelines.

[0:03:33] Voice 15: And they had adopted a project charter asking for trust-wide advertising, a news release, subscriber notice,

[0:03:40] Voice 15: and social media promotion seeking input only by email given that there had been a survey done

[0:03:47] Voice 15: earlier in the year so should you choose to approve the budget for public engagement

[0:03:51] Voice 15: we would kick that off in january once the budget's been updated with the updated numbers

[0:03:56] Voice 15: from the bc assessment information that we get we would go out mid-january seeking the feedback by

[0:04:03] Voice 15: mid-february for you to receive at your march trust council meeting thank you all

[0:04:08] Trustee Patrick: right thank

[0:04:09] Trustee Patrick: Go ahead, Financial Plan Committee

[0:04:11] Voice 16: Chair, fast.

[0:04:13] Voice 16: Yeah, thank you.

[0:04:14] Voice 16: Claire, can you remind me what the budget was that we had for that?

[0:04:18] Voice 16: Save a little bit of money, maybe?

[0:04:22] Voice 15: Yes, it was budgeted at, I think we had looked at around, in the range of $1,500.

[0:04:32] Voice 16: Thank you.

[0:04:33] Voice 16: I won't be supporting this now at this stage.

[0:04:37] Voice 16: so I'm I don't know where it is exactly in the budget I think it might be in our

[0:04:43] Voice 16: work plan financial planning committee something like that but I I think in the

[0:04:47] Voice 16: spirit of making the changes and making the big adjustments that we're making

[0:04:52] Voice 16: and saving some thousands we should not do budget consultation this year all

[0:05:02] Trustee Patrick: right trustee so I guess you've just heard where we've landed I think there

[0:05:08] Trustee Patrick: There is still a fair bit of process.

[0:05:11] Trustee Patrick: I think there's two financial planning committee meetings,

[0:05:13] Trustee Patrick: if I'm correct, between now and March.

[0:05:15] Trustee Patrick: Just one.

[0:05:16] Trustee Patrick: And then the Committee of the Whole, which you passed.

[0:05:19] Trustee Patrick: And one has been exchanged for the Committee of the Whole discussion.

[0:05:25] Trustee Patrick: And then you'd have your March meeting

[0:05:29] Trustee Patrick: where you have final consideration of the budget and approval.

[0:05:33] Trustee Patrick: As a body, you could also ask the Financial Planning Committee

[0:05:36] Trustee Patrick: to do some particular work if you wish as well give them instructions so any feedback from

[0:05:41] Trustee Patrick: trustees on where you'd like to proceed do you want to put this out for public consultation

[0:05:46] Trustee Patrick: go ahead trustee bernardo then trustee yates um

[0:05:54] Voice 6: i don't think the amount of money we're talking

[0:05:59] Voice 6: about that we're going to save fifteen hundred dollars i don't think it's particularly material

[0:06:03] Voice 6: but i don't um i have a kind of a principal problem with public consultation with budgets

[0:06:09] Voice 6: It's because the exercise we went through yesterday is just one example of how hard it is and how you have to drill into the details.

[0:06:18] Voice 6: You have to understand the details.

[0:06:21] Voice 6: FPC works on it.

[0:06:22] Voice 6: The staff works on it.

[0:06:26] Voice 6: It's a skill set.

[0:06:27] Voice 6: It's also it just requires in-depth analysis.

[0:06:33] Voice 6: And I don't think, you know, the public's entitled to its views about different things.

[0:06:38] Voice 6: And I think what we typically hear from the public is what the bottom line number is.

[0:06:43] Voice 6: But in terms of consultation and, you know, I'm going to say the unpopular thing.

[0:06:48] Voice 6: I don't think there's a lot of value in public consultation when it comes to a matter like budgeting.

[0:06:53] Voice 6: Above all, it's actually our responsibility as trustees to make the decisions about the proper operating of this organization.

[0:07:02] Voice 6: That's not something we farm out.

[0:07:05] Voice 6: public consultation i think in this context i mean in many contexts it's extremely useful and

[0:07:11] Voice 6: necessary in this context really uh from where i stand it looks more like seeking for political

[0:07:18] Voice 6: cover more than anything else and i don't think that's something we should be doing with the

[0:07:22] Voice 6: budget i think we should be making those decisions and standing behind them and saying look we made

[0:07:26] Voice 6: these difficult decisions because we think that's the right way to move forward and that we can be

[0:07:32] Voice 6: judged on that because that that's the authority we've been given by the electorate to make those

[0:07:37] Voice 6: decisions so i'm in favor of not doing the public consultation but on budgetary matters uh i would

[0:07:44] Voice 6: not want us to see us to see us to do that ever frankly but going forward before we get to a final

[0:07:51] Voice 6: version of the budget um i think we've done some pretty good work i think at 11.88 we've knocked

[0:07:57] Voice 6: it down a little bit lower than it was before the ceo had proposed the recommendations that we

[0:08:03] Voice 6: accepted but 11.8 is still a big number if it's at all possible uh i'd be grateful if fpc working

[0:08:13] Voice 6: together with staff could endeavor to find you know again through that exercise of really having

[0:08:18] Voice 6: to drill into the details some more savings so that we could uh knock it down to you know the

[0:08:25] Voice 6: most responsible number we can get to uh i think that'd be a good effort i would hope that they

[0:08:29] Voice 6: could try to do that um it may not be possible uh we do have to uh ensure that the organization

[0:08:36] Voice 6: is funded so it can operate properly but i would hope that fbc together with staff could endeavor

[0:08:42] Voice 6: before we get to february to to dig dig around and and at least raise some potential cuts for

[0:08:49] Voice 6: us to consider later thank you all right

[0:08:51] Trustee Patrick: thank you so let's first talk to the public consultation

[0:08:54] Trustee Patrick: comment right now of whether to put this out for public comment as currently envisioned.

[0:09:01] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Yates.

[0:09:04] Voice 30: Thank you. Yes, I did speak briefly with Trustee Fast about this earlier this morning,

[0:09:10] Voice 30: and I echo exactly what Trustee Bernardo has just said. And in my mind, putting something

[0:09:18] Voice 30: this complicated out for public comment is a bit like having a referendum on a really complicated

[0:09:24] Voice 30: issue and i don't think it works very well so we need to just defend our budget that's what our job

[0:09:30] Voice 30: is thank you thank you trustee harris i

[0:09:36] Voice 4: don't see a problem with the public weighing in on something

[0:09:39] Voice 4: and to think that it's too complicated for the public is is a head scratcher for me um clearly

[0:09:45] Voice 4: the public isn't going to be happy and it seems to be the way that i'm noticing this council doesn't

[0:09:52] Voice 4: like to hear anything that uh that people aren't happy with um you know will it chain make any

[0:10:01] Voice 4: difference if the public weigh in personally i don't think it will make any difference

[0:10:05] Voice 4: um in my opinion the budget should be defeated and needs to be cut you know minimum 25 percent

[0:10:14] Voice 4: thanks

[0:10:15] Trustee Patrick: thank you trustee hunter on public engagement thank

[0:10:20] Voice 8: you uh what exactly does

[0:10:21] Voice 8: as public consultation look like?

[0:10:24] Trustee Patrick: I think a trustee, a trustee, Director Frater,

[0:10:27] Trustee Patrick: if you could just repeat what was envisioned

[0:10:30] Trustee Patrick: by Financial Planning Committee.

[0:10:32] Voice 15: For this year, Financial Planning Committee

[0:10:34] Voice 15: wanted to undertake trust-wide advertising

[0:10:36] Voice 15: to just seek comment by email.

[0:10:39] Voice 15: So you would be receiving in your March agenda package

[0:10:41] Voice 15: every email that had been sent to the budget inbox.

[0:10:46] Voice 8: Yeah, I would be in favor of that.

[0:10:48] Voice 8: Thank you.

[0:10:49] Voice 8: Sorry, you would be or wouldn't be?

[0:10:50] Voice 8: Would be.

[0:10:50] Voice 8: Would be, okay.

[0:10:51] Trustee Patrick: Okay. So, trustees, how would you like to proceed?

[0:10:54] Trustee Patrick: Do you, as someone, want to put a motion forward?

[0:11:02] Voice 16: Would a motion need to be, to remove it?

[0:11:08] Trustee Patrick: Yes, because otherwise it would proceed as recommended by the Financial Planning Committee, I assume.

[0:11:12] Trustee Patrick: So, look to staff for advice on what would a motion look like to, I guess, not proceed with public engagement and test that one.

[0:11:22] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Evans on process, well, then we'll let staff think for a moment.

[0:11:27] Trustee Patrick: quick

[0:11:27] Voice 14: question um if this if this was removed that doesn't preclude the budget from being

[0:11:34] Voice 14: released to the public after right well it'll be it'll be public

[0:11:39] Voice 14: staff

[0:11:42] Trustee Patrick: what would a motion look

[0:11:43] Trustee Patrick: like if do we need a motion i guess we need a motion to either not do that public engagement so

[0:11:48] Trustee Patrick: looking to staff for advice on what motion would be uh

[0:11:52] Voice 15: certainly the motion could either be um that

[0:11:55] Voice 15: that Trust Council direct Financial Planning Committee not to proceed with public engagement

[0:11:59] Voice 15: on the budget, or you could probably simply direct staff to not proceed.

[0:12:04] Trustee Patrick: All right, trustees, does someone want to test that motion? Go ahead.

[0:12:08] Voice 16: I'm looking for input from Trust Council, so I would move that Trust Council direct Financial

[0:12:15] Voice 16: Planning Committee not to proceed with public engagement for the upcoming budget year.

[0:12:20] Trustee Patrick: Okay, we'll give staff a moment before that seconded. Just a question on process,

[0:12:27] Trustee Patrick: process trustee yeti oh just to be fast is that the wording okay is that being seconded

[0:12:49] Trustee Patrick: trustee yates okay so uh trustee fast do you want to speak to the motion well

[0:12:56] Voice 16: i think financial

[0:12:57] Voice 16: planning committee may have other uh important work to do in trying to get the numbers lower as

[0:13:04] Voice 16: other trustees have pointed out and um i think we already know what the answer from the public

[0:13:09] Voice 16: what kind of input we'd get from the public.

[0:13:12] Voice 16: And I think also our time was shortened

[0:13:17] Voice 16: because we're going to have a committee of the whole

[0:13:19] Voice 16: that the public could attend if they wanted to about the budget.

[0:13:24] Voice 16: And so I think with that, that's part of the reason for this.

[0:13:28] Voice 16: And then the $1,500 or whatever, penny-pinching.

[0:13:35] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Getty, then Trustee Luckham.

[0:13:38] Voice 11: I think we're gonna I think this is going to be a very difficult budget to explain to people and

[0:13:44] Voice 11: I think that the reaction certainly the 37 percent for Bowen is going to be I'm really struggling

[0:13:50] Voice 11: with what what I can possibly say to explain it and um you know I think if we don't have

[0:13:58] Voice 11: public consultation on top of a very expensive budget then not only are we making hard decisions

[0:14:10] Voice 11: but we're hiding from the public i think is how it's going to be perceived and i think that if

[0:14:15] Voice 11: we've got difficult questions and difficult answers that we need to work that through with

[0:14:21] Voice 11: our constituents and i don't have a lot of people that are going to be screaming at me but they

[0:14:26] Voice 11: they certainly are going to be asking questions.

[0:14:28] Voice 11: So I can take that.

[0:14:30] Voice 11: I don't know how I'm going to answer them.

[0:14:33] Voice 11: I'm really struggling with what we went through yesterday

[0:14:38] Voice 11: and the number that we've ended up with.

[0:14:41] Voice 11: And, yeah, there's going to be some hard work

[0:14:45] Voice 11: with the Finance Committee, perhaps,

[0:14:48] Voice 11: and maybe we can figure out how to cut some things.

[0:14:56] Voice 11: But I think that we're I think the die is cast. I think we're in trouble

[0:15:00] Voice 11: personally

[0:15:03] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Luckman Turkey trustee Peterson

[0:15:07] Trustee Luckham: Well, I'll just say I'm in favor of the motion

[0:15:11] Trustee Luckham: however

[0:15:12] Trustee Luckham: feel obligated to say that absolutely there'll be people that are not happy about this and

[0:15:18] Trustee Luckham: There'll be various aspects of that

[0:15:23] Trustee Luckham: Articulated

[0:15:25] Trustee Luckham: transparency all fairness what are you hiding there's all kinds of things that come up in this

[0:15:29] Trustee Luckham: however we have adopted as an organization the principles of engagement and it's a scale of

[0:15:39] Trustee Luckham: everything from fully involved to not involved and i have difficulty with calling this public

[0:15:47] Trustee Luckham: engagement $1,500 in the budget the difficulty is if we're not really

[0:15:57] Trustee Luckham: prepared to engage then let's just seek comments and quite honestly people will

[0:16:05] Trustee Luckham: comment and we will see it as correspondence and I would encourage

[0:16:08] Trustee Luckham: those that are interested to review the budget documents reviews what's happened

[0:16:13] Trustee Luckham: happened in this meeting and indeed send us your comment from correspondence and we'll see it so

[0:16:20] Trustee Luckham: thank you I support the motion

[0:16:22] Trustee Patrick: trustee Peterson and trustee Harris yeah

[0:16:26] Voice 7: I have to a bit I'm a

[0:16:28] Voice 7: bit torn on this um on the one hand um experience has shown that um that trust Council's uh final

[0:16:41] Voice 7: final budget decisions are not often changed much by the public engagement.

[0:16:47] Voice 7: And yet at the same time,

[0:16:52] Voice 7: I'm a little leery that the signal given to the public by choosing to cancel

[0:17:00] Voice 7: the engagement is not great.

[0:17:05] Voice 7: So, yeah, I'm still a little undecided.

[0:17:09] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Harris and Trustee Evans.

[0:17:11] Trustee Patrick: you

[0:17:13] Voice 4: i'm opposed to the motion that's um in front of us here um the engagement should be better

[0:17:22] Voice 4: i agree on that um but to not engage um and you know yes it's quite true that engagement isn't

[0:17:32] Voice 4: going to make a difference that's been proven historically you know even if people aren't happy

[0:17:38] Voice 4: doesn't seem to make a difference the budget keeps going up but you know we should engage now

[0:17:43] Voice 4: and people aren't going to be happy and why should they be why should they be happy to be paying for

[0:17:50] Voice 4: their own demise thank you.

[0:17:54] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Evans then Middleton.

[0:17:58] Voice 14: I am in support of this motion based

[0:18:01] Voice 14: on how we have historically done public engagement surrounding the budget I would prefer to see a

[0:18:09] Voice 14: different type of engagement uh process regarding budget that's um or um engagement focused on how

[0:18:18] Voice 14: we're doing um i i could get behind that but saying you know how how how do you feel about

[0:18:25] Voice 14: the numbers we know what the answer is so i feel that that is a frustrating exercise both for the

[0:18:34] Voice 14: the public and for us, the question that we've been asking is not the right question. So I support

[0:18:42] Voice 14: this motion given our history on how we've been doing the engagement. I would encourage us to

[0:18:49] Voice 14: look at how we're doing that, change how we do that, so that we can get better feedback and actual

[0:18:55] Voice 14: engagement.

[0:18:58] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Middleton and Bernardo.

[0:19:02] Trustee Middleton: Excuse me. Yeah, I'm not in favor of this motion. I

[0:19:06] Trustee Middleton: really do think in whatever way shape or form we need to we need to provide an opportunity for

[0:19:14] Trustee Middleton: engagement um obviously the sentiment in the room is this number is unpalatable

[0:19:18] Trustee Middleton: i've heard it from multiple people around the table and so if we already know that

[0:19:23] Trustee Middleton: clearly we're just going to create a further problem for ourselves by then not giving people

[0:19:29] Trustee Middleton: opportunity to weigh in on what we already think they know, but there's always an opportunity

[0:19:36] Trustee Middleton: for creative input in situations like this.

[0:19:40] Trustee Middleton: I mean, people are unusually engaged in the trust area and know a lot more about this

[0:19:45] Trustee Middleton: organization than perhaps an average local government they would if they lived in a municipality.

[0:19:51] Trustee Middleton: So, and I think the engagement points out the fact that now this budget is getting so

[0:19:58] Trustee Middleton: so large, this exercise of reviewing the budget doesn't work. I know yesterday there was

[0:20:03] Trustee Middleton: disgruntlement, and I know if things don't change, there's some negative votes already seated

[0:20:09] Trustee Middleton: against this budget in March. And part of the issue is it's become a giant negative billing

[0:20:16] Trustee Middleton: exercise. Basically, all of the things put forward are baked into it, and it becomes the

[0:20:23] Trustee Middleton: the job of this council to then quickly question, as the screen is scrolled, items that have

[0:20:31] Trustee Middleton: already been budgeted, in essence.

[0:20:33] Trustee Patrick: Okay, Trustee Middleton, I'd like to hear more ideas on how to improve the process,

[0:20:37] Trustee Patrick: but can we stick to the motion at the moment?

[0:20:39] Trustee Patrick: I know you're related.

[0:20:40] Trustee Middleton: Well, yeah, so what's going to happen is if you want to explain this budget, you've got

[0:20:44] Trustee Middleton: to explain the budget.

[0:20:45] Trustee Middleton: You can't just put the number out.

[0:20:48] Trustee Middleton: I've heard hard choices.

[0:20:49] Trustee Middleton: I didn't hear a lot of hard choices yesterday.

[0:20:51] Trustee Middleton: I saw half a million dollars given to the Conservatives in

[0:20:54] Trustee Middleton: about a half an hour.

[0:20:56] Trustee Middleton: I'm not saying that's not deserved, but that needs to be explained as what are you getting for this budget, line item by line item, right?

[0:21:05] Trustee Middleton: We don't have that currently, even for ourselves.

[0:21:07] Trustee Middleton: I challenge some of us to say, what did we actually approve yesterday in terms of some of these additional expenditures?

[0:21:13] Trustee Middleton: I'm not being critical.

[0:21:13] Trustee Middleton: It's just it's a mass of paper baked into an already concluded budget.

[0:21:20] Trustee Middleton: But then we have to negatively critique, which is always a very difficult point to come from.

[0:21:24] Trustee Middleton: Right. So, I mean, I think the consultation could start to address that.

[0:21:28] Trustee Middleton: Thank you. Thank you.

[0:21:30] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Bernardo, then Stanford.

[0:21:33] Voice 6: Yeah, I think we all understand where Trustee Getty is coming from and her observations and Trustee Middleton as well.

[0:21:41] Voice 6: Well, and, you know, we know what the public reaction is going to be because it's going to be the same reaction we get every year, which is I'm paying too much.

[0:21:50] Voice 6: What am I getting for it?

[0:21:51] Voice 6: Nothing.

[0:21:53] Voice 6: People who are reasonably content, the reality is we're not going to hear from them.

[0:21:57] Voice 6: So it's not going to be a scientific poll upon which you might be able to deliberate on and think, oh, OK, you know, I've heard a lot of opinions from the public.

[0:22:11] Voice 6: like they're representative, so maybe I should rethink my own position on this or that thing.

[0:22:16] Voice 6: The information that we get from a consultation process like this is simply not reliable enough.

[0:22:22] Voice 6: But I think we need to draw a distinction here between consultation and messaging,

[0:22:28] Voice 6: because what I'm hearing is a kind of a back and forth between the two of them.

[0:22:33] Voice 6: I won't repeat myself, but consultation is just not that useful.

[0:22:38] Voice 6: useful messaging would be extremely useful and i think that's where trustee middleton is coming

[0:22:43] Voice 6: from yeah we are under an obligation to explain it we haven't done a terrific job about that

[0:22:48] Voice 6: but so yeah we should probably put more thought into how we message uh what the budget would like

[0:22:54] Voice 6: not just throw the budget out there but explain the high points and explain the rationale

[0:22:57] Voice 6: for the changes in it you know the public's entitled to that and the staff can do that for us

[0:23:03] Voice 6: Sorry, CEO, add that to the list.

[0:23:07] Voice 6: So I have a question that might help with respect to the messaging for Director Mubbs.

[0:23:13] Voice 6: As Trustee Stanford pointed out yesterday, I mean, the percentages are always a little disturbing because they're big.

[0:23:23] Voice 6: But the hard numbers tell, depending on who you are and where you're situated, the hard numbers tell a different story.

[0:23:30] Voice 6: those percentages don't necessarily you know manifest into huge increases they are increases

[0:23:35] Voice 6: and people are entitled to have their views about it but i think it might be helpful for messaging

[0:23:39] Voice 6: if and this is my question for director mobs is it possible to translate those percentages

[0:23:45] Voice 6: into hard number ranges of what the out-of-pocket hit is going to be for property owners

[0:23:51] Voice 6: with this budget uh you know and they'll be you know segregating bone island for its number

[0:23:58] Voice 6: number its number range and the number range for the other jurisdictions in the trust area can you

[0:24:04] Voice 6: provide us with those hard numbers so

[0:24:07] Voice 12: thanks for that question it's a good one we have been asked

[0:24:10] Voice 12: that historically of course we don't prepare and requisition property taxes the provincial survey

[0:24:16] Voice 12: or taxes does that on our behalf so we don't have the software system that would give us a number

[0:24:21] Voice 12: that would be much more accurate than what we can prepare in-house but it's certainly something that

[0:24:26] Voice 12: we can estimate. We do need to wait for the completed role from BC Assessment, which doesn't

[0:24:32] Voice 12: come until January, because, you know, those numbers can have a significant influence on

[0:24:37] Voice 12: the estimate. So we can provide that. I'm appreciative that you asked for a range,

[0:24:42] Voice 12: because I think that's a much better way to go about it, given we don't have the dedicated

[0:24:47] Voice 12: software. But yes, we could look to do that.

[0:24:51] Voice 6: Briefly follow up. I appreciate your point that

[0:24:53] Voice 6: But you want to be as accurate as possible.

[0:24:56] Voice 6: So you want to wait for the latest numbers in January and with a proviso that even then it's not going to be as precise as what the province would be able to provide.

[0:25:05] Voice 6: But is it possible today to provide us with a back of the envelope, very rough estimate based on last year's assessments?

[0:25:16] Voice 12: Today in this meeting or are you talking about today for the potential engagement?

[0:25:23] Voice 6: this meeting, just so people here have a sense of where

[0:25:27] Voice 6: what you might be able to develop in terms of those numbers in January,

[0:25:30] Voice 6: kind of a range of where they might end up.

[0:25:33] Voice 12: I could look to do that in the next

[0:25:35] Voice 12: short while while you take on your next topic in the agenda.

[0:25:39] Voice 12: All

[0:25:40] Trustee Patrick: right, trustees. We'll only take

[0:25:42] Trustee Patrick: first-time speakers because we've got a lot of business yet to go here. So

[0:25:46] Trustee Patrick: Stanford, then FAST, you are on the list.

[0:25:53] Trustee Patrick: oh no but you're not next

[0:25:57] Trustee Patrick: Stanford then passed thank you yeah

[0:26:01] Trustee Stamford: I mean some of the comments here we're not really talking

[0:26:04] Trustee Stamford: about engagement we get the information from our constituents and we look at it and we

[0:26:10] Trustee Stamford: shake our heads and keep going so yes this is more about communication it doesn't preclude us

[0:26:16] Trustee Stamford: doing our own communication and that gives us the ability to really dig down into the budget

[0:26:22] Trustee Stamford: and how it impacts our own islands this is something i'd like to do but also this shouldn't

[0:26:28] Trustee Stamford: be a one time a year a conversation we should be talking about the budget talking about our

[0:26:34] Trustee Stamford: programs talking about what the priorities are what are our pillars of why we're moving forward

[0:26:41] Trustee Stamford: the direction we are all the time with our constituents at at the council level not just

[0:26:47] Trustee Stamford: at the local trust committee level so that when these kinds of adjustments come in the budget

[0:26:54] Trustee Stamford: then you can speak to it and say it's because we're focusing on water or we're focusing on

[0:27:00] Trustee Stamford: development or we're focusing on conservation this is what it takes to get this done and it's

[0:27:07] Trustee Stamford: never easy you're never going to get a wholly positive response but if we keep that conversation

[0:27:12] Trustee Stamford: open throughout the year and not make it a one-time only then i think our communications

[0:27:19] Trustee Stamford: and our messaging would be more effective and we'd be less afraid to come out with some big

[0:27:26] Trustee Stamford: numbers and i also want to point out the way that we've run our budgets and we've talked about this

[0:27:32] Trustee Stamford: before is we're we're scraping we're so tight we've dipped into all our reserves we knew this

[0:27:39] Trustee Stamford: was coming we knew we were going to get some big jumps because we kept putting out really really

[0:27:46] Trustee Stamford: small budgets without any room to wiggle so this was this was coming we were warned about this

[0:27:53] Trustee Stamford: four years ago three years ago and so this is this is the result um so we've got to think about how

[0:27:59] Trustee Stamford: we strategize not just year to year and i think we'll see this in the corporate planning but

[0:28:04] Trustee Stamford: but looking at our budgets over five, 10 years

[0:28:07] Trustee Stamford: so that we can smooth out these dips or peaks and valleys.

[0:28:13] Trustee Stamford: Thanks.

[0:28:14] Trustee Patrick: All right, Trustee Falk is the last

[0:28:17] Trustee Patrick: of the first time speakers.

[0:28:19] Voice 32: Thank you.

[0:28:21] Voice 32: The way I see it, we have a problem explaining this budget.

[0:28:27] Voice 32: And so I'm not in favor of the motion

[0:28:31] Voice 32: because I think that is pushing the problem down the road

[0:28:36] Voice 32: And instead of like, I think we have to stop and deal with this.

[0:28:39] Voice 32: And I mean, the solution of just staying with the process as it is, is not perfect either.

[0:28:48] Voice 32: And like you just said, the last speaker, there's lots of other things we can do to do this better.

[0:28:54] Voice 32: And I think we should also do that. But I think we, you know, this is about relationship.

[0:29:01] Voice 32: relationship this is it's we need we need to have a relationship with our stakeholders

[0:29:07] Voice 32: and i think that giving them information is probably not the best way to that's a one-way

[0:29:14] Voice 32: street like here take this information here's what we're going to do and having a an opportunity to

[0:29:20] Voice 32: to talk about it so you know like that's a relationship and i think it's important that

[0:29:25] Voice 32: we start doing that better and I'm also concerned that we're if we don't pass this motion we are

[0:29:36] Voice 32: the problem with it that I also see is that we're calling it engagement but isn't but we are not good

[0:29:42] Voice 32: at engaging we're not going to engage we're going to listen we're going to say you can tell us what

[0:29:47] Voice 32: you think that's what we're good that's what this engagement means in this context and I think that

[0:29:53] Voice 32: that it should be an, if it's going to be an engagement,

[0:29:55] Voice 32: which should be an engagement. And so we should do more.

[0:30:00] Voice 32: do what we say you know type of thing so anyway so but i like i say it's not perfect but at this

[0:30:06] Voice 32: moment i feel like the better option is to not do away with the consultation all

[0:30:13] Trustee Patrick: right thank you

[0:30:14] Trustee Patrick: trustees first time speakers of all spoke i would like to call the vote with your permission because

[0:30:19] Trustee Patrick: we still have a lot of business to do and we'll have to see how this motion goes so if it's all

[0:30:24] Trustee Patrick: right with you trustee here thank you for lowering your hand i'm going to call the vote the vote is

[0:30:30] Trustee Patrick: of the motion is about not proceeding with public engagement for the upcoming budget year

[0:30:35] Trustee Patrick: all those in favor please raise your hands

[0:30:49] Voice 22: right lower

[0:30:51] Trustee Patrick: your hands all those opposed okay so 10 to 8 that carries yeah right trustees

[0:31:17] Trustee Patrick: uh any instructions to the financial planning trustee peterson um

[0:31:25] Voice 7: i wonder if

[0:31:26] Voice 7: If there's a possibility that there is interest in redirecting the dollars that would have gone into engagement into some communications, because I think that I think that not trust council, not reaching out in some form around the budget that we're considering is is not a great approach during the conversation.

[0:31:57] Voice 7: we just had, what came to me is that instead of trying to call what we've been doing engagement,

[0:32:06] Voice 7: we should really be thinking about the messaging. I think we want an opportunity to explain

[0:32:16] Voice 7: some of the decisions we've made and what's behind them. So that's an approach I'm interested in

[0:32:23] Voice 7: presenting.

[0:32:24] Trustee Patrick: Before we open the floor, I would like to look at STEP. There is a budget of only

[0:32:28] Trustee Patrick: $1,500. What kind of communications could be done under the budget that we have? If that's

[0:32:35] Trustee Patrick: a fair question or not, I know it's on the fly.

[0:32:39] Voice 15: Yes, on the fly. I'm trying to think what we

[0:32:44] Voice 15: could do. I mean, certainly one of the things we can do is try and simplify how we communicate

[0:32:47] Voice 15: budget information. So investing in more graphic design around trying to characterize where money

[0:32:52] Voice 15: goes and what the trends look like. So that's something that comes to mind for me that we

[0:32:56] Voice 15: we could possibly use money towards, is trying to better describe the financial pieces in graphic

[0:33:02] Voice 15: form. That's the first thing that comes to mind for me. Thank

[0:33:05] Trustee Patrick: you. That just helps before we go.

[0:33:06] Trustee Patrick: So we have some conversations on sort of next steps here. We have Fast and Luckum.

[0:33:12] Voice 16: Thank you. I welcome the direction from Trust Council. And note that we did do pre-budget

[0:33:19] Voice 16: survey in June, right? So we've got some input from the community already. And we haven't

[0:33:27] Voice 16: been we heard concerns that we haven't that we're stopping doing engagement but we actually

[0:33:32] Voice 16: i would turn to staff here i don't think we've done it for a few years and then this

[0:33:36] Voice 16: we started again in june with the pre-budget info but i um also think we've been starting to use

[0:33:44] Voice 16: more graphics in our communication uh little houses showing different um the comparisons

[0:33:50] Voice 16: and things like that and uh i think that would be great i'd look forward to that

[0:33:56] Voice 16: trustee luckham then

[0:33:58] Trustee Patrick: alan um

[0:34:01] Trustee Luckham: i don't think this is a motion yet but i would be support

[0:34:03] Trustee Luckham: of a motion in that direction um because i think but we need to stop calling it engagement

[0:34:12] Trustee Luckham: we need to message just stop calling it engagement because that's not what we're doing

[0:34:17] Trustee Luckham: although i would say thank you as well for reminding us that we did do engagement back

[0:34:23] Trustee Luckham: in june which was much more meaningful than anything we've done in the months before adopting

[0:34:29] Trustee Luckham: budget and i just want to say the one thing out of this whole budget that disturbs me the most

[0:34:34] Trustee Luckham: 48 percent to go on item 38 well whatever 38 it's just it always bothers me and i know it's fair

[0:34:43] Trustee Luckham: and i know it's right but it would just be better if it was the same

[0:34:47] Trustee Patrick: trustee allen yeah

[0:34:51] Voice 34: hi i'm coming

[0:34:51] Voice 34: Coming in from Parksville, there's an accident to south of Nanaimo.

[0:34:56] Voice 34: Anyways, so I missed a bit, a lot of this conversation,

[0:34:59] Voice 34: but I just want to follow up what Trustee Stamford said,

[0:35:01] Voice 34: that I do feel an onus and responsibility for us trustees

[0:35:04] Voice 34: is to get out there with our community and not relying on staff.

[0:35:10] Voice 34: We could save a lot of money with this, as we just passed,

[0:35:13] Voice 34: and just get it to our community as trustees.

[0:35:15] Voice 34: That's our job, you know?

[0:35:18] Voice 34: And we keep on going around and around circles with the budget.

[0:35:21] Voice 34: it i go in the community and people are just tired of it they just want to just vote for it and just

[0:35:26] Voice 34: move on and um so i just feel like uh as trustees it's our responsibility to put out the message as

[0:35:33] Voice 34: well thank you all

[0:35:35] Trustee Patrick: right trustees is there a motion here do we need a motion for communication

[0:35:39] Trustee Patrick: trustee evans

[0:35:39] Voice 14: i was just trying to write one out but i can uh just say it on the fly if that's okay

[0:35:46] Voice 14: sure can attempt it i can attempt it um i move that trust council requests financial planning

[0:35:52] Voice 14: planning to allocate $1,500 to a communication piece explaining the draft budget, period? Or

[0:36:15] Voice 14: are we wanting to focus on the large increase areas? Period. Okay, just period.

[0:36:20] Trustee Patrick: Let me look

[0:36:21] Trustee Patrick: to stop on, does that make sense? Does this, what does this do? How does the communications get out?

[0:36:37] Trustee Patrick: yeah

[0:36:38] Voice 15: um certainly i think that's fine i do wonder given that we're now just squarely in the realm

[0:36:42] Voice 15: of communications if you'd want to direct it to executive committee as financial planning

[0:36:47] Voice 15: committee's terms of reference is really around budget consultation all right so

[0:36:52] Voice 15: trustee yates

[0:36:56] Trustee Patrick: on the wording yep

[0:37:04] Voice 22: that's all right

[0:37:11] Trustee Patrick: trustees so uh trustee evans if you could read that motion

[0:37:16] Trustee Patrick: please i

[0:37:19] Voice 14: move that trust council requests executive committee to allocate fifteen hundred

[0:37:23] Voice 14: dollars to communications explaining the draft 2026-27 budget um i also heard removing the word

[0:37:32] Trustee Patrick: yeah we're not going to debate it at this point uh seconded by trustee borthwick any discussion

[0:37:38] Trustee Patrick: not seeing any i'm going to call the vote all those in favor thank you all right lower your

[0:37:56] Trustee Patrick: hands any opposed all right trustees one post that carries so thank you trustees i'll look to

[0:38:10] Trustee Patrick: staff do we need any other business on the budget than at this moment or i'll look to trustees are

[0:38:15] Trustee Patrick: there any particular instructions you wish to give the financial planning committee on their meeting

[0:38:19] Trustee Patrick: when they debate the draft budget i think they've heard you all right financial planning committee

[0:38:30] Trustee Patrick: you have your work cut out for you uh yes uh go ahead director mops um

[0:38:35] Voice 12: so i have heard some

[0:38:36] Voice 12: comments around the table that financial planning committee might take this budget uh continue to

[0:38:41] Voice 12: to work with it with the intent of bringing it to a lower tax increase it would be helpful to know

[0:38:46] Voice 12: if there's a target trust council wishes for staff and financial planning committee to reach as we do

[0:38:50] Voice 12: our work um it just makes sure that we're actually working on uh what you would like to see um so a

[0:38:56] Voice 12: resolution to that effect would be helpful

[0:38:57] Trustee Patrick: trustees anyone wish to uh set apart trustee elliott

[0:39:04] Trustee Patrick: it's

[0:39:06] Voice 20: more of a question um i believe last year um we requested all the committees to look at

[0:39:14] Voice 20: their budget requests and review them again um do we would there be enough time um for any of

[0:39:24] Voice 20: the committees to to do that nope okay

[0:39:27] Trustee Patrick: probably running short uh trustee getty then forthwick

[0:39:31] Trustee Patrick: and bernardo i would find

[0:39:34] Voice 11: it really helpful to have an update on the material that was in the

[0:39:38] Voice 11: agenda which is quite different from or it's the same as what was with the financial planning

[0:39:44] Voice 11: committee which is quite different from what was added from the operational review and after the

[0:39:51] Voice 11: discussions in terms yesterday in terms of things that were added and subtracted so i'm feeling like

[0:39:57] Voice 11: it's all a bit of a blur and it's really hard to think about um what might be looked at again

[0:40:03] Voice 11: there's a

[0:40:07] Trustee Patrick: question there but okay trustee borthwick um

[0:40:11] Voice 23: yeah so i want to apologize

[0:40:13] Voice 23: up front if this is an insane thing to ask um but um i wonder if it might not be helpful um

[0:40:23] Voice 23: to and i wanted to you know sort of speak directly to director mob's like request for a specific

[0:40:29] Voice 23: number which i think is a very reasonable thing for her to be asking of this body um i wonder if

[0:40:36] Voice 23: it's uh exponentially more work to come up with a couple of different sort of like even just vague

[0:40:43] Voice 23: options even if they're not like worked into like down to the last cent um but give us a couple of

[0:40:50] Voice 23: targets and give us some ideas of what that looks like in terms of what might be lost or gained

[0:40:55] Voice 23: defined based on the level of funding or level of increase that we're comfortable with.

[0:41:01] Voice 23: Certainly for me, I think that helps to put stuff into perspective. It's very

[0:41:06] Voice 23: clearly, it's a great challenge for this body for us to sit and go through each line item and

[0:41:10] Voice 23: everybody has a thing. There was a wonderful analogy that was shared with me yesterday,

[0:41:15] Voice 23: which is that everyone has their prize pony and they want to get it into the barn,

[0:41:20] Voice 23: which is brilliant. I think it's a great analogy. We all have our prize ponies. We want,

[0:41:26] Voice 23: we only have such a big so big a barn we do not have the resources to expand that barn

[0:41:30] Voice 23: so we have to make it work but all of our ponies will suffer if they are crammed in

[0:41:35] Voice 23: cheek by jowl so i think if we if we are i apologize

[0:41:42] Voice 23: i

[0:41:43] Voice 19: mean all

[0:41:49] Voice 23: right do

[0:41:50] Voice 19: they do they not suffer

[0:41:51] Voice 23: anyways um my my point being um that

[0:41:55] Voice 23: We all have things that are near and dear to our hearts and to our communities that we are here to advocate for, and I understand that I'm one of those people. I have things that I care about at this body that matter to me more than things that matter more to other people.

[0:42:10] Voice 23: that's just the nature of of how this works um so what i wonder is if if there was a a stripped back

[0:42:18] Voice 23: like a lower increase threshold that we could then compare to what we currently have um and

[0:42:27] Voice 23: then maybe something in between i don't know if that winds up being a totally exponential amount

[0:42:30] Voice 23: of work and i don't want to put that on fpc um but if we had those sort of ranges i think we

[0:42:36] Voice 23: We might be able to put this into some perspective without getting into our personal feelings on each individual item.

[0:42:43] Voice 23: So that's just, it's a question really for staff if that's a crazy extra amount of work.

[0:42:48] Voice 23: Because beyond that, like once that comes down, if we get those sort of numbers,

[0:42:54] Voice 23: we get a number that we're comfortable with as a body, I would otherwise, I would beyond that,

[0:42:59] Voice 23: that like to be able to trust director mobs and the excellent people on the fbc to to deliver us

[0:43:05] Voice 23: something that works uh for our body and for our constituents let's

[0:43:10] Trustee Patrick: see ronnie thank

[0:43:12] Voice 9: you chair and

[0:43:12] Voice 9: i'm conscious of where we're at on time so i'm sure we're gonna have to come back to this but

[0:43:15] Voice 9: to trustee bartholick's point that the key piece is it would be helpful for trust council to

[0:43:22] Voice 9: identify what that target or target options for targets are and then yes staff can prepare one or

[0:43:28] Voice 9: or two options for what it would mean to get to that level. But it's the percentage, as you

[0:43:33] Voice 9: framed it, the percentage increase that you would be comfortable with is the sort of best practice

[0:43:39] Voice 9: for us to be able then to try and meet that target.

[0:43:44] Trustee Patrick: All right, trustees, we still have one

[0:43:47] Trustee Patrick: minute before we're going to break. So I think I'm going to hold off on speakers at this moment. So I

[0:43:52] Trustee Patrick: think this is a good time to think. We do have a fair bit more work yet to do. Spending time on

[0:43:58] Trustee Patrick: the budget is absolutely critically important so we are doing the right work um but we're going to

[0:44:03] Trustee Patrick: take a moment and move over to a session with our neighbors to the south and if you're uh ready i'm

[0:44:19] Trustee Patrick: just going to so if we go to some introductory on page 366 on the agenda package here oh sorry 386

[0:44:29] Trustee Patrick: Thank you. I cannot read 386. And this is an opportunity for our, there's a joint session here I'd like to introduce. I think you might recall last year, they've had elections, so they have a staggered election, something to think about, trustees.

[0:44:50] Trustee Patrick: They don't all get reelected at the same time. So you do recall Jane Fuller, Councilor Jane Fuller, with us last year, but there are two new faces. Their chair, Carrie McVeigh, and Justin Paulson.

[0:45:07] Trustee Patrick: And I've had the opportunity of spending time with both counselors, McVeigh and Paulson, this summer in events of cross-border forums and cross-border gatherings in the islands.

[0:45:20] Trustee Patrick: So, welcome.

[0:45:23] Trustee Patrick: Thank you.

[0:45:24] Trustee Patrick: So, I guess at this moment, I think first I'll give Chair McVeigh a moment to introduce her fellow counselors and have some opening remarks.

[0:45:37] Trustee Patrick: and then there's a discussion of mutual interest here.

[0:45:40] Trustee Patrick: So over to you, Chair McVey.

[0:45:42] Voice 24: Thank you.

[0:45:45] Voice 24: It's great to be here and appreciate this opportunity

[0:45:50] Voice 24: to find those areas of mutual engagement

[0:45:53] Voice 24: where we can make some difference for all the people

[0:45:56] Voice 24: who live and are surrounded by the Salish Sea.

[0:46:03] Voice 24: Chair Patrick announced that we had a cross-border meeting a couple months ago, and what was

[0:46:10] Voice 24: really clear was that there is so much mutual affection amongst all of our people, despite

[0:46:19] Voice 24: the rather horrific turn of politics that we're experiencing.

[0:46:24] Voice 24: And having said that, we have to make sure that despite what is happening politically,

[0:46:30] Voice 24: to the best of our ability, that we maintain this positive relationship we have.

[0:46:36] Voice 24: We have a lot that we have in common economically, we have a lot that we have in common environmentally,

[0:46:42] Voice 24: and I think it behooves us all to find those places that we can support each other economically.

[0:46:47] Voice 24: that came out very strong in our cross-border forum and that we find

[0:46:53] Voice 24: those places where we can support the health, the ecological health of the

[0:46:58] Voice 24: Salish Sea and the lands that are touched by it. So I'm very excited to

[0:47:04] Voice 24: continue these kinds of conversations and I hope we can make some progress and

[0:47:08] Voice 24: some real action that benefits both Island Trust and the San Juan County

[0:47:14] Voice 24: County Council I'd like to introduce for everybody uh Council member Justin Paulson he represents

[0:47:22] Voice 24: District 2 which is Orcas Island I represent District 1 which is San Juan Island and we all

[0:47:28] Voice 24: have some other little islands that attach to our our main islands but mostly San Juan Island and so

[0:47:35] Voice 24: Justin thank

[0:47:39] Voice 25: you chair um thank you chair Patrick for giving us the opportunity to be here um it's

[0:47:44] Voice 25: It's been it has been great to get to know the the Canadian islands, having only made small trips north,

[0:47:56] Voice 25: but was able to participate in what was a great event on

[0:48:01] Voice 25: Salt Spring Island this last September and and meet yourself and meet some of our counterparts up north.

[0:48:09] Voice 25: And I echo what Chair McVeigh said in terms of identifying those things in our communities, which really tie us together.

[0:48:21] Voice 25: And I think the one thing that came across from the event that I participated in September was that while there is a delineated line that separates our communities that is drawn on maps,

[0:48:33] Voice 25: Perhaps in reality, that line is a construct of past political action, and we really do share a location and a sense of space that defies national borders.

[0:48:48] Voice 25: So I'm interested in being part of this discussion, and I look forward to hopefully many years of us working together on some common goals for all of our communities.

[0:49:01] Voice 24: And certainly, last but not least, Council Member Fuller, who represents Shaw and Lopez Island, take it away.

[0:49:13] Voice 29: Thank you very much, Council Member McVeigh.

[0:49:17] Voice 29: Yeah, wonderful to be with you all again, at least virtually, if not, since not in person this time.

[0:49:22] Voice 29: I want to say how much I appreciate the interest of my two newer seatmates from Orcas and San Juan who joined council in January.

[0:49:36] Voice 29: And I've had the opportunity over 2023 and 4 to begin to understand the longstanding relationship that the Islands Trust Council has had with San Juan County,

[0:49:48] Voice 29: which goes back 25 years and was delighted to be able to participate in your your fourth

[0:49:56] Voice 29: quarterly meeting last year in December in Victoria and meet some of you in person

[0:50:00] Voice 29: which was really really meaningful I hope we can do that again perhaps at one point in 2026

[0:50:06] Voice 29: because it's always nicer to to get together in person I think something that came out of that

[0:50:12] Voice 29: discussion because I echo everything my seat mates just said we're all on the same page in

[0:50:16] Voice 29: this regard um and i think it's really exciting that that cross-border initiative happened to

[0:50:21] Voice 29: kind of get us all as council both as councils to lean into some you know some operation um i think

[0:50:28] Voice 29: something that uh we discussed a year ago was the idea of updating uh our memorandum of understanding

[0:50:35] Voice 29: between our agreement between the two organizations i read it over yesterday and i mean it doesn't

[0:50:40] Voice 29: actually require tremendous updating i don't think i think it's a matter of reaffirming its content

[0:50:45] Voice 29: content, perhaps a little bit of updating depending on our respective contexts and things

[0:50:50] Voice 29: that may have shifted or evolved, one of which, for example, is that we're no longer a board

[0:50:55] Voice 29: of commissioners, we're a council, so we are council members.

[0:51:00] Voice 29: Not substantively significant, but just some simple things like that.

[0:51:05] Voice 29: The last time the MOU was updated was in 2007, but I believe from being with you all last

[0:51:12] Voice 29: year and from a conversation I was able to have with Chair Patrick that there's

[0:51:16] Voice 29: interest in just sort of dusting it off and and perhaps breathing some life into

[0:51:20] Voice 29: it again and I did notice in that document that there was reference to

[0:51:24] Voice 29: inter-island or sorry cross-border action island action plans and so maybe

[0:51:32] Voice 29: as we talked a little later in the in the session this morning we could

[0:51:35] Voice 29: explore does anybody have any recollection of any action plans that

[0:51:38] Voice 29: that were created, but I look forward

[0:51:42] Voice 29: to a substantive discussion of a few topics today

[0:51:45] Voice 29: to get us moving along and starting to work together again.

[0:51:49] Voice 29: And I don't think there could be a more important moment

[0:51:52] Voice 29: in the history of these two organizations to be doing this.

[0:51:54] Voice 29: And I also think that important to our context still,

[0:51:59] Voice 29: important context to our discussion will be the fact

[0:52:02] Voice 29: that since we last met in December,

[0:52:05] Voice 29: December, there have been administrative changes at the federal level in both countries.

[0:52:10] Voice 29: And I think those changes, both in the prime minister in Canada and also the president

[0:52:16] Voice 29: in the United States, I think they have significant implications for cooperative work, positive

[0:52:23] Voice 29: and perhaps to some extent challenging, negative.

[0:52:26] Voice 29: And so I think it's important that we infuse our discussion with those realities.

[0:52:30] Voice 29: And I'm happy to illustrate what I mean by that when I'll speak briefly to the ERT, the topic, emergency response to a vessel.

[0:52:40] Voice 29: So anyway, it's just a delight to be with you all again.

[0:52:43] Voice 29: And I hope we can do this in person before too long.

[0:52:46] Voice 29: So thank you for inviting us.

[0:52:48] Voice 29: All right.

[0:52:49] Trustee Patrick: Our introductions are going to run around.

[0:52:51] Trustee Patrick: This is not the roundtable.

[0:52:52] Trustee Patrick: We have more time for you to get in depth.

[0:52:53] Trustee Patrick: But I'm going to just run around and let each trustee say where they're from because this is a large area.

[0:52:58] Trustee Patrick: And I think the forum that Chair McVeigh and I attended, the environment, the border, it's so artificial.

[0:53:08] Trustee Patrick: You look on a map, we are a group of islands, the whales, the salmon, they swim freely amongst the islands.

[0:53:14] Trustee Patrick: And it is such an interwoven ecosystem.

[0:53:19] Trustee Patrick: So I'm going to start on my far left over at Chair Middleton.

[0:53:23] Trustee Patrick: So run around and introduce yourselves and the islands that you come from.

[0:53:28] Trustee Middleton: hello nice to have you here and thank you very much i'm lee middleton from uh representing saturn

[0:53:33] Trustee Middleton: island and i have a full view from my home of orcas island and um and uh would love to resume

[0:53:40] Trustee Middleton: regular journeys we we we can talk about that a little bit later but we're just a little bit

[0:53:45] Trustee Middleton: nervous about the homeland security situation and vessel seizures and so this could be a completely

[0:53:51] Trustee Middleton: irrational thought but i figured we'd just put it out there because it's been fantastic visiting

[0:53:56] Trustee Middleton: your communities. You're so close. We'd really love to re-establish those relationships. So

[0:54:02] Trustee Middleton: maybe we can touch on that later on and you can assuage our fears perhaps. Thank you.

[0:54:09] Voice 33: Janine Dodds from Maine Island. I look out at Waldron Island.

[0:54:13] Voice 33: Every now and then there's a glimmer of light out there, but I don't think we have power.

[0:54:17] Voice 33: Yeah, sad situation because our islands were always so closely linked with San Juan Islands

[0:54:22] Voice 33: And currently, people definitely are reluctant to travel.

[0:54:26] Voice 33: So hopefully that will change.

[0:54:31] Voice 32: I'm Dag Falk for South Pender.

[0:54:33] Voice 32: And I think we compete with Saturno for the best view of your islands.

[0:54:40] Voice 32: So anyway, happy to be here talking with you.

[0:54:47] Voice 10: Mikayla Laroni, I'm from Liskiti Island.

[0:54:49] Voice 10: And we have whiskey golf that your Navy does drills, practices in.

[0:54:54] Voice 10: Try not to run into them.

[0:54:56] Voice 10: But, yeah, we don't have quite the same view, but we can see Mount Baker on a nice day.

[0:55:05] Trustee Luckham: Peter Luckham, elected on Thetis Island in Laiacson and Penelope Territory.

[0:55:12] Trustee Luckham: My only remark is we're sitting here in Victoria these last few days in Victoria Harbour,

[0:55:17] Trustee Luckham: and I've watched the motor vessel Coho come and go twice a day from this port,

[0:55:25] Trustee Luckham: admittedly to Port Angeles on the other side.

[0:55:28] Trustee Luckham: but it's a demonstration of how close physically we actually are. Thank you.

[0:55:38] Voice 14: Christina Evans, elected on Sudeo South Pender, and I'm at the very, very end of South Pender,

[0:55:44] Voice 14: so I have a wonderful view of your islands. I think I win.

[0:55:51] Trustee Stamford: Hi, Kate Louise Stanford. I represent Gambier Island in the house sound Alcatsum

[0:56:00] Trustee Stamford: on the sea disguise, so we have no view of you whatsoever.

[0:56:07] Voice 7: hi uh tim peterson from uh uh lasquite island um territory of uh koshias peoples and treaty

[0:56:15] Voice 7: territory of the delaman nation uh

[0:56:18] Voice 26: david maude i'm from main island i'm unfortunately on the

[0:56:21] Voice 26: other side of the island from trustee dodd so i have a brilliant view of galliano island but

[0:56:26] Voice 26: that's not you so i guess you don't care thank you oh

[0:56:29] Voice 22: yes go ahead trustee

[0:56:33] Voice 20: good morning trustee elliott from gabriola island in the name of first nation territory

[0:56:42] Voice 20: um i guess my connection with the san juans would be going through friday harbor

[0:56:45] Voice 20: on my way to the port townsend uh classic boat festival been a few times and it's um it's always

[0:56:52] Voice 20: a wonderful joy to see other classic boat enthusiasts hi

[0:56:58] Voice 16: it's sue ellen fast here from

[0:57:00] Voice 16: from Nuklelequem Bowen Island over in the mouth of Howe Sound beside Gambier Island and Keats.

[0:57:08] Voice 16: And that's closer to the Vancouver side of the mainland.

[0:57:11] Voice 16: And we can hardly see you either.

[0:57:13] Voice 16: And my connection is more going down to Port Angeles for the Fiddle Toos Music Festival.

[0:57:20] Voice 16: Thank you.

[0:57:23] Voice 21: Good morning.

[0:57:23] Voice 21: My name is Lisa Goverill.

[0:57:25] Voice 21: I'm Galliano Island, a core territory of the Penelope tribe.

[0:57:29] Voice 21: tribe. I really look forward to when San Juan

[0:57:33] Voice 21: County is at these meetings. I think it's really important for Trust Council to

[0:57:36] Voice 21: look up and out and around and make these connections, and I

[0:57:40] Voice 21: look forward to our meeting today. Thanks. Bye.

[0:57:48] Voice 30: Good morning, Councillors. How nice to see you this morning, and to see you again,

[0:57:52] Voice 30: Councillor Fuller. I am Susan Yates for the Gabriola Local

[0:57:57] Voice 30: Trust Area in Snenemoch First Nation Territory, and just

[0:58:01] Voice 30: reflecting on what chair patrick mentioned about how the waters flow so freely between our islands

[0:58:08] Voice 30: in the salish sea the salmon and the orcas but also things like oil spills which i know we're

[0:58:16] Voice 30: all concerned about thank you hi

[0:58:21] Voice 6: good morning my name is joe bernardo i'm elected from the same

[0:58:25] Voice 6: area that trustee sanford is elected except i come from a different island keats island

[0:58:30] Voice 6: also known as Lictine in the language of the Squamish people.

[0:58:34] Voice 6: And I have to quarrel with my colleague, Tristie Stamford,

[0:58:39] Voice 6: because on Keats Island, if you climb to the top of the mountain,

[0:58:41] Voice 6: you can see the San Juans.

[0:58:44] Voice 6: There's a metaphor in there, but I can't quite work it out.

[0:58:53] Voice 27: Good

[0:58:56] Voice 8: morning and welcome.

[0:58:57] Voice 8: I'm Ken Hunter from Cetus Island.

[0:59:02] Voice 11: I'm Judy Keddie.

[0:59:03] Voice 11: I'm also from Bowdoin Island, and I can see Mount Baker on a really good day, but none of the Gulf Islands.

[0:59:14] Voice 23: And yes, I'm Sam Borthwick, elected on Denman Island.

[0:59:18] Voice 23: I'm as far away from the San Juans as one can get within the local trust area,

[0:59:25] Voice 23: area and as far away as I as my I'm as far as far away from you as I am from the the council

[0:59:33] Voice 23: the trustees on the other end of this little round table but I'm really glad to would recognize the

[0:59:39] Voice 23: the shared nature of our of our islands and yes I mean I appreciated what

[0:59:46] Voice 23: Council Member Paulson said in terms of the abstract nature of the border that is a colonial

[0:59:54] Voice 23: uh, construct. And, uh, certainly the, as the whales and the, and the fish don't wreck.

[1:00:00] Voice 23: recognize it, nor did the people who lived on these islands since time immemorial. And it is

[1:00:07] Voice 23: a shame that we are bound by it in the way we are.

[1:00:10] Trustee Patrick: Thank you. Joining us online today, I see

[1:00:14] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Scott.

[1:00:19] Voice 31: Yes, thank you. I'm from Hornby Island. And on a very, very clear day, we have

[1:00:24] Voice 31: a very northern tip of Mount Baker, but sadly can't see you folks down on San Juan's. But it

[1:00:33] Voice 31: It is really great that you come because, as you pointed out earlier, what goes on at the federal level in both countries, that doesn't affect our closeness with you folks.

[1:00:46] Voice 31: So thanks a lot for coming.

[1:00:49] Trustee Patrick: Let's see.

[1:00:50] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Harris.

[1:00:52] Voice 4: Thank you.

[1:00:54] Voice 4: Hi, I'm Jamie Harris.

[1:00:55] Voice 4: I'm elected on Salt Spring Island, which is by far one of the most pop or by far the most populated southern Gulf Island in Canada.

[1:01:06] Voice 4: and yeah welcome and i really want to congratulate you guys on the amazing strides your country is

[1:01:11] Voice 4: taking to make america great again thanks for being here um

[1:01:17] Trustee Patrick: trustee campbell hi there i'm

[1:01:21] Voice 28: aaron campbell uh north pender island and i guess by the sounds of it one of only a few people that

[1:01:27] Voice 28: likes to gamble on the border uh because i was down a couple of times uh this summer cruising

[1:01:33] Voice 28: cruising around and very much enjoyed my time down there.

[1:01:38] Voice 28: So thank you very much for spending time with us.

[1:01:42] Trustee Patrick: All right. There you go. Oh, trustee Graham. I'm sorry, trustee Graham.

[1:01:47] Voice 1: No, that's okay, chair. David Graham,

[1:01:50] Voice 1: locally elected on Denman.

[1:01:52] Voice 1: I am particularly happy about our unique relationship between the two levels of

[1:01:58] Voice 1: government.

[1:01:59] Voice 1: It's a shame that we can't expand that relationship further across our great

[1:02:04] Voice 1: great nations, I think we could heal a lot of the ills that we have, that we suffer. But welcome,

[1:02:11] Voice 1: and thank you.

[1:02:13] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Allen, I am so sorry.

[1:02:17] Voice 34: Go ahead, Trustee Allen. It's all right, I'm used to

[1:02:19] Voice 34: it. I'm so used to it. Yeah, welcome. And as Grant said, we can see Mount Baker. But my connection

[1:02:29] Voice 34: with your islands is as a child and a teenager, we used to sail to Friday Harbor, particularly

[1:02:35] Voice 34: particularly on my mother's birthday, which was July 4th,

[1:02:37] Voice 34: and we always had a great time.

[1:02:38] Voice 34: So thank you and welcome.

[1:02:41] Trustee Patrick: All right.

[1:02:42] Trustee Patrick: Now I believe I've covered everyone that is here.

[1:02:45] Trustee Patrick: We are a very large geographic area, but we all share the same islands.

[1:02:52] Trustee Patrick: So I want to get on to our conversations that we have today

[1:02:55] Trustee Patrick: and keep us focused.

[1:02:57] Trustee Patrick: The first item we were going to talk about was ferries,

[1:03:00] Trustee Patrick: and I think we'll start with the currently not running

[1:03:05] Trustee Patrick: Anna Cordes to Sydney Ferry and hear from you. Go ahead. Who's going to lead that one, Chair McVey?

[1:03:16] Voice 24: I'm happy

[1:03:17] Voice 24: to. I think I would just argue that both Councilmember Paulson and Fuller, right now

[1:03:24] Voice 24: Councilmember Paulson is our rep on the Ferry Advisory Committee, so he might be the one to

[1:03:30] Voice 24: take the lead. Councilmember Fuller was chair last year, so I have lots of thoughts, but I'll leave

[1:03:37] Voice 24: it to the people who are in the in the on the ground working on this for now to start us off

[1:03:42] Voice 24: councilmember paulson

[1:03:44] Voice 25: absolutely happy to kick this off and interested in definitely hearing um

[1:03:50] Voice 25: the north of the border uh impressions of some of this um i think it it is known to everybody

[1:03:56] Voice 25: that washington state ferries is um currently in a very difficult position both from a staffing

[1:04:04] Voice 25: perspective and from a boat availability perspective we are currently running at

[1:04:10] Voice 25: what would be called the bare bones operation to meet domestic service

[1:04:15] Voice 25: within the Salish Sea area which spans from as far south as Tacoma all the way

[1:04:24] Voice 25: up to Sydney in a theoretical perspective and that has been one of the

[1:04:31] Voice 25: So that has been the issue, really has been both. We are still not at full domestic service across our region. And Washington State Ferries has affirmatively stated that until they can get at full domestic service, they do not have the ability to meet their international needs.

[1:04:52] Voice 25: um that said there has been a strong effort amongst ferry advisory committees and amongst

[1:04:59] Voice 25: county governments to push our state legislator legislators um to prioritize the the sydney run

[1:05:10] Voice 25: it is a it is a major economic um piece for skagit county our neighbors to the east um

[1:05:18] Voice 25: and for San Juan County in moving traffic

[1:05:22] Voice 25: between Anacortes and Sydney.

[1:05:26] Voice 25: And that often gets lost in the discussions

[1:05:29] Voice 25: that the net benefit of that run,

[1:05:34] Voice 25: while we focus on sort of the microeconomics

[1:05:37] Voice 25: of staffing and boats,

[1:05:39] Voice 25: the overall economic benefit to all of the communities

[1:05:43] Voice 25: that are touched by that route

[1:05:44] Voice 25: out in terms of tourism revenue, tax revenue. It often gets lost in our administrative discussions

[1:05:53] Voice 25: with Washington State Ferries. There have been many discussions happening with private providers

[1:06:00] Voice 25: about how to possibly, even in a makeshift way, get passenger service established between our

[1:06:11] Voice 25: communities if we can't get Washington state ferries to establish the full vehicle transport.

[1:06:19] Voice 25: There are, of course, political implications to that at the federal level which make it difficult

[1:06:25] Voice 25: to work with. One thing that I witnessed on our event in September was that the

[1:06:33] Voice 25: officials on the Canadian side were all together welcoming and bent over backwards to

[1:06:38] Voice 25: create avenues for us coming from the united states to enter the difficulty was coming

[1:06:46] Voice 25: back our direction many phone calls went unreturned and many emails went unnoticed

[1:06:54] Voice 25: as folks were worried about how to come back into the united states so

[1:06:58] Voice 25: um i i sit here speaking to you recognizing that um there is definitely some difficulties on our

[1:07:06] Voice 25: and not just from Washington State Ferries, but from the border perspective as well.

[1:07:13] Voice 25: Right now, Washington State Ferries has projected 2030 for the return of the boat to Sydney.

[1:07:18] Voice 25: And as I sit here looking at you, I feel as though I am a liar in conveying that date

[1:07:26] Voice 25: because I just don't see how it can happen.

[1:07:28] Voice 25: So I'm not trying to paint a dismal picture,

[1:07:32] Voice 25: but I believe reality is a great place to have conversations from.

[1:07:39] Voice 25: and i will let i'll let chair mcveigh um or sorry uh council person fuller jump in because she also

[1:07:46] Voice 25: has a depth of knowledge on this thanks

[1:07:49] Voice 29: thank you very much council member polson um and i was

[1:07:52] Voice 29: delighted that council member polson was willing to uh enable me to step off as council liaison

[1:07:58] Voice 29: to the ferry advisory committee because after two years of being on it and battling mightily with

[1:08:04] Voice 29: the state during our intense ferry crisis, I was exhausted. It taught me in real time

[1:08:13] Voice 29: how hard we as a small rural county with the only marine highway in the state have to

[1:08:20] Voice 29: wrangle with our state agency counterparts to try and get attention. So we did, we were successful.

[1:08:28] Voice 29: I think we have a voice that we didn't have before 2023, which is important during the

[1:08:38] Voice 29: times that Councilmember Paulson has just outlined, which are very, very bleak financial

[1:08:42] Voice 29: times for our state.

[1:08:45] Voice 29: And everything that Councilmember Paulson just said, I 100% agree.

[1:08:51] Voice 29: We won't be seeing a Washington State ferry supported Victoria, sorry, Sydney Anacortes ferry, I expect even into the 2030s.

[1:09:05] Voice 29: So right now, the system likes to say it's full domestic service.

[1:09:12] Voice 29: For us, domestic service would include a part of the run of that Anacortes to Sydney route.

[1:09:18] Voice 29: out, so we're not fully restored by any means. And there are contracts out to a company in Florida

[1:09:25] Voice 29: to build three new boats. Those boats aren't going to cost less than $300 million a piece.

[1:09:31] Voice 29: That contract was just signed off earlier this year. And the state is extremely hamstrung

[1:09:37] Voice 29: financially across the board, not just for transportation. Something that was a common

[1:09:44] Voice 29: issue for us last year was the fact that your ferry advisory committees were being disbanded.

[1:09:49] Voice 29: What's happened since then is our ferry advisory committees are now being looked at

[1:09:55] Voice 29: because Washington State Ferries, we understand, does not see a lot of value in them.

[1:10:00] Voice 29: And so we're going to have to be struggling mightily at a local level to ensure our ferry

[1:10:05] Voice 29: advisory committees remain. There are a lot of challenges around that, but what the legislature

[1:10:12] Voice 29: legislature was going to do was actually freeze them for two years while they studied them we

[1:10:17] Voice 29: were able to push back and um convince our legislators that they should not freeze the

[1:10:22] Voice 29: actions of the fairy Advisory Committee at this time but let them continue to operate until uh

[1:10:28] Voice 29: their study of them is completed and um San Juan County's voice was loudest in that in that chorus

[1:10:34] Voice 29: us because our FAC is a model for the entire system and um that has a lot to do with the fact

[1:10:42] Voice 29: that an elected official now council member Paulson sits on the ferry advisory committee

[1:10:46] Voice 29: as a council liaison to the body which is actually written into our local code so um uh moving on

[1:10:54] Voice 29: from that something that I've just initiated that my seat mates are aware of but not in real time

[1:11:00] Voice 29: time because it's uh it's really just getting going is that we will be um i reached out to all

[1:11:06] Voice 29: our county ferry uh elected colleagues and to find out if they would like to have a county ferry

[1:11:11] Voice 29: caucus in washington state um and uh out of 39 counties uh 12 of them have ferries either

[1:11:19] Voice 29: washington state ferries or local ferries or private ferries um 12 out of 39 is not a small

[1:11:26] Voice 29: small number. I realized there was no caucus within which we could all do advocacy work

[1:11:32] Voice 29: to the legislative level, be it at the state and or federally. So we're going to just start

[1:11:36] Voice 29: up a county ferry caucus that will have one elected representative from each of the ferry

[1:11:43] Voice 29: served counties to sit together, to work together, to exchange information, to think strategically

[1:11:51] Voice 29: about our current and future challenges and find out how to advocate to what is a state

[1:11:57] Voice 29: legislative caucus on ferries.

[1:11:59] Voice 29: And now, as of June, there is now a congressional legislative caucus on ferries at the federal

[1:12:05] Voice 29: level.

[1:12:07] Voice 29: So we're going to be leaning into that and happy to share some lessons with you in the

[1:12:12] Voice 29: course of the coming year as that develops.

[1:12:14] Voice 29: It's something I know that all of you were deeply upset last year in December when you

[1:12:19] Voice 29: You got news that BC Ferries would no longer have your own local ferry advisory committees.

[1:12:26] Voice 29: And so perhaps what we're going to be attempting to do could be something of a model for you to come together and do some of your own advocacy.

[1:12:33] Voice 29: As my seatmates are both well aware, and Justin Paulson spoke to, there's deep interest, deep, deep interest in revitalizing this ferry between Anacortes and Sydney.

[1:12:46] Voice 29: I think Council Member McVeigh got a really good lens on that in the recent meeting you all had in October, and she could hear that loud and clear.

[1:12:55] Voice 29: She shared that with us when she came back.

[1:12:57] Voice 29: I think that whatever's going to happen there has to be done with local initiative on our side here in the county, perhaps in partnership with the City of Anacortes,

[1:13:08] Voice 29: because i know that the individual is just elected to mayor who was previously a council member on

[1:13:13] Voice 29: the anacortes city council council is extremely passionate about this as council member paulson

[1:13:18] Voice 29: said the economic implications for anacortes are huge as they are for friday harbor and your end

[1:13:25] Voice 29: as well so but i do feel that on our side of the border we cannot look to the state for any

[1:13:31] Voice 29: support in this um there will be none forthcoming period um and uh so i think we need to lean into

[1:13:38] Voice 29: what local opportunities there could be and as councilman paulson said there's a lot of businesses

[1:13:43] Voice 29: that have a strong interest in this there is a private sector presence here in the county um

[1:13:49] Voice 29: and uh we can speak to the challenges we as a county government would have in in backing any

[1:13:54] Voice 29: of that because those are real for us but um i think it's well worth seeing how we could explore

[1:14:00] Voice 29: something that is not state or provincially managed necessarily but maybe provincially on

[1:14:05] Voice 29: your side but I think we need to move on this we've got a lot of interest on this side of the

[1:14:10] Voice 29: border so and then I guess I'll finish off by saying when I sat with you all last year in

[1:14:17] Voice 29: December it was very clear to me that your islands have done some incredibly innovative localized

[1:14:22] Voice 29: things to facilitate transportation between your islands and the mainland that there is a lot we

[1:14:29] Voice 29: we could learn from as San Juan County,

[1:14:32] Voice 29: because we too are recognizing,

[1:14:34] Voice 29: having done a very brief pilot passenger-only ferry study

[1:14:38] Voice 29: this past year,

[1:14:39] Voice 29: that we can share some information on for you

[1:14:42] Voice 29: based on emergency money we got from the governor's office.

[1:14:46] Voice 29: This county needs to be contemplating in the future

[1:14:50] Voice 29: passenger-only ferry,

[1:14:51] Voice 29: but my seat mates and I have been talking often

[1:14:54] Voice 29: about how challenging that is for us as a local government

[1:14:58] Voice 29: and how absolutely limited our bandwidth is to do anything about that but perhaps to be supportive

[1:15:04] Voice 29: of some other marine transportation options you all have steeped yourselves and experience in

[1:15:13] Voice 29: this for a very long time and i was excited for the possibility for us to talk fairies in in a

[1:15:19] Voice 29: broader range as well thank you thank you

[1:15:23] Voice 24: council member uh fuller and paulson i would uh like to

[1:15:28] Voice 24: add that i i think that although uh washington state is uh in a situation where they have limited

[1:15:36] Voice 24: funding to put to anything right now um as does our county we're in a budget crisis at the state

[1:15:43] Voice 24: level and certainly a budget crisis um at the county level and just listening to the little bits

[1:15:49] Voice 24: you guys were sharing sounds like you might be in a budget crisis as well so um it's unfortunate

[1:15:55] Voice 24: fortunate, some of the things that bind us together. Having said that, I do believe that

[1:16:00] Voice 24: there's an opportunity at the provincial level and the state level for our governor and I'm

[1:16:10] Voice 24: don't know if you're a premier, thank you, to have some conversations about the economics

[1:16:16] Voice 24: of this. It seems to me that as long as it stays really localized for what the

[1:16:25] Voice 24: San Juan County needs and Skagit County needs, that the amount of

[1:16:31] Voice 24: economic drain. The governor's budget said that canceling the Sydney Fair is

[1:16:38] Voice 24: say three million dollars and I would argue the amount of economic loss is

[1:16:44] Voice 24: is greatly, greatly more than $3 million,

[1:16:49] Voice 24: probably three to five times, maybe more, I don't know.

[1:16:52] Voice 24: I do know that at our cross-border forum,

[1:16:56] Voice 24: the mayor of Sydney talked about the devastating loss

[1:17:00] Voice 24: of that ferry financially on them.

[1:17:04] Voice 24: I know it occurs in Friday Harbor,

[1:17:07] Voice 24: and I know Anacortes suffered.

[1:17:09] Voice 24: And I think if there's,

[1:17:12] Voice 24: I would say that I agree with Councilmember Fuller that we need to look at all the local things that we can come up together, but I'm not willing to say that we should abandon the state and provincial levels, trying to find ways that if we get both the premier and the governor talking, it is in their best interest, especially in this horrific federal times the United States is suffering under.

[1:17:39] Voice 24: I'm not letting my politics show at all, as you can see, that given the state of my country

[1:17:48] Voice 24: and how they recognize other countries, that if our state and your province can find some

[1:17:57] Voice 24: place to create this economic boom for both areas, I wouldn't want to stop advocating

[1:18:06] Voice 24: for that.

[1:18:07] Voice 24: So I think it's, for me, it's going to be a dual level of where we should be throwing some effort.

[1:18:13] Voice 24: All

[1:18:16] Trustee Patrick: right. Well, thank you. And it sounds like all of our issues are very contagious and caught across the borders.

[1:18:21] Trustee Patrick: Our provincial budgets are quite strained and stressed as well as our local.

[1:18:30] Trustee Patrick: And I'm sorry to hear the Ferry Advisory Committee issue is also contagious.

[1:18:33] Trustee Patrick: But I'm going to turn to our Bowen Island members, whose mayor had led a very interesting initiative, sounds close to the caucus that you're working towards.

[1:18:45] Trustee Patrick: So I'm going to turn to them to talk about what they did to bring the communities together.

[1:18:50] Voice 16: Yeah, thank you very much. And I've been taking notes here.

[1:18:53] Voice 16: I think there's a lot of similarities between Mayor Andrew Leonard of Bowen Island called a meeting on the sort of edge of our annual Union of BC Municipalities gathering this year called just who from very dependent communities wants to come and get together to think about

[1:19:23] Voice 16: about how we can move forward in the absence of our fairy advisory committees and the other

[1:19:28] Voice 16: changes that were happening and he had a really good turnout and uh so i'm interested in your

[1:19:34] Voice 16: fairy caucus idea and uh maybe we can um share some things that are working or some possibilities

[1:19:41] Voice 16: of uh working together and i'll be communicating this uh uh back to um bowen island council and uh

[1:19:50] Voice 16: our mayor. And I have, I didn't go to that. Did you go to that? Trustee Getty? Trustee Getty?

[1:19:59] Voice 11: There was the first meeting of a coalition of very dependent communities all up and down the

[1:20:04] Voice 11: coast. And it was at a provincial UBCM, Union of BC Municipalities meeting. So Bowen's a little

[1:20:12] Voice 11: bit weird in terms of we're a municipality, the only one in the Islands Trust. So that's why we

[1:20:17] Voice 11: We end up with a mayor.

[1:20:18] Voice 11: But we've got major problems on Bowen with respect to the ferry service.

[1:20:24] Voice 11: And so we decided that we would expand the pressure group and invite all of the coastal communities together all up as far north as we could get.

[1:20:34] Voice 11: And we did have a very good turnout.

[1:20:36] Voice 11: We sent one letter off.

[1:20:38] Voice 11: That was the first step to take.

[1:20:42] Voice 11: and we're continuing to dialogue and communicate with the other groups

[1:20:47] Voice 11: in terms of different things that we can do.

[1:20:49] Voice 11: We got a letter back from the Ferry Corporation

[1:20:51] Voice 11: saying there wasn't anything that they could do,

[1:20:54] Voice 11: but they are paying attention,

[1:20:56] Voice 11: and we've ended up with a meeting with the Premier

[1:20:59] Voice 11: and various other people that are scrambling around

[1:21:03] Voice 11: trying to figure out how they can placate some of the problems.

[1:21:08] Voice 11: are some of the problems and um it's a very strange fairy system here in terms of the division

[1:21:14] Voice 11: of power so we're working through who has responsibility for what and they keep pointing

[1:21:19] Voice 11: their fingers at everybody else but um we're pinning them down on a few things and it's uh

[1:21:24] Voice 11: it's a very interesting process but it is all important for all of the groups to come together

[1:21:30] Voice 11: And that's made some impact. So I think the coalition is a good idea.

[1:21:39] Trustee Patrick: Yeah.

[1:21:41] Voice 30: Trustee Yates.

[1:21:44] Voice 30: Thank you. And thank you to the two Bowen trustees for comments on that.

[1:21:49] Voice 30: And I am eternally grateful to Mayor Andrew Leonard from Bowen Island for calling that first caucus because we had people there all the way from Prince Rupert to the Sunshine Coast to Northern Vancouver Island, all of the islands trust area.

[1:22:03] Voice 30: I think there were 49 people attending, all elected representatives.

[1:22:09] Voice 30: And we've had some somewhat encouraging correspondence between BC Ferries and some of the caucus members.

[1:22:21] Voice 30: But what they're not realizing is that how incredibly important the coastal communities ferries are as lifelines to other communities.

[1:22:33] Voice 30: There are Marine Highway, as everyone knows. And so there is so much money going into the tourism aspect for the big ferries. So the big ferries that go back and forth between Nanaimo, Victoria, Vancouver, you know, the advertising for huge tourism packages and really expensive holidays and all of that comes my way every day.

[1:22:58] Voice 30: meanwhile I just we all just want a reliable ferry service and so I think the caucus of that

[1:23:06] Voice 30: Mayor Andrew Leonard called and I believe he's going to be trying to get us together once or

[1:23:11] Voice 30: twice a year I think that is where our influence lies in you know working together as small

[1:23:20] Voice 30: small communities that have a totally different need for ferries other than tourism, and I'm

[1:23:28] Voice 30: feeling hopeful about that, and I'll remain hopeful as long as we can work together.

[1:23:35] Voice 30: Trustee Getty?

[1:23:37] Voice 11: I'm also very interested in your passenger-only ferry comments, and

[1:23:42] Voice 11: whether or not that's your ferry corporation that is thinking of those

[1:23:46] Voice 11: possible answers because what we've got going on here is a new ferry service

[1:23:51] Voice 11: between Nanaimo and Vancouver the Hullo ferry which is passenger only it's

[1:23:55] Voice 11: doing very well that's a private company and another one called Green Line that

[1:23:59] Voice 11: is trying to set up connections between the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver

[1:24:03] Voice 11: including the Bowen but those are private companies that are trying to

[1:24:08] Voice 11: raise all the capital themselves I've got some really good ideas about some

[1:24:13] Voice 11: some boats from, I think it's Norway.

[1:24:16] Voice 11: But I'd be interested if it's your ferry corporation

[1:24:20] Voice 11: that is thinking of providing a service like that.

[1:24:24] Voice 11: Because our ferry corporation is saying,

[1:24:26] Voice 11: no, they can't possibly get out of the vehicle ferries.

[1:24:33] Trustee Patrick: I think you did mention our Councillor Polson.

[1:24:37] Trustee Patrick: I think you talked about the passenger ferry studies

[1:24:41] Trustee Patrick: or things looked at.

[1:24:42] Trustee Patrick: So,

[1:24:44] Voice 25: yeah, so Washington State Ferries has done more studies than I care to admit on passenger-only ferry transport, and I would not defer to them as the solution.

[1:24:57] Voice 25: They have produced a couple good examinations of it, but there is very little interest on their end in getting involved in that.

[1:25:07] Voice 25: So the discussions that I've had have been with the folks, with some more private folks who are also looking to make private-public partnerships.

[1:25:18] Voice 25: The folks who previously ran the Victoria Clipper from Seattle up to Vancouver Island have expressed interest.

[1:25:30] Voice 25: There's been a lot of discussion about the possibility of them being able to reallocate a boat to Anacortes for that purpose and so run two levels of service.

[1:25:43] Voice 25: They've actually done some outreach with tribal partners to see if there might be some interest in some of the tribal ports getting involved in that activity as a means of economic productivity.

[1:26:01] Voice 25: So I would say we're still early on, but it is definitely not from our state-run organization that we're going to see any real traction on the passenger-only side.

[1:26:11] Voice 25: With that said, we have an initiative at the state level, which is being championed by a representative from Kitsap County, so far south of us, which at the state level is being called the Mosquito Fleet Act.

[1:26:25] Voice 25: act, and it is sort of harkening back to the old times when we all handled our individual

[1:26:32] Voice 25: transportation ourselves, and we had a whole fleet of boats running the marine highway

[1:26:39] Voice 25: back and forth on shorter runs. I believe that that act could be the impetus for some more

[1:26:47] Voice 25: localized solutions, and if that act passes at the state level, it is going to offer some

[1:26:54] Voice 25: more tools to our local jurisdictions for making work happen. And I think if that passes and we

[1:27:05] Voice 25: can see some more localized initiatives, that may be an opportunity for us to have some government

[1:27:10] Voice 25: interface across the border to see if maybe we can extend that work across the border.

[1:27:19] Trustee Patrick: Trustees, the fairies is always a fun conversation. Is there anyone that has

[1:27:25] Trustee Patrick: something they wish to share from a

[1:27:27] Voice 27: go

[1:27:30] Trustee Patrick: ahead trustee Elliot so

[1:27:33] Voice 20: just an idea how

[1:27:34] Voice 20: can we support one another in developing either caucus or strengthening

[1:27:39] Voice 20: communications to our respective you know provincial and state legislatures

[1:27:45] Voice 20: do we want to create a working group perhaps of some trustees here who could

[1:27:51] Voice 20: share information with with you councillor Paulson and just keep the

[1:27:56] Voice 20: communication going yeah

[1:28:00] Voice 25: i so i will confess this has not um and i guess that's why this meeting is

[1:28:06] Voice 25: so valuable um we have sort of had our our heads down really working on our our hyper local concerns

[1:28:15] Voice 25: in keeping ferries running um i am absolutely interested in if there is uh an organized group

[1:28:23] Voice 25: uh within the gulf islands that that is interested in taking this up um i think san juan county

[1:28:30] Voice 25: council would absolutely support an involvement in that kind of discussion i'm going to defer to

[1:28:33] Voice 25: council person fuller because her hands up

[1:28:35] Voice 29: thanks council member paulson um and thanks for yeah

[1:28:43] Voice 29: your your um yeah what you just shared in terms of our our um possibilities of any local effort

[1:28:51] Voice 29: in this given the state's reticence but I also wanted to echo what what chair

[1:28:57] Voice 29: McVeigh said about not losing sight of the importance of our state and

[1:29:01] Voice 29: provincial level advocacy I think I think councilmember McVey's point there

[1:29:06] Voice 29: was was very well taken and I think we have to work both levels for sure the

[1:29:11] Voice 29: County Ferry caucus was I mean I'm not I'm not going to toot my own horn here

[1:29:15] Voice 29: but it actually was my idea because I feel like San Juan County's been working

[1:29:18] Voice 29: in the wilderness for um the entire time uh i i've been on council but we finally sort of screamed

[1:29:26] Voice 29: loud enough of our crisis that we've been heard and i realized in the two years that i was sitting

[1:29:31] Voice 29: on the ferry advisory committee how uniquely different each county's ferry situation is

[1:29:38] Voice 29: and um there is a an organization called the puget sound regional council down sound in the

[1:29:44] Voice 29: the southern part of Puget Sound, to which we do not belong, to which our sister counties,

[1:29:50] Voice 29: Whatcom, Skagit, Island, do not belong.

[1:29:55] Voice 29: And so I realized there was a need to bring counties.

[1:30:00] Voice 29: have ferries together that um yes doesn't involve municipalities because that complicates things

[1:30:05] Voice 29: considerably and the puget sound regional council when it pulls together its forum on fix our ferries

[1:30:12] Voice 29: or save our ferries rather it involves electeds from from uh from municipalities and cities and

[1:30:19] Voice 29: and counties and it's a very it's a complex collection of of representatives i was um

[1:30:25] Voice 29: elected representatives rather in the idea of a county fairy caucus I was hoping that it could be

[1:30:31] Voice 29: slightly more streamlined have one elected from each county sitting on it and engaging with their

[1:30:40] Voice 29: board of commissioners or county council to engage in discussion about the priorities for each

[1:30:46] Voice 29: each county which are unique as I just mentioned we haven't yet had our first meeting but we hope

[1:30:52] Voice 29: hope to have one in the coming weeks. And so we haven't kicked off yet. I think, I mean,

[1:30:59] Voice 29: certainly our council can talk amongst ourselves about, you know, how best to lean into connecting

[1:31:04] Voice 29: with you all. As you may or may not know, we cannot meet as a council, as two council members,

[1:31:11] Voice 29: without having a public meeting. That's just, we're subject to the Open Public Meetings Act.

[1:31:16] Voice 29: So as soon as any of us meet in a quorum of two, we could be making decisions.

[1:31:21] Voice 29: And that's not legally allowed unless we have noticed the public meeting.

[1:31:25] Voice 29: That makes it exceedingly difficult for us to work collaboratively on things.

[1:31:30] Voice 29: But that is the situation we face.

[1:31:33] Voice 29: So between Council Member Paulson and myself, we've both been tracking.

[1:31:36] Voice 29: Actually, we worked together.

[1:31:37] Voice 29: This is why I was happy he was running for election and got elected.

[1:31:40] Voice 29: We worked together very closely for two years of a very difficult time over 2023 and 2024.

[1:31:47] Voice 29: And Council Member Paulson was very, very intimately involved in the creation of a water taxi service that was very informal.

[1:31:55] Voice 29: It was free.

[1:31:56] Voice 29: It was a local pilot from Crane Island just running a service when we had our emergency.

[1:32:01] Voice 29: But a lot of discussion and ideas came out of that.

[1:32:06] Voice 29: and so I know Council Member Paulson continues to follow these discussions closely

[1:32:11] Voice 29: and I would say that a big challenge we have

[1:32:17] Voice 29: that the four states that the government has funded

[1:32:21] Voice 29: the four studies that the state government has funded over the last four years

[1:32:24] Voice 29: literally and we'd be happy to share those with you

[1:32:27] Voice 29: they all pointed out the challenge that San Juan County has

[1:32:31] Voice 29: and that is we do not have

[1:32:34] Voice 29: we are not a regional transportation planning organization. We don't have one in this county

[1:32:39] Voice 29: and we're the only one in the state that doesn't have a planning organization for transportation

[1:32:42] Voice 29: per se. We don't have a transportation benefit district. We as a county have historically relied

[1:32:49] Voice 29: upon marine transportation that is supported by the state. And so as a governance institution,

[1:32:57] Voice 29: Our local government does not do anything really other than county roads. So we are challenged as an organization. We're very challenged even to set up this pilot passenger only ferry service. It was it was set up on the sides of one of our department heads desks.

[1:33:14] Voice 29: And so, as an organization, we are challenged in terms of how we can lean into supporting the creation of passenger-only ferry. Be that as it may, that doesn't mean that as a council and as a county government, we don't want to continue to explore possibilities in this realm.

[1:33:35] Voice 29: So I think, as Council Member Paulson said, it would be well worth the idea of creating some kind of work group that could continue to have conversation in this space.

[1:33:47] Trustee Patrick: Right. I think that will be, when we come back and circle to the end on our regional collaboration, I think we should park that at the top of the list.

[1:33:54] Trustee Patrick: In our room, we're going to need to take a break because I think there's some people that may need to check out and so forth.

[1:34:00] Trustee Patrick: But I'd look to the trustees. Can we get away with 10 minutes? Can you go fast?

[1:34:04] Trustee Patrick: All right, I'm seeing thumbs up.

[1:34:05] Trustee Patrick: So we're going to take a 10-minute break, if we can,

[1:34:07] Trustee Patrick: and we'll resume our conversation briefly.

[1:34:11] Trustee Patrick: So we're going to take a 10-minute break.

[1:34:13] Voice 22: All right, trustees, if we can get back to our seats.

[1:45:40] Trustee Patrick: All right, I think we could probably carry on the fairy conversation for some time,

[1:45:47] Trustee Patrick: but if it's okay, I think we should probably move on to our next topic

[1:45:50] Trustee Patrick: or we'll keep on going.

[1:45:53] Trustee Patrick: Sorry, breaks are always hard.

[1:45:54] Trustee Patrick: You let someone leave for a break and you have to corral everybody back.

[1:45:58] Trustee Patrick: You probably have the same challenges.

[1:46:02] Trustee Patrick: So, next item is the environmental concerns, in particular, the response tow vessel. And I know that is a passionate topic of yours. So, over to the San Juan Council.

[1:46:15] Trustee Patrick: Karen

[1:46:20] Voice 29: McVeigh, are you okay if I speak to this topic? Or would you like to have some introductory comments?

[1:46:25] Voice 24: I was talking already, but I was muted. So, I'll let you start.

[1:46:31] Voice 29: Okay. All right. So full transparency, this council hasn't had a chat to really

[1:46:37] Voice 29: brief with one another or staff on the subject. But to the extent that my colleagues are familiar

[1:46:43] Voice 29: with it, I welcome their inputs too. I am aware of, as I mentioned during my opening remarks,

[1:46:52] Voice 29: that there's been longstanding shared interest in this subject, particularly as the

[1:46:59] Voice 29: the flow of traffic increases on the northern side of the border and the construction of

[1:47:04] Voice 29: Roberts Bay Terminal and pipeline development, et cetera, I know that both sides of our

[1:47:11] Voice 29: countries in this realm are deeply interested and committed to seeing what we can collaborate

[1:47:18] Voice 29: on constructively in the way of advocacy for this kind of vessel that could immediately

[1:47:24] Voice 29: respond to a potential massive oil spill or not so massive so I had a chance to

[1:47:32] Voice 29: speak with Lovell Pratt who is a member of Friends of the San Juans she's a

[1:47:38] Voice 29: policy advisor to that organization she also sits on our marine resources

[1:47:42] Voice 29: committee of the county and and former

[1:47:47] Voice 24: council member as well just wanted to

[1:47:50] Voice 24: She's a former San Juan County Commissioner, and I've had a lot of conversations with her about this as well.

[1:47:58] Voice 24: So go ahead.

[1:47:59] Voice 29: Yeah, so she and Sam Whitbridge, and I happen to be the liaison of the MRC.

[1:48:06] Voice 29: This is why I was sort of tasked with connecting with them to get an update from them on where the county stands on this issue.

[1:48:16] Voice 29: um and uh basically what myself and level and sam whitbridge who's our marine program coordinator in

[1:48:24] Voice 29: the department of environmental stewardship in the county concluded was that um given the amount

[1:48:30] Voice 29: of work that's being done um in this area in the past and a study that was done uh financed i

[1:48:37] Voice 29: believe by san juan county to look into the potential uh location for um another emergency

[1:48:44] Voice 29: response tow vessel because i understand one already exists of some sort on the on the bc side

[1:48:49] Voice 29: um uh it would be a a great time to revisit previous study that was done on this subject

[1:48:57] Voice 29: uh and to um test the waters of our respective jurisdictions um uh in terms of government

[1:49:06] Voice 29: government interest, provincially, state level, and or federally, in taking this issue on.

[1:49:14] Voice 29: Our outgoing governor, Inslee, wrote some correspondence, one piece of which I shared

[1:49:19] Voice 29: with you all, who he had met with the Consul General for Canada based in Seattle prior

[1:49:25] Voice 29: to his departing his post as governor, and sort of put on paper his strong interest in

[1:49:32] Voice 29: and continued work on getting a vessel in our region

[1:49:37] Voice 29: to be placed here.

[1:49:39] Voice 29: The new governor is part of our new context.

[1:49:42] Voice 29: Our new Governor Ferguson only started in January

[1:49:46] Voice 29: and is working in the process, I think,

[1:49:51] Voice 29: of determining what his state government's priorities are

[1:49:54] Voice 29: with his own lens.

[1:49:57] Voice 29: And this is not an issue that San Juan County

[1:50:00] Voice 29: is engaged with governor ferguson's office office on beyond what um conversations might have happened

[1:50:05] Voice 29: in the cross-border forum that council member mcveigh can hopefully speak to because i think

[1:50:09] Voice 29: this was an issue that might have come up in that forum um this county uh i can say from the staff

[1:50:16] Voice 29: side and from our our major local environmental partner friends of the san juan would be very

[1:50:22] Voice 29: interested in continuing to um do work together on advocacy around this and i if i recall correctly

[1:50:28] Voice 29: exactly, Chair Patrick, there was interest on your side as a trust council to lean into some

[1:50:35] Voice 29: future collaboration on this that is intentional and potentially outcome-oriented, right? So

[1:50:43] Voice 29: I'm setting the table, if you will. I know staff are interested in, you know, mind you,

[1:50:49] Voice 29: we don't have money, but we would do what we could in this regard. But staff could see a pathway

[1:50:55] Voice 29: way to picking this work up based on work that's already been done. And so I'll leave my table

[1:51:04] Voice 29: setting for that.

[1:51:07] Voice 24: I would just like to add that, and thank you, Council Member Fuller, I would just

[1:51:13] Voice 24: like to add that given we're having the World Cup coming in not too many months from now, that I

[1:51:19] Voice 24: I think timing is really critical, especially at the state and the provincial levels to

[1:51:27] Voice 24: talk about how this is all going to spill out and hopefully not in the water.

[1:51:33] Voice 24: And I

[1:51:34] Voice 24: think the timing at a level above us right now is critical and I think it's incredibly

[1:51:43] Voice 24: timely and I think there would be a willingness, I hope, for it to be picked up because of

[1:51:48] Voice 24: Thank

[1:51:50] Trustee Patrick: you. I'm realizing for this conversation, it would have been really handy to have a map up on our screens of these waters, because for everyone here, it's known as Turning Point, where all of these ships are turning, and if the turn is not met, it's right into the San Juans, and any spill of any type anywhere is all of our islands, too.

[1:52:19] Trustee Patrick: I think the time is important as well, because you've probably heard some of the news on this side that there's a lot of conversation about our tanker ban up on the north coast.

[1:52:30] Trustee Patrick: And people are talking about that.

[1:52:33] Trustee Patrick: But I think it's a good reminder that the tankers are here in this coast and that our concerns still remain in keeping this part of the coast safe.

[1:52:44] Trustee Patrick: safe. So, trustees, I don't know if there's anyone that wants to lean into how we could

[1:52:50] Trustee Patrick: help. I know last year we did pass a motion about reinvigorating our engagement on this

[1:52:57] Trustee Patrick: topic in particular. Anyone wants to have anything they want to add? Trustee Peterson?

[1:53:07] Voice 7: Yeah, just mentioned I attended the 2025 annual meeting of the Pacific State's British Columbia

[1:53:13] Voice 7: the oil spill task force uh november 5th i'm going to uh uh share the links uh with all the

[1:53:20] Voice 7: trustees on the um all the video files and slides that were presented there uh so if anyone's

[1:53:28] Voice 7: interested in looking that i'll send that out to all trustees and that could be a maybe a starting

[1:53:33] Voice 7: point for some information i

[1:53:39] Trustee Patrick: don't know i mean i go ahead trustee getty

[1:53:41] Voice 11: if i remember correctly

[1:53:42] Voice 11: the best place to the safest harbour for this boat was in Sydney and whether or

[1:53:51] Voice 11: not there is a suitable boat or more than one boat is that's is there any

[1:53:55] Voice 11: movement or any progress with respect to the cross-border resources developing a

[1:54:03] Voice 11: safe harbour space in

[1:54:05] Trustee Patrick: Sydney I think I can follow up I know chair McVeigh and

[1:54:09] Trustee Patrick: I at the forum this conversation came up that we were even standing with the

[1:54:13] Trustee Patrick: the Sydney mayor over looking over a map and the boats have been allocated.

[1:54:18] Trustee Patrick: They are in ports. It's, I don't have the, the,

[1:54:22] Trustee Patrick: the Harbor in front of me, but it's more toward Juan de Fuca straight that,

[1:54:28] Trustee Patrick: and Sydney mayor did express some issues regarding size of the vessel and

[1:54:33] Trustee Patrick: concerns with the Sydney Harbor, but I don't know if there's anything else,

[1:54:40] Trustee Patrick: chairman Bay or, or your, no.

[1:54:42] Trustee Patrick: No,

[1:54:43] Voice 24: that's exactly where I recall it being left off.

[1:54:48] Voice 24: So I

[1:54:49] Trustee Patrick: think, you know, is there value in those letters that were sent or are getting old?

[1:54:53] Trustee Patrick: Not that letter writing is always easy.

[1:54:57] Trustee Patrick: I look to our staff, we're probably looking the other way going, no, not another letter.

[1:55:01] Trustee Patrick: But what actions can we take to reinvigorate this conversation that the concerns are still

[1:55:09] Trustee Patrick: remaining. Well, the pipeline on our side is running, I hear it like 95% capacity. That was

[1:55:22] Voice 29: recent. Chair Patrick? Yes. Oh, sorry. I'm sorry.

[1:55:26] Voice 29: Were you going to take a comment from a trustee?

[1:55:29] Voice 29: Nope. So if you've got comments. So the study that I referenced was a study that looked at

[1:55:36] Voice 29: both Sydney and Roche Harbor as possible locations. And that was the study that staff on

[1:55:45] Voice 29: our side were wondering if they should not touch base with the consultant that conducted that

[1:55:54] Voice 29: study. It was a consultant out of Alaska to find out what it could possibly cost to update that

[1:55:59] Voice 29: study and re-look at viability of where an emergency response tow vessel could be located

[1:56:09] Voice 29: that would be closer to turn point rather than Juan de Fuca straight facing. So staff could look

[1:56:17] Voice 29: into that and find out what an update of that study could look like, what the scope of it could

[1:56:23] Voice 29: could be, what it might cost. That's one thing. The other issue that they expressed an interest

[1:56:32] Voice 29: in understanding more about is the extent to which the provisions that I believe the federal

[1:56:40] Voice 29: government set out in an agreement to open up the Trans Mountain Pipeline, there was an element 91

[1:56:49] Voice 29: or Code 91 or some part of that agreement that was very explicit

[1:56:54] Voice 29: in the commitments that the Government of Canada

[1:56:58] Voice 29: and or British Columbia government were going to be living up to

[1:57:04] Voice 29: and meeting to ensure safety for the waters

[1:57:07] Voice 29: and all life in the waters and around the waters.

[1:57:12] Voice 29: And so I don't know the details of what the expectations

[1:57:17] Voice 29: or requirements were that were laid out in paper but staff were saying it would be very valuable

[1:57:24] Voice 29: to get an update on what has been done on the Canadian side of the border in terms of

[1:57:29] Voice 29: precautionary measures that were sort of that were that the governments were being bound to

[1:57:34] Voice 29: on on the provincial and federal level so I don't know if any of your trustees have knowledge about

[1:57:39] Voice 29: that but that is that's something that could be interesting but for for there to be further

[1:57:46] Voice 29: The other thing that I think I want to just reference from our last meeting in December, beyond just an emergency response tow vessel, in terms of oil spill disaster preparedness, there was information that some of your trustees shared about efforts in that regard on your respective islands.

[1:58:06] Voice 29: And Council Member Paulson is our Council liaison to the Islands Oil Spill Association.

[1:58:13] Voice 29: Our staff person assigned to that is Brendan Cowan, who is the Director of Emergency Management.

[1:58:17] Voice 29: And so maybe Council Member Paulson wants to speak to the kinds of things IOSA is continuing to do as it develops strength as an organization and with volunteer support,

[1:58:29] Voice 29: but also as it could be interested in connecting with your islands on what else your islands are doing.

[1:58:35] Voice 29: Yeah,

[1:58:38] Voice 25: happy to provide a little bit of insight. So IOSA, Island Oil Spill Association, is a local nonprofit organization which provides San Juan County specific spill response.

[1:58:51] Voice 25: It is a very unique organization in that it is one of the only nonprofits doing work in this area that is focused on a small region.

[1:59:01] Voice 25: I was fortunate enough to participate in a large-scale spill response drill that was actually put on by BP, representing a spill at the Cherry Point facility here in Whatcom County, which consisted of about 250 responders from agencies and response entities across the region.

[1:59:28] Voice 25: um and it was it had targeted uh targeted uh tidal effects uh which actually pushed the oil

[1:59:38] Voice 25: spill into san juan county and iosa was identified as one of the the regional partners to be boots

[1:59:45] Voice 25: on the ground um knowledge and i think that's one of the big things that um gets lost in a lot of

[1:59:53] Voice 25: of the planning that happens here is that when these spills happen, the implications are to the

[1:59:59] Voice 25: environment.

[2:00:00] Voice 25: broadly, but they are very much to our small localities. And I think to the folks on this

[2:00:06] Voice 25: call, the trustees on this call, that is the part that gets lost in the larger bureaucratic

[2:00:12] Voice 25: discussion is that when an entity like BP rolls into a community for a spill response,

[2:00:18] Voice 25: they don't know what road to take to get to what location. They don't know what resources exist in

[2:00:24] Voice 25: in what space. There was a discussion in the spill response, which was, well, we're going to

[2:00:32] Voice 25: put everybody on San Juan Island, and then we'll just move them to the other islands as we need to.

[2:00:37] Voice 25: And the question was asked, well, how are you going to do that? And they said, well, we'll just

[2:00:42] Voice 25: take that, we'll put everybody on the ferry. And so I asked if in the spill response drill,

[2:00:48] Voice 25: could they put on the notes that maybe Washington State Ferries decided not to run that boat that

[2:00:52] Voice 25: that day. Um, and that very quickly illuminated that, that we all have local knowledge of our

[2:00:59] Voice 25: specific locations that is incredibly valuable in these spill responses. Um, so I can definitely

[2:01:04] Voice 25: see, um, interestingly, there was no, uh, Canadian representation in that spill response drill,

[2:01:11] Voice 25: uh, despite the fact that it happened a stone's throw from the, the waters, which we talk about.

[2:01:17] Voice 25: So I would definitely love to see, as those spill response drills are run, a greater incorporation of local knowledge in that and making sure that we are doing spill responses that involve assets from both sides of the border and from our various local localities so that they're not missing what will honestly be probably the most important part of the response.

[2:01:48] Voice 25: which is all of us responding on our local beaches in a cohesive way.

[2:01:54] Voice 25: So love this conversation.

[2:01:57] Voice 25: I think tow vessels is a big part of this conversation,

[2:01:59] Voice 25: but ultimately a more globalized spill response understanding would be very

[2:02:06] Voice 25: helpful.

[2:02:08] Trustee Patrick: Join your concerns greatly.

[2:02:10] Trustee Patrick: I know when we had some conversations on spill response,

[2:02:13] Trustee Patrick: they were really working about trying to keep the local out of it.

[2:02:16] Trustee Patrick: It was like, oh, we'll come in and take care of it.

[2:02:17] Trustee Patrick: And it's like, yeah, no, that's not how it's going to work. Some of the people around the table are the only elected officials in the area on their islands. They will be looked to. They have that knowledge. I agree.

[2:02:27] Trustee Patrick: I look to stop maybe a week. Yes, we could write letters, but I'm wondering if we should try to plan either some important guest speakers to come to an event that we could kind of one of our meetings or a joint meeting where we could have some of these important guest speakers or program leaders that we could query and talk to.

[2:02:49] Trustee Patrick: And I see a hand up for Trustee Elliott.

[2:02:50] Trustee Patrick: Thank

[2:02:53] Voice 20: you, Chair. I'm in no position to offer advice, but as Trustee Peterson alluded to, the Oceans Protection Plan is a nationally or federally funded plan, and I've just been reading through some of the research for 10 projects that were initiated in 2024, and it's called a multi-partner research initiative.

[2:03:19] Voice 20: But there's three specifically in British Columbia. And I'll just point to one. It's about $250,000 grant to the University of British Columbia to refine and apply a whole of ecosystem model to predict possible long-term ecosystem effects of oil spills and other ecological stressors in the Salish Sea.

[2:03:41] Voice 20: um there's another one uh 350 000 to lgm canada corporation to improve the efficiency of mechanical

[2:03:50] Voice 20: oil recovery by developing new oil spill boom techniques and there's another one to heltsick

[2:03:56] Voice 20: tribal council so um i think there's research being done to understand the effects and impacts

[2:04:05] Voice 20: and possible mitigation for oil spill recovery.

[2:04:09] Voice 20: But I'm not seeing where this is.

[2:04:13] Voice 20: It's not being reported out yet.

[2:04:14] Voice 20: So I think this is work that's underway from the federal government.

[2:04:21] Voice 20: But perhaps we could share those resources

[2:04:24] Voice 20: if you were talking about updating reports,

[2:04:26] Voice 20: if there's anything here that would be of interest.

[2:04:30] Voice 20: All right.

[2:04:30] Voice 20: Well,

[2:04:31] Trustee Patrick: let's maybe think about that at our regional collaboration piece again.

[2:04:36] Trustee Patrick: We can talk about what we could do for ferries, what we could do for this process, because

[2:04:39] Trustee Patrick: I think we should keep moving on here, unless there's other things you'd like to add on

[2:04:43] Trustee Patrick: this topic right now.

[2:04:44] Trustee Patrick: What could we do next as a body together?

[2:04:46] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Yates?

[2:04:47] Voice 30: Well, I was just thinking that Councillor Paulson mentioned that there was no Canadian

[2:04:52] Voice 30: and sort of part in the oil spill drill that they had,

[2:04:59] Voice 30: the spill response drill, it really would be good

[2:05:01] Voice 30: if we could get a representative on this side of the border

[2:05:05] Voice 30: to be included with that.

[2:05:08] Trustee Patrick: Absolutely.

[2:05:09] Trustee Patrick: As we know, the water doesn't stop flowing at the border,

[2:05:12] Trustee Patrick: so it is concerning to hear that they're not thinking internationally

[2:05:16] Trustee Patrick: on these regional exercises.

[2:05:19] Trustee Patrick: exercises. But let's come back to that if that's okay for the next steps. Let's kind of combine

[2:05:23] Trustee Patrick: all those into one conversation. I'm really, oh, trustee Falk, sorry.

[2:05:29] Voice 32: Yeah, thank you. I'm coming

[2:05:32] Voice 32: from a more activist point of view kind of thing. And I'm wondering, like, we have to put pressure

[2:05:39] Voice 32: on somehow to get more attention. And one way to do that is to point out the economic cost

[2:05:46] Voice 32: cost of an eventual spill? And who's going to be responsible for that? And who's going to be

[2:05:51] Voice 32: suing who over that cost? And, you know, that topic has to come up. And I think it would be

[2:05:59] Voice 32: powerful for us to say, this is our point of view at this point. And with our knowledge that we have

[2:06:04] Voice 32: that in a scenario, this is how we will act. And this is what we will have to do to protect our

[2:06:13] Voice 32: area. And these are the costs involved with that. These are the risks to the operators that may be

[2:06:20] Voice 32: causing these things, which is the federal government, I guess. Legally, I think we

[2:06:28] Voice 32: maybe have a case to say not enough is done to protect the risk. Risk conversion, not enough is

[2:06:37] Voice 32: done. And somebody is going to be responsible if an accident happens and not enough risk mitigation

[2:06:43] Voice 32: was done like i would think that you know

[2:06:47] Voice 32: i know we don't have money but we should engage a legal

[2:06:49] Voice 32: team to put together a letter at this point and and put and take it to the highest level

[2:06:57] Voice 32: because i mean who else is going to do that i don't see anybody doing that

[2:07:01] Voice 32: we'll hold

[2:07:02] Trustee Patrick: that thought and we'll look at what our next steps are uh together how we can draw

[2:07:06] Trustee Patrick: more attention to it i think we all know that the the impacts of a spill in the islands are just

[2:07:11] Trustee Patrick: They're just beyond imaginable and the impact.

[2:07:17] Trustee Patrick: Okay, I really would like to hear your thoughts

[2:07:20] Trustee Patrick: on the impact of the FIFA impact

[2:07:23] Trustee Patrick: because when you had put this on the list,

[2:07:26] Trustee Patrick: my first thought was,

[2:07:26] Trustee Patrick: I'm wondering how many Islanders around our table

[2:07:29] Trustee Patrick: have even thought about the potential impact of FIFA.

[2:07:32] Trustee Patrick: So I'd like to hear what you're thinking.

[2:07:34] Trustee Patrick: Over to you on that.

[2:07:39] Trustee Patrick: Well,

[2:07:40] Voice 24: there's been a lot of conversation

[2:07:42] Voice 24: about the impacts of FIFA.

[2:07:43] Voice 24: not the least is what mega yachts are going to be doing coming into our waters and they won't

[2:07:54] Voice 24: just be going to Friday Harbor they're going to be going to Salt Spring they're going to be going

[2:07:58] Voice 24: to all the islands this is that I suspect that FIFA will bring them in but they'll be hanging

[2:08:08] Voice 24: around for a while and they'll be going throughout our joint waters that we have

[2:08:15] Voice 24: on we have some concerns here with major well small cruise ships just anchoring

[2:08:25] Voice 24: off of our islands and I don't know if you have that but they're federal waters

[2:08:32] Voice 24: and we don't have a lot of say so but we'd like to have more because we have

[2:08:38] Voice 24: have people on Canoe and Shaw Island who, the lights from these cruises, the noise from

[2:08:47] Voice 24: these cruises running their generators all night, it totally disrupts the peacefulness

[2:08:52] Voice 24: and the calmness as they find a spot between two islands to anchor off of.

[2:08:58] Voice 24: So I think those are huge concerns and just, I don't know how ready any of us are for what

[2:09:07] Voice 24: what could be a huge impact of sailing vessels all over the, you know, from the sound all the way up through the Salish Sea.

[2:09:17] Voice 24: So those are the big concerns for us, I think. Certainly open for my council seatmates to add to that if they are so inclined.

[2:09:27] Voice 24: I

[2:09:31] Voice 29: might just add that certainly the state is engaged in discussions with different local

[2:09:41] Voice 29: jurisdictions and entities about particularly flow of traffic between Seattle and Vancouver.

[2:09:48] Voice 29: Each city is hosting seven games and no doubt there'll be watch parties in both cities as

[2:09:57] Voice 29: as well, in addition to actual games.

[2:10:01] Voice 29: This is the biggest sporting event in the world

[2:10:05] Voice 29: and there will be millions of people coming.

[2:10:09] Voice 29: And when I sit on the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee

[2:10:13] Voice 29: that makes decisions about allocating funds

[2:10:18] Voice 29: to things to promote tourism in our islands.

[2:10:22] Voice 29: And some of the committee members spoke about

[2:10:25] Voice 29: how there was a lot of talk when the Olympic Winter Games were going to be happening up in

[2:10:30] Voice 29: Vancouver back in 2010 and how San Juan County was thinking, oh, there's going to be a lot more

[2:10:35] Voice 29: people who come to the county. There's going to be many, many more visitors. We need to be prepared

[2:10:42] Voice 29: and nothing much happened really. And I said, well, this is a different order of magnitude

[2:10:47] Voice 29: entirely. You're talking two separate countries, two separate metropolitan centers that are hosting

[2:10:52] Voice 29: games and this size of this games compared to a Winter Olympic Games you

[2:10:58] Voice 29: can't this will dwarf that and and so apparently the state is talking to for

[2:11:05] Voice 29: example tourism bureaus or visitors bureaus so to speak they are having

[2:11:12] Voice 29: transportation conversations there is off there's definitely ongoing

[2:11:17] Voice 29: ongoing discussions happening. What I do not get any sense of, and I don't think either of my

[2:11:23] Voice 29: seatmates have heard from any of our locally elected port commissioners on our three separate

[2:11:29] Voice 29: islands. Maybe you have, and if you have, you know, yeah, please, please share. But there's

[2:11:35] Voice 29: no discussion of what's going to happen on the water beyond boats that will be coming into the

[2:11:40] Voice 29: port of seattle so the port of seattle is is is planning for this um but in terms of vessel flow

[2:11:48] Voice 29: that will be um that of fans and that of um private companies trying to move fans fans from

[2:11:55] Voice 29: one place to the next i do not i am not aware of the state being involved in any discussions on

[2:12:02] Voice 29: that which is why i originally raised with my seat mate saying are our ports thinking about

[2:12:07] Voice 29: this at all or you know so anyway i don't know justin or curate anything else you wanted to add

[2:12:12] Voice 29: to that so i guess my um

[2:12:16] Voice 25: my take on this is more from i'll i'll bend it towards fairies again

[2:12:22] Voice 25: because it seems like all all good government conversations in our region end up back at fairies

[2:12:28] Voice 25: um we've identified collectively as a group here that all of our fairy systems are under stress

[2:12:34] Voice 25: if we bring these millions of people in because we all collectively live in the best place in the

[2:12:40] Voice 25: world, the folks who are coming for these events are also likely to venture out to experience what

[2:12:46] Voice 25: we have to offer. And one of the biggest concerns I have is interruption of normal commerce. And that

[2:12:53] Voice 25: is as our marine transportation system is taxed by a kind of a one-time influx of visitors,

[2:13:02] Voice 25: normal commerce is going to become very difficult to execute during these times.

[2:13:07] Voice 25: So we are trying our best to identify that for our ferry system, that we need to continue to find ways to prioritize local access and prioritize the movement of normal goods.

[2:13:25] Voice 25: Things like getting groceries on the shelves of our grocery stores could become difficult if our boats are overburdened by the quote-unquote visiting hordes.

[2:13:37] Voice 25: And then the other piece that worries me is the cross-border, the efficiency of our cross-border operation as I identified before.

[2:13:47] Voice 25: four, when I made my trip to Salt Spring Island, the Canadian officials were more than welcoming

[2:13:51] Voice 25: to the point of venting over backwards to make sure that our entrance into Canada was

[2:13:57] Voice 25: well received and it was easy and it was seamless. I do not expect that on the American side. I don't

[2:14:05] Voice 25: think it goes, it shouldn't go unnoticed that Washington state is clearly in the crosshairs

[2:14:11] Voice 25: of the federal government because of some of our opposition to federal policies. So I do not

[2:14:17] Voice 25: expect that they will be looking for ways to make our lives easier in processing folks across the

[2:14:24] Voice 25: border. And I do believe that that is going to be a pinch point as folks from out of our both

[2:14:32] Voice 25: collective countries start to try and navigate that process. I expect that not just the I-5

[2:14:39] Voice 25: border is going to be um an issue i i think all of our ports are are uh federally run ports are

[2:14:48] Voice 25: going to have uh ports of entry are going to have issues good

[2:14:53] Voice 24: point justin all

[2:14:56] Trustee Patrick: right well i i do

[2:14:58] Trustee Patrick: appreciate because uh we all see the super yachts coming through on a normal summer through our area

[2:15:07] Trustee Patrick: and you're right the olympics were in the winter as well during kind of our off season of promoting

[2:15:13] Trustee Patrick: promoting people to visit our islands where this is going to be right in the

[2:15:17] Trustee Patrick: middle of our summer season.

[2:15:19] Trustee Patrick: I know my mind was working furiously in this conversation.

[2:15:23] Trustee Patrick: Our mandate, you know, the island stress, it's easy to say,

[2:15:25] Trustee Patrick: we're just a land use organization,

[2:15:27] Trustee Patrick: but our mandate is to preserve and protect the trust area,

[2:15:30] Trustee Patrick: its unique amenities and the environment in cooperation with all these other

[2:15:34] Trustee Patrick: levels of government.

[2:15:35] Trustee Patrick: So it'd be nice to say that this just doesn't fall in our area,

[2:15:39] Trustee Patrick: but trustees thoughts.

[2:15:43] Trustee Patrick: Thoughts?

[2:15:44] Voice 26: Trustee Luckman.

[2:15:46] Trustee Patrick: Okay, Trustee Luckman, Trustee Stamford, then Trustee Fast.

[2:15:51] Trustee Luckham: Well, don't get me wrong.

[2:15:53] Trustee Luckham: There's nothing funny about this particular situation which is about to arrive.

[2:15:57] Trustee Luckham: However, I hope you appreciate the humor that just yesterday we decided we were going to have in-person meetings in June of 2026.

[2:16:08] Trustee Luckham: Well, I would say good luck.

[2:16:11] Trustee Luckham: um and staff may find that immediately upon inquiring about hotel accommodation

[2:16:16] Trustee Luckham: but then again the this is bigger than the olympics um and you know the metaphor that people

[2:16:26] Trustee Luckham: use these events is build it and they will come so they will come and certainly there's economic

[2:16:33] Trustee Luckham: opportunities for us, as well as potential disasters. And ferries is very much one of

[2:16:41] Trustee Luckham: those things, that there's an opportunity, and build it, and they will come. And so the

[2:16:46] Trustee Luckham: conversation that we've just had about moving people, vehicles, particularly back and forth

[2:16:51] Trustee Luckham: between the Salmon Islands and Vancouver Island, you build a ferry, and it'll be full. There you

[2:17:00] Trustee Luckham: you go.

[2:17:01] Trustee Stamford: Rusty Stanford. A slightly different potential impact for FIFA is something in my

[2:17:09] Trustee Stamford: area of concern that just like with the Winter Olympics and Expo, that vulnerable people were

[2:17:17] Trustee Stamford: moved out of the Vancouver downtown core into surrounding areas and how sound is close enough

[2:17:25] Trustee Stamford: to be impacted that by that so i'm not sure if you thought or if that's a consideration with san juan

[2:17:32] Trustee Stamford: that you may it's almost the opposite influx um so that's something that we're trying to

[2:17:39] Trustee Stamford: um recognize and accommodate if necessary also um flotels are becoming more and more popular

[2:17:47] Trustee Stamford: especially in the house sound for different reasons but i think those will probably come

[2:17:52] Trustee Stamford: come online given that Vancouver does have a huge deficit of accommodation for this event

[2:18:01] Trustee Patrick: trustee fast oh

[2:18:02] Voice 24: I'm sorry I'm sorry Jeremy I just wanted to tag on to what uh the trustee

[2:18:08] Voice 24: was talking about um I my family's having a family reunion in June and I need we needed

[2:18:17] Voice 24: to spend a night in Seattle so we could catch an early flight to go to this

[2:18:23] Voice 24: family reunion and we couldn't find any hotels under six seven hundred dollars a

[2:18:29] Voice 24: night during that time frame so it's the financial impact is going to be great

[2:18:36] Voice 24: and as these major hubs Seattle and Vancouver no longer have places to stay

[2:18:42] Voice 24: it's going to absolutely explode on the rest of us there's no way around it so

[2:18:50] Trustee Patrick: trusty fast

[2:18:51] Trustee Patrick: thank

[2:18:52] Voice 16: you i just wanted to share a few reflections about when taylor swift came to yvr and i was

[2:18:59] Voice 16: traveling on the ferries and they were just packed with an extremely excited sparkly crowd

[2:19:06] Voice 16: It was very fun, but there were huge ferry overloads, and talking later to some short-term vacation rental providers, they had been through booking starting, you know, nine months earlier, booked, cancelled, booked, cancelled, booked, cancelled,

[2:19:31] Voice 16: As people realized that they weren't going to just be able to get on a taxi and get down to the show, this kind of thing. So it was a commercial disruption, too, because the normal visitor tourist season is going to be disrupted. So I take your point. Thanks for bringing it up.

[2:19:54] Voice 16: Trustee Forthwood.

[2:19:55] Voice 16: um

[2:19:57] Voice 23: yeah so i have an interesting perspective on this particular event uh i uh had the

[2:20:07] Voice 23: questionable benefit privilege of contracting uh as part of the women's uh world cup in 2015

[2:20:17] Voice 23: uh across the country traveling to set things up and build build some of the the the events

[2:20:24] Voice 23: events that were happening. I also grew up in part of the UK, so football has been a part of

[2:20:31] Voice 23: my life since I was a child. I think it can be difficult, and I certainly in 2015 found it to be

[2:20:39] Voice 23: difficult, to relay to people the impact that FIFA has and that this event has. And I can tell you,

[2:20:48] Voice 23: for reasons that I have lots of strong opinions about.

[2:20:52] Voice 23: The Women's World Cup, entirely unjustifiably,

[2:20:57] Voice 23: is a micron of the impact of the Men's World Cup.

[2:21:07] Voice 23: And FIFA as an organization are notoriously callous around the impacts

[2:21:14] Voice 23: and notoriously indifferent to the infrastructure burdens.

[2:21:18] Voice 23: They're aware of it only insofar as the flow of people in and out of stadiums is concerned.

[2:21:27] Voice 23: That's true everywhere in the world.

[2:21:29] Voice 23: It's not different here.

[2:21:30] Voice 23: And we're all in North America pretty familiar with the Olympics.

[2:21:34] Voice 23: To say that FIFA is like two Olympics is not an understatement.

[2:21:40] Voice 23: Now, it's not all happening in one place, but this is a major, major thing.

[2:21:45] Voice 23: Um, and unfortunately in my experience, it's, it, this is an event and this is a body that are very comfortable to, uh, prey on the hype, uh, prior to sort of build things up and, but have absolutely no obligation after the fact.

[2:22:05] Voice 23: um and and it can be there's a lot of there's a lot of money spent on on sort of hyping up

[2:22:14] Voice 23: this event and building up those things and you will see people coming there will be an impact

[2:22:18] Voice 23: um and uh and and the the the opportunities that that trustee luckham is rightly you know

[2:22:27] Voice 23: highlighting uh may well exist and just bear in mind they're fleeting uh and the costs are are

[2:22:36] Voice 23: significant um yeah i have i could i could talk about a lot of things but i'm yeah i shouldn't

[2:22:42] Voice 23: all

[2:22:43] Trustee Patrick: right well i think we've all could say that the current tourism season without fifa

[2:22:48] Trustee Patrick: is already straining the access to our islands as is.

[2:22:53] Trustee Patrick: And so imagining an added burden on top of that is, you're right,

[2:23:00] Trustee Patrick: it could affect groceries in our grocery stores.

[2:23:02] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Getty.

[2:23:04] Voice 11: Just as a point of information, I looked up the schedule for FIFA

[2:23:08] Voice 11: and we're talking about starting in Vancouver in June

[2:23:12] Voice 11: and ending in July 7th.

[2:23:15] Voice 11: there's uh seven matches and then similarly in in seattle so middle of june until probably middle

[2:23:24] Voice 11: of july all

[2:23:29] Trustee Patrick: right i'm just seeing a lot of quiet stares around the room on this side going oh

[2:23:35] Trustee Patrick: good time to go sir patrick if i yes yeah

[2:23:40] Voice 29: i just wanted to um add one more thing that was

[2:23:44] Voice 29: sort of touched upon um uh i don't and i don't know if your islands have experienced this yet

[2:23:50] Voice 29: or not but i think we can all expect it um to begin and then maybe flourish from there with

[2:23:57] Voice 29: the advent of this event um already san juan county is grappling with the fact that there

[2:24:04] Voice 29: are two companies that are trying to get into the business of um renting mooring boys as

[2:24:11] Voice 29: as vacation places to stay.

[2:24:14] Voice 29: And so this is a very,

[2:24:17] Voice 29: two companies that are already online

[2:24:19] Voice 29: that are trying to do this.

[2:24:20] Voice 29: It is not legal in San Juan County

[2:24:23] Voice 29: to rent a residential mooring buoy.

[2:24:27] Voice 29: And renting commercial mooring buoys

[2:24:29] Voice 29: is not even anything our code has contemplated before.

[2:24:34] Voice 29: And so we're in discussions with the state about this,

[2:24:39] Voice 29: this because Department of Natural Resources has jurisdiction when it comes to allowing

[2:24:46] Voice 29: allowing mooring bories to to be permitted locally but and I'll let my colleagues speak

[2:24:52] Voice 29: to this a bit as well but I just wanted to share my concern about the illegal activity that I think

[2:25:00] Voice 29: we can anticipate in terms of people renting their homes that are not that don't have vacation

[2:25:05] Voice 29: rental permits. I recently had a conversation with a vacation rental owner who relies on her

[2:25:11] Voice 29: vacation rentals as her source of livelihood. And she says they do, they establish their prices

[2:25:18] Voice 29: based on what their apps tell them to establish them as. And already the people who have vacation

[2:25:25] Voice 29: rentals here are going to be able to jack up their prices, you know, significantly during this

[2:25:34] Voice 29: period and she is quite concerned as the leader of a local san juan county sort of vacation rental

[2:25:41] Voice 29: group she's very concerned about people doing this illegally on their properties on the islands

[2:25:48] Voice 29: so offering up for rental their homes or their land even for the public to use

[2:25:56] Voice 29: that's not permitted and i haven't yet had a chance to have a conversation with our department

[2:26:00] Voice 29: of community development director um uh on this since i talked to her but um i think you're going

[2:26:06] Voice 29: to see a lot of illicit activity happening as well and um and i you know just as as um trustee

[2:26:13] Voice 29: luckham mentioned yeah people will take opportunities and and as as councilmember

[2:26:20] Voice 29: mcveigh just mentioned they're trying to look for a hotel and they can see the prices are already

[2:26:24] Voice 29: six hundred seven dollars a night this is going to be happening on our islands um and illegally

[2:26:29] Voice 29: and we will not have the means to enforce anything um in san juan county um really but anyway that's

[2:26:35] Voice 29: i just wanted to share that additional concern i

[2:26:40] Trustee Patrick: have to tell you there was a bit of a moan

[2:26:41] Trustee Patrick: around the room when you mentioned boring buoys uh here that is a that is thank you for adding

[2:26:48] Trustee Patrick: more concerns here yes we already have it

[2:26:50] Trustee Patrick: here it is illegal to also rent them but we know that it

[2:26:54] Trustee Patrick: I know what's happening in our islands.

[2:26:57] Trustee Patrick: It is illegal activity, and they're proliferating.

[2:27:02] Trustee Patrick: They're not as managed as closely as they used to be by the federal government,

[2:27:06] Trustee Patrick: and it's a huge problem.

[2:27:10] Trustee Patrick: So that just heaped on more.

[2:27:12] Trustee Patrick: So, trustees, we might want to think we're thinking of our regional collaboration.

[2:27:18] Trustee Patrick: We just talked about three major issues, how to work with the ferries, and then we talked about the spill response challenges, and then the FIFA cherry on top of the challenges that we face in our communities.

[2:27:39] Trustee Patrick: if we had to pick just one right now that we would want to advance for joint activities

[2:27:50] Trustee Patrick: let me look to the San Juan counties talking about which one would you see the greatest value of us

[2:27:58] Trustee Patrick: right now trying to move forward with some renewed collaboration tricky question go ahead

[2:28:08] Trustee Patrick: Go ahead, Chair McVey.

[2:28:09] Voice 24: You know, all three of these are vitally important.

[2:28:12] Voice 24: And yet, I certainly recognize that we're only

[2:28:18] Voice 24: meeting once a year together.

[2:28:20] Voice 24: I would hope we could at least find working groups or something

[2:28:24] Voice 24: so that we could have a more robust engagement

[2:28:28] Voice 24: with each other.

[2:28:30] Voice 24: I would think that the environmental concerns

[2:28:36] Voice 24: concerns around oil spills, if I had to pick one, because FIFA is going to happen whether

[2:28:42] Voice 24: we do anything or not, and we'll probably manage through it. The Sydney Ferries requires

[2:28:49] Voice 24: a higher level than our engagement to be able to solve, which I certainly think we should be

[2:28:58] Voice 24: fully figuring out how to get that engagement going. But if I had to say what's going to be

[2:29:04] Voice 24: the biggest impact on all of our islands would be an oil spill and so having joint practice

[2:29:11] Voice 24: like councilmember paulson was saying and i think that's something that we can attack today

[2:29:18] Voice 24: to start and that we could actually get some bang for our buck in this collaborative nature so

[2:29:25] Voice 24: that's just my point i'm open to anybody else's point as well i'll

[2:29:31] Trustee Patrick: look i'll look around the room

[2:29:33] Trustee Patrick: at my trustees we like to do straw polls here because it's always safer just hearing what

[2:29:38] Trustee Patrick: chair mcveigh had just analyzed as being possible joint activities on the oil spills

[2:29:44] Trustee Patrick: how many would agree just sort of wave your hands oh we're seeing a lot of hands come up

[2:29:50] Trustee Patrick: around the room um so i guess the next question would be what would be that activity

[2:30:00] Trustee Patrick: what could we do jointly? Oops, sorry, Trustee Evans.

[2:30:08] Voice 14: I was going to say based on our budget

[2:30:10] Voice 14: discussion, I would recommend that we get a trustee working group together that could work

[2:30:17] Voice 14: initially independent of staff resources for conversations that could be brought back or just

[2:30:22] Voice 14: having a single staff person involved for record keeping. Keep it as light as possible for this

[2:30:30] Voice 14: this first years, especially as we're in an election year.

[2:30:34] Voice 14: Thank you.

[2:30:34] Voice 14: Trustee Luckham.

[2:30:37] Trustee Luckham: Thank you.

[2:30:38] Trustee Luckham: I didn't raise my hand in the straw poll.

[2:30:41] Trustee Luckham: Some of you probably noticed that.

[2:30:44] Trustee Luckham: And because I've been close to the oil spill

[2:30:48] Trustee Luckham: issue for many years.

[2:30:50] Trustee Luckham: And so from the previous conversation,

[2:30:53] Trustee Luckham: my suggestion related to what we could

[2:30:56] Trustee Luckham: do associated with marine spills is West Coast Marine Response

[2:31:01] Trustee Luckham: organization. They are the professionals in this field. They are the response organization on this

[2:31:09] Trustee Luckham: side of the border. They have resisted, from a professional perspective and point of view,

[2:31:15] Trustee Luckham: they have resisted our calls for a tow vessel in Sydney for years and believe that the vessels

[2:31:24] Trustee Luckham: that are placed in other locations on the coast are adequate. In my mind, they have not heard

[2:31:31] Trustee Luckham: my callings for, the tide changes directions every six hours. That's the response time

[2:31:39] Trustee Luckham: to get to a vessel that is in distress, that is spilling oil at turn point. So we need to convince

[2:31:52] Trustee Luckham: WMRC of our concerns. We need to express our concerns. Those concerns of San Juan County,

[2:31:58] Trustee Luckham: who have been diligent on providing us materials and reports

[2:32:02] Trustee Luckham: about why this needs to be resolved.

[2:32:06] Trustee Luckham: But we need to get support and hear the story as to why it is

[2:32:12] Trustee Luckham: that the leader in this, who has the greatest burden of responsibility

[2:32:17] Trustee Luckham: to deal with it when it happens, why they don't believe that it's so.

[2:32:22] Trustee Luckham: And we need to express to them why we think it's so.

[2:32:27] Trustee Luckham: That would be my two cents.

[2:32:28] Trustee Luckham: Thanks for the opportunity.

[2:32:33] Voice 11: If we were to have a working group amongst the trustees, I would like to gather some

[2:32:43] Voice 11: information for that group and I'm interested in what Trustee Elliott was talking about

[2:32:47] Voice 11: of the ocean participation plan and the various research projects and what the results of

[2:32:52] Voice 11: those were.

[2:32:53] Voice 11: I'm also interested in the name of the organization and voluntary not-for-profit group that is

[2:33:02] Voice 11: what Trustee Holson was talking about in terms of having some sort of contact with them and

[2:33:10] Voice 11: maybe getting a copy of this report if there was one from BP in the role playing that they did

[2:33:17] Voice 11: about a spill and making some sort of connection so that there might be, we could identify

[2:33:24] Voice 11: somebody that might be able to join in those efforts. I think that would be good.

[2:33:28] Voice 11: I know the local on Bowen, the emergency response programs, both with the firefighters and with the volunteers and with emergency services, an oil spill or an ocean spill is one of the criteria, one of the issues that we're dealing with in terms of trying to figure out local responses.

[2:33:52] Voice 11: So there may be some people locally from Bowen that would be interested in that.

[2:33:58] Voice 11: I don't know if that would be sufficient in terms of having a cross-border involvement,

[2:34:04] Voice 11: but I think that we could maybe identify some people at a higher level that could.

[2:34:10] Voice 11: And then it would be interesting to figure out what, if any, strategy there could be

[2:34:16] Voice 11: in terms of getting more of a knowledgeable base to discuss things with the people that

[2:34:25] Voice 11: have the resources that are reluctant.

[2:34:27] Voice 11: so

[2:34:28] Voice 16: trustee faust um just for people that are interested there's a whole long years of advocacy

[2:34:38] Voice 16: letters from the islands trust at the islands trust website if you go to the advocacy pages

[2:34:42] Voice 16: it's a really good way to catch up on the work that's been uh done by staff especially claire

[2:34:50] Voice 16: over there and um i just uh i think it's worthwhile some of these processes like the ocean protection

[2:34:56] Voice 16: action plan. I've been involved in it for eight years or something going to things, and it's very

[2:35:02] Voice 16: difficult to see any movement there, so it's good to catch up first.

[2:35:08] Trustee Patrick: Thank you. Chair McVeigh, I'd

[2:35:10] Trustee Patrick: like to hear your ideas from your side on what would our joint activity look like or could look

[2:35:18] Trustee Patrick: like.

[2:35:19] Voice 24: I saw that Council Member Paul said he was about to speak a few minutes ago, so I'll let him

[2:35:25] Voice 24: speak now to start us off and

[2:35:27] Voice 25: then i'm going to first defer to council person fuller because she'd

[2:35:30] Voice 25: followed the right process and put her hand in the air which i did

[2:35:33] Voice 24: not do so so if

[2:35:34] Voice 25: you're okay with

[2:35:35] Voice 25: her going first i'll let her go first

[2:35:36] Voice 24: absolutely my apologies jane i didn't even notice

[2:35:40] Voice 29: that's okay

[2:35:42] Voice 29: jerry mcveigh and uh thank you very much council member paulson um yeah so i and i really want um

[2:35:49] Voice 29: Justin, to come in on here, because I see a bit two streams here from our side of the

[2:35:56] Voice 29: border in terms of my knowledge of and discussions with and engagement in the Marine Resources

[2:36:03] Voice 29: Committee and their work on the ERTV issue.

[2:36:07] Voice 29: That sort of feels like that's where my knowledge and exposure is and connectivity is to colleagues

[2:36:14] Voice 29: colleagues working on the prioritization of ERTV as a response to a big or medium-sized spill,

[2:36:22] Voice 29: what have you. I feel there's very localized work and advocacy that lies in the realm of IOSA

[2:36:29] Voice 29: that is also plugged into some regional cooperative work there that Justin Paulson spoke to.

[2:36:36] Voice 29: So, and because of our dilemma and that we can't, so Council Member Paulson is liaison to IOSA,

[2:36:42] Voice 29: islands oil spill association i'm liaising the marine resources committee so and because we

[2:36:47] Voice 29: can't meet um unless we were having a public meeting um there's sort of like there are two

[2:36:52] Voice 29: separate issues i hear what chair luckham was just a former chair uh trustee luckham was saying

[2:36:58] Voice 29: about uh about um the west coast um marine resources organization being so non-responsive

[2:37:05] Voice 29: for as long as they have i will i'm not aware of that history but gee was i would like to think

[2:37:10] Voice 29: I think that cross-border advocacy on this might put some different kind of pressure on that entity, especially if there's discussion going on with the provincial government on this and the state government on our side.

[2:37:22] Voice 29: And I think there could be some work for us to do on this side of the border around the necessity of an ERTD with our governor's office to bring it back to Governor Ferguson, where it used to sit with Governor Inslee in terms of what he felt was important.

[2:37:39] Voice 29: So we could do some backroom work on that. But again, I'm wanting to be mindful of the fact that there's the ERTV issue. And then separately, there's the much broader necessity for, you know, coordinated, cohesive oil spill response across the border. So I just want to throw that out there.

[2:38:03] Voice 29: Councilman Paulson?

[2:38:04] Voice 25: Yeah, thank you for calling that out because for me those are separate but also parallel tracks of thinking.

[2:38:12] Voice 25: I want to thank Trustee Peterson for throwing the links up into the chat.

[2:38:19] Voice 25: I think for me, and even as an IOSA member, and this is definitely something that's important,

[2:38:23] Voice 25: One of the starting points for this for me would be a working group that could just sort of form the baseline knowledge that we have of what processes are in place and what the body of knowledge is currently, so that then we can effectively have an informed conversation going forward.

[2:38:47] Voice 25: from the iosa perspective the director of that organization is very connected with the various

[2:38:56] Voice 25: refineries and the resources and their planning i know that we could and i'm sure that there are

[2:39:06] Voice 25: connections between our local organization and organizations up in your region i know

[2:39:13] Voice 25: that she would be more than happy to come to a presentation or put together a presentation she

[2:39:19] Voice 25: she had a um a good presentation that presented in uh washington dc less than six months ago to

[2:39:26] Voice 25: national elected representatives about oil spill response uh west coast oil spill response

[2:39:31] Voice 25: so i know that she would um happily join a working group for a presentation

[2:39:40] Voice 25: presentation. And I think we could lean on her for connective resources across the border as well to make sure that that group was getting a good download of information to then take the next steps on. It ultimately has been required some national policy discussions that we have to have, but if we could all be rooted in the same grounding of information to start, that would be very helpful for me.

[2:40:13] Trustee Patrick: trustee luckham

[2:40:14] Trustee Patrick: well

[2:40:16] Trustee Luckham: thank you don't want to take too much air time but i just wanted to

[2:40:20] Trustee Luckham: say in this part of the conversation about the local response capabilities um i have the what

[2:40:27] Trustee Luckham: i might have said might have appeared to be critical of wcmrc however i have the greatest

[2:40:32] Trustee Luckham: respect for that organization all of us are familiar with the blue and orange vessels that

[2:40:38] Trustee Luckham: that are in our harbors now that were never there before.

[2:40:42] Trustee Luckham: And the Islands Trust in San Juan County

[2:40:44] Trustee Luckham: and all of the advocacy groups

[2:40:46] Trustee Luckham: have successfully moved that dial

[2:40:48] Trustee Luckham: to a point where we do have response capabilities.

[2:40:52] Trustee Luckham: There are these trailers that exist on our islands

[2:40:54] Trustee Luckham: that have emergency response equipment in them,

[2:40:57] Trustee Luckham: and I'm sure it's the same in San Juan County.

[2:41:00] Trustee Luckham: We've certainly moved the dial, but there's more room.

[2:41:04] Trustee Luckham: we need to close it up a little tighter than what what it is so keep working at it so

[2:41:12] Trustee Patrick: if we were to

[2:41:13] Trustee Patrick: develop a working group um a political working group let me emphasize that because i see our

[2:41:18] Trustee Patrick: staff going oh no adding to the workload uh i'm hearing a very first task is that re-data

[2:41:24] Trustee Patrick: collection of of sort of what what happened already so that we are informed as a group

[2:41:30] Trustee Patrick: It's unfortunate that Trustee Maberly isn't here right now.

[2:41:34] Trustee Patrick: I know he'd be probably chiming in from his work he does with the federal government on this.

[2:41:41] Trustee Patrick: So if we were to have a working group, a political working group, I'm going to look over to our staff.

[2:41:49] Trustee Patrick: Because we know putting more workload on is not that, but a political working group of some form.

[2:41:56] Trustee Patrick: would that be a possible thing that we're not setting it up just sort of a possibility of where

[2:42:02] Trustee Patrick: that sits in our workload who'd like to tackle that one well

[2:42:09] Voice 15: certainly any if trustees wish to

[2:42:11] Voice 15: get together and discuss a topic you could do so as long as you don't have quorum so there's always

[2:42:16] Voice 15: that option if you're wanting staff support in terms of convening the meetings or hosting zoom

[2:42:20] Voice 15: meetings or so on then you need to consider that within the context of the other work but if you

[2:42:26] Voice 15: you yourselves just wish to get together and have a conversation.

[2:42:28] Voice 15: Certainly I don't think staff have concern with that so long as you're

[2:42:31] Voice 15: respecting the rules of quorum.

[2:42:33] Trustee Patrick: All right. I'm seeing that. Well, I think that to me,

[2:42:35] Trustee Patrick: a working group is by default staying way below the quorum issues.

[2:42:41] Trustee Patrick: We had a couple of lists here at Yates, Bernardo,

[2:42:44] Trustee Patrick: and then Middleton that wanted to chime in.

[2:42:47] Voice 30: Just a question for clarification.

[2:42:50] Voice 30: So thinking about having an emergency response tow vessel closer to turn

[2:42:55] Voice 30: point, for example, and knowing how difficult it seems to be to lobby the West Coast Marine

[2:43:01] Voice 30: Response Corporation. Is WCMRC just Canadian or is there any American? Is it both?

[2:43:13] Trustee Patrick: Director Frater?

[2:43:15] Voice 15: Yes, West Coast, Western Canada Marine Response Corporation is the Canadian

[2:43:21] Voice 15: Canadian contractor to the Canadian Coast Guard and when the spill is international in nature

[2:43:26] Voice 15: Canadian Coast Guard is also involved and they're also involved that the spill is too big for WCMRC

[2:43:31] Voice 15: I would say they've been very responsive to any request made by Islands Trust for engagement

[2:43:36] Voice 15: education involvement so if there's a desire to engage with them I would expect a very positive

[2:43:41] Voice 15: response I've had a very good relationship with them over the years.

[2:43:44] Trustee Patrick: All right thank you. Bernardo

[2:43:47] Trustee Patrick: trustee bernardo yeah

[2:43:50] Voice 6: um about forming the working group and the kind of support that

[2:43:54] Voice 6: might be required for it i would just like to take the opportunity to remind trust council

[2:43:58] Voice 6: that one of the recommendations that we adopted yesterday number four

[2:44:03] Voice 27: is

[2:44:04] Voice 6: that before trust

[2:44:05] Voice 6: council starts uh lobbying work in the direction of the staff is that the staff will undertake a

[2:44:13] Voice 6: feasibility assessment as to what the work actually would be involved and whether it makes sense

[2:44:19] Voice 6: i would suggest the avenue to pursue this working group which as the chair pointed out is political

[2:44:27] Voice 6: is for the working group of trustees you know to

[2:44:30] Voice 6: really struggle to figure out how to work

[2:44:32] Voice 6: with zoom on their own and leave staff out of it until such time as the working group

[2:44:37] Voice 6: had some thoughts ideas proposals that it can bring back to trust council and after that

[2:44:43] Voice 6: discussion um if anything um constructive emerges from it we then ask staff to do a

[2:44:51] Voice 6: feasibility assessment of what's reasonable to expect staff to do for that initiative thank you

[2:44:57] Voice 6: thank

[2:44:58] Trustee Patrick: you trustee middleton

[2:45:00] Trustee Middleton: excuse me thank you i think it's a good time um like you may have

[2:45:06] Trustee Middleton: touched on this earlier, but the Trans Mountain pipeline is pretty well in the final stages

[2:45:12] Trustee Middleton: of getting approval for a $6 billion expansion of certain sections. And I see, I can actually

[2:45:20] Trustee Middleton: track the ferry traffic on Vessel Fight, not the ferry traffic, the tanker traffic. And

[2:45:25] Trustee Middleton: it has markedly increased this year. On every tide, I think at least two tankers go out.

[2:45:29] Trustee Middleton: um and that's only going to increase uh the the part of the expansion is to dredge second

[2:45:36] Trustee Middleton: arrows so afromax vessels can fully load right now they only load to 70 percent and then they

[2:45:41] Trustee Middleton: they were going to cherry point and topping off um but now they're going straight to china more

[2:45:46] Trustee Middleton: and more um and my my suspicion is western canada marine response corporation are very uh responsive

[2:45:54] Trustee Middleton: i agree with some of those comments but i wouldn't be surprised if they couldn't if we wouldn't be

[2:45:58] Trustee Middleton: to get some kind of facilitative arrangement with them to help us work across the border

[2:46:04] Trustee Middleton: with someone county because they are very proactive they are obviously very well funded

[2:46:09] Trustee Middleton: through the ocean protections plan that was the uh premise to get the you know social sanction to get

[2:46:15] Trustee Middleton: the pipeline built um and now at this next phase of expansion which will be is the 125 of the

[2:46:22] Trustee Middleton: capacity is the goal and i think they're hovering around just shy of 80 percent now um and it's

[2:46:30] Trustee Middleton: increasing um month by month but i i think it could be up an opportune time to actually say

[2:46:37] Trustee Middleton: look we have this working relationship with san juan county we know the cross-border facility

[2:46:43] Trustee Middleton: coordination is probably something you're interested in or there's uh um at least the

[2:46:48] Trustee Middleton: an interest to have the conversation start. I would suspect

[2:46:52] Trustee Middleton: that we could get some facilitation help through them if we approach them.

[2:46:57] Trustee Middleton: And the timing is excellent, just given the juncture we're at

[2:47:01] Trustee Middleton: with what they're considering for the Trans Mountain Pipeline.

[2:47:05] Trustee Middleton: Thank you.

[2:47:06] Trustee Patrick: So from a mechanical standpoint, I think if

[2:47:10] Trustee Patrick: Chair McVeigh and myself, I guess we'd need a resolution

[2:47:15] Trustee Patrick: on our side to give me authority to work with Chair McVeigh to establish a political working

[2:47:24] Trustee Patrick: group to initiate this conversation. I'm already seeing volunteers who want to be on it. No. Oh,

[2:47:29] Trustee Patrick: no. You wanted to speak. Oh, I thought I was taking those as volunteers to be on the working

[2:47:34] Trustee Patrick: group. So trustee Luckham?

[2:47:39] Trustee Luckham: No, I'm prepared to make a motion to volunteer you to undertake that

[2:47:44] Trustee Luckham: and very grateful for that offer that I heard there.

[2:47:47] Trustee Luckham: So if that's all right.

[2:47:50] Trustee Luckham: I suppose if that's

[2:47:51] Voice 27: sure, we'll see.

[2:47:52] Trustee Luckham: I would just simply suggest that I would move

[2:47:55] Trustee Luckham: that Chair Patrick work with the chair of San Juan County

[2:48:00] Trustee Luckham: to establish a dialogue regarding,

[2:48:07] Trustee Luckham: a political working group, thank you,

[2:48:09] Trustee Luckham: regarding oil spill response.

[2:48:16] Trustee Patrick: All right. We always take a moment. I know, Chair McVey, there's no second yet on the motion.

[2:48:20] Trustee Patrick: So we're just, you would probably have to do in your political body something similar, but we can take a step.

[2:48:27] Trustee Patrick: I'm going to wait for a moment for our staff to bring the motion up on the screen.

[2:48:32] Trustee Patrick: We probably like your body. Motions on the fly are always fun.

[2:48:37] Trustee Luckham: Not preferred.

[2:48:40] Trustee Patrick: All right. Trustee Luckham.

[2:48:49] Trustee Luckham: Perfect. I know we could wordsmith it to death.

[2:48:53] Trustee Luckham: but I don't think that's necessary.

[2:48:54] Trustee Patrick: All right, Trustee Luckin,

[2:48:55] Trustee Patrick: would you like to read that motion?

[2:48:57] Trustee Luckham: I move that Chair Patrick work

[2:48:59] Trustee Luckham: with the Chair of San Juan County

[2:49:01] Trustee Luckham: to establish a political working group

[2:49:03] Trustee Luckham: regarding oil spill response.

[2:49:04] Trustee Patrick: Is there a second to this motion?

[2:49:06] Trustee Patrick: Seconded by Trustee Hunter.

[2:49:08] Trustee Patrick: Is there any discussion?

[2:49:11] Trustee Patrick: Sounds like it's been discussed enough.

[2:49:13] Trustee Patrick: I'm going to call the vote.

[2:49:14] Trustee Patrick: All those in favor?

[2:49:16] Trustee Patrick: All right, lower your hands.

[2:49:29] Trustee Patrick: Any opposed?

[2:49:33] Trustee Patrick: Well, I think I can say that carries.

[2:49:39] Trustee Patrick: So we'll leave that then to your political body to match that.

[2:49:45] Trustee Patrick: And then, Chair McVeigh, you and I have another plan.

[2:49:48] Trustee Patrick: We seem to have been practiced with the cross-border forum of working together.

[2:49:52] Trustee Patrick: So I think I'm glad we've had that exercise.

[2:49:58] Trustee Patrick: So we have one area of collaboration established.

[2:50:04] Trustee Patrick: I'll look over to San Juan County.

[2:50:08] Trustee Patrick: we've been doing some talking on this side any other ideas that you'd like to put forward oops

[2:50:19] Voice 29: chair mcfay

[2:50:20] Voice 22: um

[2:50:21] Voice 29: our uh chair patrick are you looking for sort of a um a response from us in

[2:50:28] Voice 29: terms of uh equal engagement so to speak or or were we moving on to another subject well we can

[2:50:35] Trustee Patrick: move on to another subject i i understand you're you know you will have to meet within your you

[2:50:39] Trustee Patrick: You know, this isn't a meeting for you, so you'll have to take away how

[2:50:43] Trustee Patrick: I understand that completely.

[2:50:45] Trustee Patrick: So I guess we've got a short time left together, and I wanted to turn the floor back to you for that time.

[2:50:53] Voice 29: So, Council Member McVeigh, Chair McVeigh, I do have some interest in having some cross-border engagement on the subject of ferries.

[2:51:05] Voice 29: And I did hear of some interest in understanding a little bit more about what a county ferry caucus might look like on this side of the border, given that the mayor who was referred to has initiated the meeting of some coalition of ferry served jurisdictions on the BC side of the border.

[2:51:29] Voice 29: that sounds like that would that coalition would be meeting again um uh and so i think maybe

[2:51:35] Voice 29: some exchange of um you know what are what are shared issues what are shared concerns um

[2:51:42] Voice 29: uh could be could be of interest now whether this is a informal working group to share um

[2:51:51] Voice 29: what exactly i i mean it would be more general i think at the outset than a very specific topic of

[2:51:57] Voice 29: oil spill response, for example. And so I'm interested in advancing some discussion that

[2:52:04] Voice 29: is working level and maybe sort of small p political working level among trustees and

[2:52:10] Voice 29: and county council members. I imagine that Council Member Paulson also has an interest

[2:52:16] Voice 29: given his his following of the topic of passenger only ferry possibilities, particularly with

[2:52:23] Voice 29: with private sector interests.

[2:52:25] Voice 29: So anyway, for me, Chair McVey,

[2:52:28] Voice 29: I agree with you that on the FIFA side,

[2:52:30] Voice 29: maybe we share information as council to council, right?

[2:52:34] Voice 29: But I think you're right.

[2:52:35] Voice 29: I think this is gonna come and go

[2:52:37] Voice 29: and we're gonna all be hit by it.

[2:52:38] Voice 29: And then maybe we have a after the party review

[2:52:42] Voice 29: to lament the impacts.

[2:52:44] Voice 29: But I agree with you that oil spill

[2:52:48] Voice 29: really stands above everything else.

[2:52:50] Voice 29: And then the ferry discussions, I think, could be of a standing nature.

[2:52:56] Voice 29: I

[2:52:57] Voice 24: totally agree with you, Council Member Fuller.

[2:53:01] Voice 24: I think both of our organizations need to have more understanding of what's happening with the ferry caucus that Council Member Fuller is spearheading so that we can get on the same page.

[2:53:18] Voice 24: So it really is an information sharing that I think, and maybe it's just at this group level where we touch base a little bit more than once a year to share what has happened.

[2:53:31] Trustee Patrick: Yeah, I wish we had Mayor Leonard on our side in the room to say, and I'm to the Bowen, I know, Trustee Getty, you've raised your hand.

[2:53:41] Voice 11: I'm very happy to take back to the Bowen Island Municipal Council.

[2:53:46] Voice 11: And I suppose ultimately the mayor, who's our spokesperson on this effort.

[2:53:51] Voice 11: But, you know, the whole council is involved in all of this work.

[2:53:56] Voice 11: And I'm happy to make sure that your contact information is included so that we can at least open up some sort of contact and dialogue.

[2:54:10] Voice 30: All right.

[2:54:10] Voice 30: Trustee Yates?

[2:54:13] Voice 30: We all wish we had a Mayor Leonard on our side. And just looking at these three

[2:54:18] Voice 30: issues that we were talking about today and the previous time that we met with San Juan County

[2:54:23] Voice 30: Councillors, we also talked about affordable housing. And I'm not going to bring that up now,

[2:54:29] Voice 30: but it's clear that we have similar concerns across the border. We also have similar concerns

[2:54:36] Voice 30: because we are islands which have their own peculiar problems and I would really like to

[2:54:43] Voice 30: see a check-in with San Juan County councillors for every council meeting that we have for every

[2:54:50] Voice 30: quarterly council meeting just to see where we're at with certain issues maybe some of our islands

[2:54:56] Voice 30: have really good active groups working on a particular issue that we could let them know about

[2:55:01] Voice 30: and that kind of thing so just maybe um sending a notice out a month before each council meeting

[2:55:09] Voice 30: saying what what's happening on this particular topic in your area and can there be some

[2:55:15] Voice 30: collaboration between us that would be really helpful yeah

[2:55:20] Trustee Patrick: i think i think a good next step i

[2:55:22] Trustee Patrick: i like involving bowen island mayor leonard because i think he's had some he's been pushing

[2:55:28] Trustee Patrick: us and talking about what this possibility could look like and um i think that would be a good

[2:55:35] Trustee Patrick: next step uh and then i think yes ferries it's our ferry system is run it's been removed from

[2:55:46] Trustee Patrick: government essentially but with a with a weaker arm attached to it but for us it's the community

[2:55:52] Trustee Patrick: planning you know fair we are community dependent or ferry dependent communities and the impact the

[2:55:58] Trustee Patrick: The decisions they make directly affect us every day, and it is a challenge.

[2:56:03] Trustee Patrick: So I know there's a great interest in something brewing, and I think with your cross, you know, this potential larger issue, I think we have a lot of similarities and sounds like we're all suffering.

[2:56:17] Trustee Patrick: So if we can do that as the next step to connect you with Mayor Leonard and see what can come back to this body.

[2:56:24] Trustee Patrick: And yes, I think this should always be a standing item of ferries and the impacts on us, trustee Fast.

[2:56:34] Voice 16: Also, I think there's potential here to explore the passenger only ferry idea further with you because you've got some studies you can maybe refer us to.

[2:56:46] Voice 16: I don't even think we've been that far on Bowen except, or sorry, in Canada on the West Coast.

[2:56:57] Voice 16: Oh, right, except for the existing private services, which we can send you links to as well.

[2:57:01] Voice 16: So, yeah, let's connect.

[2:57:04] Trustee Patrick: All right, so I think we have a commitment to connect and see if we can make this into something bigger and where,

[2:57:09] Trustee Patrick: Because I know there's a lot of mayors that are very active and have really helped bring attention to this matter, mostly up the Sunshine Coast area from this last summer and with Mayor Leonard, too.

[2:57:26] Trustee Patrick: So I think we're getting close here to the end.

[2:57:28] Trustee Patrick: I want to, you know, this has been fabulous.

[2:57:32] Trustee Patrick: We talk every year.

[2:57:34] Trustee Patrick: We need to move.

[2:57:35] Trustee Patrick: I'm glad to see we'll move toward a working group to keep the talk going on between the years.

[2:57:39] Trustee Patrick: the cross-border forum. There's talk of doing that again. So I think reinvigorating our

[2:57:45] Trustee Patrick: relationships across the border is happening. And I'm going to turn the floor over to Chair

[2:57:53] Trustee Patrick: McVeigh for sort of, you can bring us to a close. Oh, you're muted.

[2:58:05] Voice 24: Thank you, Chair Patrick. This has been a wonderful opportunity. Speaking just for myself,

[2:58:11] Voice 24: and I suspect for my council seat mates to really bring home the notion that we

[2:58:20] Voice 24: are one people here we have some political impediments but that if we

[2:58:25] Voice 24: pull together we can make some changes and that we should not be taking our our

[2:58:33] Voice 24: cross-border initiatives lightly that we need to really bury our heads in them

[2:58:39] Voice 24: and get moving on some things and I'm very happy to see this political

[2:58:44] Voice 24: working group come out of this I look forward to bringing it to council not

[2:58:49] Voice 24: next week but maybe the 15th or the 16th we're still in the throes of trying to

[2:58:56] Voice 24: finish a five-year comprehensive plan and a budget so hopefully by the 15th or

[2:59:03] Voice 24: 16th those might be behind us and we can spend a minute or two to talk about this

[2:59:07] Voice 24: So this has been a great meeting, and I appreciate the opportunity to meet all of the trustees from Islands Trust, and thank you for including us.

[2:59:18] Trustee Patrick: Thank you for coming, and I know we'd like to see you in person.

[2:59:21] Trustee Patrick: We've got to get that ferry running so we can easily meet.

[2:59:25] Trustee Patrick: All right, well, trustees, I think we all express our gratitude for this meeting today and carrying on this conversation because we are one group of islands.

[2:59:36] Trustee Patrick: All right, thank you.

[2:59:39] Voice 33: Thank you. Thank you, everybody.

[2:59:42] Trustee Patrick: All right. Well, thank you. And let's meet sooner than a year from now. Indeed. Thank

[2:59:50] Voice 19: you. All right,

[2:59:53] Trustee Patrick: trustees. It is noon. We are going to take a break. 30 minute max.

[3:00:00] Trustee Patrick: have more work to do. So please don't go away. Come back. Let's maintain quorum and get that work

[3:00:05] Trustee Patrick: done. So we'll see you in 30 minutes.

[3:30:16] Voice 22: All

[3:30:16] Trustee Patrick: right, trustees, just confirming quorum.

[3:30:39] Trustee Patrick: Trustees, I wish I could say we're done with the budget conversation,

[3:30:42] Trustee Patrick: but I think we were talking about trying to provide some instructions to the

[3:30:46] Trustee Patrick: financial planning committee.

[3:30:47] Trustee Patrick: I understand there's a few thoughts rolling around on what those

[3:30:53] Trustee Patrick: instructions could be.

[3:30:56] Trustee Patrick: Is there anyone prepared to talk?

[3:30:58] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Bernardo, then Trustee Borthwick.

[3:31:00] Trustee Patrick: Okay.

[3:31:03] Voice 6: Before we had our exchange with our friends from SAM1, Trustee Borthwick made a few comments, and I agree with them, that it might be helpful for Trust Council to be given a range of options that proposes perhaps some additional cuts. If we go down that path, I would suggest that...

[3:31:24] Trustee Patrick: Oh, I hate to interrupt you. Here, after all my plans, I roared into going right back to budget. Before we get into budget, so hold that

[3:31:32] Voice 6: thought. We

[3:31:33] Trustee Patrick: had some long service awards that we needed to pay attention to. And some staff awards. So I'm going to turn the floor over to CAO Broney. Thank you for stopping me because I just want to finish this budget.

[3:31:52] Voice 9: Thank you, Chair. And yeah, as much fun as the budget conversation is, as many of you know, each year at this time, we present some annual staff awards.

[3:32:04] Voice 9: And it is my, I enjoyed it last year because I remember it was my first meeting. I was like, this is a great job. I get to give people awards. What a great thing to do.

[3:32:11] Voice 9: So I'm happy to do it again this year. This year, we have two staff members who we're recognizing for their contribution to Island's Trust.

[3:32:18] Voice 9: And I want to highlight that these awards are not determined by me.

[3:32:21] Voice 9: I actually have no influence in this process at all.

[3:32:25] Voice 9: I find out about them shortly before you do, actually.

[3:32:28] Voice 9: So these are nominations from staff by their colleagues across the organization, which

[3:32:34] Voice 9: I think is in many ways one of my preferred ways to recognize staff, because it's folks

[3:32:39] Voice 9: who work together each day and taking the time to nominate their colleagues for their

[3:32:44] Voice 9: work.

[3:32:44] Voice 9: so all staff are invited to submit nominations in a variety of categories and then the recipients

[3:32:50] Voice 9: are selected by a committee of staff from across the organization and so i'm pleased to share the

[3:32:56] Voice 9: outcome of that process with you today and so our first recipient this year in the champion

[3:33:02] Voice 9: category is the manager of bylaw compliance and enforcement warren dingman um as as you all know

[3:33:21] Voice 9: by-law compliance and enforcement is some of the most challenging work that we do at

[3:33:25] Voice 9: Islands Trust, navigating often challenging dynamics in ways that uphold both legal

[3:33:31] Voice 9: requirements, but also striving to meet diverse community expectations. And the colleague who

[3:33:36] Voice 9: nominated Warren noted his deep commitment to Islands Trust and to the team that he leads and

[3:33:41] Voice 9: works with every day. They praised his dependability, his willingness to take on difficult

[3:33:46] Voice 9: challenges and saying his support for his colleagues and they also praised his

[3:33:50] Voice 9: efforts to solve problems creatively but pragmatically which I'm a big fan of so

[3:33:55] Voice 9: please join me in recognizing Warren Dingman recipient of this year's

[3:33:59] Voice 9: champion award

[3:34:04] Voice 19: thank you

[3:34:10] Voice 9: very much Warren for your great work our second

[3:34:16] Voice 9: recipient is not able to join us today I think because he's actually in a meeting

[3:34:21] Voice 9: or something and no he's just slacking off yeah um anyway so yeah i know he wanted to be here but

[3:34:28] Voice 9: was was unable to be here and so um but he is uh fittingly uh being recognized in the legacy

[3:34:34] Voice 9: category as you know robert kojima announced recently his plan to retire at the end of

[3:34:40] Voice 9: january after more than two and a half decades as a pillar of the planning team at islands trust

[3:34:45] Voice 9: Throughout his career, Robert has mentored countless planners, managers, and staff, quietly shaping professional paths through his calm presence, clear guidance, and unwavering integrity.

[3:34:56] Voice 9: His ability to distill complex issues into simple step-by-step pathways has set a standard for excellence in land use planning, not just at Islands Trust, but more broadly.

[3:35:05] Voice 9: I know elected officials and colleagues from across the organization consistently rely on and respect his balanced judgment, his clarity of communication, and his commitment to community-driven outcomes.

[3:35:17] Voice 9: As his nomination notes, Robert will leave the Islands Trust far better for his work.

[3:35:22] Voice 9: The staff he mentored, the communities whose goals he helped to realize, and the systems and processes he built will continue to guide this organization for years to come.

[3:35:30] Voice 9: So please join me in recognizing that enduring impact that Robert has had as the recipient of this year's Islands Trust Legacy Award.

[3:35:46] Voice 9: And now I'm going to invite Chair Patrick to come up because she's going to be in some photos and present a couple of UBCM long service awards, which I think we mentioned at our September meeting.

[3:35:57] Voice 9: meeting so it's a it's a pleasure for us to recognize today two trustees with the presentation

[3:36:03] Voice 9: of the UBCM long service awards which honor elected individuals who have served as members

[3:36:08] Voice 9: of council or a regional board for a total of 20 or 25 years this year the chair asked

[3:36:13] Voice 9: us to submit two nominations for two eligible trustees you are of course all very aware

[3:36:19] Voice 9: of the commitment and community spirit that is required to take step forward for for public

[3:36:25] Voice 9: office and we as staff certainly share a deep respect for anyone with the courage to do so,

[3:36:31] Voice 9: let alone for 20 years or more. And so our first honoree is Trustee Peter Luckham.

[3:36:45] Voice 9: Trustee Luckham has served six terms since 2005, including about half of that as chair of Trust

[3:36:52] Voice 9: Council. So congratulations, Peter. Yeah, we'll send you over there in front of the banners.

[3:37:04] Voice 9: keep going don't trip

[3:37:05] Voice 9: I'm never going to stand in the way of you saying something

[3:37:33] Voice 9: Peter you go ahead

[3:37:38] Trustee Luckham: this is a real honor

[3:37:41] Trustee Luckham: but I want you to know

[3:37:43] Trustee Luckham: I said

[3:37:44] Trustee Luckham: kind of funny I said this

[3:37:46] Trustee Luckham: oh so I said this a month

[3:37:48] Trustee Luckham: ago because I ended up actually getting a

[3:37:50] Trustee Luckham: fire chief's long service award

[3:37:52] Trustee Luckham: which was a complete surprise

[3:37:54] Trustee Luckham: but this too was a

[3:37:56] Trustee Luckham: complete surprise

[3:37:58] Trustee Luckham: and a guy like me

[3:38:00] Trustee Luckham: doesn't get these without others and all of the trustees that I served with all these years

[3:38:08] Trustee Luckham: probably too long but all these years have enabled me to be able to stand the test of time and still

[3:38:18] Trustee Luckham: be here today and I'm grateful to every single one of you present and not present for this

[3:38:23] Trustee Luckham: opportunity thank you thank

[3:38:32] Voice 9: you peter and our second honoree is trustee dodds trustee dodds

[3:38:44] Voice 9: has served seven terms since 2002 and somehow still manages to get reelected with something

[3:38:50] Voice 9: like 96 percent so that in itself is quite an impressive legacy i think actually by the time

[3:38:56] Voice 9: we reach next fall's election uh she will have actually reached the 25-year mark so we'll have

[3:39:02] Voice 9: in the and sure to submit a nomination for that category as well for next year yeah but

[3:39:08] Voice 9: congratulations to that i'll see that i

[3:39:19] Voice 33: just wanted to say somewhat like peter and uh i was

[3:39:22] Voice 33: going to say i think i think i beat john money i'll be sure to send him a picture um but i you

[3:39:28] Voice 33: know as far as my role as a main island local trustee i've had huge support from my fellow

[3:39:33] Voice 33: trustees from the time i started i go back and without that teamwork that we've always done

[3:39:40] Voice 33: including our chairs it's made it so much easier and then ultimately and believe me i bear scars

[3:39:46] Voice 33: we had some pretty nasty you know it wasn't always nice but uh my community is just such a positive

[3:39:53] Voice 33: community now working together and so i think i have to thank my community for their support they

[3:39:58] Voice 33: always seem to keep wanting to bring me back so thank you very much and thank you for all what

[3:40:03] Voice 33: all of you do all

[3:40:13] Trustee Patrick: right guess what we're back at budget i apologize for interrupting you trustee

[3:40:18] Trustee Patrick: bernardo but uh that was an important uh break back on your thoughts i

[3:40:23] Voice 6: agree it's important it's

[3:40:25] Voice 6: a little sad now we have to from that high point to go back to this stuff but uh so be it like i

[3:40:31] Voice 6: was saying before i i kind of agree with the trustee borthwick that a range of options could

[3:40:36] Voice 6: could be helpful. And along those lines, if we do go down that path, I would suggest that

[3:40:41] Voice 6: one avenue we could take is to ask FPC and staff to develop proposals,

[3:40:47] Voice 6: targets to knock down tax increases to 11%, 10%, and 9%. Then that would be something for

[3:40:55] Voice 6: Trust Council to consider. But, and this is a really big proviso, I don't think we should be

[3:41:01] Voice 6: be making that type of direction unless we're honest with ourselves and serious about cutting

[3:41:08] Voice 6: making further cuts because what they're really going to amount to is cutting into some bone

[3:41:14] Voice 6: because that's what's involved if we're really intend to further reduce the budget now personally

[3:41:21] Voice 6: i'm pretty hard line about cost benefit analysis and i've been unhappy with how our historical

[3:41:27] Voice 6: historical legacy is a process that simply gets in the way of that. So I'd be all for it, but

[3:41:34] Voice 6: we have to be sincere and straight with ourselves about whether it's feasible. Yesterday,

[3:41:42] Voice 6: we exercised line-by-line judgment over the budget. We've already given up those things we

[3:41:48] Voice 6: collectively decided were the limit of what we can stomach in terms of cuts. Now we're saying,

[3:41:55] Voice 6: say, well, those numbers still are pretty big. Let's get more. That means it's unavoidable that

[3:42:01] Voice 6: for many trustees, any further cuts are going to feel like horrible, arbitrary decisions.

[3:42:10] Voice 6: And more than that, they're going to feel damaging. If we've got it in us to make those

[3:42:18] Voice 6: kind of sacrifices, to sacrifice things that each of us cares a lot about, then by all means,

[3:42:23] Voice 6: means let's ask FPC and staff to develop these options but otherwise if we're not prepared to

[3:42:29] Voice 6: make sacrifices that are really going to hurt asking for potential cuts will just amount a

[3:42:34] Voice 6: little more than a kind of a gesture and that that's really only going to add up to wasting

[3:42:40] Voice 6: staff's time and you know we've been through that story so that's that's that provides

[3:42:46] Voice 6: beforehand I had asked director mobs if she could develop some back of the envelope numbers

[3:42:53] Voice 6: numbers. Perhaps we could ask her to provide those numbers now. Thank you.

[3:43:03] Voice 21: Through

[3:43:05] Voice 12: the chair, I'm happy to provide those estimates. I will, again, reiterate these

[3:43:10] Voice 12: are estimates. They are based on data that is not current, not accurate, and so these

[3:43:15] Voice 12: ranges are bound to change when we get new BC assessment data in January. But the current

[3:43:21] Voice 12: budget, we're looking at a range of $50 to $60 per average valued household increase for residents

[3:43:29] Voice 12: in local trust areas. For Bowen Island residents, that is looking at about $65 to $75 increase per

[3:43:35] Voice 12: average valued household.

[3:43:39] Trustee Patrick: Thank you. All right. Trustee Borthwick and then Trustee Elliott.

[3:43:46] Voice 23: Yeah. And I want to thank Director Mobs for that and for talking with me in the various breaks

[3:43:52] Voice 23: we've had um i have sent a motion uh not from my trust email because for some reason uh outlook

[3:44:01] Voice 23: was down um but uh and this is i want to sort of preface this by um i started with the concept of

[3:44:10] Voice 23: like a couple of ranges but i also don't want to generate undue work for fpc and for for director

[3:44:14] Voice 23: or mobs. It's my opinion that we are in a position where things are in general at the trust, not as

[3:44:24] Voice 23: we feel they should be, nor as we wish them to be, and that we are also facing some pretty serious

[3:44:33] Voice 23: changes in the financial landscape in the next budget cycle. I am not on FPC. This is not my

[3:44:39] Voice 23: my happy place. Um, but I can see the writing on the wall, I think as well as anyone, um, we need

[3:44:45] Voice 23: to make, we need to be prepared to make some hard decisions, but more importantly, and this is,

[3:44:51] Voice 23: this is crucial to me is that I, you know, I am happy to justify and to speak to any of my

[3:44:57] Voice 23: constituents at whatever level of increase we have to be, but I have, but I want to do that

[3:45:02] Voice 23: from a place of being able to defend those decisions. And likewise, you know, I want to

[3:45:10] Voice 23: make sure that the burdens are not being unfairly passed on to our constituents. I think that's

[3:45:14] Voice 23: crucial. I think we need to be able to fully defend the work. And that requires us to, you know,

[3:45:21] Voice 23: bear that collective responsibility. And we all have different perspectives. We all have different

[3:45:25] Voice 23: levels, thresholds that we're comfortable with. My intent with the motion that I've sent in,

[3:45:31] Voice 23: which hopefully alex has got um that i'll ask her to just wait to before putting it up is that

[3:45:37] Voice 23: i would like um i would like for us to decide upon a threshold and this is not the be all and

[3:45:45] Voice 23: end all obviously we're going to continue to have these discussions the way that the discussion was

[3:45:49] Voice 23: had yesterday in terms of pulling each item and being pulled in every different direction

[3:45:54] Voice 23: i don't think was good process i don't think it was good for our communities sorry i will

[3:46:02] Voice 23: okay um i i um sorry um i would like for us to to trust fpc director mobs to do the work that

[3:46:18] Voice 23: they do so well and that they have signed up to do um and and i would like for us to give them a

[3:46:25] Voice 23: clear direction to reach i don't want them to come come up with this overnight i want to suggest

[3:46:31] Voice 23: that we give a clear tax increase limit

[3:46:36] Voice 23: that we find palatable.

[3:46:37] Voice 23: And it's not going to be perfect for everyone,

[3:46:40] Voice 23: but I want us as a collective to decide on this,

[3:46:44] Voice 23: agree to abide by it when the time comes

[3:46:48] Voice 23: as to the best of our ability,

[3:46:50] Voice 23: and then to ask that that comes back

[3:46:53] Voice 23: at the Committee of the Whole meeting

[3:46:55] Voice 23: that is designed around the budget on February 18th.

[3:46:59] Voice 23: that gives them some time to work on it.

[3:47:02] Voice 23: And I want us to be able to vote on this

[3:47:04] Voice 23: and to trust that they will do the work

[3:47:06] Voice 23: to the best of their ability.

[3:47:08] Voice 23: And in the knowledge that none of us are going to be,

[3:47:11] Voice 23: this is not going to be our dream budget for anyone,

[3:47:13] Voice 23: but that times are what they are.

[3:47:15] Voice 23: The work that we do is important and valuable.

[3:47:18] Voice 23: It deserves to be funded.

[3:47:20] Voice 23: And that also we have a responsibility

[3:47:22] Voice 23: to do that responsibly.

[3:47:25] Voice 23: So I have a motion that I'm prepared to make.

[3:47:28] Voice 23: um if council is willing to hear it and i apologize for going so far over my time

[3:47:34] Trustee Patrick: well i think you've driven the suspense so let's see it yes

[3:47:39] Voice 21: trustee elliott before we get to sure

[3:47:44] Voice 20: um so i'm conscious that a lot of the budget pressure um and particularly what is going to

[3:47:53] Voice 20: result in bowen's um high tax increase a lot of it's driven by the work that needs to be done by

[3:47:59] Voice 20: the Conservancy. And so I would request that that body be asked to consider its budget

[3:48:07] Voice 20: requests, which we do have a meeting before the FPC meeting on January 20th. There's a

[3:48:16] Voice 20: financial planning committee meeting on the 21st. A lot of the budget requests that were

[3:48:21] Voice 20: were advanced came before the operational review was released. And I do think the Conservancy

[3:48:29] Voice 20: Board might like the chance to review before there's cutting and slashing by other bodies

[3:48:34] Voice 20: just on the merits of numbers alone. So I think there's important questions that are being asked

[3:48:43] Voice 20: about why now, what are the really critical pieces that need to advance, but that needs to be had at

[3:48:51] Voice 20: the conservancy table in respect of its decision-making processes so just ask for consideration

[3:48:57] Voice 20: of that thank

[3:48:58] Trustee Patrick: you hey trustee forthwick you want to present your motion i

[3:49:02] Voice 23: would um so alex when

[3:49:05] Voice 23: you've got it and yes i agree that we should be making sure that we invite the conservancy into

[3:49:09] Voice 23: this discussion um so this i'm i'm going to make it but i and if i can speak to it afterwards

[3:49:16] Voice 23: i move the trust council requests the financial planning committee return a budget with a tax

[3:49:22] Voice 23: increase of no more than eight percent for the general trust area uh for the consideration of

[3:49:26] Voice 23: the committee of the whole meeting on the budget scheduled for february 18th 2026 and perhaps just

[3:49:34] Voice 23: before this because i think there are some things here that might move um i i didn't know how to say

[3:49:40] Voice 23: capture better uh the the difference between the bowen and and the greater trust area thing so i

[3:49:46] Voice 23: think i think that's a messy way to say it but i i don't know of a better way to do it off the top

[3:49:51] Voice 23: my head um and that this number is something that i've pulled out of thin air and i i would welcome

[3:49:58] Voice 23: us to debate it um but i i i think once we make that decision that we should go forward anyways

[3:50:05] Voice 23: um if we want to make any i don't know if the the thing i think that's more crucial is that

[3:50:09] Voice 23: for the general trust area i don't know if there's a better way to be inclusive of bowen island

[3:50:13] Voice 23: municipality in that um or if this is good enough for staff i

[3:50:20] Trustee Patrick: think they're all looking i think the

[3:50:24] Trustee Patrick: Sorry,

[3:50:25] Voice 12: go ahead. Sorry, folks. I didn't realize that was actually being asked of me. If you wanted to consider Bowen more specifically in this resolution, you could tag onto it that, you know, budget reductions that prioritize the Bowen Island Municipal Levy are prioritized.

[3:50:42] Voice 23: It's a little bit more about, like, I just think it's a little bit messy, because obviously, because Bowen and the wider trust area have these two different numbers, it's more just trying to be inclusive of that shift. I'm not trying to be preferential or otherwise to Bowen, but just, I don't know how to say it.

[3:51:02] Voice 12: I think staff can just understand that we need to be considering that as part of this exercise.

[3:51:06] Voice 12: Thank you.

[3:51:08] Trustee Patrick: I guess before we second this and move this forward, I think the percentage is probably worthy of some straw pulling to sort of narrow that in, perhaps, unless anyone has a better, Trustee Bernardo had said 9, 10, and 11%.

[3:51:28] Trustee Patrick: So, turn your microphone on, please.

[3:51:31] Voice 6: Thank you.

[3:51:32] Voice 6: If I may, I'd just like to ask Trustee Borthwick how he would feel about amending his resolution

[3:51:38] Voice 6: to provide that range.

[3:51:42] Voice 6: That looks pretty drastic.

[3:51:44] Voice 6: I'm seeing a lot of blood on the floor or something like that.

[3:51:48] Voice 6: And how do you feel about having a range, like, you know, can keep your 8%, 8, 10, 11,

[3:51:55] Voice 6: something like that, like three options so that these can be draft budgets, they can

[3:52:00] Voice 6: be tweaked.

[3:52:01] Voice 6: didn't that that will give trustees some range to think about it uh if i may sure yes please um

[3:52:07] Voice 23: oh just just my my aim here the only reason i just suggested one because i wanted to start with three

[3:52:13] Voice 23: but i want to not wind up like totally overwhelming fbc with having to come up with

[3:52:19] Voice 23: three things and it's the the i know that arriving at a number is a very uh uh easy way to say

[3:52:26] Voice 23: something incredibly complicated because there's lots of different ways you can get there um so

[3:52:30] Voice 23: So just if that's not an undue burden on Director Mobs and the FBC, that I'm happy to do that.

[3:52:36] Voice 23: But otherwise, I think if we can stick to one, maybe that is easier.

[3:52:41] Voice 23: But I'm open to hearing what Director Mobs believes.

[3:52:45] Voice 12: Certainly, staff prefer presenting one budget as opposed to multiples.

[3:52:49] Voice 12: goals. If you'd like to, you know, have more options, what I would suggest is give direction

[3:52:56] Voice 12: to return with a budget at a specific tax percentage and a list of options to further

[3:53:00] Voice 12: adjust. That would be how you would receive some information to, you know, change that tax increase

[3:53:06] Voice 12: if you'd like to. I do have some information, if I may, Chair, that may support Trust Council's

[3:53:12] Voice 12: decision on which tax increase to land at. Please do. So just as a reminder for Council,

[3:53:17] Voice 12: we are losing substantial revenue sources next year. So five and a half percent of our tax

[3:53:22] Voice 12: increase is actually due to that factor, the fact that we're losing revenue. An additional

[3:53:27] Voice 12: almost 2%, one and a half, 2% is a result of required staff wage increases. And so we're

[3:53:34] Voice 12: already at seven or seven and a half percent simply because of those factors. So you may

[3:53:38] Voice 12: want to consider that as you determine what percentage to land up. So

[3:53:46] Voice 23: yeah, just, and I,

[3:53:47] Voice 23: I chose 8% knowing that this was going to be a number that was going to make people

[3:53:52] Voice 23: wince.

[3:53:52] Voice 23: That was intentional.

[3:53:55] Voice 23: I hope that we, you know, arrive at something that feels more comfortable, but I thought

[3:53:59] Voice 23: we just needed to start from somewhere.

[3:54:02] Trustee Patrick: So what about the suggestion of and other, what was the wording that you just used and

[3:54:08] Trustee Patrick: other options?

[3:54:10] Trustee Patrick: Sorry, Trustee, Director Mobbs, you had some wording there.

[3:54:16] Voice 12: I can actually pull that up.

[3:54:18] Voice 12: Give me one moment.

[3:54:18] Voice 12: I have some wording.

[3:54:19] Voice 12: here. Go ahead. You could add onto it and provide options to further reduce the draft 26-27 budget

[3:54:29] Voice 12: to a X percent tax increase.

[3:54:35] Voice 23: Yeah, if that, Alex, I don't know. If you're able to incorporate that

[3:54:39] Voice 23: language, I'm very happy for that to be how it's worded.

[3:54:45] Trustee Patrick: Okay, I'll let those two work it out. I

[3:54:47] Trustee Patrick: see Trustee Evans.

[3:54:53] Voice 14: I'm a little concerned about the 8 percent, reducing it down to 8 percent,

[3:54:56] Voice 14: just because that would mean that outside of operations,

[3:55:00] Voice 14: there is no budget for anything else.

[3:55:02] Voice 14: I would recommend at the most coming back with options to reach a 9.9%.

[3:55:09] Voice 14: So if we can change the 8% to 9.9%,

[3:55:12] Voice 14: that will provide plenty of options for us to choose anything that may be palatable.

[3:55:21] Voice 14: But it's options for reduction versus a place that we're agreeing to at this table

[3:55:27] Voice 14: to agree to wind up at before we've seen it trustee like him uh

[3:55:35] Trustee Luckham: thank you chair i would prefer

[3:55:36] Trustee Luckham: to speak to emotion but because you've entertained the conversation i'm going to um jump in i

[3:55:45] Trustee Luckham: appreciate how trustee bernardo started us off in framing that picture and i totally respect

[3:55:53] Trustee Luckham: trustee borthwick's enthusiasm for and embracing this and wanting to

[3:55:59] Trustee Luckham: look for solutions. However, I'm not in support of setting a cap. And in fact, the only cap I

[3:56:08] Trustee Luckham: would set is the one that Julia mentioned the other day, which was 11-whatever-it-was.

[3:56:14] Trustee Luckham: Let's not go above that. So let me just paraphrase why. We all saw CEO's report

[3:56:23] Trustee Luckham: yesterday. Well, over the last week or 10 days. The pen did not go to that paper until the CAO

[3:56:32] Trustee Luckham: had had some very serious conversations with his staff and the needs of the Allen's Trust.

[3:56:38] Trustee Luckham: And indeed, I can't say, but I would imagine he said, where can you cut? Because he's seen

[3:56:45] Trustee Luckham: the numbers. And I am totally prepared to believe that there were cuts that transpired

[3:56:51] Trustee Luckham: in those conversations in the role of the cao and some of you that have been here for some time

[3:56:57] Trustee Luckham: will recall we've had these high numbers before this is probably one of the more significant

[3:57:03] Trustee Luckham: moments but we all knew the bomb was in the attic um we have gone to staff on so many occasions

[3:57:11] Trustee Luckham: and asked them go back and sharpen your pencil and i respect the fact that the new cao come on

[3:57:21] Trustee Luckham: board had a totally new look at things has come to us with a serious proposal which we adopted

[3:57:26] Trustee Luckham: yesterday um i do not believe there's any fab that's the only word i can think of on this

[3:57:34] Trustee Luckham: critter and um you know at every moment of every staff member's work and the ceo again sorry ceo

[3:57:42] Trustee Luckham: the ceo's uh oversight on the operation of this organization any opportunity to not spend money

[3:57:48] Trustee Luckham: will be made. And a lot of credit goes to Julia, good credit, for getting us into this place

[3:57:55] Trustee Luckham: because there's no fat on the bones left over from previous years. We need to stick to the

[3:58:03] Trustee Luckham: commitments we made in that motion of the nine points. I don't see trimming this much money off

[3:58:08] Trustee Luckham: a tight budget already where we have asked staff to do the best they can and they have done the

[3:58:14] Trustee Luckham: the best they can. And I want to respect that enthusiasm that they bring to the table to

[3:58:20] Trustee Luckham: continue to do the preserve and protect mandate in the way that we want to. And there will be

[3:58:26] Trustee Luckham: shortfalls going forward. We've already done that. We've made, at this table, we've made some serious

[3:58:31] Trustee Luckham: cuts already. And we put off things to the future. So let's be cognizant of that. We can't continue

[3:58:40] Trustee Luckham: to put things off. Thank you for the time.

[3:58:46] Trustee Patrick: I'm going to continue to take speakers. I just

[3:58:48] Trustee Patrick: wanted to clarify was the intent of the motion that's up there more to be the second one is

[3:58:52] Trustee Patrick: probably not meant to be zero i would assume would it be like a higher number at the top like

[3:58:59] Trustee Patrick: ten percent and the lower one would be like eight percent to create that range yeah so but

[3:59:06] Trustee Patrick: anyway i want to just ask some questions of thought over there we have a couple of speakers

[3:59:14] Trustee Patrick: here of trustee yates and trustee middleton uh

[3:59:18] Voice 30: thank you chair patrick um i think maybe trustee

[3:59:21] Voice 30: Luckham said it better than I could. It's very hard for me to support this motion after all the

[3:59:29] Voice 30: work we did yesterday and the day before, and the work we've done over the past few weeks looking at

[3:59:36] Voice 30: the operational review and thinking about our constituents. And as much as I respect Trustee

[3:59:42] Voice 30: Borthwick's intent here, because it's such a good, it's such an honorable intent, I just can't

[3:59:48] Voice 30: support it. We already know from our director, Director Mobs, that five and a half and I think

[3:59:54] Voice 30: two and a half percent of this increase, we don't even have any control over.

[4:00:00] Voice 30: So, like, there's 8% right there.

[4:00:02] Voice 30: And we also know that the low budgets that we've presented in past years

[4:00:07] Voice 30: has been because we've been dipping into surplus and things like that,

[4:00:12] Voice 30: that we've been told it's not a great idea.

[4:00:15] Voice 30: Thank you.

[4:00:16] Voice 30: All right.

[4:00:18] Trustee Patrick: We have Trustee Middleton and Trustee Harris.

[4:00:23] Trustee Patrick: There is no motion seconded.

[4:00:25] Trustee Patrick: Let me be clear that there is no motion on the floor.

[4:00:28] Trustee Patrick: Can

[4:00:28] Trustee Middleton: I second it?

[4:00:29] Trustee Patrick: Not yet.

[4:00:30] Trustee Patrick: I think it needs, we need some clarity on the motion that's up there.

[4:00:37] Trustee Patrick: So there is no motion on the floor as of now.

[4:00:43] Trustee Middleton: I'm not sure that's true, Chair.

[4:00:45] Trustee Middleton: There was no motion.

[4:00:49] Trustee Patrick: There's a draft motion we had not finished discussing to understand the numbers that are in it.

[4:00:54] Trustee Patrick: It has not been seconded because we were still discussing the numbers.

[4:00:57] Trustee Patrick: That was how it was presented, was to have a bit of a conversation on the numbers up there.

[4:01:02] Trustee Middleton: So is Trustee Bartholomew withdrawing the motion, or why is it on the screen in front of us?

[4:01:08] Trustee Patrick: We were working on the motion, Trustee Middleton.

[4:01:11] Trustee Patrick: If you would like to hold to have your – to discuss, and we can go back to just understanding the two percentages that are in there to understand the intent of the motion was where we were.

[4:01:23] Trustee Middleton: I'm sure that's a worthy pursuit to have a discussion of the numbers.

[4:01:27] Trustee Middleton: It's just, as we've heard, not parliamentary.

[4:01:30] Trustee Middleton: entry. I mean, we're confusing ourselves. What are we talking to if we don't have a motion before us?

[4:01:37] Trustee Middleton: But I defer to your judgment, Chairman. If you want to handle it that way, no problem. I can

[4:01:42] Trustee Middleton: happily make my comment, which is I think we can't unread the operational review.

[4:01:50] Trustee Middleton: We read the review. It was well endorsed. That review talked about a lack of coherence in some

[4:01:56] Trustee Middleton: of the spending that the organization is engaged in it's not a criticism of anybody's work it's not

[4:02:03] Trustee Middleton: a criticism of um of um of the goals or the priorities but it is just a reality and i think

[4:02:10] Trustee Middleton: we heard that particularly when we talked about the i some of the i.t spending at the conservancy

[4:02:17] Trustee Middleton: it would benefit from being a part of a five-year i.t plan you could clearly hear that and we what

[4:02:24] Trustee Middleton: What we had was in two minutes, we raced through a half million dollars

[4:02:30] Trustee Middleton: that was awarded to the Islands Trust Conservancy.

[4:02:34] Trustee Middleton: I don't think we, and again, there's no villain here.

[4:02:38] Trustee Middleton: It's just the circumstance was we had a lot to do.

[4:02:41] Trustee Middleton: And it's that negative billing I spoke to before.

[4:02:44] Trustee Middleton: Nobody's speaking to the benefits.

[4:02:46] Trustee Middleton: And so therefore, we don't fully and properly understand them.

[4:02:49] Trustee Middleton: And I think this exercise, whatever number we come up with,

[4:02:53] Trustee Middleton: will at least allow us to see the distinction

[4:02:56] Trustee Middleton: and see the positives of what was put into that larger budget

[4:02:59] Trustee Middleton: and then

[4:03:00] Trustee Middleton: make a decision.

[4:03:00] Trustee Middleton: So that's where I don't think this is as nasty as it might sound.

[4:03:06] Trustee Middleton: I guess that's why I was after it to be on the table.

[4:03:08] Trustee Middleton: Anyway, thank you. Thanks for listening.

[4:03:09] Trustee Patrick: Thank you, Trustee Middleton.

[4:03:11] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Harris?

[4:03:15] Voice 22: Thank you.

[4:03:19] Voice 4: Well, honestly, I would be opposed to this motion

[4:03:26] Voice 4: for the fact that it doesn't go far enough in my view.

[4:03:29] Voice 4: um as trustee middleton mentioned yesterday about half a million dollars you know in two minutes

[4:03:34] Voice 4: getting okayed for the trust conservancy it's um and i've heard other trustees say things like well

[4:03:39] Voice 4: you know we can't do anything about it it's there's operational um you know consideration

[4:03:45] Voice 4: and just going to go up well we can do something about it we as a trust council can say no we don't

[4:03:51] Voice 4: want the the um budget to go up at all we can do that that's in the purview of our power and if it

[4:03:57] Voice 4: it means that there has to be like i heard another trustee say blood on the floor then so be it um

[4:04:04] Voice 4: you know in my opinion there's no way i can support any increase in a budget whatsoever i

[4:04:11] Voice 4: would only support a decrease in a large one and and i would have to have that noted whenever that

[4:04:17] Voice 4: vote takes place because i can't walk through the town or just hang my hold my head up high

[4:04:24] Voice 4: without um opposing it when these tax increases and the taxes in general and what the policies

[4:04:30] Voice 4: from this organization have done to the communities well the community on salt spring anyways

[4:04:34] Voice 4: is have them pay for their own demise and there's no balance i don't see any balance here i see a

[4:04:41] Voice 4: complete imbalance we're supposed we talked about balance throughout the term none of it's happened

[4:04:46] Voice 4: i understand there's a majority of people that in my view have an eco-radical um you know ideology

[4:04:52] Voice 4: ideology that they're purviewing, but it's...

[4:04:55] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Harris, I appreciate your input, but the language has gone too far. So I'm going to...

[4:05:06] Trustee Patrick: I

[4:05:06] Voice 4: would like to know where I've spoken out of where I've said something wrong,

[4:05:09] Voice 4: because I think of the

[4:05:11] Voice 4: Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

[4:05:13] Trustee Patrick: All right, the next speaker, Trustee Peterson, and then we do need to return to

[4:05:19] Trustee Patrick: to this idea of a motion so that we can have a bit of a debate.

[4:05:22] Trustee Patrick: I think in some ways, Trustee Bernardo put a test out there. Where is your

[4:05:26] Trustee Patrick: appetite? Where are you going to stand? And that's how I'm looking at this conversation

[4:05:30] Trustee Patrick: right now. So, Trustee Peterson.

[4:05:36] Voice 7: Thank you, Chair. I think for

[4:05:39] Voice 7: all of us at this council

[4:05:44] Voice 7: now in the third year, nearing the end of our

[4:05:48] Voice 7: term um i reflect on the imperfections of this process um i don't think we're i think from a

[4:05:58] Voice 7: process uh point of view we're not doing well with our budgeting um i also reflect on the decisions

[4:06:07] Voice 7: made over the last couple of days and i don't see a way of reaching um the type of the level

[4:06:18] Voice 7: of reductions that's that are being proposed here without uh revisiting um staffing uh uh decisions

[4:06:30] Voice 7: that we've previously made and um and one of the concerns that i'm feeling at this moment is that

[4:06:40] Voice 7: the other areas are um directly related to our commitments to reconciliation when i look at the

[4:06:50] Voice 7: decisions we've made over the last couple of days a lot of the operational um you know the

[4:06:58] Voice 7: all the big numbers are in reconciliation and staffing uh all all the rest of the uh increases

[4:07:07] Voice 7: are um you know the death by a thousand cuts they're minor so i think that um

[4:07:15] Voice 7: should this motion go ahead then i think the trust council should expect to see proposals

[4:07:20] Voice 7: proposals that remove staff positions that this council just approved and or significant amounts of funding towards our commitments to reconciliation.

[4:07:34] Voice 7: I just wanted to draw attention.

[4:07:35] Voice 7: I don't see how else it can be done without those things being deeply affected.

[4:07:40] Trustee Patrick: Thank you.

[4:07:41] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Laroni.

[4:07:49] Voice 13: Hello.

[4:07:50] Voice 13: Can you hear me?

[4:07:51] Voice 27: Yes.

[4:07:52] Voice 13: Okay.

[4:07:53] Voice 13: Okay, I just wanted to say that what is the point of doing any of this if we don't have enough money to do any of this?

[4:07:59] Voice 13: I mean, costs goes up every year, inflation goes up, groceries cost a little more, everything costs a little more.

[4:08:04] Voice 13: And if we don't have enough budget to do anything in our mandate, then what's the point?

[4:08:10] Voice 13: And I totally understand trying to cut money and trying to make this work and to answer to our constituents, but there we are.

[4:08:19] Voice 13: Trustee Getty?

[4:08:23] Voice 11: um okay so at the last financial planning committee we went through the budget that we

[4:08:29] Voice 11: were given then line by line same process that we went through yesterday as a large group similar

[4:08:35] Voice 11: process um you didn't uh get a report from the financial committee per se in terms of this is

[4:08:43] Voice 11: the reasoning in terms of why we cut back the 55 000 for this and the 115 000 for that um so that

[4:08:51] Voice 11: that it was a bit of a disadvantage, I think.

[4:08:54] Voice 11: And I think that we're, I'm not sure if this is going to help.

[4:09:01] Voice 11: It would be really helpful for financial planning if there were options.

[4:09:05] Voice 11: If we went through the process with the operational review as a blue sky,

[4:09:11] Voice 11: given that these are priorities that weren't considered by the financial planning

[4:09:18] Voice 11: and these are issues that we've consistently put down at the bottom

[4:09:22] Voice 11: of the governance review list of priorities but we recognize and we agree that those are

[4:09:30] Voice 11: issues that should be dealt with and more much more effectively and that there's reasons why

[4:09:37] Voice 11: we haven't dealt with them before we can agree on all those principles then i'd still like to know

[4:09:43] Voice 11: from the staff and not now necessarily but in some sort of a report for financial community

[4:09:49] Voice 11: if this is blue sky what is it if it's slightly cloudy what if it's a torrential rain what if you

[4:09:57] Voice 11: know what can we get away with using the analogy of the the weather forecast but um you know what

[4:10:04] Voice 11: what can we realistically if there's not the whole thing about the prize ponies if we're all talking

[4:10:12] Voice 11: about optimum you know optimistic reality let's let's give us the full

[4:10:21] Voice 11: range of possibilities so that if we don't have to spend an extra three to

[4:10:27] Voice 11: five hundred thousand dollars on this budget as a new staffing contingent what

[4:10:33] Voice 11: can we get away with in terms of both the the fact that it's a an election

[4:10:39] Voice 11: year the fact that you know we're already overburdened and that this is

[4:10:45] Voice 11: going to require more staffing supervision so we've done the micro I

[4:10:52] Voice 11: wanted a macro and I find I think that if we can see if there if in the

[4:10:59] Voice 11: busyness of yesterday we overlapped then what does that translate into can it

[4:11:04] Voice 11: translate into a reduction. I have massive problems with the process that we went through

[4:11:10] Voice 11: yesterday. And I'm not sure, while we were diligent and we did a lot of hard work, I'm not

[4:11:16] Voice 11: sure that we had the perspective of both the micro of each line and the macro of where we're going

[4:11:23] Voice 11: with the priorities for the institution. And so, yeah, if this helps the financial planning

[4:11:32] Voice 11: and committee come up with some options i'm not sure if this is the formula that will help us get

[4:11:38] Voice 11: there um then i would i don't and i don't even know if in the end of it once everything settles

[4:11:47] Voice 11: down uh you know i've improved with a good night's sleep i've improved from yesterday's

[4:11:52] Voice 11: depression and you know i'm not i'm still thinking about quitting but what the hell

[4:11:58] Voice 11: I always, that's my default all the time. But, you know, if we, if this gives us some flexibility to be able to go through it and to go through the budget again and make any kind of recommendations that might be more palatable, both with respect to operations and planning and all of the things that Bowen doesn't pay for.

[4:12:20] Voice 11: and it has an effect on Bowen that we can all understand

[4:12:24] Voice 11: and we can all support and all sell,

[4:12:28] Voice 11: then I think that's an exercise that I want the financial planning committee

[4:12:32] Voice 11: to be able to go through.

[4:12:34] Voice 11: So if this is giving us some options,

[4:12:37] Voice 11: having the staff look long and hard in terms of

[4:12:40] Voice 11: if you can't have your entire wish list, what are your priorities?

[4:12:45] Voice 11: then um and we have to do the same with all of our prize ponies and um you know maybe we've got

[4:12:53] Voice 11: something that we can look at

[4:12:54] Trustee Patrick: there's two more first-time speakers than i see pens working away

[4:12:59] Trustee Patrick: with trustee borthwick and bernardo so i'm going to do trustee fast and then trustee graham and

[4:13:04] Trustee Patrick: then we'll hear your ideas thank

[4:13:09] Voice 16: you chair um i'm speaking uh following the pattern of trustee

[4:13:16] Voice 16: Luckum. I think we did our big work yesterday on this budget and on the trust in a once in

[4:13:26] Voice 16: several generation kind of reset by adopting the nine recommendations from our new CAO

[4:13:33] Voice 16: that we asked him for those recommendations. It was the changes to the big environment that he

[4:13:41] Voice 16: described on page six, the analysis, the report, had the perspective of someone from the outside.

[4:13:50] Voice 16: This is a reset opportunity. If we go down this road, I think we're erasing some of the work we

[4:13:56] Voice 16: did yesterday and the work that we asked our CAO to do. And by the way, I asked staff,

[4:14:04] Voice 16: does this mean about the Islands Trust Conservancy that I will no longer see Islands Trust Conservancy

[4:14:10] Voice 16: staff wheeling their bicycles through the terminal at speed to catch the next ferry to go to the next

[4:14:16] Voice 16: island on the same day no they said they'll still be out there on their bicycles uh pedaling around

[4:14:23] Voice 16: going to these various properties so it's already at the bone and um i want to change direction

[4:14:30] Voice 16: not to cut the engine out thank you thank you

[4:14:34] Trustee Patrick: trustee graham then back to our crafters

[4:14:38] Voice 1: Thank you, Chair.

[4:14:40] Voice 1: You know, I've been a member of the Financial Planning Committee a number of times, different iterations of Trust Council.

[4:14:47] Voice 1: Excuse me.

[4:14:48] Voice 1: This is the hard work of Trust Council.

[4:14:51] Voice 1: This is the hard work of all of us.

[4:14:52] Voice 1: We're trying to be responsible to our constituents.

[4:14:54] Voice 1: At the same time, we're trying to build the trust organization to do the work that a great number of our islanders want us to do.

[4:15:02] Voice 1: So this is a political decision that we have to make. We've asked staff to do their best. They've come back. The CEO did an excellent job of bringing his fresh perspective to the organization, and we endorsed his results.

[4:15:19] Voice 1: results, we have to move on. We have to move on. We went through our surplus last budget cycle.

[4:15:29] Voice 1: There's nothing left in the kitty, as they say. As much as it pains me, because I was of the

[4:15:36] Voice 1: opposite mind for, and always have been, do less, but do it better. But I'm listening to everyone.

[4:15:43] Voice 1: I'm listening to the CAO. I'm listening to the various committees. I'm listening to staff. I'm

[4:15:48] Voice 1: I'm listening to the problems that each staff organization,

[4:15:53] Voice 1: conservancy, planning, trust programs, and even financial,

[4:15:58] Voice 1: have done their very best to pare this down.

[4:16:01] Voice 1: This is what we are faced with.

[4:16:03] Voice 1: I can't support this motion.

[4:16:05] Voice 1: I think we should go ahead with the increase that we have been presented

[4:16:09] Voice 1: by our Director of Financial Planning.

[4:16:11] Voice 1: We need to gird ourselves and be prepared to take the thanks

[4:16:16] Voice 1: Thanks that we will get from many of our constituents for doing the job that we have been

[4:16:20] Voice 1: elected to do and take the criticisms that we will hear from other constituents who feel that

[4:16:27] Voice 1: this is an inappropriate level of government to do the work that we're doing. And that's just the

[4:16:33] Voice 1: role of being a political person. It's a tough job. It'll be easier next year because we won't

[4:16:42] Voice 1: have depleted our surplus. We will be in strong hands and the next iteration of Trust Council

[4:16:47] Voice 1: will thank us for being brave and moving forward. Thank you.

[4:16:52] Trustee Patrick: Thank you, Trustee Graham. And we also

[4:16:54] Trustee Patrick: will not have $200,000 of election budget in the next one. So I want to turn over to our crafters.

[4:17:00] Trustee Patrick: I'm sorry, go ahead, CEO Bruni.

[4:17:02] Voice 9: Thank you, Chair. If I may, I'd just like to offer a couple of

[4:17:05] Voice 9: comments on the discussions so far. First, thank you for acknowledging that the election expenditure

[4:17:09] Voice 9: is also a unique element of this year's budget and is significant. I appreciate the comments

[4:17:16] Voice 9: with regard to the operational review. I just want to reiterate, though, as I noted in that report,

[4:17:22] Voice 9: that review was done from the perspective of what would it take for us to continue to sustain

[4:17:29] Voice 9: generally work on the priorities that Trust Council has identified as your priorities.

[4:17:33] Voice 9: priorities so that was the scope if that scope changes then that may change what we actually

[4:17:40] Voice 9: need to do the work that said I do think the underlying issues persist my second point would

[4:17:47] Voice 9: be that staff are more than willing to come back to you with with additional options because

[4:17:54] Voice 9: ultimately it's your accountability to decide on what the budget is and then it's our accountability

[4:17:59] Voice 9: accountability to manage within that and trying our best to deliver the work that you've asked us

[4:18:04] Voice 9: to do within that envelope. I would just acknowledge, though, Trustee Bernardo's point

[4:18:11] Voice 9: that we are happy to do that work and bring you options as long as Trust Council is seriously

[4:18:17] Voice 9: willing to consider those options and making adjustments. Because I think, to be candid,

[4:18:23] Voice 9: any options we provide you will, to a large extent, be reconsidering the items you have

[4:18:28] Voice 9: just considered over the last two days that will be a significant portion of what those options are

[4:18:33] Voice 9: and that may be a worthwhile exercise but i think if you are if the anticipation is that we will

[4:18:39] Voice 9: find some other options somewhere else um that's not likely to happen unless we start looking

[4:18:45] Voice 9: seriously at some of those core operational expenses um and so a lot of what we will bring

[4:18:51] Voice 9: back to you will be reconsidering the things that you've already considered which again is fine as

[4:18:55] Voice 9: long as um there's a a genuine desire and interest to do that thank you all

[4:19:01] Trustee Patrick: right thank you trustee

[4:19:04] Trustee Patrick: borthwick you have been penciling away over there what are your ideas yes

[4:19:09] Voice 23: um and i i just want to

[4:19:11] Voice 23: say i really appreciate the the discussion um i especially want to uh thank uh trustee luckham and

[4:19:16] Voice 23: trustee yates and uh in in particular for for their uh contribution there and i want to assure

[4:19:22] Voice 23: assure you that it's not, this was never the number that I would want it to, I wouldn't vote

[4:19:27] Voice 23: for this either. That is not, that was, this was to start a discussion. I would happily pay for a

[4:19:33] Voice 23: much larger increase if I, but I want to make sure that that, that is going to be work that we are

[4:19:40] Voice 23: all happy to, to rally behind. That, that's my intention here. I appreciate this sort of,

[4:19:48] Voice 23: the the the sort of bracketing um the one thing i and i've sent a fresh version to alexander which

[4:19:54] Voice 23: which i'll ask you to put up in a moment um i i i think if we put like a range of uh like a like a

[4:20:02] Voice 23: just a pure range of whatever it might be percents um we're not really meaningfully

[4:20:08] Voice 23: narrowing the discussion um and that's not my intent either this is really purely about trying

[4:20:13] Voice 23: trying to galvanize us as a body to rally behind and abide by a directive that we forward to FPC

[4:20:21] Voice 23: and director mobs, and that thereafter, we trust their judgment. That's my key thing here. And I

[4:20:29] Voice 23: totally agree with Trustee Peterson in that I, or that, you know, significant, it needs to be

[4:20:36] Voice 23: borne in mind that part of that work is conservancy, but also reconciliation, which we

[4:20:41] Voice 23: We have agreed as a body is core and it is vital.

[4:20:44] Voice 23: And I want to be extremely clear that I think that it is.

[4:20:48] Voice 23: So I have an alternative that I have sent to Alexandra.

[4:20:53] Voice 23: If she would please put it up for me, that would be wonderful.

[4:20:56] Voice 23: I would then like to make this motion and then we can second it and then we can fight all over again.

[4:21:01] But hopefully not.

[4:21:08] Voice 23: I move that Trust Council request that the Financial Planning Committee return a budget with a tax increase of no more than 11 percent for the general trust area.

[4:21:16] Voice 23: for the consideration of the Committee of the Whole meeting on the budget scheduled for February 18, 2026,

[4:21:22] Voice 23: and provide options for further reductions, and that the draft changes be forward to the Island's Trust Conservancy.

[4:21:29] Trustee Patrick: I'm going to move this motion forward.

[4:21:34] Trustee Patrick: Is there a second?

[4:21:36] Trustee Patrick: Second by Trustee Bernardo.

[4:21:40] Trustee Patrick: Is there any discussion?

[4:21:46] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Elliott?

[4:21:51] Voice 20: Yeah, thank you.

[4:21:52] Voice 20: Thank you. So just as far as the Conservancy is concerned, I believe the only meeting we have is January 20th. So there wouldn't be opportunity to consider that after that meeting. So are you meaning that the draft changes would be sent before January 20th to the Conservancy?

[4:22:14] Voice 20: I have a different motion that relates to asking the Conservancy to revisit it so we could potentially remove that last part.

[4:22:23] Voice 20: It's not going to work with timing.

[4:22:25] Voice 23: No, totally.

[4:22:26] Voice 23: And this is just wanting to recognize that I do want to involve them in the conversation.

[4:22:30] Voice 23: Let's strike that last sentence.

[4:22:32] Trustee Patrick: Well, we'd have

[4:22:32] Trustee Patrick: to have an amendment at this point.

[4:22:34] Trustee Patrick: It's the second motion.

[4:22:35] Trustee Patrick: So, Trustee Bernardou?

[4:22:38] Voice 6: I have, I think, an easy fix, which will require a motion and all the rest of it.

[4:22:43] Voice 6: but where it says that the draft station changes before the islands trust conservancy just to add

[4:22:49] Voice 6: the words in advance and once they're ready and all the timing of when the conservancy meets

[4:22:57] Voice 6: and the timing of the staff preparing the information we'll have to dovetail with that

[4:23:01] Voice 6: just so it's delivered to the conservancy before it goes to the committee the whole so i think

[4:23:06] Voice 6: adding those two words should solve that problem

[4:23:08] Trustee Patrick: oops go ahead director mobs um

[4:23:13] Voice 12: so the timelines

[4:23:14] Voice 12: lines are pretty tight already with getting material to the financial planning committee

[4:23:18] Voice 12: meetings and also now the committee of the whole meeting so i mean we're going to have that material

[4:23:23] Voice 12: already you know maybe just a a day before it would land in the financial planning committee

[4:23:28] Voice 12: agenda anyway it's easy enough for us to forward that agenda once ready to the conservancy but i

[4:23:33] Voice 12: believe they might meet before financial planning committee is that correct they

[4:23:36] Voice 15: meet the day

[4:23:38] Trustee Patrick: so yeah just just want to clarify so if the motion remains as is and if trustee elliott

[4:23:42] Trustee Patrick: brings a motion asking that trust conservancy have an opportunity to look at their materials

[4:23:47] Trustee Patrick: um i that would be okay i would understand right okay so i think the motion could stay as is and

[4:23:55] Trustee Patrick: there may be an additional motion coming in regard to trust conservancy so who's next on the trustee

[4:24:01] Trustee Patrick: harris thank

[4:24:04] Voice 4: you i'm not in favor of the motion uh i don't think this organization should be giving

[4:24:08] Voice 4: one dime to the trust conservancy um also i think you were wrong in cutting me off um earlier uh

[4:24:15] Voice 4: thank you all

[4:24:19] Trustee Patrick: right any other discussion on this motion i'm going to call the vote then this

[4:24:29] Trustee Patrick: all those in favor please raise your hands five

[4:24:40] Voice 22: six six yeah six in favor lower your hands

[4:24:49] Trustee Patrick: all those opposed that one

[4:25:03] Trustee Patrick: fails yeah that fails all right trustees trustee elliot thank you chair

[4:25:19] Voice 20: i'm just sending this motion i have gotten advice from staff on it but i did not check in with the

[4:25:25] Voice 20: chair have you been checking your emails chair i will slowly read it out uh and alexander oh i'm

[4:25:35] Voice 20: I'm having trouble with my email.

[4:25:36] Voice 20: Oh, maybe that's the problem.

[4:25:38] Voice 7: I think our email's out, Kit.

[4:25:40] Voice 20: Oh, right.

[4:25:41] Voice 20: Nothing has gone.

[4:25:43] Voice 20: Okay.

[4:25:43] Voice 20: Claire, do you have email?

[4:25:45] Voice 20: Would you mind forwarding that to motion if you got it?

[4:25:50] Voice 20: I had to use my personal.

[4:25:51] Voice 20: Okay.

[4:25:52] Voice 20: So my proposed motion is that Trust Council requests the Islands Trust Conservancy Board

[4:25:58] Voice 20: to reconsider its budget request for 2026-27 in the context of Trust Council's adoption

[4:26:05] Voice 20: option of the recommendations in the Islands Trust 2025 operational review but report and

[4:26:12] Voice 20: trust council's intent to further reduce the draft 26-27 budget. So that just respects the agency of

[4:26:23] Voice 20: that body to have the discussion at the table. We are receiving new information with the operational

[4:26:28] Voice 20: review that was not discussed at our previous board meetings or in the preparation of the

[4:26:34] Voice 20: budget request so um if there are any reductions to be done i think that's the appropriate body

[4:26:39] Voice 20: to have the conversation and then we can bring that back in time for the um february 18th

[4:26:46] Voice 20: committee of the whole discussion i hope if staff are uh agreeing with me it's possible

[4:26:58] Voice 15: certainly it's just that last clause around council's intent to further reduce the budget

[4:27:02] Voice 15: if that was included in anticipation that the motion you just considered would pass

[4:27:06] Voice 15: so it's for you to consider if you'd like that closet in there um yeah so at this point i

[4:27:13] Voice 15: council has not yet signaled that intent by a motion i would suggest it

[4:27:19] Voice 20: has not been seconded

[4:27:20] Voice 20: thank you if you could remove that last and we've heard the discussion there are board members here

[4:27:26] Voice 20: today and we know that um making any reductions that are possible is um is a desire of some at

[4:27:35] Voice 20: this council all right trustee ellie if you read your motion one more time and then we'll proceed

[4:27:40] Voice 20: i move that trust council requests the islands trust conservancy board to reconsider its budget

[4:27:45] Voice 20: request for 2026-27 in the context of trust council's adoption of the recommendations

[4:27:51] Voice 20: in the islands trust 2025 operational review report all

[4:27:57] Trustee Patrick: right seconded by trustee evans

[4:27:58] Trustee Patrick: Is there any discussion?

[4:28:02] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Keddie.

[4:28:04] Voice 21: Thank you for this motion.

[4:28:07] Voice 21: I, in all earnest, would put on the floor that this motion isn't needed.

[4:28:15] Voice 21: I know that our board are very invested in this budget request.

[4:28:20] Voice 21: We would have done this work anyway.

[4:28:24] Voice 21: That would have been my evening, my week next week,

[4:28:27] Voice 21: of my weeks with wendy over this next few weeks to look at it after months of doing this already

[4:28:34] Voice 21: as well of cutting it um i will support this motion because it's if it's the will of trust

[4:28:41] Voice 21: council we work together thank you thank

[4:28:48] Trustee Patrick: you chair gabriel any further discussion call the vote then

[4:28:53] Trustee Patrick: And all those in favor, raise your hands.

[4:28:55] Trustee Patrick: 12 in favor.

[4:29:02] Trustee Patrick: Okay, a couple more came online.

[4:29:05] Voice 1: 14 in favor.

[4:29:06] Voice 1: All right.

[4:29:07] Trustee Patrick: Dean, lower your hands.

[4:29:10] Trustee Patrick: Any opposed?

[4:29:15] Trustee Patrick: So that was 14 to 2.

[4:29:17] Trustee Patrick: That carries.

[4:29:17] Trustee Patrick: Thank you, Trust Conservancy.

[4:29:19] Trustee Patrick: So, trustees, is there any further will to discuss the budget?

[4:29:24] Trustee Patrick: We will be discussing it again at a committee of the whole and again in March.

[4:29:28] Trustee Patrick: So I think we're all kind of tasting the flavor of concerns.

[4:29:32] Trustee Patrick: and we'll definitely be hearing from our constituents

[4:29:36] Trustee Patrick: in the next little bit.

[4:29:39] Trustee Patrick: So are we going to turn the page from the budget?

[4:29:42] Trustee Patrick: Other than we will see it again.

[4:29:44] Trustee Patrick: I want to move on.

[4:29:45] Trustee Patrick: We have a bit of business that we'd like to do.

[4:29:47] Trustee Patrick: There's quite a bit that we can probably reporting

[4:29:51] Trustee Patrick: or go for today.

[4:29:52] Trustee Patrick: But I want to move into planning services then.

[4:29:55] Trustee Patrick: I see Director Cermak's going to make his way to the podium.

[4:29:58] Trustee Patrick: We have a few items.

[4:30:00] Trustee Patrick: and the addendum so remember the addendum here um through general consent can we um

[4:30:08] Trustee Patrick: accept the or adopt the recommendations as presented in the director's report

[4:30:13] Trustee Patrick: as well as the salt spring island addressed uh yep um committee quarterly report program that

[4:30:20] Trustee Patrick: was shared with you 12.1.1 and 12.1.2 with those for general consent not seeing we're on page 342

[4:30:30] Trustee Patrick: too. If that helps you in the agenda package, that might. With that, I'm going to turn the

[4:30:35] Trustee Patrick: floor over to the Trust Director Cermak. Are there any questions or anything you wish to bring to our

[4:30:40] Trustee Patrick: attention?

[4:30:43] Voice 5: Thank you, Chair. Not in the reports or in the Salt Screen Work Program. I'm happy to

[4:30:48] Voice 5: take any questions.

[4:30:52] Trustee Patrick: All right. Not seeing any. Then over to the addendum. We had two items in

[4:30:56] Trustee Patrick: the addendum. The first is item 12.2.1 on page five of the addendum, which was the request for

[4:31:02] Trustee Patrick: trust council sponsorship development application fee uh rfd this is for denman island who's going

[4:31:11] Trustee Patrick: to present that report i guess uh go ahead directors or mac i'd

[4:31:16] Voice 5: be happy to present the

[4:31:17] Voice 5: report but i have a feeling that one of the trustees just wants to get a motion on the table

[4:31:22] Trustee Patrick: some people are looking for there was an addendum that you should have received yesterday morning

[4:31:29] Trustee Patrick: and it's up on the screen if that helps well then i'm going to turn the floor over to trustee

[4:31:34] Trustee Patrick: Borthwick.

[4:31:36] Voice 23: Hello. Yes. So I'm going to just make the motion and then we can talk afterwards.

[4:31:44] Voice 23: I move the Trust Council approve financial sponsorship in the amount of $1,592 for

[4:31:50] Voice 23: rezoning application of PLRZ20250368 brackets 3661 Piercy Road, Denman Island, close brackets,

[4:32:03] Voice 23: It's requiring an amendment to the Denman land use bylaw number 186.

[4:32:07] Trustee Patrick: Is there a second?

[4:32:08] Trustee Patrick: I see lots of trustee Elliott.

[4:32:11] Trustee Patrick: Any discussion?

[4:32:12] Trustee Patrick: Go ahead.

[4:32:13] Voice 23: Yeah, just to give just the briefest bit of context, because I know people are probably tired of my voice.

[4:32:20] Voice 23: We've had a the Denman Community Housing Society is a recent merger of our two community housing associations.

[4:32:28] Voice 23: associations. Um, they're one of their main projects, which has been sitting forever in,

[4:32:34] Voice 23: in BC housing hell, uh, is going to be called, it is tentatively called Denman green. Uh, this is

[4:32:41] Voice 23: for a, a S a different project that is just around the corner. Uh, that is going through the BC

[4:32:46] Voice 23: housing process. The, the Demand green is going through that whole thing. That's taking forever.

[4:32:50] Voice 23: this is uh the the local works yard which is owned by mcon um have the the the owner there

[4:33:00] Voice 23: has offered to donate a slice of the property which is very generous uh for the purposes of

[4:33:05] Voice 23: creating like a small collection of tiny homes um they uh which and the only reason i mentioned

[4:33:13] Voice 23: denman green four is because it puts this further comment into somewhat context with the the

[4:33:17] Voice 23: The intention of this was originally going to be for seniors, and they were calling it

[4:33:20] Voice 23: Demond Gray.

[4:33:22] Voice 23: I believe they're going to call it The Grove now, which is much nicer.

[4:33:25] Voice 23: But Demond Gray still is very funny.

[4:33:30] Voice 23: We are in desperate need of housing, as are many places.

[4:33:33] Voice 23: This is a really good project.

[4:33:35] Voice 23: It has real potential to have legs on it in the near to not too distant future.

[4:33:42] Voice 23: It'll be providing housing for some of the people who need it the very most.

[4:33:47] Voice 23: It is in the heart of the community. It is very close. It is right next door to our clinic. It is right across the road from our community hall. It's a really great location. We're very lucky to have this option, this opportunity. And I would hope that Trust Council would see their way to supporting this.

[4:34:03] Voice 23: I'd

[4:34:03] Trustee Patrick: like to point out that's also money in the budget from this year. This is not next year's budget. This is current budget, just because we've had talked about that quite a bit. Trustee Evans.

[4:34:14] Voice 14: That was my clarification as to when this would get allocated, and I believe that there is already, there's a specified fund for these types of applications where it would be coming from. So, thank you.

[4:34:27] Voice 14: Any, oh, Trustee Cermak.

[4:34:30] Voice 14: Dr. Cermak.

[4:34:31] Voice 5: Thank you.

[4:34:32] Voice 5: For the money amount, I just want to clarify the ask is for $1,592.

[4:34:38] Voice 5: There is a budget line item of $15,000, of which currently remains $10,000.

[4:34:45] Voice 5: So this fits well within what's available in the current fiscal.

[4:34:48] Voice 5: Thank you.

[4:34:49] Trustee Patrick: Any further discussion?

[4:34:51] Trustee Patrick: I'll call the vote.

[4:34:52] Trustee Patrick: Then all those in favor?

[4:35:01] Trustee Patrick: With you.

[4:35:02] Trustee Patrick: Oh, there's a couple more hands came up.

[4:35:03] Trustee Patrick: Oh, 16.

[4:35:05] Trustee Patrick: All right.

[4:35:06] Trustee Patrick: Lower your hands.

[4:35:07] Trustee Patrick: any opposed that carries

[4:35:14] Trustee Patrick: congratulation

[4:35:14] Trustee Patrick: alright the next item in the

[4:35:16] Trustee Patrick: addendum was 12.2.2

[4:35:18] Trustee Patrick: which is

[4:35:22] Trustee Patrick: trustee Elliot

[4:35:23] Trustee Patrick: 12.2.2

[4:35:27] Trustee Patrick: response to bill 216

[4:35:29] Trustee Patrick: M216 professional

[4:35:31] Trustee Patrick: reliance act on page 18

[4:35:32] Trustee Patrick: of the agenda package

[4:35:34] Trustee Patrick: you probably want to talk about this one

[4:35:36] Trustee Patrick: maybe not but over to you

[4:35:40] Voice 5: Thank you, Chair. I have a lot of notes on this. It's complex, yet not. I'll try to keep it brief.

[4:35:45] Voice 5: If you didn't know, Bill M216 is a private member's bill introduced by MLA George Anderson.

[4:35:52] Voice 5: It has passed second reading in mid-November and is now before the select standing committee

[4:35:57] Voice 5: on private bills and private member's bills. The comment period has been extended to January 6th,

[4:36:04] Voice 5: So this is a ripe opportunity for you to consider whether or not to direct your chair to make comment on behalf of the trust.

[4:36:12] Voice 5: The report outlines a number of key issues.

[4:36:15] Voice 5: Those issues, honestly, at first just kind of borrowed from a bunch of fellow regional district members, and it's mushroomed.

[4:36:22] Voice 5: The analysis is there's a lot of analysis that I provided in there.

[4:36:27] Voice 5: From a professional point of view, it's a very poorly written bill.

[4:36:33] Voice 5: bill, it misaligns with the Island Trust Act. You lose the ability to review technical materials.

[4:36:38] Voice 5: There's restriction of third-party review. There's concerns about oversight concerns.

[4:36:45] Voice 5: Administrative and financial burden for the trust to implement a new system.

[4:36:49] Voice 5: It's inconsistent with recent provincial treatment of the trust, whereby the trust was excluded from

[4:36:54] Voice 5: various housing bills. So staff's recommendation is clear. The trust council should authorize the

[4:37:00] Voice 5: trust to submit a letter opposing the bill request an explicit exemption for the island's trust and

[4:37:06] Voice 5: to complete the consultation questionnaire that's my high brief i'm happy to go into discussion

[4:37:12] Trustee Patrick: and most of you as trustees probably have received a number of like the ubcm is putting out a fair

[4:37:18] Trustee Patrick: bit of correspondence that have come out from ubcm themselves and numerous municipalities have also

[4:37:22] Trustee Patrick: commented on this bill uh uh trustee evans i've

[4:37:29] Voice 14: already um written in myself on this

[4:37:31] Voice 14: um from a personal perspective so i would like to just jump in and make the motion i move that

[4:37:38] Voice 14: trust council authorized the chair on behalf of trust council to submit a letter opposing bill

[4:37:45] Voice 14: m2116 and requesting that the province explicitly exempt the islands trust from the proposed

[4:37:50] Voice 14: proposed legislation and to complete a consultation questionnaire is

[4:37:54] Trustee Patrick: there a second second by trustee

[4:37:56] Trustee Patrick: borthwick any discussion we need to call the vote all those in favor right lower your hands

[4:38:16] Trustee Patrick: any opposed that's eight eighteen to two so that carries uh trustee yates quickly because we have

[4:38:26] Trustee Patrick: just

[4:38:26] Voice 30: a quick comment i so appreciate the letters that have been forwarded to us um usually alexandra

[4:38:32] Voice 30: Trefonides has done that, and I really appreciate those letters. Thank you.

[4:38:36] Voice 30: Thank

[4:38:37] Trustee Patrick: you. We've been trying to get a flurry of letters done. So, Trustee Cermak,

[4:38:41] Trustee Patrick: Director Cermak, do we have any? I think we need to quickly shuffle to Director Frater

[4:38:45] Trustee Patrick: so that we can move to Trust Program's area.

[4:38:50] Trustee Patrick: Would that be correct? Yes. And then I think we'll be very

[4:38:53] Trustee Patrick: close to the end, folks.

[4:39:00] Trustee Patrick: Okay. Director Frater, welcome.

[4:39:05] Trustee Patrick: Welcome. So by general consent, can we adopt the director's report at 14.1.1?

[4:39:15] Trustee Patrick: Seeing good support. So thank you. So moving on, we have a request for decision items in 14.2.1,

[4:39:23] Trustee Patrick: request for Trust Council sponsorship of the NAPTEC application fee on page 361 of your agenda

[4:39:31] Trustee Patrick: and a package. Director Frieder?

[4:39:36] Voice 15: Thank you, Chair. Good afternoon, Trust Council. Yes,

[4:39:39] Voice 15: this is being brought to you for a decision about whether you'd like to sponsor the application fee

[4:39:43] Voice 15: for an application for a potential new protected area on Salt Spring Island through the NAPTEC

[4:39:49] Voice 15: program. The total request is $450. There is funding remaining in the budget.

[4:39:58] Voice 14: I'm sorry, Trustee Evans? I'll make the motion.

[4:40:02] Voice 14: please trust council approved financial sponsorship sponsorship of 450 for the

[4:40:08] Voice 14: natural area protection tax exemption program in brackets nap tech uh application plnap-20240358

[4:40:20] Voice 14: martin nap tap salt spring island is there a second second by trustee yates any discussion

[4:40:27] Trustee Patrick: call the vote then all those in favor

[4:40:31] Voice 4: discussion to make oh

[4:40:34] Trustee Patrick: my apologies trustee harris clearly

[4:40:41] Voice 4: i'm not in favor of this this takes land out of the private tax paying base and um therefore

[4:40:51] Voice 4: raises the tax burden on the remainder of the um private property and with this raise that we're

[4:40:59] Voice 4: we're seeing in the budget year after year,

[4:41:00] Voice 4: it really creates more of a tax burden on the taxpayers.

[4:41:06] Voice 4: So I think it's a horrible program

[4:41:08] Voice 4: and I'm completely against it.

[4:41:13] Trustee Patrick: There's no further debate.

[4:41:15] Trustee Patrick: Call the motion again.

[4:41:16] Trustee Patrick: All those in favor.

[4:41:25] Trustee Patrick: Lower your hands.

[4:41:28] Trustee Patrick: Any opposed?

[4:41:32] Trustee Patrick: 16 to two, that carries.

[4:41:35] Trustee Patrick: All right, trustees, we're moving on to the next item

[4:41:39] Trustee Patrick: is 14.2.2, Policy Statement Amendment Project, Project Charter Update Request for Decision on

[4:41:46] Trustee Patrick: page 366. Over to you, Director Prater.

[4:41:51] Voice 15: Thank you. We're bringing you an updated

[4:41:53] Voice 15: project charter for your consideration. Yesterday, we sort of flagged that the project budget is

[4:42:00] Voice 15: indicated to increase somewhat, primarily for the addition of a What We Heard report.

[4:42:05] Voice 15: So this project charter would just allow for the budget increase that's been proposed.

[4:42:09] Voice 15: At this time, we are not recommending changes to the timeline, despite the fact that timelines are quite tight.

[4:42:14] Voice 15: But we'll certainly come back to you in March with further recommendations once we're through the engagement period.

[4:42:21] Voice 15: Any questions from trustees?

[4:42:25] Voice 14: Trustee Evans.

[4:42:27] Voice 14: Let me just have a quick clarification on the amount of increase that has been requested.

[4:42:40] Voice 15: Sorry, $20,000.

[4:42:42] Voice 15: Oh, hang on.

[4:42:44] Voice 15: $235,000.

[4:42:45] Voice 15: Sorry.

[4:42:45] Voice 15: Give me a moment here.

[4:42:46] Voice 15: I haven't done that math.

[4:42:47] Voice 15: Yes. And by $22,000.

[4:42:52] Voice 15: All right, Trustee Faust?

[4:42:55] Voice 16: Can you please confirm, according to my reading, that the $22,000 is First Nations consultation at $20,000, legal review up $5,000 due to the First Nations consultation, and communications down $3,000?

[4:43:24] Voice 15: Yes, that's right. My apologies for my other comments. Yes, that's correct.

[4:43:27] Voice 15: Correct. Simply, and the First Nation capacity funding is anticipation that we might need to continue some conversations into the new fiscal year with some new nations that may not have responded.

[4:43:36] Voice 15: Again, we can come back to you in March if that reality or anticipation has changed.

[4:43:41] Voice 15: Thank you. Trustee Bernardo?

[4:43:44] Voice 6: Yeah, this is a process pointer question. It's not about the substance of the motion.

[4:43:50] Voice 6: motion. As I understand it, the reason we're having to do this, it's consequential on another

[4:43:57] Voice 6: decision that we've already made to make that funding available already. And now, consequent

[4:44:03] Voice 6: to that, we have this knock-on effect of having to change the charter. It doesn't strike me as

[4:44:11] Voice 6: the most efficient thing to do. If there's like natural and obvious consequential outcomes from

[4:44:16] Voice 6: a decision that we've made already, perhaps we could work that into the wording of the original

[4:44:22] Voice 6: resolution the funding resolution or whatever because this is we're spending time on housekeeping

[4:44:27] Voice 6: i think we don't need to but the approval once trust council has approved put to set that money

[4:44:32] Voice 6: aside for the purposes of the policy amendment project that's in effect that's you know that's

[4:44:40] Voice 6: implicit in that is the charter is changing so you know why are we generating this extra work

[4:44:45] Voice 6: for nothing you're

[4:44:48] Trustee Patrick: gonna answer that one director sermon oh director

[4:44:49] Trustee Patrick: director brader it is getting

[4:44:52] Trustee Patrick: getting late in the hour yes

[4:44:54] Voice 15: i take that comment i think in the preparation of this we work you

[4:44:58] Voice 15: know it's an agenda sequencing piece that we weren't sure if this would be happening before

[4:45:02] Voice 15: that but i do take that point and i'll let you know we're working on a new project charter

[4:45:05] Voice 15: and a new project charter procedure so maybe that we can incorporate that feedback into how we

[4:45:09] Voice 15: bring them bring forward amendments like this mr peterson yeah

[4:45:17] Voice 7: thank you chair um looking at the

[4:45:20] Voice 7: The referral response report, which I know is dated November 6th, so let's spend some time to go by.

[4:45:29] Voice 7: There are a lot of outstanding improvement districts, regional districts, et cetera, that we have not as this reporting date.

[4:45:43] Voice 7: Is their deadline for response also the February deadline?

[4:45:47] Voice 7: line?

[4:45:50] Voice 15: We are working hard to get

[4:45:51] Voice 15: all feedback in by February and in fact are now

[4:45:53] Voice 15: just following up with most referral

[4:45:55] Voice 15: agencies and nations that we haven't

[4:45:57] Voice 15: heard from. But we are trying to get it

[4:45:59] Voice 15: in before then if possible. But of course

[4:46:02] Voice 15: we're signaling that

[4:46:03] Voice 15: if it's unachievable, council will welcome feedback

[4:46:05] Voice 15: through the process.

[4:46:07] Voice 15: But we're trying to have most of it in by then, yes.

[4:46:09] Voice 7: Okay, thank you.

[4:46:11] Voice 15: Trustee Fast. Thank you.

[4:46:14] Voice 16: This is such an important

[4:46:16] Voice 16: project and I'm happy to make the motion

[4:46:18] Voice 16: that Islands Trust Council endorsed

[4:46:20] Voice 16: Endorsed Policy Statement Amendment Project Charter Version 12.

[4:46:24] Voice 16: Is

[4:46:25] Trustee Patrick: there a second?

[4:46:26] Trustee Patrick: Seconded by Trustee Elliott.

[4:46:27] Trustee Patrick: Any discussion?

[4:46:30] Trustee Patrick: All the vote then.

[4:46:31] Trustee Patrick: All those in favor?

[4:46:41] Trustee Patrick: 14.

[4:46:42] Trustee Patrick: Lower your hands.

[4:46:45] Trustee Patrick: Any opposed?

[4:46:50] Trustee Patrick: That carries.

[4:46:54] Trustee Patrick: All right.

[4:46:55] Trustee Patrick: So I believe that brings us to the end of your piece.

[4:47:00] Trustee Patrick: Is that correct?

[4:47:01] Trustee Patrick: Thank you very much, Director Freider.

[4:47:03] Trustee Patrick: Oh, sorry. They're just counting. He's keeping track. All right. We're of the items that we have in this afternoon's session that we're sorry that we're on the agenda is we can quickly ask about correspondence. Are there any of the correspondence items that need attention or can they just be all accepted for information?

[4:47:32] Trustee Patrick: trustee peterson yeah

[4:47:34] Voice 7: i just note that the 17.2 the vancouver island coastal communities climate

[4:47:39] Voice 7: leadership steering committee has a funding request it's i believe 125 dollars yeah well

[4:47:46] Trustee Patrick: that's so good and i had a report from a trustee morrison that couldn't be here who was a report

[4:47:51] Trustee Patrick: on that committee interesting regional district in aimo did not make a payment i don't know what

[4:47:56] Trustee Patrick: the reasons for it but they chose not to but um um so who would like to deal with this request

[4:48:07] Trustee Patrick: trustee uh fast thank

[4:48:10] Voice 16: you um i'm not involved with this particular working group but i am

[4:48:14] Voice 16: through bowen island municipality involved in various um community energy association

[4:48:21] Voice 16: work and this is part of a secretariat with this community energy association does the

[4:48:27] Voice 16: secretary at work for this group and i would like to move that trust council um fund the request of

[4:48:36] Voice 16: the vancouver island and coastal communities climate leadership steering committee from the

[4:48:42] Voice 16: current year's budget for

[4:48:44] Trustee Patrick: i think 125

[4:48:45] Voice 16: dollars yeah thank you all

[4:48:48] Trustee Patrick: right is there a second second by

[4:48:49] Trustee Patrick: trustee luckham any discussion not seeing any i'll call for the vote all those in favor

[4:48:58] Trustee Patrick: it's empty all

[4:49:06] Trustee Patrick: right lower your hands any opposed that carries we're just going to do a form check

[4:49:17] Trustee Patrick: here

[4:49:17] Voice 27: we're

[4:49:19] Trustee Patrick: good we still have form all right trustees i'm going to keep moving i think we

[4:49:24] Trustee Patrick: will forego trustee roundtable i think if you have important things you wish to share with

[4:49:28] Trustee Patrick: your trustees please reach out and share with your trustees uh because we would like to hear

[4:49:32] Trustee Patrick: from you or send it to me and i'll put it in my weekly report uh so uh trustee yates just a quick

[4:49:38] Voice 30: Quick question. Is there any kind of response to the letter from CAO Jimenez, BC Ferries?

[4:49:50] Voice 16: Trustee Faust?

[4:49:52] Voice 16: Just that Mayor Leonard and the Bowen Council, I believe, are responding to that through various ongoing things.

[4:50:01] Voice 16: And it may be coming to the ferry-dependent community group, and it's sort of an ongoing thing, I think.

[4:50:09] Voice 16: I

[4:50:09] Trustee Patrick: think we're going to keep talking about fairies, as we spoke about earlier.

[4:50:12] Trustee Patrick: All right, trustees, we have item number 19, disposition of delegations.

[4:50:17] Trustee Patrick: I understand there may be some motions.

[4:50:18] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Elliott.

[4:50:21] Voice 20: Thank you, Chair.

[4:50:22] Voice 20: I sent one motion in to Alexandra in response to the delegation of the Friends of the Gulf Island Society with their presentation at Trust Council.

[4:50:32] Voice 20: There was a lot of talk about a certain planning term floor area ratio, which I think is not well understood and probably actually doesn't have a place in this policy document.

[4:50:49] Voice 20: um so i request or or suggest that trust council direct staff to provide a report

[4:50:56] Voice 20: that explores the concerns raised by the friends of the gulf island society and their presentations

[4:51:02] Voice 20: to trust council at the december 2025 quarterly meeting about the use of the term floor area ratio

[4:51:09] Voice 20: far in the draft policy statement and two offers potential revisions to the proposed definition

[4:51:17] Voice 20: definition of land use density and intensity in the draft policy statement glossary of terms.

[4:51:24] Voice 20: That's a long one. Oh, that's fine. So yeah, I mean, frankly, I think there was just a mistake

[4:51:34] Voice 20: about the inclusion of that floor area ratio, which is an urban planning tool term in the

[4:51:40] Voice 20: glossary. It doesn't appear in any of the policies. So there's a bit of a confusion.

[4:51:45] Voice 20: confusion. So just asking for staff to clarify and maybe bring a revised definition that would

[4:51:52] Voice 20: remove that confusion. Thank you.

[4:51:55] Trustee Patrick: Okay. Before we second, I guess, look to staff, is that a

[4:51:59] Trustee Patrick: relatively easy request or this gets directed? Is this the policy advisor for the trust policy

[4:52:05] Trustee Patrick: statement? Whose workload is that directed to? Yeah. Sorry.

[4:52:22] Trustee Patrick: So, this would be normal as part of the process?

[4:52:25] Trustee Patrick: Yeah, certainly we

[4:52:26] Voice 15: can take amendments, requests, and bring back options.

[4:52:28] Voice 15: Super.

[4:52:28] Trustee Patrick: All right. So, Trustee Elliott, read your motion and we'll proceed.

[4:52:32] Trustee Patrick: Okay, you did read it. Is there a second to Trustee Elliott's motion?

[4:52:36] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Gavreau, is there any discussion?

[4:52:40] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Best?

[4:52:42] Voice 16: I just am concerned that we might be dealing with requests to adjust the draft trust policy statement one at a time

[4:52:50] Voice 16: if we allow this in this meeting and i would just like it to be referred to the uh to the process

[4:52:56] Voice 16: as input for the draft policy statement to be dealt with with everybody else's input thank you

[4:53:05] Voice 14: trustee evans um in consideration of the conversation that we had yesterday in the cao's

[4:53:12] Voice 14: report um i'm i don't necessarily know that we need to have a report created exploring options

[4:53:22] Voice 14: Um, when this could be a discussion by this body, um, to remove an urban term that is

[4:53:29] Voice 14: nowhere else in the document and replace it with another example, because it's used purely

[4:53:34] Voice 14: as an example.

[4:53:35] Voice 14: So I think we, I think all of us heard the issue around the table yesterday.

[4:53:41] Voice 14: I think when we come to deal with the input from the communications, um, uh, the, the

[4:53:48] Voice 14: community uh engagement period this will be one of the topics that we're going to be having as

[4:53:53] Voice 14: a conversation um i'm a little reluctant to ask staff to start doing reports and a lot of work

[4:54:03] Voice 14: on something that may not be necessary all right uh trustee allen then trustee elliott

[4:54:10] Voice 34: yeah i'm just wondering whether this could be uh taken on by the regional planning committee um

[4:54:18] Voice 20: My impression is that this is causing more confusion because it's an inappropriate term.

[4:54:25] Voice 20: So this isn't asking for new work.

[4:54:27] Voice 20: The policy statement is, you know, core work that is ongoing.

[4:54:33] Voice 20: A delegation has asked us to clarify, is this the intent of Islands Trust Council?

[4:54:40] Voice 20: And I think this term is just causing more confusion.

[4:54:42] Voice 20: But without a report, trustees can't make a decision.

[4:54:46] Voice 20: Is this an urban term? Is it appropriate in this document? We need planning staff. And if I may, Senior Policy Advisor actually suggested the wording for this. So I don't think it's going to be an onerous piece of work, but that's just from the back and forth I've had. Thanks.

[4:55:04] Voice 20: All right, Trustee

[4:55:05] Trustee Patrick: Bernardo Lenghetti.

[4:55:07] Voice 6: I understand Trustee Elliott's concern.

[4:55:10] Voice 6: It's valid, although when we did hear from the delegation, there seemed to be more than one source of confusion in terms of the information that we're providing.

[4:55:21] Voice 6: I agree with Trustee Fast and Trustee Evans in that, yeah, okay, this could be something that is something that we need to look at, but it can be dealt with in the normal course through the process we already have underway.

[4:55:33] Voice 6: way the suggested amendment and the explanation justification for it can be brought forward

[4:55:38] Voice 6: at the next appropriate meeting where the draft is considered so i don't think there's any urgency

[4:55:44] Voice 6: and i uh to have to do it now and i'm a little anxious that we not do the thing trust council

[4:55:53] Voice 6: tends to do which is you know step in and kind of slightly derail things with useful suggestions but

[4:56:00] Voice 6: but the timing isn't maybe perfect, you know?

[4:56:02] Voice 6: So I'd prefer that we just follow Trustee Fass' suggestion

[4:56:06] Voice 6: and just deal with this in due course in the right forum.

[4:56:10] Voice 6: Thank you.

[4:56:12] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Getty.

[4:56:14] Voice 11: Yeah, the policy statement's out for public input,

[4:56:18] Voice 11: and I think that's what we got.

[4:56:19] Voice 11: And there's a little bit of confusion

[4:56:21] Voice 11: with respect to the three delegations that we had yesterday.

[4:56:24] Voice 11: And I think that we can accept this letter

[4:56:26] Voice 11: or the delegations for information

[4:56:29] Voice 11: and just, when we get to the final draft of it,

[4:56:33] Voice 11: decide whether or not we want to keep the example in

[4:56:35] Voice 11: and add or subtract from the rest.

[4:56:38] Voice 11: So, you know, I think it's, thank you very much.

[4:56:41] Voice 11: And the point is noted and we'll pay attention to it.

[4:56:45] Voice 11: But beyond that, I don't know that I want to come up

[4:56:48] Trustee Patrick: with an answer right now.

[4:56:49] Trustee Patrick: Thank you.

[4:56:50] Trustee Patrick: I'm going to stay with first-time speakers.

[4:56:53] Trustee Patrick: Let's remember we're trying to end the meeting

[4:56:54] Trustee Patrick: with Trustee Yates, and I think Trustee Fast already spoke, right?

[4:56:57] Trustee Patrick: Yeah,

[4:56:58] Voice 30: thank you, everyone, for your comments. I'm tending to agree at this point to take it to a different channel, but because we won't lose it. And we've got support from our senior policy analysts. And the other thing we can always do if we're really desperate is to make a recommendation from our next local trust committee meeting, which is before the end of the policy statement revisions.

[4:57:21] Trustee Patrick: all right we have second speakers already but i think i'd rather just call the vote if that's okay

[4:57:27] Trustee Patrick: okay good i'd like to call the vote all those in favor raise your hands

[4:57:32] Trustee Patrick: all right lower your hands all those opposed all

[4:57:51] Voice 22: right

[4:57:53] Trustee Patrick: that fails all right i think it's very clear

[4:57:56] Trustee Patrick: i don't want the delegation to think that that was an endorsement of their information that this is

[4:58:02] Trustee Patrick: is that it is the process that we have.

[4:58:04] Trustee Patrick: We're out for community review.

[4:58:06] Trustee Patrick: We've heard them,

[4:58:07] Trustee Patrick: that it will be considered in due course through the process.

[4:58:10] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Elliot.

[4:58:14] Voice 19: Yeah, this isn't really a,

[4:58:17] Voice 20: how's it going on?

[4:58:18] Voice 20: It's fine, it's fine.

[4:58:21] Voice 20: So perhaps not a disposition of delegation,

[4:58:23] Voice 20: but the last speaker at the public comment period

[4:58:27] Voice 20: made some statements and assertions

[4:58:29] Voice 20: that I think do need to be corrected for the record.

[4:58:32] Voice 20: And I would ask the chair

[4:58:33] Voice 20: and maybe cao if we need to i don't know i've said not set this in as a as a resolution so much

[4:58:41] Voice 20: um but does islands trust me to clarify that um it has the authority over tenure or transfers of lands

[4:58:49] Voice 20: or uh in it or is it in a position to make decisions about co-governance

[4:58:54] Voice 19: with first nations

[4:58:54] Voice 19: um there were some assertions made i think there's a lot of inclusion in our communities

[4:58:59] Voice 19: these right now and just

[4:59:00] Voice 19: wondering if we want to correct things for the record is

[4:59:03] Trustee Patrick: i'm going to have

[4:59:05] Trustee Patrick: to your record you're we're going to see my microphone works maybe this microphone works but

[4:59:09] Trustee Patrick: um were you directing your question to the

[4:59:13] Voice 16: chair or

[4:59:14] Trustee Patrick: to me uh as

[4:59:18] Voice 20: you're the voice of trust council

[4:59:19] Voice 20: i mean when when a speaker makes statements about our jurisdiction um should that be corrected for

[4:59:26] Voice 20: the record in the meeting so that i think

[4:59:28] Trustee Patrick: you're gonna the microphones are problematic here

[4:59:44] Trustee Patrick: We're having some microphone issues here.

[4:59:46] Trustee Patrick: Apologies, trustees in there.

[5:00:00] Voice 20: It might do feedback.

[5:00:02] Voice 20: Yeah, check, check.

[5:00:05] Voice 20: Oh, no, it's fine.

[5:00:07] Voice 20: It's fine.

[5:00:12] Voice 26: Try

[5:00:13] Trustee Patrick: your microphone again.

[5:00:15] Trustee Patrick: Check, check.

[5:00:16] Trustee Patrick: Thank you.

[5:00:17] Trustee Patrick: Okay.

[5:00:18] Voice 20: Well, you all heard what I had to say.

[5:00:24] Voice 20: Well, just wondering if Islands Trust, through the chair,

[5:00:29] Voice 20: might want to clarify its jurisdiction in response to some of the comments and assertions made by a

[5:00:35] Voice 20: speaker in the public comment period on Tuesday evening.

[5:00:42] Trustee Patrick: It's always hard to go back in time and

[5:00:43] Trustee Patrick: say what could have or should have been said at the time of a public person speaking. Public

[5:00:48] Trustee Patrick: comment period is what people say they say does not mean it reflects what we believe as an

[5:00:55] Trustee Patrick: organization so it's that balance of allowing the time for people to say what they say

[5:01:00] Trustee Patrick: uh not always do we correct it so i think we're trying to get better at that there's uh but uh

[5:01:08] Trustee Patrick: i can't go back and correct something that was made during a public comment period

[5:01:13] Trustee Patrick: uh trustee bernardo i

[5:01:15] Voice 6: would just like to add that um you know if if we put ourselves in the

[5:01:21] Voice 6: position of having to respond to every incorrect statement that's put before us there's no end to

[5:01:27] Voice 6: the amount of time we're going to spend doing it whether that information comes to us in confused

[5:01:32] Voice 6: letters or public comments that are a little is ill-informed or come from a different perspective

[5:01:40] Voice 6: than ours i mean the point of the public comments is for us to receive them to consider them we

[5:01:45] Voice 6: don't necessarily have to answer them all

[5:01:48] Voice 26: right all

[5:01:49] Trustee Patrick: right so um i'm going to keep moving there's

[5:01:53] Trustee Patrick: no further dispositions uh your point is taken so we're trying to do our best okay uh trust council

[5:02:00] Trustee Patrick: follow-up action list is item 20 this is here uh through general consent can we approve the

[5:02:05] Trustee Patrick: follow-up action list as presented not seeing any objections um the ubcm report is here for

[5:02:16] Trustee Patrick: your information of what we shared what we our experience it's on page 409 i'm just sort of

[5:02:24] Trustee Patrick: rushing through again the reports the various organizations are here and i always encourage

[5:02:28] Trustee Patrick: people to report to one another go ahead trustee peterson yeah

[5:02:33] Voice 7: just um briefly i believe trustee

[5:02:36] Voice 7: morrison is our representative on the uh avic coastal community leadership steering

[5:02:42] Voice 7: during the committee.

[5:02:45] Voice 7: I can't remember who is our Mount Arlesmouth biosphere region,

[5:02:50] Voice 7: but it'd be great if we had those names in there when we do have names.

[5:02:53] Voice 7: And just a bit of a reflection, based on our budget discussions,

[5:02:59] Voice 7: it seems there are some doubts about the continuation of the Alcatzum House

[5:03:03] Voice 7: Mount Biosphere region and possibly the Southern Gulf Islands Forum too.

[5:03:08] Voice 7: too. And I'd hate to think that they might not be continuing without our help. But just those

[5:03:17] Voice 7: reflections. All

[5:03:19] Trustee Patrick: right. Well, resiliency, we hope. Okay. So if there's no other comments on those,

[5:03:24] Trustee Patrick: those will all be received for information that are in that section. Then we're at the next

[5:03:29] Trustee Patrick: meeting. So our next meeting is March 10th to 12th in Duncan, which will be exciting to be in a new

[5:03:36] Trustee Patrick: community one i spend a lot of time in and uh um and again through general consent we have the

[5:03:42] Trustee Patrick: trust uh march uh the program is just here for your information this is the initial uh take a

[5:03:49] Trustee Patrick: look at what's there it will change a lot between now and then and uh with that i think we're ready

[5:03:56] Trustee Patrick: with the motion to adjourn oh thank you trustee bernardo seconded by trustee elliott all those

[5:04:03] Trustee Patrick: those in favor? I'd like

[5:04:04] Voice 6: to speak to the motion. Before

[5:04:06] Voice 6: we vote on the motion, I'd like to thank

[5:04:10] Voice 27: the

[5:04:11] Voice 6: Executive Committee and the staff for putting on a well-executed and productive meeting. Thank

[5:04:17] Voice 6: you. So I move that we adjourn.

[5:04:20] Trustee Patrick: We're too late. We already voted. We're adjourned. Thank you,

[5:04:24] Trustee Patrick: everyone, and see you in March.