Islands Trust Council regular meeting, February 18, 2026

[0:00:00] Trustee Fast: Okay. Thank you, and welcome to the meeting of the Financial Planning Committee, February 18th,

[0:00:07] Trustee Fast: 2026. And it's snowing here on Bowen Island, so if the power blinks out or something,

[0:00:13] Trustee Fast: I doubt that that will happen. But welcome to winter. We are all across the Gulf Islands,

[0:00:22] Trustee Fast: or across the islands in the Islands Trust area, which is more than the Gulf Islands. I'm

[0:00:26] Trustee Fast: I'm up here in the mouth of Howe Sound on Nuklelequim, Bowen Island in Squamish Nation

[0:00:30] Trustee Fast: Territory, and joined by trustees from all across the Islands Trust area and staff, various

[0:00:41] Trustee Fast: places, and welcome, everybody.

[0:00:44] Trustee Fast: I don't know if I need to do all kinds of introductions at this state in the term, but

[0:00:50] Trustee Fast: I would like to acknowledge that we are meeting across the territory of 30-plus nations,

[0:00:56] Trustee Fast: in the big green belt, blue belt between Vancouver Island and mainland,

[0:01:02] Trustee Fast: just south of Texada Island and the international border.

[0:01:06] Trustee Fast: So welcome, everybody, to the meeting today.

[0:01:11] Trustee Fast: And in respect of the stewardship of the lands and waters

[0:01:16] Trustee Fast: that have been so well cared for over the previous millennia.

[0:01:23] Trustee Fast: I'm looking at the agenda.

[0:01:25] Trustee Fast: Are there any late items or things that people want to add to the agenda at this time? Not seeing any hands. Let me make sure I've got my little panel open. There we go. And okay, so by consent, we're adopting the agenda. Okay, very good. And public comment period. Do we have any people from the public here?

[0:01:50] Voice 1: Yes, there is one person by the name of E. Colburn.

[0:01:54] Voice 1: Would you like me to allow him to speak?

[0:01:56] Voice 1: I don't know if he wants to address the committee or not.

[0:02:00] Trustee Fast: Well, if you could promote him, then he can put up his hand if he'd like to speak.

[0:02:05] Trustee Fast: Oh, Ruben Brony, let's hear from our CAO.

[0:02:14] Voice 7: Sorry, that's Mr. Colburn, who is watching of interest because he's going to be joining us as a staff person next month.

[0:02:21] Voice 7: And so I don't anticipate that he is attending

[0:02:24] Voice 7: and with any intention to speak.

[0:02:26] Voice 7: He's just taking advantage of the opportunity

[0:02:27] Voice 7: to get a bit of exposure to all of you

[0:02:30] Voice 7: and see how the FPC functions.

[0:02:32] Voice 7: Thank you.

[0:02:33] Trustee Fast: Welcome.

[0:02:34] Trustee Fast: Thank you.

[0:02:34] Trustee Fast: Then I won't put him on the spot.

[0:02:36] Trustee Fast: I just recognized the name and I thought,

[0:02:38] Trustee Fast: oh, why would I?

[0:02:40] Trustee Fast: Yes, very good.

[0:02:41] Trustee Fast: Okay, thank you.

[0:02:42] Trustee Fast: Well, there, now I can see all the buttons.

[0:02:46] Trustee Fast: Thank you and welcome to our meeting.

[0:02:49] Trustee Fast: and thanks everybody then we're going to move on to delegations none correspondence none we're down

[0:02:56] Trustee Fast: into the draft meetings anybody draft minutes anybody got adjustments for the minutes of our

[0:03:03] Trustee Fast: previous meeting so seeing no hands going up I'm going to assume that by consent we're adopting

[0:03:14] Trustee Fast: Adopting the minutes from January 21st.

[0:03:18] Trustee Fast: Okay, that's adopted.

[0:03:20] Trustee Fast: Thank you.

[0:03:21] Trustee Fast: And then we're on to work program items.

[0:03:26] Trustee Fast: So item number seven, we're on page 10.

[0:03:31] Trustee Fast: Anybody have questions about this one

[0:03:35] Trustee Fast: before we send it off to council?

[0:03:42] Trustee Fast: Page 10.

[0:03:44] Trustee Fast: Whoops, I'm going to get up there.

[0:03:47] Trustee Fast: I see Trustee Elliott, please go ahead.

[0:03:50] Trustee Fast: Okay. Oh, sorry. Director Mobs, why don't you go first?

[0:03:55] Trustee Fast: Yeah, I had a question about the fuel. Director Mobs, did you want to introduce it?

[0:04:03] Voice 10: Sure, I can do that. I'm happy to defer to the trustees if that's preferable.

[0:04:08] Voice 10: But maybe since I have the floor, I'll just take it away.

[0:04:11] Voice 10: I do want to note all the items on the follow-up action list are noted as completed.

[0:04:15] Voice 10: There is one item, number two, which is noted as completed, but the progress bar reads it 75%.

[0:04:22] Voice 10: So, we did complete this task.

[0:04:24] Voice 10: It wasn't completed in exactly the way that was intended, and that's the exercise that

[0:04:31] Voice 10: we were asked to prepare a list of costs to explain where discretionary spending and inflation

[0:04:37] Voice 10: was occurring in the budget.

[0:04:38] Voice 10: So, we have tackled that.

[0:04:40] Voice 10: We've just presented it in a slightly different way than was originally intended, so I thought

[0:04:44] Voice 10: I shouldn't give myself full marks for that.

[0:04:45] Voice 10: So, we've marked it as completed with a 75% progress bar, and we'll happily take feedback

[0:04:50] Voice 10: back on that presentation when we move to committee the whole online.

[0:04:55] Trustee Fast: Thank you very much, Director Mobs.

[0:04:57] Trustee Fast: And I misspoke before, but we're on page nine,

[0:04:59] Trustee Fast: as everybody's figured out, no doubt.

[0:05:01] Trustee Fast: Okay.

[0:05:04] Trustee Fast: Now I've got Trustee Getty first, or did you want to go first,

[0:05:08] Trustee Fast: Trustee Elliott?

[0:05:09] Voice 6: I think Trustee Elliott was ahead of me.

[0:05:14] Voice 12: Sure.

[0:05:14] Voice 12: I just had a brief question about number one,

[0:05:18] Voice 12: maybe canvassing this committee on whether they use those speaking notes

[0:05:23] Voice 12: and whether we want to hear from the rest of us council whether this was helpful

[0:05:28] Voice 12: I found it extremely helpful I've used the speaking notes a number of times on

[0:05:34] Voice 12: for constituents requesting information on the budget so I'd like to see this action sort of

[0:05:43] Voice 12: replicated for future trust committees deliberations I think it's yeah but if

[0:05:52] Voice 12: If there's some way that we can get an idea of whether this was a good use of staff's time, that might be good.

[0:06:01] Trustee Fast: Thanks.

[0:06:03] Trustee Fast: Thank you.

[0:06:04] Trustee Fast: Well, then I will just ask people to, I've got a little, let me just take a speaker's list here.

[0:06:12] Trustee Fast: Getty Bowling.

[0:06:12] Trustee Fast: Okay.

[0:06:17] Voice 6: Sorry, my turn?

[0:06:18] Trustee Fast: Yeah.

[0:06:20] Trustee Fast: Sorry.

[0:06:21] Trustee Fast: I'm just trying to give a little bit more time to make sure people have time to put up their hands and things.

[0:06:25] Trustee Fast: um please go ahead trustee getty and i'm

[0:06:28] Trustee Fast: putting myself on the list um

[0:06:30] Voice 6: page 12 and a couple of

[0:06:32] Voice 6: other places uh in the report there's mention of cost recoveries of the fetus island cleanup

[0:06:39] Voice 6: being awarded to the trust and that that has it looks like that is uh deducted from costs but

[0:06:46] Voice 6: have we actually collected can it sorry can

[0:06:50] Trustee Fast: i wait till we get to that item of the agenda

[0:06:52] Trustee Fast: And we're

[0:06:53] Voice 6: just on the,

[0:06:53] Trustee Fast: yeah, I've got your, you're on the list.

[0:06:58] Trustee Fast: And we're just still on the fuel.

[0:07:00] Trustee Fast: And Trustee Elliott has put a comment out.

[0:07:03] Trustee Fast: Trustee Boland.

[0:07:06] Voice 9: Thanks.

[0:07:07] Voice 9: I'm not sure if this is the right time.

[0:07:09] Voice 9: So park me.

[0:07:10] Voice 9: But I want to respond to something specific that Maxine Lechner said in her letter with respect to creation of the business cases.

[0:07:20] Voice 9: I think she's wrong about something.

[0:07:22] Voice 9: Okay.

[0:07:23] Trustee Fast: we'll hold that we're on item number uh seven oh sorry six seven six point three which is

[0:07:31] Trustee Fast: page nine the follow-up action list so um we maybe you could look at the agenda and figure

[0:07:39] Trustee Fast: out where the best place is to i

[0:07:41] Voice 9: have them i can figure it out i'm looking for help but i'll leave

[0:07:44] Voice 9: it for the moment

[0:07:45] Trustee Fast: okay thanks all right thank you and uh then i'll just comment about the speaking

[0:07:50] Trustee Fast: notes I found them useful too particularly the links that were in them I could just sort of

[0:07:56] Trustee Fast: click copy paste and that kind of thing send them off to people and I rather than going back

[0:08:03] Trustee Fast: through the minutes and things save a little bit of time and it was helpful too although

[0:08:09] Trustee Fast: I don't think I ever forwarded I mean I never I didn't forward the whole package to anybody

[0:08:14] Trustee Fast: but I found it helpful for myself in speaking at Municipal Council. Anybody else got any input

[0:08:23] Trustee Fast: on the question that Trustee Elliott asked about the speaking notes, which relates to the

[0:08:28] Trustee Fast: follow-up action list? Trustee Yates?

[0:08:32] Voice 8: Yes, thank you. I say the same as Trustee Elliott,

[0:08:36] Voice 8: very, very helpful speaking notes. And especially for me, I always want to know a little bit more

[0:08:42] Voice 8: detail about how it works for bowen island municipality and it's really clear in those

[0:08:47] Voice 8: speaking notes so i i can't say enough how much i appreciate them thank you thank you very much

[0:08:55] Voice 12: trustee elliott yeah thank you chair um so to that point i think this was something

[0:09:02] Voice 12: financial planning committee discussed almost two years ago um how to communicate information

[0:09:09] Voice 12: about our budget in a much, well, how to improve communications, let's say about our budget

[0:09:17] Voice 12: and having the webpage website there, a dedicated page, the accordion folders of the breakdowns.

[0:09:24] Voice 12: I think this solves that problem that I was asking. So if you would entertain a motion,

[0:09:31] Voice 12: maybe later in the meeting, or maybe help me with it, could we have this as a standing part

[0:09:38] Voice 12: part of the work plan that communications be developed you know at a certain stage of the

[0:09:43] Voice 12: budget development process and that a specific section of the website is is created for that

[0:09:53] Voice 12: because I think it this is just yeah so it answers the question you know when do we consult

[0:09:59] Voice 12: you know we're having these discussions about engagement when is it helpful to bring in the

[0:10:04] Voice 12: public conversation but having a place for the public to go to is really really important for

[0:10:09] Voice 12: transparency so um i'll put forward a motion if this committee is appropriate for it or if we

[0:10:14] Voice 12: should bring that to trust council um

[0:10:17] Trustee Fast: that's a good question um director freighter i believe

[0:10:21] Trustee Fast: you sent that uh speaking notes to all of trust council or was it just this committee

[0:10:26] Trustee Fast: i know we sent it to all trustees right so i think if you want to um maybe i would suggest

[0:10:34] Trustee Fast: to bring it up at trust council as you did here trustee elliott and then we can get more feedback

[0:10:40] Trustee Fast: uh or um i'd be happy to entertain a motion a little later in the meeting you want to think

[0:10:46] Trustee Fast: of one whichever way you want to do it i like the idea of having uh i made a big note on my agenda

[0:10:52] Trustee Fast: that i would hopefully look at next year i believe though uh that we did usually have a

[0:10:59] Trustee Fast: dedicated part of the website for the budget even if it was didn't I guess usually it was the

[0:11:07] Trustee Fast: budget survey and that kind of thing but I remember material on the website director Freider

[0:11:12] Trustee Fast: or director Moffs I'm

[0:11:15] Voice 11: happy to speak to that through the chair here yes typically we have

[0:11:18] Voice 11: had information on the website of course in some prior years we've had public engagement going on

[0:11:24] Voice 11: right up until early February so it's been focused providing the information through the survey

[0:11:29] Voice 11: survey was the main mechanism of communication. Given the absence of that, we then now added the

[0:11:35] Voice 11: information right on the webpage itself. Happy to take direction from Trust Council as to how

[0:11:40] Voice 11: they wish us to communicate in the future, and we can amend our procedures accordingly.

[0:11:45] Trustee Fast: Right. Thank you. And thinking about this, I would welcome your motion later in the meeting,

[0:11:50] Trustee Fast: Trustee Elliott, or right away if you want to, because part of the terms of reference of this

[0:11:56] Trustee Fast: committee is to figure out how to best communicate the budget information with trust counsel and uh

[0:12:03] Trustee Fast: so that would be welcome um i'm going to go back to me uh is it about this topic trustee boland

[0:12:11] Trustee Fast: yes

[0:12:13] Voice 9: please go ahead uh just a quick one i did find that web page uh with the budget information

[0:12:19] Voice 9: and it's really good and um i see dates scattered throughout but it would be really helpful

[0:12:26] Voice 9: helpful at the head of that to put a date last updated because it is a bit of a shifting puzzle

[0:12:33] Voice 9: and you know it's you know there are things like uh let me see how could the islands trust budget

[0:12:40] Voice 9: affect you etc etc but it would i think last updated after the title budget would be really

[0:12:48] Voice 9: really helpful thanks okay

[0:12:51] Trustee Fast: thank you very much for that suggestion and uh i'm i don't see trustee

[0:12:59] Trustee Fast: elliott on the screen at the moment so i'm going to move on um hoping that um a motion will come

[0:13:06] Trustee Fast: and uh it sounds like it was valuable to people if people have other suggestions now's the time

[0:13:14] Trustee Fast: none from this okay so we'll go on now to item 7.1 this is the financial report

[0:13:21] Trustee Fast: that I think you were beginning to speak to Trustee Getty but maybe I will ask since this

[0:13:29] Trustee Fast: is an RFD I'd ask the Director Mobs to say a few words about it. I'm

[0:13:36] Voice 10: happy to chair so this is the

[0:13:38] Voice 10: third quarter financial report that's before you so this is financial reporting up to December 31st

[0:13:44] Voice 10: 2025 so three quarters into the year that's 75 percent of the year behind us so we could estimate

[0:13:51] Voice 10: estimates that operations would land at about 75% of budget. What we're seeing is that there's a net

[0:13:59] Voice 10: 67% of annual budget that's been consumed. So that's below where we would expect to be three

[0:14:04] Voice 10: quarters of the way through the year. We've had some unusual circumstances this year. So one of

[0:14:09] Voice 10: the primary drivers for savings is due to the BCGEU strike that took place in October. And so we do

[0:14:16] Voice 10: have some salaries and benefits savings. Traditionally, we do have savings and staff salaries and

[0:14:22] Voice 10: benefits each year, and it's been compounded this year as a result of that strike. We do

[0:14:28] Voice 10: also have some underspending in projects, particularly on the Local Trust Committee

[0:14:31] Voice 10: projects. Again, we do tend to see that historically at Islands Trust, and that was also compounded

[0:14:36] Voice 10: by the fact that staff were away for a period of time in the year and thus not focused on

[0:14:40] Voice 10: moving projects forward. We do also, I'll just briefly touch on what Trustee Getty mentioned

[0:14:46] Voice 10: previously. We have some significant overspending on legal litigation this year. That's due to some

[0:14:53] Voice 10: significant claims that have been moving through the courts. That overspending in legal litigation

[0:14:59] Voice 10: is offset by some cost awards that we received in the year. So there were three cost recovery awards

[0:15:05] Voice 10: that Islands Trust received this year or they were awarded to us this year because those related to

[0:15:12] Voice 10: files that closed last year but the cost of rewards were received this year they have landed

[0:15:18] Voice 10: in this year's financial reporting and so they are offsetting spending in the bylaw

[0:15:23] Voice 10: legal litigation budget line. I believe Trustee Getty's question was asking whether or not we

[0:15:32] Voice 10: had actually received those funds. Is that accurate? I see nodding. So, as I mentioned,

[0:15:38] Voice 10: there were three awards received. Two of the smaller ones have been received. I think they

[0:15:43] Voice 10: were in the ballpark of $12,000 and $16,000 each. The larger one of $147,000 is not yet received.

[0:15:51] Voice 10: However, we do have those funds registered against the title of the property.

[0:15:55] Voice 10: In accounting, we are permitted to record revenue streams prior to receiving the revenue

[0:16:03] Voice 10: streams.

[0:16:03] Voice 10: If the amount can be reasonably assured, we have legal rights to the dollars and we can

[0:16:09] Voice 10: also have reasonable assurance of collection.

[0:16:11] Voice 10: And because we've registered it against the property title, we have reasonable assurance

[0:16:15] Voice 10: of collection.

[0:16:16] Voice 10: We have done some work to make sure that there's enough equity there that we would be able

[0:16:19] Voice 10: to recover those costs in the event of a property sale.

[0:16:21] Voice 10: and so we have recorded those as revenue or I guess hopefully that addresses the question I can

[0:16:29] Voice 10: happily speak to it further if you'd like trustee Getty okay go ahead trustee

[0:16:36] Voice 12: Getty so

[0:16:37] Voice 6: it's a little

[0:16:38] Voice 6: bit of smoke and mirrors I think we have to be a little bit careful because unless and until

[0:16:43] Voice 6: the property title changes either they sell the property or they decide that they're going to

[0:16:49] Voice 6: somehow get that lien off the the title it can sit there for a very long time so

[0:16:55] Voice 6: if we're showing as you know a negative credit then we have to be careful still

[0:17:03] Voice 6: that we recognize that we don't actually have it in hand right so we're not I

[0:17:09] Voice 6: mean we don't really have a lot of control over litigation costs but I

[0:17:12] Voice 6: don't want us to get some false hopes that you know our litigation costs are

[0:17:17] Voice 6: They're dropping dramatically when, in fact, it could cost more to actually do the collection.

[0:17:25] Voice 10: If I'm being a volunteer?

[0:17:28] Voice 10: Yeah.

[0:17:28] Voice 10: Yeah, so that is a separate issue, you know, showing the revenue ahead of collection.

[0:17:34] Voice 10: When we see the annual financial statements, they do include a statement of financial position as well, which align called accounts receivable.

[0:17:44] Voice 10: And so we would see this reflected there.

[0:17:46] Voice 10: So that's where we would see that the amount is still in a

[0:17:49] Voice 10: receivable state and hasn't yet been received.

[0:17:52] Voice 10: Accounting is interesting in that we record

[0:17:54] Voice 10: revenues and expenses when we have legal right to revenue and we have reasonable assurance of collection.

[0:18:01] Voice 10: And expenses we also record sometimes before cash is left the door.

[0:18:05] Voice 10: When we are obligated to pay something, we would record the expense, even if we haven't yet actually paid it.

[0:18:13] Voice 10: so there is a difference oftentimes between financial reporting and accounting versus

[0:18:19] Voice 10: and so the year-end financial

[0:18:20] Voice 10: statements do account for that there's a cash flow statement

[0:18:23] Voice 10: you know it's a great observation and it's a good thing to pay attention to and I think that's

[0:18:27] Voice 10: something we can keep this committee and all of trust council informed of as to you know how the

[0:18:34] Voice 10: collection process is going for that particular file certainly we are aware that this budget line

[0:18:40] Voice 10: actually is not decreasing so when we're looking at budgeting next year we're not saying oh well

[0:18:44] Voice 10: we spent a lot less this year so we'll reduce the budget we're very aware of that and conscious

[0:18:48] Voice 10: great

[0:18:49] Voice 6: thank you i had one other point if i may and i'm not sure sorry go ahead okay i'm not sure

[0:18:57] Voice 6: if it's a typo or um the very last bullet point on the trust council services on page 12 talks about

[0:19:06] Voice 6: about general admin allocation to trust council services reports at 62% of

[0:19:12] Voice 6: budget lower than benchmark due to underspending in general admonition

[0:19:18] Voice 6: discussed later. Is it, should it be at administration?

[0:19:23] Voice 10: Absolutely. It should. We'll correct that. Thanks.

[0:19:25] Voice 10: Okay.

[0:19:26] Voice 6: I've been admonished. Thank you.

[0:19:31] Trustee Fast: Very good. Best use of a word. Okay.

[0:19:36] Trustee Fast: OK, anybody else on this topic, which is the financial report for the third quarter, sending it on to Trust Council or seeing no hands flying up.

[0:19:51] Trustee Fast: Can I have a motion? It's on the cover sheet there.

[0:19:58] Trustee Fast: I'm going to read the motion. It says that financial planning committee forward the December 31st, 2025 financial report to Trust Council for approval.

[0:20:12] Trustee Fast: Okay. So, Trustee Getty, are you moving that? Or I can move it? Okay.

[0:20:17] Voice 6: I'll move that if you want, or either one.

[0:20:19] Trustee Fast: Thank you. Thank you. Trustee Getty's moving it, and Trustee Patrick is seconding. Thank you.

[0:20:25] Trustee Fast: And I'm just going to check before we vote. This is for approval, right? Not for information?

[0:20:33] Trustee Fast: Director Mobs?

[0:20:36] Voice 10: So, this report will be approved by Trust Council, so Financial Planning Committee simply needs to forward it to Trust Council for approval.

[0:20:42] Voice 10: Thank

[0:20:44] Trustee Fast: you. I just want to make sure about approval versus information. Okay, thank you. So we've got a motion moved, seconded and clarified. And anybody got any more discussion on the motion? Seeing none, I'll call the vote. Please raise your digital hand if you approve this motion. If you're voting for, whoops, mine was up. Anyway, thank you and lower your hands.

[0:21:11] Trustee Fast: I seem to have a little lag on my side, so my apologies.

[0:21:17] Trustee Fast: I'll try and give a little pause before I speak.

[0:21:20] Trustee Fast: Anybody opposed, please raise your digital hand.

[0:21:26] Trustee Fast: Seeing none, this motion carries.

[0:21:29] Trustee Fast: Thank you.

[0:21:31] Trustee Fast: Moving on to 7.2, this is the financial forecast.

[0:21:36] Trustee Fast: So from the report just received, looking ahead, it's a briefing.

[0:21:40] Trustee Fast: Please, over to you, page 21.

[0:21:43] Trustee Fast: Over to you, Director Mobs.

[0:21:47] Voice 10: Okay, so this is actually a recorder.

[0:21:49] Voice 10: financial forecast. So this estimates where we think we'll land from a financial standpoint

[0:21:54] Voice 10: to the end of the year. Normally, we prepare a financial forecast at the end of the second

[0:22:00] Voice 10: quarter as well as the end of the third quarter. You'll recall that we did not prepare the second

[0:22:04] Voice 10: quarter financial forecast due to the strike. And so this will be the first time this year that you

[0:22:09] Voice 10: are seeing a financial forecast. It is

[0:22:11] Voice 10: eye-opening. It does provide some very useful information that

[0:22:14] Voice 10: is used to inform our budget. And so when we move to Committee of the Whole, you'll see

[0:22:17] Voice 10: some of the impacts to our budget for next year that are falling out of

[0:22:20] Voice 10: the financial forecast

[0:22:21] Voice 10: for this year. So the financial forecast, we're projecting to have an annual surplus of $115,000.

[0:22:30] Voice 10: So that means we're expecting more revenue than we expect to spend $115,000. The approved budget

[0:22:36] Voice 10: expected that we would have a shortfall of $682,000. So that's quite a big difference.

[0:22:42] Voice 10: It's quite a significant amount of understanding against what was budgeted for.

[0:22:48] Voice 5: Those

[0:22:49] Voice 10: reasons that we're forecasting such a large underspending are the same reasons

[0:22:53] Voice 10: that we saw underspending in the third financial report.

[0:22:56] Voice 10: We do have significant savings in salaries and benefits as a result of staff vacancies

[0:23:01] Voice 10: as well as the BCGE strike.

[0:23:03] Voice 10: We do also see some significant project delays and some projects that haven't advanced at

[0:23:09] Voice 10: all this year, and so we see underspending in those areas as well.

[0:23:13] Voice 10: and then again the legal cost recovery awards that we received in the year are also reducing

[0:23:19] Voice 10: expenses and so as a result of our financial forecast and the fact that we will actually

[0:23:25] Voice 10: be depositing money into the general revenue surplus fund as opposed to withdrawing money

[0:23:29] Voice 10: from it we do have some extra funds that we can use the next year's budget to help pay for

[0:23:34] Voice 10: operation so I won't go into the details of the report it's all there for your information but

[0:23:41] Voice 10: certainly happy to respond to questions if there are thank

[0:23:45] Trustee Fast: you very much director mobs a question

[0:23:49] Trustee Fast: from susan yates please go ahead trustee

[0:23:50] Voice 8: yates um just a comment to thank director mobs for this

[0:23:54] Voice 8: what could be potentially very well it is good news so i really appreciate appreciate getting

[0:23:59] Voice 8: good news when i wasn't expecting it thank you very good trustee

[0:24:05] Trustee Fast: peterson thank

[0:24:09] Voice 4: you chair um

[0:24:10] Voice 4: I'm just curious where our reserve sits.

[0:24:18] Voice 4: I know this council has drawn it down over some years,

[0:24:24] Voice 4: and I expect there may be some appetite to use this amount

[0:24:32] Voice 4: to reduce the potential tax raise for this coming budget.

[0:24:38] Voice 4: budget um is it still in the one percent hundred thousand dollar range roughly director mobs

[0:24:48] Voice 10: sorry was your question around where the surplus balance is sitting or well I

[0:24:59] Voice 10: thought I heard you

[0:25:00] Voice 10: talk about the surplus and then move into taxation yeah

[0:25:03] Voice 4: so um yeah I guess it was sort of two

[0:25:06] Voice 4: two questions. One is, where is our surplus? I recall in earlier discussions, we, in December

[0:25:15] Voice 4: and such, we essentially didn't seem to have any room there. This may appear to look like room,

[0:25:23] Voice 4: but I wanted to, you know, from your perspective of what the surplus should look like, is that

[0:25:30] Voice 4: that true and uh the second question was around um because i expect there'll be appetite to try and

[0:25:38] Voice 4: to to apply um this unexpected amount against the coming budget is are we still in the range

[0:25:47] Voice 4: of a hundred thousand dollars um equaling about a one percent in terms of taxes i'm happy to

[0:25:57] Voice 10: respond to that through the chair. So yes, there is more wiggle room in the surplus fund now as a

[0:26:03] Voice 10: result of how operations are shaping up this year. So this year's budget, we thought we would have to

[0:26:09] Voice 10: draw $200,000 from the surplus fund to help us pay for spending this year. Instead, because we're

[0:26:16] Voice 10: underspending to such a magnitude, we're actually going to be putting money into the reserve fund

[0:26:21] Voice 10: or into the surplus fund at the end of the year. And so at the end of the year, we've estimated

[0:26:26] Voice 10: made it about 2.49 million that will be in the general revenue surplus fund and so we do have

[0:26:33] Voice 10: room there policy recommended minimum is about 2.1 and so the difference there about 330 000

[0:26:41] Voice 10: i think is what you see drawn into the budget for next year so committee to hold material will have

[0:26:47] Voice 10: an updated budget and you will see a draw from surplus about 327 000 and that's the direct

[0:26:53] Voice 10: results of us re-evaluating the surplus balances and seeing that we do actually have some room.

[0:26:58] Voice 10: To your question about tax increases, I think it's around $92,000, $91,000 or $2,000 that equals

[0:27:04] Voice 10: one percent of the tax increase. I can confirm that before we go into

[0:27:08] Voice 10: the committee to hold

[0:27:10] Voice 10: that information.

[0:27:15] Trustee Fast: Thank you. Does that answer your question?

[0:27:17] Trustee Fast: Yes, I'm seeing some nodding eyebrows. I think that was a nod.

[0:27:22] Trustee Fast: Yes. Okay, over to you. Thank you, Director Mobs. Over to you, Trustee Getty.

[0:27:29] Voice 6: Some of the savings, a lot of the savings appear to be with salaries and benefits.

[0:27:34] Voice 6: And I'm just wondering how much of that would translate in if next year is going to be relatively quiet on the trustee side because of all the elections and new council coming in and getting themselves all settled.

[0:27:49] Voice 6: Is it likely that a lot of the staff time will be spent figuring out how to backfill those positions so that that is not something that we can count on?

[0:28:01] Voice 6: You know, if we were, that's $760,000 in terms of underspending and whether or not it's realistic to adjust some of our predictions in terms of those kinds of, I don't want to call it cost savings, but those kinds of budget concerns.

[0:28:22] Voice 6: So, there's some way that we can predict based on it being an election year where we might be able to make some adjustments in terms of our predictions for this next year and all of the kinds of cost savings that we've had this year as opposed to, you know, we're coming in under budget and it's hard to predict.

[0:28:46] Voice 6: But I'm just wondering if there's any way that we can do that.

[0:28:51] Trustee Fast: Over to you, Director Mobs.

[0:28:53] Trustee Fast: Um,

[0:28:55] Voice 10: so I think there's, there's certainly things we can think about, um, whether or not the

[0:29:00] Voice 10: elections themselves really influence, um, our vacancies and underspending against salaries

[0:29:07] Voice 10: budget, um, you know, is a bit debatable. Um, certainly staff time, um, will be redirected

[0:29:13] Voice 10: towards orienting new trustees. There's a fair amount of work that comes at the start of each

[0:29:17] Voice 10: new term. Um, one of the challenges that we see is when we have new staff positions that are

[0:29:22] Voice 10: budgeted for, it often takes a very long time to fill those positions, generally due to workload.

[0:29:27] Voice 10: You know,

[0:29:27] Voice 10: staff who experience high workloads don't have a lot of capacity to invest in hiring

[0:29:34] Voice 10: competitions. Hiring competitions can take quite a while. You know, we do have to follow a merit-based

[0:29:39] Voice 10: process in the public service. And so it can be a lengthy process to bring somebody in. And of

[0:29:44] Voice 10: course, once the hiring is complete, you may also have a bit of a time lag before someone can

[0:29:49] Voice 10: can actually join the organization.

[0:29:51] Voice 10: So we try to acknowledge that in our budgeting for new positions by making sure that we're

[0:29:56] Voice 10: not budgeting for them to start right at April 1st.

[0:29:58] Voice 10: We acknowledge that there's a period.

[0:30:00] Voice 10: have time to hire. And so we could look at amending those start dates, being a bit more

[0:30:05] Voice 10: realistic and maybe pushing them out a little bit further. That would help. We don't have much

[0:30:10] Voice 10: control over whether or not we might leave the organization in the year or we might have high

[0:30:16] Voice 10: turnover in one area or another. That's very, very hard to predict. We do make concessions in our

[0:30:20] Voice 10: salaries budgeting for some of that. So every year we budget for a full complement of staff and then

[0:30:28] Voice 10: then we reduced that amount by 2%. And that 2% came about from a historical analysis of how much

[0:30:34] Voice 10: we were under spending against our salaries budgets generally, generally, we were under

[0:30:38] Voice 10: spending by 2%. And so we put in a 2% reduction. I would say that in recent years, we've seen the

[0:30:45] Voice 10: level of under spending increase a little bit. So, you know, that percentage, I think might be

[0:30:50] Voice 10: slightly higher at this point. But, you know, there's, it's a tough one, it's hard to predict

[0:30:57] Voice 10: what vacancies might come up here thank

[0:31:02] Trustee Fast: you two percent okay thank you over to you trustee

[0:31:07] Trustee Fast: boland a question for the director um yeah

[0:31:11] Voice 9: i've you know every year we um discuss ways in which

[0:31:17] Voice 9: we can i'm using the word because i can't think of another word but artificially frig around with

[0:31:23] Voice 9: of the budget to make it smaller and effectively pass the problem down the road to the next year

[0:31:30] Voice 9: or the year after. And Director Moffs, this isn't any criticism of the advice you give us.

[0:31:37] Voice 9: I appreciate all the information you provide to us. But every year we talk about, oh, well,

[0:31:44] Voice 9: we'll hire a new position, but oh, gee, they won't start for six months. So that saves us.

[0:31:49] Voice 9: But the reality is that the following year we have a fixed salary cost that's gone up by one staff position and we deal with the negotiated salary increases.

[0:32:03] Voice 9: So everything we do using the reserve and which is funded by the fact that projects are slow quite often.

[0:32:14] Voice 9: and you know why are they slow because we our aspirations or our scope is larger than we can

[0:32:20] Voice 9: cope with so we have this sort of increasing large bubble balloon and we you know try to

[0:32:29] Voice 9: constrain it with things that are temporary and I really really think it's bad we never actually

[0:32:37] Voice 9: grasp the nettle and face the fact that we should be you know stopping the increases

[0:32:44] Voice 9: looking at ways to make a really significant decrease you know I looked at the LTC projects

[0:32:53] Voice 9: many of them are in their final years which arguably would mean that in a year or two we

[0:32:59] Voice 9: We need less planning time and maybe that time or those positions can be reallocated to other activities.

[0:33:10] Voice 9: But we just continue to increase. And I think we really need to take a breath and say no.

[0:33:16] Voice 9: And on top of that, I consider the fact that, you know, we've talked about trustee salaries and the fact that if they were increased,

[0:33:24] Voice 9: Maybe we would have a better, you know, slate of candidates, younger people could afford to be involved. But I find it really difficult to look at contemplating any increase to my salary when I see the scale of the budget and the increases that we seem to be quite happy to vote for.

[0:33:46] Voice 9: and we we look at every single item and each item is is valuable in itself but we don't actually

[0:33:54] Voice 9: work together in a cohesive way to look at the budget as a whole we just kick the can down the

[0:34:00] Voice 9: road thank you can

[0:34:02] Trustee Fast: i cast oh thank you trustee borland okay so that was just a comment i just

[0:34:06] Trustee Fast: hadn't pulled a question out i was wondering if there was one and we'll have a good chance to

[0:34:11] Trustee Fast: debate all these ideas in the committee the whole this afternoon um too so not dismissing your point

[0:34:20] Trustee Fast: but did you have a specific question for the director or were you just making comments um i i

[0:34:28] Voice 9: just i i don't like the fact that we rely on um positions not being filled temporarily or

[0:34:36] Voice 9: permanently to fund our aspirations thank you thank

[0:34:41] Trustee Fast: you um trustee getty um

[0:34:48] Voice 6: if trustee boland

[0:34:50] Voice 6: is interested in the compensation package that report has just been received and was discussed

[0:34:55] Voice 6: yesterday at the governance committee it is attached to that agenda so it's a very good

[0:35:00] Voice 6: report and it's going to cause a lot of discussion thank

[0:35:05] Trustee Fast: you yes so people will have a chance to read

[0:35:07] Trustee Fast: that if you want to before this afternoon's committee the whole meeting to discuss the

[0:35:12] Trustee Fast: budget i actually think it's i'm putting myself on the list here i think it's um uh good to be

[0:35:18] Trustee Fast: realistic about the fact that uh as the director said we're usually underspent in staff salaries

[0:35:25] Trustee Fast: because of the turnover every year they've looked at the trends and it makes sense i think to

[0:35:29] Trustee Fast: acknowledge that in the budget uh if that's what i understood correctly um any other questions

[0:35:36] Trustee Fast: for the uh go ahead

[0:35:39] Voice 6: trustee getty if i may um the the uh report on compensation i hope doesn't take

[0:35:45] Voice 6: up a lot of time in our discussion about this year's budget or the coming budget because it's

[0:35:50] Voice 6: designed to be implemented if it whatever it is the year after so it's uh it's interesting and

[0:35:59] Voice 6: it's something that we need to debate but not necessarily part of this budget so hopefully it

[0:36:03] Voice 6: It doesn't take up a lot of time there.

[0:36:06] Trustee Fast: Thank you.

[0:36:07] Trustee Fast: Yeah, good point.

[0:36:10] Trustee Fast: Okay, any other questions for the director

[0:36:15] Trustee Fast: or comments you want to raise about 7.2,

[0:36:19] Trustee Fast: the financial forecast briefing?

[0:36:23] Trustee Fast: Not seeing any hands.

[0:36:25] Trustee Fast: We're going to move on.

[0:36:26] Trustee Fast: Okay, 7.3, we've got a ministry bylaw for Trust Council.

[0:36:31] Trustee Fast: We do this every year,

[0:36:32] Trustee Fast: but maybe you could introduce it for us, Director Mobs.

[0:36:38] Voice 10: Happy to. So the RFD in the agenda is a draft RFD to Trust Council to approve a revenue anticipation borrowing bylaw.

[0:36:47] Voice 10: So this is the bylaw that sort of preauthorizes borrowing at Islands Trust should that be needed.

[0:36:54] Voice 10: It's a bylaw that's approved every year with the financial plan bylaw.

[0:36:58] Voice 10: We've never had to lean into this bylaw. I shouldn't say never.

[0:37:01] Voice 10: We've not had to lean into it in many, many years.

[0:37:04] Voice 10: I think there's been one instance of borrowing an island's trust more than 15 years ago.

[0:37:10] Voice 10: We have not been at risk of running out of cash in recent years, and I don't foresee that risk next year, barring any significant unusual circumstances.

[0:37:20] Voice 10: The bylaw authorizes us to borrow $2.2 million, which represents about two and a half months of operating spending, less than specific revenue sources.

[0:37:28] Voice 10: sources. We are able to borrow at a rate of prime or up to prime plus 0.75 percent. That's our

[0:37:36] Voice 10: current borrowing rate. The bylaw authorizes us to borrow up to any amount not exceeding two percent

[0:37:42] Voice 10: over prime bank rate. And so it's mainly an administrative bylaw that authorizes us to

[0:37:50] Voice 10: borrow in the events

[0:37:50] Voice 10: that we need to. I'm happy to take questions on that. There's no changes

[0:37:54] Voice 10: to this bylaw over what you've seen in previous years thank

[0:38:00] Trustee Fast: you very much and the motion to

[0:38:02] Trustee Fast: forward this to trust council for everybody's info is on page two of our agenda up there on

[0:38:08] Trustee Fast: the cover page any questions about this one or who would like to move the motion trustee patrick

[0:38:18] Trustee Fast: uh

[0:38:21] Voice 3: sure i move that the financial planning committee forward bylaw 205 to trust council

[0:38:28] Voice 3: Council for approval. Thank you.

[0:38:31] Trustee Fast: This is the Islands Trust Council Revenue Anticipation

[0:38:37] Trustee Fast: Borrowing Bylaw 2026-27. Can I have a seconder? Is that you seconding, Susan Yates?

[0:38:44] Trustee Fast: Yes, it is. Very

[0:38:45] Trustee Fast: good. I see Melody. Thank you, Trustee Yates. Okay, so we've got a motion

[0:38:49] Trustee Fast: moved and seconded. Any discussion? Seeing none, I'm going to call the vote. So all those in favor

[0:39:00] Trustee Fast: of this motion please raise your hand thank you seeing the digital hands go up

[0:39:09] Trustee Fast: thank you very much and lower your hands please anyone opposed to this motion

[0:39:16] Trustee Fast: please raise your hand any opposed none thank you the motion carries unanimously

[0:39:26] Trustee Fast: very good and I see Toby is back with us trustee Elliott you've got your hand up

[0:39:32] Trustee Fast: please go ahead thank

[0:39:34] Voice 12: you chair um so i did send a motion a draft motion to staff hoping for some

[0:39:42] Voice 12: feedback but i know everyone's been busy um so this is about routine communications to the public

[0:39:49] Voice 12: on draft annual budgets uh i could read it out and then we could look at it if um the wording

[0:39:59] Voice 12: could be improved it's pretty wordy i don't know robert did you get a copy of that i just heard

[0:40:08] Trustee Fast: an email go please go ahead director mobs um

[0:40:15] Voice 10: thanks chair i i just pulled up um the draft

[0:40:19] Voice 10: motion sent by um trustee elliott and i wonder if um the motion related to communications would

[0:40:27] Voice 10: be best placed for executive committee um that financial planning committee request

[0:40:32] Voice 10: request the council direct executive committee to undertake X, Y, and Z or request executive

[0:40:37] Voice 10: committee to undertake that. I'd look to director Freider to see how she feels that she's best

[0:40:41] Voice 10: flow.

[0:40:46] Voice 11: Director Freider? Yes. Yes. Executive committee is in charge of communication. So

[0:40:52] Voice 11: a recommendation to that committee would be the best path. I could

[0:40:57] Voice 12: also just bring this to

[0:40:59] Voice 12: executive committee. That could also work. It might be more efficient. But if financial planning

[0:41:04] Voice 12: committee wants to you know add its voice to that i guess that's the point i was looking to canvas

[0:41:09] Voice 12: this committee as to the utility um and so i mean i could bring it to executive but if fpc wants to

[0:41:17] Voice 12: have a voice in it then you could vote on that here send it around three committees later so

[0:41:25] Trustee Fast: perhaps uh those of us who did use it it sounds like some members of um financial planning

[0:41:32] Trustee Fast: committee may not have referred to the speaking notes so uh trustee getty what do you think

[0:41:37] Trustee Fast: i

[0:41:39] Voice 6: think we have all the members of the executive committee here with us so um i think that uh if

[0:41:45] Voice 6: it's you know going to be discussed there then there's general support and approval it worked

[0:41:49] Voice 6: well this year and people used it so i think it's um report that to executive we've already

[0:41:57] Voice 6: reported that to executive and you can figure out how to deal with it okay

[0:42:03] Trustee Fast: thank you thank you

[0:42:06] Trustee Fast: Thank you, everybody. And thank you, Toby, for drafting that up and helping to articulate it to make it clear so that we can move forward in the informal and easiest way. That's great.

[0:42:19] Trustee Fast: So we're back to our agenda now. Nothing in new business, the work program, page 30. So if we can take a look down there. This is what I'll be reporting on at Trust Council, and Trust Council will be approving this, hopefully. So where are we at here? Okay, go ahead, please, Director Mobs.

[0:42:53] Trustee Fast: I'd

[0:42:56] Voice 10: just like to point out on the active projects report, item number three has found its way onto

[0:43:03] Voice 10: the report erroneously. The

[0:43:05] Voice 10: statement of financial information is normally prepared after the audit.

[0:43:09] Voice 10: It's too much work to undertake that reporting at the same time as annual year end and audit.

[0:43:15] Voice 10: That report actually travels to Financial Planning Committee's August meeting.

[0:43:20] Voice 10: So that means that Financial Planning Committee could choose to select an item from the Future

[0:43:26] Voice 10: Projects Report and move it on to the Active Projects Report for completion over the next

[0:43:30] Voice 10: three months.

[0:43:32] Voice 10: I know that item number four on the Future Projects Report, recommendations for increasing

[0:43:37] Voice 10: application fees, that particular topic did garner a fair amount of interest at the Trust

[0:43:43] Voice 10: Council meeting where application fees were discussed, but certainly all of them are important

[0:43:49] Voice 10: important pieces of work in financial planning committee can choose which they'd like to focus on

[0:43:52] Voice 10: and move up to the active project for thank

[0:43:56] Trustee Fast: you director mobs i was wondering about that number

[0:43:58] Trustee Fast: three because i saw it was received 10th march 2026 and i thought it must be a typo or something

[0:44:05] Trustee Fast: but you've clarified thank you so item number three on our work program is coming off the

[0:44:10] Trustee Fast: active programs what would this committee like to replace it with we've heard from director mobs

[0:44:18] Trustee Fast: had noticed our interest in increasing application forms fees sorry down there at number four

[0:44:24] Trustee Fast: what are the ideas of the committee trustee

[0:44:28] Voice 8: yates thank you very much i really want us to be

[0:44:32] Voice 8: prioritizing recommendations for increasing application fees thank you trustee peterson

[0:44:44] Trustee Fast: Sorry,

[0:44:47] Voice 4: I concur on the application fees.

[0:44:54] Trustee Fast: Thank you.

[0:44:55] Trustee Fast: I'm putting myself on the list here, but if anybody would like to speak before I do, just go ahead, Trustee Patrick.

[0:45:05] Voice 3: um i i know it was on one of our lists at one time and kind of went but related to the

[0:45:11] Voice 3: application fee is the referral fees that the business the business the building permit

[0:45:15] Voice 3: referrals that we are getting from the regional districts is substantial and using substantial

[0:45:21] Voice 3: amounts of our staff time to respond to those and we're getting zero revenue i know there's

[0:45:28] Voice 3: been conversations but i think i don't know which one's going to present more money

[0:45:35] Trustee Fast: That's an interesting question. I wonder why we don't see that on our, I guess we haven't added that yet to the, tell you what, if we move something off this future projects list, maybe that's something that could move on if it's not here already, because I don't see it.

[0:45:52] Trustee Fast: and then uh that's a good point because work done uh as part of the work stream of other

[0:46:02] Trustee Fast: levels of government um that would be a way to recover costs as well but i personally putting

[0:46:10] Trustee Fast: myself on the list here i i do agree with the increasing of application fees we should look at

[0:46:15] Trustee Fast: that um and uh we do have direction from trust council on that one as well looking at number

[0:46:22] Trustee Fast: four there at the bottom of page 32 and uh so we have support from trust council for looking at

[0:46:29] Trustee Fast: that one and uh and i think that would be um important to do so putting myself in favor of

[0:46:37] Trustee Fast: that too that's three of us uh trustee boland uh

[0:46:41] Voice 9: yeah i actually forgotten about the regional

[0:46:44] Voice 9: district and review of applications that go to them it would be really helpful if we could see

[0:46:53] Voice 9: what the overlap is i mean it's possible that um application fees for a particular activity

[0:47:02] Voice 9: come to both regional district and the islands trust and then it's possible there are some that

[0:47:08] Voice 9: go directly to the regional district and the work bounces back to the islands trust it would be

[0:47:13] Voice 9: really helpful to see even a very simple uh analysis of that just to give us a flavor of

[0:47:20] Voice 9: the scale of it because i think given and where we are in terms of the maturity of the development

[0:47:26] Voice 9: of the islands it's possible that the opportunity you know to look at the regional district

[0:47:35] Voice 9: and referrals is even larger than direct application fee increases

[0:47:41] Voice 9: is could we make a motion to include a simple analysis of that in this review thank you i think

[0:47:52] Trustee Fast: generally we don't um make motions i think it would have to be to trust council to recommend

[0:47:59] Trustee Fast: that staff spend time on something when we've already got this formal list that we've already

[0:48:05] Trustee Fast: voted on to put things on or in this case number four that trust council has directed us that they

[0:48:12] Trustee Fast: They want us to work on it as their workhorse committee

[0:48:16] Trustee Fast: on this kind of thing.

[0:48:17] Trustee Fast: But by all means, would you prepare?

[0:48:21] Voice 9: Laura and I can prepare something to amend this or to expand it

[0:48:26] Voice 9: and present it to Trust Council.

[0:48:30] Trustee Fast: Possibly it's something you will want to bring up this afternoon too.

[0:48:34] Trustee Fast: I don't know.

[0:48:35] Trustee Fast: It's not exactly a budget issue.

[0:48:37] Trustee Fast: But that's a committee of the whole where conversations can happen

[0:48:40] Trustee Fast: and certainly trustees can collaborate on ideas.

[0:48:48] Trustee Fast: Trustee Getty.

[0:48:48] Trustee Fast: Thank you.

[0:48:50] Voice 6: I think that in terms of figuring out where staff are spending their time,

[0:48:55] Voice 6: there was a question that was raised several meetings ago

[0:48:59] Voice 6: in terms of timekeeping,

[0:49:00] Voice 6: and that there was problems with the software

[0:49:02] Voice 6: or problems with the, oh, maybe training

[0:49:07] Voice 6: in terms of getting people to use a system.

[0:49:10] Voice 6: But unless and until we've got something like that in place, it's anecdotal and it's really hard to support an argument, either with regional or with, you know, some other level of government.

[0:49:23] Voice 6: So I'd be curious in terms of whether or not that timekeeping aspect got sorted out so that we have a better understanding of where the staff are spending their time and what that's costing us.

[0:49:37] Trustee Fast: Thank you, Trustee Getty. Do you have an update for us, Director Marms?

[0:49:42] Voice 10: Certainly. So the implementation of new time tracking software is the responsibility of

[0:49:49] Voice 10: Director of Planning Services. I understand there hasn't been any movement on that this year. It is

[0:49:54] Voice 10: still an item that's in next year's budget. So there is still a plan to procure that software

[0:49:59] Voice 10: where and implement it for the purposes of tracking time that you know using time tracking

[0:50:07] Voice 10: from planning services staff to understand where time is being spent to understand whether or not

[0:50:12] Voice 10: we should be increasing fees to move closer to the cost recovery model that we are meant to

[0:50:17] Voice 10: to work towards that's one method of increasing our application fees there's other methods right

[0:50:22] Voice 10: you could simply take a blanket we're going to increase things by 10 percent so that there's

[0:50:27] Voice 10: you know, there's the stream of collecting all the data being very analytical to get to an

[0:50:33] Voice 10: increase or there's other easier ways. And so I think this piece of work will examine all of those

[0:50:38] Voice 10: options. So we don't necessarily need the time up front to talk about what options we might want to

[0:50:44] Voice 10: undertake. But I see Director Cermak is trying to screen on. I don't know if he has any further

[0:50:50] Voice 10: comments to supplement.

[0:50:52] Voice 2: Director Cermak? Sure. Thank you, Chair. I would, you know, just in

[0:50:57] Voice 2: response to your question that is my director's report update to trust council regarding this

[0:51:01] Voice 2: so you'll see it there but i'll you know since you've asked the question the uh the software

[0:51:05] Voice 2: directly that was approved um we found out that the cost to uh get it was higher than budgeted

[0:51:12] Voice 2: so that's why it got recirculated meanwhile the um we do have a new manager of information

[0:51:19] Voice 2: services who's approved the work plan of the staff which is to help rebuild our internal

[0:51:26] Voice 2: Islands Trust applications, which includes an internal time tracking. So that's new information,

[0:51:32] Voice 2: the cost of new software, as well as now dedicating staff to fix the internal issues.

[0:51:37] Voice 2: So therefore, that's been a lot of slow turning, so to speak. So we're working on that actively.

[0:51:44] Voice 2: It's in my report. And then what next steps are, we haven't quite got there, but certainly I'm an

[0:51:50] Voice 2: an advocate of simple, and I like Director Mob's 25% addition to fees is easy, quick, I can do that,

[0:51:57] Voice 2: and then shop that out to the elected officials, as opposed to doing a couple years worth of time

[0:52:02] Voice 2: collection, much to the agony of staff. So that's my update, thanks.

[0:52:08] Trustee Fast: Thank you, Director Cermak.

[0:52:09] Trustee Fast: And I've got myself on the speaking list just before you, Trustee Yates, if you don't mind.

[0:52:16] Trustee Fast: I agree about the agony of staff having done some of this timekeeping work.

[0:52:23] Trustee Fast: Honestly, sometimes it seems like you're spending more time on the timekeeping than you are on all these tasks that are building up on your desk.

[0:52:32] Trustee Fast: However, there are other methods for figuring out how to increase application fees.

[0:52:39] Trustee Fast: We've done that on Bowen Island using a what do similar organizations in our area do charge and that kind of thing.

[0:52:48] Trustee Fast: I can find that or. Yeah, I'll find that and dig it out and send it around if you'd like.

[0:52:56] Trustee Fast: And but otherwise, I think we should move ahead before we have years of data on how much time staff are spending,

[0:53:07] Trustee Fast: because this keeps showing up as a possibility and I don't want to put it off any longer.

[0:53:12] Trustee Fast: Over to you, Trustee Yates.

[0:53:15] Voice 8: Thank you.

[0:53:15] Voice 8: And one thing we know for sure, if we go ahead with this, staff will come up with a good

[0:53:22] Voice 8: way to determine how to increase those fees.

[0:53:26] Voice 8: We know that.

[0:53:26] Voice 8: So I just wanted to point out that Trustee Peterson has a great motion in the chat and

[0:53:31] Voice 8: I'd be happy to second that.

[0:53:34] Voice 8: Okay.

[0:53:35] Voice 8: well i'm going

[0:53:35] Trustee Fast: to uh go over to trustee peterson because of course the public can't see the chat

[0:53:40] Trustee Fast: and even i only opened the chat window now when i saw there was a little button there because i

[0:53:45] Trustee Fast: try and keep a bigger focus please go ahead trustee peterson if you've got a motion there

[0:53:50] Trustee Fast: thank

[0:53:51] Voice 4: you trustee yates um so the motion be i move that financial planning committee

[0:53:59] Voice 4: replace item number three from the active projects report with item number four from

[0:54:04] Voice 4: the future projects report thank

[0:54:07] Trustee Fast: you that's nice and straightforward um any suggestions

[0:54:13] Trustee Fast: for clarification that might be needed there from staff seeing no hands going up okay so trustee uh

[0:54:22] Trustee Fast: yates just seconding thank you making sure it's all verbal so people can understand uh and uh so

[0:54:34] Trustee Fast: So then we've got a motion moved and seconded,

[0:54:36] Trustee Fast: and a number of us have spoken to this.

[0:54:38] Trustee Fast: Thank you, Trustee Peterson for the motion.

[0:54:42] Trustee Fast: Any more discussion?

[0:54:44] Trustee Fast: Trustee Getty?

[0:54:47] Trustee Fast: No, she's getting

[0:54:48] Trustee Fast: ready to vote.

[0:54:48] Voice 6: I was just voting.

[0:54:51] Trustee Fast: Okay, we'll go ahead with the voting.

[0:54:53] Trustee Fast: All those in favor, please raise your hands.

[0:54:58] Trustee Fast: Thank you.

[0:55:00] Trustee Fast: And lower your hands, please.

[0:55:04] Trustee Fast: And any opposed?

[0:55:08] Trustee Fast: Seeing none opposed, the motion carries unanimously.

[0:55:11] Trustee Fast: thank you for doing that and now I'm making sure that staff have got the motion with the numbers

[0:55:27] Trustee Fast: in it and I see oh yeah okay they're just way ahead of me okay thank you very much so we've

[0:55:37] Trustee Fast: got a motion to move can somebody move that we forward the amended work program to trust council

[0:55:46] Trustee Fast: Council. Thank you, Robert, or whoever is doing that. Thank you. Trustee Yates, are you moving

[0:55:52] Trustee Fast: this motion that's on the screen? Yes, I am.

[0:55:55] Trustee Fast: Thank you. Thank you. So we're forwarding the amended

[0:56:00] Trustee Fast: work program to Trust Council. We just amended it. Let's let them know about it. Trustee Getty

[0:56:04] Trustee Fast: is seconding. Thank you. And so we have a motion in front of us to send our revised work program

[0:56:12] Trustee Fast: to trust council um any more discussion okay then uh all those in favor please raise your hand

[0:56:21] Trustee Fast: i can't get my hand to go up okay i'm on the list too there somehow my hand here i'll do this

[0:56:35] Trustee Fast: instead and uh so thank you very much everybody for voting anybody opposed please raise your hand

[0:56:47] Trustee Fast: i'm seeing none opposed that motion carries thank you very much and uh thanks to staff for helping

[0:56:53] Trustee Fast: me with that reminder, we'll refer it to Trust Council. Okay. All right. Thank you very much,

[0:57:02] Trustee Fast: everybody. Now, we're at the end of our agenda. And I know we've got a big committee of the whole

[0:57:08] Trustee Fast: coming up at one o'clock. But our next meeting of this financial planning committee is Wednesday,

[0:57:16] Trustee Fast: Tuesday May 27th 10 45 after the audit committee meets and so that's just for information and

[0:57:28] Trustee Fast: I didn't see what else was in in the chat there but I'm going to assume that date is fine with

[0:57:36] Trustee Fast: everybody that's just information we're not having a closed meeting don't need to do that other

[0:57:41] Trustee Fast: the things and uh i'm looking for a motion to adjourn thank you trustee graham is moving to

[0:57:49] Trustee Fast: adjourn and trustee getty is seconding um thank you very much everybody for a good meeting and

[0:57:55] Trustee Fast: we'll see you at the committee the whole at one o'clock bye thank you thank you

Trust Council Committee of the Whole                                ADOPTED                                                                               1 of 10 
Special Meeting Minutes 
February 18, 2026   
                              Islands Trust Council Committee of the Whole 
         Minutes of a Special Meeting 
 
Date:  
Location:  
February 18, 2026 
Electronic Meeting 
 
 
Executive Members 1.  Laura Patrick, Chair, Salt Spring Island Local Trust Area 
 
Present: 2.  Tobi Elliott, Vice-Chair, Gabriola Island Local Trust Area 
 
 3.  David Maude, Vice-Chair, Mayne Island Local Trust Area 
 
 4.  Timothy Peterson, Vice-Chair, Lasqueti Island Local Trust Area 
 
 
Members Present: 
 
5.   Sue Ellen Fast, Bowen Island Municipal Trustee 
6.   Judith Gedye, Bowen Island Municipal Trustee 
 
 7.   Sam Borthwick, Denman Island Local Trust Area 
 
 8.   David Graham, Denman Island Local Trust Area 
 
 9.   Susan Yates, Gabriola Island Local Trust Area 
 
 10. Lisa Gauvreau, Galiano Island Local Trust Area 
11. Ben Mabberley, Galiano Island Local Trust Area 
12. Joe Bernardo, Gambier Island Local Trust Area 
 
 13. Kate Louise Stamford, Gambier Island Local Trust Area 
 
 14. Jeanine Dodds, Mayne Island Local Trust Area 
15. Aaron Campbell, North Pender Island Local Trust Area 
16. Jamie Harris, Salt Spring Island Local Trust Area 
17. Mairead Boland, Saturna Island Local Trust Area 
18. Lee Middleton, Saturna Island Local Trust Area 
 
 19. Kristina Evans, South Pender Island Local Trust Area 
 
 
 
 
Members Regrets: 
 
Members Absent: 
20. Dag Falck, South Pender Island Local Trust Area 
21. Ken Hunter, Thetis Island Local Trust Area 
 
22. Mikaila Lironi, Lasqueti Island Local Trust Area 
 
23. Alex Allen, Hornby Island Local Trust Area 
24. Grant Scott, Hornby Island Local Trust Area 
25. Deb Morrison, North Pender Island Local Trust Area 
26. Peter Luckham, Thetis Island Local Trust Area 
 
 
Staff Present: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Others Present: 
Rueben Bronee, Chief Administrative Officer 
Stefan Cermak, Director, Planning Services 
Clare Frater, Director, Trust Area Services 
David Marlor, Director, Legislative and Information Services 
Julia Mobbs, Director, Financial and Employee Services 
Alexandra Trifonidis, Executive Coordinator 
Lisa Millard, Meeting Administrator/Recorder  
 
There was 1 member of the public present. 
 
  

 
Trust Council Committee of the Whole                                ADOPTED                                                                               2 of 10 
Special Meeting Minutes 
February 18, 2026   
 
1. CALL TO ORDER  
Chair Patrick called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. 
2. TERRITORIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 
Chair Patrick acknowledged that the meeting was held on the territory of the Coast Salish 
First Nations. 
3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 
By general consent the agenda was approved as presented. 
4. ADOPTION OF MINUTES 
4.1 Draft Committee of the Whole November 17, 2025 Special Meeting Minutes 
By general consent the Committee of the Whole Special Meeting minutes 
of November 17, 2025 were adopted. 
5. FOLLOW UP ACTION LIST 
5.1 Committee of the Whole Follow Up Action List 
Received for information.  
6. BUSINESS 
6.1 2026/27 Budget: Draft 2, Version 2 
6.1.1 Budget Session Outline 
Director Mobbs introduced the session outline and clarified the resolution 
examples provided reflect templated example language for resolutions and 
are not recommended motions. 
6.1.2 Budget Discussion Support Materials 
Director Mobbs reviewed support materials and the impacts of budget 
amendments on local Trust Area taxes and the Bowen Island Municipal levy. 
6.1.3 Islands Trust Conservancy Board Results of Budget Request Review – 
Briefing 
Director Frater summarized the briefing which reflects Trust Council’s 
request that the Islands Trust Conservancy Board reconsider their budget. 
Director Frater noted amendments and corrections for clarity will be made 
to the briefing prior to it coming before Trust Council in March.  
6.1.4 Changes in Draft 2026/27 Budget Since Trust Council’s Review – BRF 
Director Mobbs summarized changes to the draft budget since Trust Council 
last reviewed it in December as outlined in the briefing and noted that 

 
Trust Council Committee of the Whole                                ADOPTED                                                                               3 of 10 
Special Meeting Minutes 
February 18, 2026   
currently the tax increase for Local Trust Areas is 9.9% and 18.1% for Bowen 
Island Municipality.  
Trustee Hunter arrived to the meeting at 1:43 p.m. 
Director Mobbs reiterated that drawing on surplus is not sustainable year 
over year, surplus is typically a result of underspending on budget and 
staffing positions, and if budget is fully spent and there is no surplus to draw 
on there would be a significant tax increase in order to fund operations. 
6.1.5 2026/27 Draft Budget Overview – Briefing 
Director Mobbs summarized the briefing and noted planned spending has 
increased 6.6% over last year, the tax increase on purely discretionary 
budget increased by 1.3%, non-discretionary budget lines have increased by 
3.7%, and variable non-discretionary budget lines have increased 4.3%. 
The estimated tax increases for residents in the Local Trust Area would 
result in an approximate increase of $40 to $45 and between $30 to $35 for 
Bowen Island residents. 
Trustee Peterson left the meeting at 2:07 p.m. and returned at 2:10 p.m. 
6.1.6 2026/27 Budget Guidelines Assessment 
6.1.7 2026/27 Budget Reduction Options 
The Chief Administrative Officer stated that the Financial Planning 
Committee requested staff to identify potential budget reduction options 
and noted that the options are not necessarily recommendations from staff 
but options to consider in response to the direction given. He expressed that 
while all of the options would help reduce the budget, they would also 
impact operations. The scope of the impact for each option has been 
identified on the list, and a brief summary of the options was provided. 
Trustee Campbell joined the meeting at 2:21 p.m. 
Each item on the Reduction Options list was explained. Following 
discussion on each of the options Trustees indicated either support of, or 
opposition to, reducing the budget through the option. 
Items 1 through 9 were discussed. 
Trustee Peterson left the meeting at 3:23 p.m. and returned at 3:27 p.m. 
Items 10 through 12 were discussed.  
Trustee Fast left the meeting at 3:29 p.m. and returned at 3:32 p.m. 
The meeting was recessed for a break at 3:37 p.m. and reconvened at 3:46 p.m. 
Trustee Mabberley left the meeting at 3:49 p.m. 
Items 13 through 23 were discussed. 

 
Trust Council Committee of the Whole                                ADOPTED                                                                               4 of 10 
Special Meeting Minutes 
February 18, 2026   
The meeting was recessed for a break at 4:34 p.m. and reconvened at 4:46 p.m. 
TC-COW-2026-001 
It was MOVED by Trustee Gedye, and SECONDED by Trustee 
Dodds, 
that Committee of the Whole recommend that Trust Council not hire 
a professional photographer for new trustee photos and reduce the 
related draft 2026/27 item #19 budget line by $3500.  
CARRIED 
TC-COW-2026-002 
It was MOVED by Trustee Evans, and SECONDED by Trustee 
Dodds, 
that Committee of the Whole recommend that Trust Council adopt 
staff budget reduction option #4 (Meeting Expense) as presented in 
the Draft 2026/27 Budget Reduction Options table and reduce the 
related draft 2026/27 budget by $3000.   
CARRIED 
TC-COW-2026-003 
It was MOVED by Trustee Evans, and SECONDED by Trustee 
Dodds, 
that Committee of the Whole recommend that Trust Council adopt 
staff budget reduction option #6 (Reconciliation Action Plan) as 
presented in the Draft 2026/27 Budget Reduction Options 
table and reduce the related draft 2026/27 budget by $25,000.  
CARRIED 
TC-COW-2026-004 
It was MOVED by Trustee Evans, and SECONDED by Trustee 
Boland, 
that Committee of the Whole recommend that Trust Council adopt 
staff budget reduction option #7 (Reconciliation Action Plan - 
Capacity Funding) as presented in the Draft 2026/27 Budget 
Reduction Options table and reduce the related draft 2026/27 
budget by $50,000.  
CARRIED 
TC-COW-2026-005 
It was MOVED by Trustee Evans, and SECONDED by Trustee 
Dodds, 
that Committee of the Whole recommend that Trust Council adopt 
staff budget reduction option #8 (Recruitment and Labour Relations) 
as presented in the Draft 2026/27 Budget Reduction Options 
table and reduce the related draft 2026/27 budget by $5,500.  
CARRIED 
TC-COW-2026-006 

 
Trust Council Committee of the Whole                                ADOPTED                                                                               5 of 10 
Special Meeting Minutes 
February 18, 2026   
It was MOVED by Trustee Evans, and SECONDED by Trustee 
Hunter, 
that Committee of the Whole recommend that Trust Council adopt 
staff budget reduction option #9 (Staff recognition and training) as 
presented in the Draft 2026/27 Budget Reduction Options 
table and reduce the related draft 2026/27 budget by $4,000.  
CARRIED 
TC-COW-2026-007 
It was MOVED by Trustee Evans, and SECONDED by Trustee 
Campbell, 
that Committee of the Whole recommend that Trust Council adopt 
staff budget reduction option #10 (Staff salaries & benefits – 
Indigenous Relations Manager) as presented in the Draft 2026/27 
Budget Reduction Options table and reduce the related draft 
2026/27 budget by $45,564.  
DEFEATED 
A Trustee requested the vote count be detailed and the Director of 
Legislative and Information Services clarified that 10 opposed, 9 were in 
favour, and 1 abstained, an abstention is counted as a vote in favour 
resulting in a tied vote, and under the Local Government Act and related 
Community Charter regulations a tied vote results in a defeated resolution. 
TC-COW-2026-008 
It was MOVED by Trustee Boland, and SECONDED by Trustee 
Dodds, 
that Committee of the Whole recommend that Trust Council hold 
one additional regular business meeting as a virtual meeting next 
fiscal year, and reduce the related draft 2026/27 Meeting Expense 
budget line by $33,750.  
CARRIED 
TC-COW-2026-009 
It was MOVED by Trustee Stamford, and SECONDED by Trustee 
Bernardo, 
that Committee of the Whole recommend that Trust Council remove 
referral fees for the Gambier Island Local Trust Committee Official 
Community Plan project and reduce the related draft 2026/27 
budget line by $2,000.  
CARRIED 
Trustee Dodds left the meeting at 5:10 p.m. 
Trustee Hunter left the meeting at 5:11 p.m. 
TC-COW-2026-010 
It was MOVED by Trustee Peterson, and SECONDED by Trustee 
Gauvreau, 

 
Trust Council Committee of the Whole                                ADOPTED                                                                               6 of 10 
Special Meeting Minutes 
February 18, 2026   
that Committee of the Whole recommend that Trust Council reduce 
the draft 2026/27 Contracted Services budget line by $5000.  
CARRIED 
TC-COW-2026-011 
It was MOVED by Trustee Elliott, and SECONDED by Trustee 
Bernardo, 
that Committee of the Whole recommend that Trust Council not 
fund in-person meetings for Council Committees, and remove the 
draft 2026/27 budget of $6,500 associated with this work.  
CARRIED 
TC-COW-2026-012 
It was MOVED by Trustee Peterson, and SECONDED by Trustee 
Yates, 
that Committee of the Whole recommend that Executive 
Committee request staff to update the business case for Meeting 
Streaming & Editing Recordings for Posting to include more 
information on alternatives for recording and/or publicly posting 
meeting recordings.  
CARRIED 
Trustee Hunter returned to the meeting at 5:15 p.m. 
TC-COW-2026-013 
It was MOVED by Trustee Gedye, and SECONDED by Trustee 
Evans, 
that Committee of the Whole recommend that Trust Council cancel 
newspaper subscriptions and reduce the related draft 2026/27 
budget item #18 budget line by $1000.  
CARRIED 
TC-COW-2026-014 
It was MOVED by Trustee Evans, and SECONDED by Trustee 
Campbell, 
that Committee of the Whole recommend that Trust Council adopt 
staff budget reduction option #20 (Travel - Chair) as presented in the 
Draft 2026/27 Budget Reduction Options table and reduce the 
related draft 2026/27 budget by $1,000.  
DEFEATED 
TC-COW-2026-015 
It was MOVED by Trustee Evans, and SECONDED by Trustee 
Gedye, 
that Committee of the Whole recommend that Trust Council adopt 
staff budget reduction option #22 (Union of BC Municipalities 
Attendance) as presented in the Draft 2026/27 Budget Reduction 
Options table and reduce the related draft 2026/27 budget by 
$7,000.  
CARRIED 

 
Trust Council Committee of the Whole                                ADOPTED                                                                               7 of 10 
Special Meeting Minutes 
February 18, 2026   
Trustee Peterson left the meeting at 5:28 p.m. and returned at 5:35 p.m. 
TC-COW-2026-016 
It was MOVED by Trustee Evans, and SECONDED by Trustee 
Bernardo, 
that Committee of the Whole recommend that Trust Council adopt 
staff budget options at 50% reduction as presented in the draft 
2026/27 Budget Reduction Options items 15, 16, and 17; and reduce 
the related draft 2026/27 budget by a total of $50,000.  
CARRIED 
Trustees Falck and Campbell left the meeting at 5:37 p.m. 
TC-COW-2026-017 
It was MOVED by Trustee Fast, and SECONDED by Trustee Yates, 
that Committee of the Whole forward the Draft 2026/27 budget 
materials to Trust Council, as amended, for approval. 
CARRIED 
6.1.8 Funding Requests 
6.1.8.1 Strategic Plan Projects 
6.1.8.1.1 Policy Statement Amendment Project 
6.1.8.1.2 Policy Review - Continuation from FY26 
6.1.8.1.3 Freshwater Sustainability Strategy Review and 
Implementation 
6.1.8.2 ITC Board Projects 
6.1.8.2.1 ITC Five-Year Plan: First Nations Engagement Project 
6.1.8.2.2 Protected Area Management Software Project  
6.1.8.3 Local Trust Committee Projects 
6.1.8.3.1 Denman: Housing Review (for OCP and LUB 
Amendments), Stage 2 - Phase 2 Project (Year 4 of 4) 
Updated since Trust Council's December review. 
6.1.8.3.2 Gabriola: OCP and LUB Review, Major Project (Year 4 
of 5) 
Updated since Trust Council's December review. 
6.1.8.3.3 Gambier: OCP and LUB Amendments 
Implementation Project - Final Phase 
6.1.8.3.4 Hornby: Comprehensive OCP and LUB Review 
Project 
Updated since Trust Council's December review. 

 
Trust Council Committee of the Whole                                ADOPTED                                                                               8 of 10 
Special Meeting Minutes 
February 18, 2026   
6.1.8.3.5 Lasqueti: OCP Review, Major Project (Year 1 of 3) 
6.1.8.3.6 Salt Spring: Major Amendment to OCP and LUB 
6.1.8.3.7 Planning Services: Projects Feasibility Assessment - 
Briefing 
Updated since Trust Council's December review. 
6.1.8.4 Operational Projects 
6.1.8.4.1 TC Onboarding Training - Business Case 
6.1.8.4.2 Trustee Laptops - Business Case 
6.1.8.4.3 Accessibility Plan Development - Business Case 
6.1.8.5 Staffing Requests 
6.1.8.5.1 Manager of Indigenous Relations - New 
6.1.8.5.2 Communications and Engagement Lead - New 
6.1.8.5.3 Temporary Senior Policy Advisor 1.0FTE - Extension 
6.1.8.5.4 Permanent ITC Indigenous Relations Advisor 0.5 FTE - 
New 
6.1.8.5.5 Temporary Species at Risk Coordinator - Extension 
6.1.8.5.6 GIS Co-op Student (Level 1) 0.3FTE 
6.1.8.5.7 Planning Services Co-op Student 0.3FTE 
6.1.8.6 Other Funding Request Reports 
6.1.8.6.1 ITC Board Budget Request - Briefing 
Updated since Trust Council's December review. 
6.1.8.6.2 EC Budget Request - Briefing 
6.1.9 Operating Budgets Increase Justifications 
6.1.9.1 TC Dedicated Chair Travel Budget Justification Form 
6.1.9.2 EC Operating Increases Justification Form – UBCM/AVICC  
6.1.9.3 TAS Operating Budget Increase Justification Form 
6.1.9.4 FES Operating Increases Justification Form 
6.1.9.5 Information Services Operating Increase Justification Form 
Updated since Trust Council's December review. 
6.1.9.6 Planning Services Operating Budget Training Increase Justification 
Form 

 
Trust Council Committee of the Whole                                ADOPTED                                                                               9 of 10 
Special Meeting Minutes 
February 18, 2026   
6.1.9.7 Planning Services Operating Budget Contractor Increase 
Justification Form 
6.1.9.8 ITC Land Securement and Conservation Planning Increase 
Justification  
6.1.9.9 ITC Protected Areas Management Operations and Planning Increase 
Justification  
Updated since Trust Council's December review. 
6.1.10 Unfunded Requests 
6.1.10.1 Secretariat Services - Business Case 
Funding for this work removed by Trust Council.  
6.1.10.2 Climate Education Program - Business Case 
Funding for this work removed by Trust Council.  
6.1.10.3 Salt Spring: Watershed Protection Plan 2022-2032 
Coordination (SSIWPA) 
Funding for this work removed by Trust Council.  
6.1.10.4 Salt Spring: Groundwater Sustainability (Well-Monitoring) 
Funding for this work removed by Trust Council.  
6.1.10.5 Trust Area Resilience Assessment Initiative - Briefing 
Funding for this work removed by Financial Planning 
Committee. Removal endorsed by Trust Council.  
6.1.10.6 Electronic Document Management Solution - Business Case 
Funding for this work removed by Financial Planning 
Committee. Removal endorsed by Trust Council.  
6.1.10.7 Galiano: Targeted OCP Review Project 
Funding for this work removed by Financial Planning 
Committee. Removal endorsed by Trust Council.  
6.1.10.8 Registered Professional Biologist 1.0FTE - Make Permanent 
Funding for this staff position removed by Trust Council. 
6.1.10.9 Permanent GIS Analyst 1.0FTE - New 
Funding for this staff position removed by Trust Council.  
6.2 Financial Plan Bylaw - Request for Decision  
Trustee Maude left the meeting at 5:40 p.m. 
Trustee Stamford left the meeting at 5:41 p.m. 

 
Trust Council Committee of the Whole                                ADOPTED                                                                               10 of 10 
Special Meeting Minutes 
February 18, 2026   
Director Mobbs noted the five-year Financial Plan Bylaw related to the budget for 
fiscal 2026/27 is not legislatively required but is a good practice to provide insights 
into future projections for revenues and spending and it is sent to the Minister for 
information.  
TC-COW-2026-018 
It was MOVED by Trustee Peterson, and SECONDED by Trustee Yates, 
that Committee of the Whole forward the draft Financial Plan Bylaw 204 
materials to Trust Council for approval.   
CARRIED 
7. NEW BUSINESS - None 
8. CLOSED MEETING - None 
9. RISE AND REPORT - None 
10. NEXT MEETING 
The next Islands Trust Council Committee of the Whole meeting will take place 
electronically on Wednesday, May 13, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. 
11. ADJOURNMENT 
  By general consent the meeting was adjourned at 5:48 p.m. 
 
 
_________________________ 
Laura Patrick, Chair 
 
Certified Correct: 
 
_________________________ 
Lisa Millard, Meeting Administrator/Recorder