A White Rock councillor’s motion to create a water-services community advisory panel was voted down by fellow council members Monday, who questioned the value of forming such a committee.
Coun. Helen Fathers tabled a motion to establish a public committee – similar to the community advisory panel employed by former water utility owner Epcor – as a means of maintaining transparency, making note of the magnitude of the city’s purchase and takeover of the water system last fall.
“Its the most important thing the city has done, in my opinion, since the inception of White Rock,” Fathers said. “I really don’t want to get it wrong.”
The motion was not well received by the majority, with Couns. Lynne Sinclair, Megan Knight, Grant Meyer and Mayor Wayne Baldwin voting against it.
Sinclair described Epcor’s advisory panel as “less than transparent,” and said members were forced to sign “oaths of confidentiality.”
“In essence, we are the committee right now, because we now have a public water utility,” Sinclair said, noting the heavy workload city staff have due to the utility purchase.
“When I look at the faces of staff who have been working on this almost to the exclusion of everything else that’s on their plates, I’d be loathe to add another layer of what is, in essence, bureaucracy.”
Sinclair later tabled a motion – carried unanimously – to refer the creation of a committee to city staff “for advice.”
Baldwin said he agreed with Sinclair, suggesting an advisory panel would not improve transparency.
“It worked fine for Epcor, but Epcor is really fond of confidentiality agreements,” Baldwin said, calling the company “very secretive.”
(The city and Epcor agreed to a three-year confidentiality agreement on the purchase of the utility.)
“On the other hand, we are far from secretive,” the mayor added. “It’s not like anything is being hidden. So I don’t know how the transparency would come into it.”
Sinclair pointed to outreach efforts by the city – corporate reports, bulletins and public meetings, including a water quality open house Wednesday evening.
Upwards of 75 residents attended the open house at the White Rock Community Centre, with staff and some council members in attendance to discuss concerns.
Poster boards were on display, highlighting the timeline of the city’s water purchase, renderings of the upgrades to the Oxford and Merklin reservoirs and a map of where the city’s water originates.
Of particular interest to attendees were diagrams illustrating the high levels of arsenic and manganese in the water supply, based on testing results from the past year, as well as preliminary plans for the $13 million treatment plants, to be built over the next two to three years.
One attendee, who would not give his name, told Peace Arch News the city needs to take a closer look at joining Metro Vancouver’s water supply. A 2013 report commissioned by the city estimated the capital cost of joining the Greater Vancouver Water District at $27.1 million over the next 10 years, plus $1.5 million in annual supply costs.
“It makes a lot of sense. We’d have the full support of a system that’s already in place,” the resident said. “What happens if something goes wrong with White Rock’s water? There’s always the potential for something to go wrong.”
Baldwin told PAN last month that joining the GVWD has not been ruled out by council.