White Rock city manager Dan Bottrill says staff were just doing their job in removing mention of Coun. Grant Meyer – and a conversation on a potential parking facility on the Marine Drive ‘hump’ – from a memorandum from a city consultant.
A May 21, 2015 memo from Levelton Consultants Ltd., engaged to assess slope stability following a first phase of tree and vegetation clearing, mentioned a meeting with Meyer during a site visit eight days earlier, in which he had talked about the city using the cleared slope to provide additional city parking space.
City staff subsequently emailed Levelton to have reference to Meyer and the meeting removed from the memorandum – and Levelton complied.
Meyer – who acknowledges he had advocated parking on the ‘hump’ – has since told Peace Arch News he only has a vague recollection of the discussion, which he said took place during a chance meeting at the site with the consultants and city staff.
Bottrill told PAN Wednesday that neither he nor Meyer had directed staff to make the change to the memo.
“I don’t think Coun. Meyer would even have seen that report,” he said.
Bottrill said it is customary for staff to vet draft reports for accuracy and to ensure they stay within the terms of reference of the work required.
“Things happen in draft reports – that’s why they’re drafts. They do get emended.”
He said, however, that he found the mention of Meyer in that particular memorandum “curious.”
“It was very strange that Levelton would include that, because it was outside the scope of what the city was calling for,” Bottrill said.
“I don’t understand it. Maybe they felt that there was additional work that needed to be done – that’s the only thing that makes sense to me.
“It was not in our plan – (this) was a council member’s vision of what he thought should happen. It was not appropriate for the report.”
