WHEREAS local government is mandated to provide safe, clean, reliable drinking water as an essential component of a healthy community; AND WHEREAS the financing of most major water works projects will realistically require borrowing liabilities of over five years; AND WHEREAS the Community Charter requires elector approval of any liability over five years in duration, thereby requiring a process of acquiring elector approval and creating unnecessary delays in essential projects, exposing the public to ongoing risk and cost without commensurate public benefit: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM lobby the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development to adopt legislation to amend the Community Charter to provide for the exemption of obtaining elector approval for necessary water works projects if the projects have been previously approved by the Inspector of Municipalities through a Master Water Management Plan.
Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development Currently, the only exemption from obtaining electoral approval for necessary water works projects is provided through the Municipal Liabilities Regulation Community Charter; Drinking water protection orders installation of treatment works, s.8: Approval of the electors is not required under section 175 2 liabilities under agreements or 180 1 loan authorization bylaws of the Community Charter if a the liability is to be incurred for the purpose of complying with an order of a drinking water officer under the Drinking Water Protection Act that expressly requires the municipality to install treatment works, and b the inspector of municipalities approves the proposed liability. And the Regional District Liabilities Regulation Local Government Act; Drinking water protection orders installation of treatment works, s.4 Elector approval is not required if a the liability is to be incurred for the purpose of complying with an order of a drinking water officer under the Drinking Water Protection Act that expressly requires the regional district to install treatment works, and b the inspector of municipalities approves the proposed liability. All other instances require electoral assent. The rationale for this is where a local government is entering into a long-term debt, the term of that debt is in place for a longer term than the given council, and as such, a broader mandate should be obtained from the electorate. It also provides the electorate an opportunity to identify what level of support should be given e.g. different options and costs. While there is no current legislation that provides for an exemption from obtaining elector approval for necessary water works projects, the Ministry is interested in further discussions on how the development of a Master Water Management Plan could be utilized analogous to the development of a Liquid Waste Management Plan, in developing a long term plan with public participationconsultation, that could potentially lead to an exemption from obtaining electoral approval for the works identified in the plan. These discussions would have to also include Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Health.