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The referendum that wasn't
Plans to let all residents have vote on arena scuttled by Richard Gleeson
NNSL (Mar 04/98) - Property owners are the only residents who will get a say in whether or not the city builds a new arena.
At the end of last Monday's meeting of council, most aldermen believed they had just given all Yellowknifers a vote on whether or not the city should go ahead with the $9 million project.
But at the conclusion of the second half of that meeting Thursday evening, the vote was confined to the minimum required bylaw. The city will ask property owners for permission to borrow the $2.5 million it needs to build a twin arena and community centre on the site of the old GNWT liquor warehouse on Old Airport Road.
Council agreed to build the arena on the site of the warehouse and will give notice this week the city plans to hold a debenture plebiscite in mid-April.
Along with the money for the arena, it will be seeking ratepayer approval for $150,000 for a youth centre and $140,000 for a gymnastics facility. Plans for a pre-school play centre have been referred back to committee (see sidebar).
Ald. Cheryl Best noted Thursday some aldermen were hinting the arena may go ahead regardless of the outcome of the debenture plebiscite.
"What I'm hearing is if ratepayers turn this down we will build this anyway," said Best, who was thought she had argued successfully Monday for a city-wide referendum on the arena.
Ald. Bob Brooks, reasoned that a 'no' vote would indicate to him ratepayers want the city to build the arena with the money it has.
Best countered that to her a rejection would mean the city "has to look very seriously how, where and when we build this arena."
The idea of holding a referendum to gauge public support for the project was scuttled by city lawyers.
At the start of Thursday's meeting, city clerk Tim Mercer said, "We've checked with our legal council with this and their initial opinion is we don't have the authority to (hold a referendum)."
The city has asked its lawyers to put that opinion in writing.
Mercer said the Local Authorities Election Act authorizes plebiscites only in conjunction with municipal elections or byelections.
"The way municipal law works, in general, is anything a municipality is not given the power to do, it can't do," Mercer later explained.
There's no provision in the act for public votes outside of elections.
Yellowknifer asked the Department of Municipal and Community affairs if it would object to a public vote on the arena, but the department had not responded by press time. |