SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
City councillors voted unanimously during a special council meeting last week in favour of entering into a service agreement worth $9,000 with the NWT Disabilities Council.
The funding will allow the organization to hire a person to provide one-to-one support for children with special needs attending the city's summer camps.
The agreement came after the city approved a grant for the Disabilities Council worth $18,000, a third lower than what was given in the past and 45 per cent lower than what was requested.
In response, the Disabilities Council presented several times to council urging it to restore funding.
After the presentations, councillors asked staff to return with options for how the money could be provided this year. A report presented three options: provide the funds; enter a service agreement which would essentially be a contract for the work; or reconvene the grant committee with the direction to review the allocation and increase funding to the maximum amount.
During the June 7 meeting, several councillors argued providing the extra $9,000 would open the city up to requests from other organizations that had their grant funding cut.
"I do not want to establish the precedent of opening up past grant review decisions," said Coun. Julian Morse.
The funds will be deducted from council's travel budget, which has $245,000 allocated in 2016 for travel and public relations.
"We're happy that we're going to be able to provide more services to the children," said Denise McKee, executive director of the Disabilities Council, after the vote.
Old Town parking woes require plan: councillors
Multiple city councillors called on city staff to return in the near future with ideas on how to address parking issues in Old Town.
The thorny issue of how to accommodate vehicles in the city's historic neighbourhood returned to the council chamber Monday during a municipal services committee meeting at the request of Coun. Julian Morse. He said a conversation is needed and sought consensus to have city staff examine the issue.
The city is removing parking along a stretch of Franklin to install a multi-use path in the area often used by boaters to park their trailers. Council also decided to remove 13 angled parking stalls across from the Woodyard Brewhouse & Eatery.
For Coun. Niels Konge, these decisions mean alternate solutions need to be brought forward now.
"We need to find out what options are available. It's going to get bad down there," Konge said.
Meanwhile, a triangular lot at the corner of Franklin Avenue and School Draw Avenue that residents and staff have said can be used for more parking is currently being used for ongoing construction work at the bottom of the Franklin Avenue hill. When work shifts to another section of the road around August, that lot is expected to be available, council was told by Wendy Alexander, manager of public works and engineering.
Senior administrative officer Dennis Kefalas, responding to Coun. Shauna Morgan's suggestion of meetings with residents, said staff will start a more comprehensive look at the neighbourhood and the issue. Then perhaps by the fall, they will have a chance to meet with the residents, he said.
It's something that can't be rushed, he said, to ensure it doesn't result in "half-baked" ideas.
City eyes strip of land on Latham Island
City councillors on Monday agreed to move ahead with a proposal to purchase an unsurveyed strip of land on Latham Island behind homes on Morrison Drive.
According to a staff report, the city wants to acquire the rectangular property known as Watt Drive to have better access to and management of the waterfront on the west side of the island. While it has a name, the road parcel hasn't been officially surveyed or constructed as a road.
The six waterfront lots on the west side of Watt have been used informally for floatplane docking.
The previous city council asked staff to examine the idea of developing a floatplane dock licensing system, similar to one in place in Whitehorse.
Jeff Humble, the city's director of planning and development, said the lots have been leased to the city from the GNWT with a condition: it has a "municipal use."
Whether municipal use would allow licensing out to private float plane owners is a question the city is trying to get answered, Humble said.
He expects to hear an answer from the GNWT in the coming weeks.
Humble said the cost of surveying the lot won't be cheap - it will likely run in the thousands of dollars.
The municipal services committee has moved the bylaw for the purchase forward to city council for first reading.
