The City of Nanaimo says they didn’t meet all the qualifications with the second Alternative Approval Process but are going to continue with it until further notice.
According to the city, staff identified the error late last week requiring elector response forms to be made available on the first day of the AAP.
In the release, the city clearly states they admitted their error after they made forms available to electors eight days later, not on the day the AAP opened, which contradicts the legislation.
Councillor Tyler Brown says the city is currently obtaining legal advice and options before the city proceeds forward on any action.
“The error was made by city staff, and we will be holding a special council meeting in the future before we proceed,” he says.
Council could not say if this will abolish the current AAP, go to a referendum or what direction they will be moving since discovering the error.
Nanaimo lawyer Sandford Bartlett says this seems to be a pattern for the city and calls the errors a waste of time and taxpayer’s money.
“For the second time the city is running an AAP in noncompliance with the legislation,” he says. “The result is a second invalid AAP and further loss to Nanaimo citizens in wasted expenditure of public funds, as well as their time and energy.”
Bartlett says he pointed the issues out two weeks ago along with drafting a legal document to city staff before the city released their findings showing the process was in noncompliance, and the alternative approval process needs to be canceled.
“I don’t know how much money they have spent on this process,” Bartlett says. “All this means the AAP process has to die.”
According to Bartlett, he was scheduled to appear in front of council, on Feb. 5, to ask questions about the legitimacy of the process but was denied an appearance.
The first AAP ended on Nov. 3 and was dismissed after errors were found, but council voted to start the process again during a council meeting on Jan. 10.
If allowed to pass the city would be borrowing $48.5 million for a new public works facility.
