A draft of Urban Systems’ report on "tensions and situations" within municipal hall is completed but won’t be made public until April 17. Mayor Ted Nebbeling said Monday the report is going back for some minor rewording, but stressed the report is the consultants’ views and the final draft will not be influenced by council. Mel Shelley was hired in November to review relations among municipal staff, administration and council. Last month council released policy statements, based on Shelley’s recommendations, defining the staff-council relationship and council’s role in governing. The municipality’s proposed Affordable Employee Housing Strategy was received for information by council for the second time Monday but will come back to council again for further debate over the issue of re-sale price restrictions. The latest draft says that "all employee housing ownership units requiring subsidy by municipal land, works and service charges, or other public sector subsidy may be subject to resale controls..." The same stipulation is written into the draft report regarding rent controls. Councillors Hugh O’Reilly and Dave Kirk believe re-sale and rent controls should apply to all employee housing even if there is not subsidy. "Our concern is that units are affordable in perpetuity," O’Reilly said. He added: "It’s hard to put controls on later, but it’s easy to put them on now." Mayor Ted Nebbeling and Councillor Thelma Johnstone oppose controls on employee housing projects that are developed without any subsidy. The issue will be debated by council at a future meeting. Whistler Cable 6 will be airing a film on bear awareness throughout the month of April. The film, a presentation of Cable 6 and the Jennifer Jones Whistler Bear Foundation, will be shown every Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and every Tuesday and Thursday at 4:30 p.m. throughout April. The Foundation is making efforts to protect Whistler’s black bear population by, among other things, creating greater awareness about bears and how carelessness can lead to their destruction.
