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A look at decisions made by Whitehorse City Council this week

Bylaw amendment
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Whitehorse City Hall. (Joel Krahn/Yukon News file)

Bylaw amendment

Whitehorse city council is moving closer with changes to a bylaw it approved earlier this month to write off $294,345 in outstanding fees and fines the city is owed.

Council passed the first two readings of an amendment to reflect a $1,950 payment by Telus to settle up an advertising bill of a third party advertising agency that was listed on the amounts.

As Telus officials stated in an earlier email to the News, it learned of the outstanding account only after the list of accounts was published.

Once learning about it, Telus officials reached out to the city and paid off the account as an act of goodwill.

The account comes from an invoice for arena ice advertising that was sent to Telus late instead of the advertising agency that entered into an agreement with the city for the ad space.

The agency has since gone out of business, but Telus opted to pay off the amount.

As Brittany Dixon, the city’s manager of financial services, told council on Feb. 15, the payment was not received in time for the bylaw naming Telus to be changed prior to third reading.

“As the item is no longer outstanding and payment was actually received prior to the passage of the write-off bylaw, the bylaw needs to be amended,” she said.

Third reading of the bylaw amendment will come forward in March.

Zoning bylaw changes come forward

A number of changes to the City of Whitehorse zoning bylaw are moving forward.

Whitehorse city council passed first reading of the changes at its Feb. 22 meeting.

“All of these changes have arisen from day-to-day use of the bylaw,” said Pat Ross, the city’s manager of land and building services, in an earlier report to council.

The changes outline amendments for the general administration of the bylaw, definitions, development regulations, requirements for development permits, parking requirements, sign requirements, map edits and residential/commercial zone regulations.

With first reading now passed, a public hearing on the proposed amendments will be held March 22. A report on the public hearing will be presented to council April 6 prior to the final two readings of the bylaw coming forward April 12.

Council approves vending lease

Whitehorse Beverages will continue providing thirsty Canada Games Centre-goers with cold drinks from vending machines.

At Whitehorse city council’s Feb. 22 meeting, members passed third reading of a bylaw for a lease agreement on cold beverage vending at the recreation centre.

Whitehorse Beverages was the only company to submit a proposal when the request for proposals went out in December 2020.

Under the lease, Whitehorse Beverages will provide up to six vending machines throughout the building with the city receiving a 27.5 per cent commission on a quarterly basis with the lease to expire Dec. 31, 2023.

Recreation grant deadline approaching

Local recreation groups are reminded that the deadline for spring grants is just a couple of weeks away with groups having until March 15 to apply.

Contact Stephanie Waddell at stephanie.waddell@yukon-news.com



Stephanie Waddell

About the Author: Stephanie Waddell

I joined Black Press in 2019 as a reporter for the Yukon News, becoming editor in February 2023.
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