In addition to service cuts, council also had to consider service level changes for 2012.
Senior management thoroughly reviewed the list of all service level change requests and came up with two lists.
Making the cut on the recommended list were, among other things, city website re-design; Argonaut Road improvements; utility box vandalism program; and transit stop maintenance and improvements. On the not recommended list were: quarterly community reports; Local Government Awareness Week activities; McIvor Lake Road improvements; and Shoppers Row LED street light section.
Council rescued the Willow Point Splash Park and an increase in transit services from the ‘not recommended list’, moving both to the list for future budget discussions. City staff had penciled in $30,000 in annual maintenance for the Rotary Club’s splash park – slated for construction in April and a June opening – and $75,000 to provide water to the park as not recommended.
City staff had also put a transit increase in evening service and connection to the Comox Valley on the not recommended list. Council removed one item off the ‘recommended list’ and that was asphalt overlay, which is needed to address surface deterioration.
The overlay was slated to go on Petersen Road from Hopton to 14th Avenue ($102,000) with an additional 400 metres of asphalt curb ($10,000) and on Petersen Road ($37,000).