Following further discussion on the heated water meter issue, Comox council passed a draft recommendation Wednesday, allowing $25,000 per year for the next three years for the voluntary water meter program.Coun. Tom Grant argued the Town's strategic plan should not include any furthering of the water metering program."I don't know how our wishlist is going to be funded. I know a lot of what we were going to do was going to be funded through gas tax money," he said. Although Coun. Maureen Swift supported the recommendation at last week's committee of the whole meeting, she noted that after taking time to think about it, she is no longer in favour of the recommendation. She added although she is in favour of water meters generally and supports them for conservation purposes, she said devoting money toward them is not the way to go. Swift suggested the concept of the Town continuing to install water meters if people request them, but at the owner's expense.Mayor Paul Ives asked Don Jacquest, director of finance, to clarify that gas tax/Community Works Fund money can be allocated only towards specific projects.Jacquest said the three objectives of the fund are clean air, clean water and reducing greenhouse gases."Gas tax money isn't Monopoly money. It's real money that we can use for real projects that are going to benefit the town, and not to further somebody's ideologies," replied Grant."I would point out that the strategic plan, in addition to some specific directions, also refers back to and always emphasizes our core services, which include water, sewer, garbage, parks and recreation and so on," said Ives.Coun. Patti Fletcher said three factors come into play: the fairness principal, remaining multi-family homes waiting to be metered, along with the issue of secondary suites."I know that council really supports the secondary suites, but in my understanding, a water meter is an essential piece of the secondary suite. I wouldn't want to see that be compromised by people taking a step back of legalizing a secondary suite because of the cost of a water meter might put them off," she added.An amendment was made to remove remove the funding wording of water meters from the recommendation. The amendment was defeated by Couns. Barbara Price, Hugh MacKinnon, Fletcher and Ives. The original recommendation was then passed with those four in favour. Couns. Ken Grant, Tom Grant and Maureen Swift voted in opposition.photos@comoxvalleyrecord.com
