Growing population and Indigenous relations are among the factors leading to the Regional District of Nanaimo taking a closer look at a $500,000 boardroom renovation.
The regional board holds its meetings at the RDN’s administration building on Nanaimo’s Hammond Bay Road. With population trending up ahead of the next scheduled national census in 2026, and potential for more directors as a result, boardroom renovation should be examined, according to an RDN staff report.
In addition, Qualicum First Nation Chief Michael Recalma, an alternate area director, has a seat as a non-voting member via a protocol agreement, and the report noted that there is possibility of seats for other First Nations chiefs in the future.
The split-level boardroom, with capacity for 80 people, has six seats for RDN staff and a speaker’s podium, and a raised level with 19 seats typically occupied by directors.
The staff report presented six options for renovation, two usuing the current circular configuration and four moving to a hexagonal layout. The options provide gallery space ranging from 17-26 seats and potentially more.
Staff suggested the renovations would take 12 weeks with a two-week contingency and could begin as early as next summer.
The work would also include a height-adjustable podium, addition of new microphones and TV screens and replacement of out-of-date audio-visual equipment, the report said.
RDN directors accepted the report for information at a committee of the whole meeting Tuesday, July 25, and requested a separate report on the forecasted 2026 census numbers’ effect on voting. Staff suggest the $500,000 be funded through the B.C. government’s growing communities fund, which was announced this past February.
While some directors questioned the expenditure and others said it needed to be part of a larger discussion on facilities, Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog said there is no harm in asking for a report. RDN staff didn’t bring the report in front of directors “just for the … joy of spending a few hundred thousand dollars,” he said.
“This is a discussion about accommodating what is rapidly becoming one of the more important aspects of our time, and that is reconciliation and that means that I expect fully that [First Nations leaders] will be sitting at this table in a very short order,” said Krog. “All we’re being asked to do is bring back a report about the population figures and [other directors are] already determining we don’t want to potentially set aside the money.”
There were 170,367 residents in the Regional District of Nanaimo area based on the 2021 census, according to Statistics Canada, an increase of close to 15,000 from 2016.
READ ALSO: ‘Supernatural Eagle’ art casts gaze over RDN chamber
karl.yu@nanaimobulletin.com
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news