City of Langley Council rejects all advisory committee recommendation?

Over the past several meetings of the City of Langley’s Parks and Environment Committee, which I sit on, we reviewed the City’s new Park, Recreation, and Culture Master Plan. We submitted two requested to City Council:

THAT the Parks and Environment Advisory Committee recommends that Council review, consider and receive the recommendations made by the committee with regard to the prioritization and phasing of the Key Recommendations within the Parks, Recreation, and Culture Master Plan.

THAT the Parks and Environment Advisory Committee recommends that Council consider the following items be added to the Key Recommendations within the Parks, Recreation, and Culture Master Plan.

You can read more about our recommendations in a post I wrote last week.

I heard word late last week that while Council did received our recommendations, they decided to not move forward with any of the recommendations of the Parks and Environment Committee at the last Council meeting. Councillor Dave Hall put forward the recommendations of the committee, but no other councillor seconded the motions. They effectively died on the table.

While the City’s advisory committees are just that, advisory, it is very disappointing to see the countless hours of volunteer work that our committee put into giving feedback to the Park, Recreation, and Culture Master Plan simply be ignored. While some of the recommendations we made may result in an increase in the City's budget, may are common sense recommendations that may actually save the City money in the long run.

As last week’s Council meeting also dealt with the proposed budget for this year, I can only hope that the Councillors will be looking over our recommendations. I hope that they will at least bring some of the recommendations forward for adoption at a future Council meeting.