The way elections are run here could change

Council will be asked to confirm budget which will allow for the doubling of election officials, plus other improvements

Staffing two voting places and three advanced polls for the 2018 municipal election will cost taxpayers $100,000, council is expected to hear today. A report from corporate officer Dana Schmidt asks councillors to confirm the budget, which will allow for the doubling of election officials from 60 to 120, plus other improvements like adding a travelling ballot box for shutins.

More chairs for people to sit on while waiting to cast their ballots and a parking strategy are also in the works.

Council will, however, be advised against switching back to manual vote counting and recounts, and from adding independent scrutineers, as requested earlier this month by a delegation from the Penticton Citizens First group.

Manual counts are “exceptionally time consuming, a minimum of three staff are required to count, and subjectivity is introduced through a manual count to determine the acceptance or rejection of ballots,” Schmidt wrote.

As for additional scrutineers, she noted two per candidate are already allowed at each polling station, which, when combined with official agents, added up to 102 observers during the 2014 election.

Council committed to adding a second polling station shortly after taking office due in part to public concerns about long lines at the single voting place set up for that election.

An attachment to Schmidt’s report shows councils dating back to 2002 have flip-flopped since that time between one and two voting places.

In other business, city staff is also recommending council follow through on a suggestion tabled at a meeting two weeks ago and outlaw marijuana dispensaries in Penticton.

The ban would be implemented through a bylaw amendment and by not renewing expired temporary use permits granted to two such dispensaries in December.

Instead, the operators of Green Essence and Okanagan Cannabinoid Therapy would be encouraged to relaunch their businesses as “wellness centres.”

“A wellness centre is a storefront business that would provide information on accessing medical cannabis and lobby for marijuana legalization,” director of development services Anthony Haddad wrote in his report to council.

“The businesses could sell marijuana paraphernalia, including pipes, accessories and such, but could not actually sell cannabis.”

The same offer to convert to a wellness centre would be extended to the Herbal Green dispensary, which was not granted a TUP and has subsequently engaged in legal action with the city.

Immediately prior to the regular meeting, council will convene at 1 p.m. for committee of the whole, the agenda for which calls for updates from the executive director of the 2017 ITU Multisport World Championships and an economic development consultant.

Council will reconvene at 6 p.m. for land matters and four public hearings regarding three different properties.

The proposed projects that are subject to public hearings are a medical office at 1498 Leir St., two duplexes at 730 Kamloops Ave., and a five-storey, mixed-use building on the 100 block of Front Street.

All meetings will be held in council chambers and are open to the public.