Qualicum Beach Coun. Teunis Westbroek wants community benches removed by town staff to be replaced where appropriate, as soon as possible.
He made this motion at the council’s regular meeting on Sept. 8, which supplemented Mayor Brian Wiese’s motion to review the town’s policy on bench sponsorship and replacement. They both passed after a long discussion.
“I can’t believe we tore those benches out including the cement and concrete bases when the policy doesn’t call for that at all,” said Westbroek. “I don’t believe they were a liability.”
Residents were upset to find out the community benches located in different areas of the town were removed due to expired sponsorship, and for regular maintenance or refurbishing.
Westbroek indicated many of the benches, strategically placed in the community, are frequently used by many residents, particularly seniors, for resting during their walks.
READ MORE: Qualicum Beach residents upset town staff members have been removing benches
“I really don’t understand what the rush was to take them away,” said Westbroek. “The policy doesn’t call for that.”
On expired sponsored benches, Westbroek said, they could just remove the plaque and find another sponsor instead of removing them.
“This was very upsetting,” said Westbroek. “I am very disappointed when I saw it happened. Especially in the time of year when those benches were very usable. If they were wet and frozen, snow on them, nobody would use them and we could talk about it before we take them away. But to take them away in such a fashion, that it surprised a lot of people and quite frankly, I have been on council for 25 years now, I have never had such influx of people calling me and pulling me to the side of a trail asking ‘what are you doing?’ This is not a good thing for the community.”
Coun. Scott Harrison asked where the town town would draw the funds from to pay the cost to replace the benches. He pointed out the $20,000 budget has already been exhausted.
“We were told it would roughly cost $60,000 to replace the benches,” said Harrison. “That’s a $40,000 expenditure. And that’s something I think where we might actually look at what are we not going to be able to spend on now if we address this?”
Harrison also pointed out the municipal insurer has asked the town to remove the benches since it could be held legally liable for any injuries that may occur on an expired bench.
Wiese said he agrees some of the the benches should be replaced but not all of them. He said it would be better to review the policy first before taking further action.