City Hall generic

Not a lot of smiling faces after what some councillors were calling a good news announcement was made at council Monday night.

By an 8-1 vote council approved a 5 year operating agreement between the city and Invest North Bay.

The approval came after some strong words from some councillors.

Mark King said he wouldn’t be supporting the proposal because there’s no dollar amount in the agreement.

He says he asked council to hold off for two weeks so Invest North Bay could provide some kind of budget that the city can work with.

Mayor Al McDonald says the budget for Invest North Bay was already approved in January and what was passed  was an operating agreement outlining what is expected of both sides the city and Invest North Bay.

Two other councillors Tanya Vrebosch and Daryl Vaillancourt said they would be apologizing to Invest North Bay board members on behalf of the city in light of King’s comments.

King was asked to withdraw a remark he made, which he did.

Vrebosch says instead of having a positive focus with the agreement, there’s going to be negative comments from one of their councillors which is not what they need.

Mayor McDonald says Invest North Bay was dragged into something they didn’t have to be dragged into.