November 3, 2025 - Minutes
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General Purposes Committee
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Date: |
Monday, November 3, 2025 |
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Place: |
Anderson Room |
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Present: |
Mayor Malcolm D. Brodie, Chair
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Absent: |
Councillor Kash Heed |
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Call to Order: |
The Chair called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. |
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MINUTES |
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It was moved and seconded |
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That the minutes of the meeting of the General Purposes Committee held on October 20, 2025, be adopted as circulated. |
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CARRIED |
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FINANCE AND CORPORATE SERVICES DIVISION |
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1. |
Advance Planning for the 2026 Election (File Ref. No. 12-8125-80-01) (REDMS No. 8164991) |
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It was moved and seconded |
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(1) |
That the proposed election program for the 2026 General Local and School Election, as described in the report, “Advance Planning for the 2026 Election,” dated October 16,2025, from the Director, City Clerk’s Office, be endorsed; and |
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(2) |
That one-time funding of $1,113,000 to support the planning and implementation of the 2026 Election be submitted for consideration in the 2026 budget process. |
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In response to queries from Committee, staff advised that (i) the online mail ballot application process is relatively new, other municipalities have also seen low participation. It may take several election cycles to build voter awareness and familiarity of the mail ballot process as an assessable voting option, (ii) the $30,000 advertising budget primarily covers the eight legislatively required statutory newspaper print ads and any additional discretionary and supplementary ads in both hardcopy and digital form, and (iii) a comprehensive communication plan including social media, the election website, news and media releases and a detailed voter guide distributed to all households, community centres, libraries and available on line will be used to promote all aspects of the election. |
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Further discussion ensued with respect to (i) staffing levels and costs, (ii) anticipation of an increased voter turnout, (iii) increasing awareness of the Election Mobile App, and (iv) stipulated deadlines for the mail ballot voting option. |
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The question on the motion was then called and CARRIED. |
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PARKS, RECREATION AND CULTURE DIVISION |
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2. |
City of Richmond Social Media Accounts (File Ref. No. 01-0190-01) (REDMS No. 8137876) |
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It was moved and seconded |
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That the report titled “City of Richmond Social Media Accounts”, dated October 16, 2025, from the Director, Corporate Communications and Marketing be received for information. |
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The question on the motion was not called as discussion ensued with respect to (i) challenges establishing a Chinese language social media account or platform, (ii) implementation of WhatsApp as a tool for emergency alerts and outreach to multilingual communities, and (iii) engagement on various City of Richmond social media platforms and accounts. |
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In response to queries from Committee, staff advised that (i) staff have established stronger relationships with Chinese media, enabling advertising in their newspapers and engagements through their social media platforms, (ii) press releases are done based on the situation and the audience that will be interested in the specific situation, (iii) the City’s Facebook account is in English, analytics show that targeting a specific audience is most effective in English, as user’s devices can automatically translate that content to other languages, (iv) staff are actively monitoring Chinese speaking social media groups and platforms and respond promptly through the available channels when appropriate, and (v) staff continue to look at ways to engage with other platforms. |
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The question on the motion was then called and it was CARRIED. |
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ADJOURNMENT |
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It was moved and seconded |
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That the meeting adjourn (4:27 p.m.). |
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CARRIED |
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Certified a true and correct copy of the Minutes of the meeting of the General Purposes Committee of the Council of the City of Richmond held on Monday, November 3, 2025. |
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Mayor Malcolm D. Brodie |
Raman Grewal |