WEDNESDAY
S I N C E
1 8 9 5
Jays flutter in first flight
MAY 23, 2012 Vol. 117, Issue 100
110
$
Page 10
INCLUDING H.S.T.
PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF
ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALM SALMO
HOSTA LA VISTA, BABY
Cities set to settle sewer saga Dispute headed to arbitration BY TIMOTHY SCHAFER Times Staff
TIMOTHY SCHAFER PHOTO
Gail Winters, left, and Dan Rodlie plant the first of many hostas for Trail’s Community in Bloom committee as they begin to gear up for the mid July visit by the judges of the international competition. The committee is still looking to fill four more planters across from the Trail Memorial Centre and is accepting donations of hostas for the cause. Call 368-9227 to donate.
MONTROSE
Repairs underway but water restrictions remain BY BREANNE MASSEY Times Staff
Water restrictions and the boil water advisory for two Greater Trail communities will likely extend into June, according to the Village of Montrose’s chief administrative officer. On the bright side, Kevin Chartres said the Montrose water supply would soon be connected through bypass by Saturday, removing stress from Beaver Falls and reducing water costs. “This connection will still require careful management,” said Chartres. “Operational questions remain.”
The water pipe leakage destroyed roughly 10,000 m3 of property on the west end of Ninth Avenue on the road reserve when a valve failed May 4. Replacement of the failed valve was expected soon with the valve currently on order, Chartres said. On Saturday the existing water supply main was flushed and cleaned. “Very dirty water (was) encountered,” Chartres added. “The pumps ran until water cleared up.” Also on Saturday the damaged area was revived with 140 loads of fill, and another 75 loads of fill is still required to
9/5 "% 4(%
*5$'%
#(!-0)/. #(%62/,%4 ,!7 34!4%3
7% 7),, ./4 "% 5.$%23/,$
complete the task. More work including pipe installation, chamber retro-fit and base preparation is currently underway. The Stage 3 Water Restrictions were put in place in Montrose since the pipe failure on May 4. The restriction banned residents from washing vehicles, running garden hoses or watering their lawns with anything other than an underground sprinkler. Remediation work on the site will include final geotechnical inspection, as well as compaction for bank stability and slope treatment.
)& 7% #!.²4 "%!4 4(% 02)#% /& !.9 #/-0%4)4/2 /. 4(% 3!-% 6%()#,% 7% 7),, 0!9 9/5 #!3( 4(!4²3 /52 '5!2!.4%% 4/ 9/5
The gauntlet has been thrown down as two municipal councils will prepare to lock horns in an arbitration process over the delivery of regional sewage service. Trail city council has notified the province it will begin the process of arbitration with the City of Rossland to determine the correct percentages of shared costs for sewage service in the Greater Trail region. Last week Trail “We believe we council took a hard line and supported made a very final proposal arbihonest proposal tration, opening the and we, quite door to third-party resolution. The frankly, didn’t motion to go to arbieven get the tration was passed opportunity to sit unanimously. “We’ve had a lot face to face ...” of discussion on this GREG GRANSTROM already,” said Mayor Dieter Bogs. And more is to come. The Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development (CSCD) advised in a May 10 letter to council that arbitration in the long-running dispute between the two municipalities was the only recourse left. For four years the question of who pays what portion of the cost of sewer service among Trail, Rossland and Warfield has been booted around like a political football. Trail currently pays close to 70 per cent of the regional budget following a formula created in the late 1960s, based mostly on population and projected growth. Settling the matter through arbitration does not sit well in the mountain kingdom. But once one side requests dispute resolution assistance, it sets in motion the required actions by the dispute resolution officer. Rossland Mayor Greg Granstrom said the legal price for the process will far outweigh the cost difference quoted in the proposal — around $20,000. “The whole thing to me is a bit silly,” Granstrom said. “We believe we made a very honest proposal and we, quite frankly, didn’t even get the opportunity to sit face to face, which we were very disappointed with.” He said there were misconceptions sewage was a regional district service, when it was a
See TRAIL, Page 2
Contact the Times: Phone: 250-368-8551 Fax: 250-368-8550 Newsroom: 250-364-1242 Trail BC
2880 Highway Drive Trail 250-368-9134 DLN #30251 www.championgm.com