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Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 57 No.49
Duck Creek bridge lives Cameron Orr Duck Creek Bridge will be saved. After councillors met to discuss the issue at a committee of the whole meeting (Sentinel, Oct. 31, page 1) an arrangement has been worked out to see a new bridge installed. According to the District of Kitimat, Rio Tinto Alcan took the lead to work with companies and organizations and have compiled a proposal. That proposal sees Apache Canada, the company behind the proposed Kitimat LNG terminal and the Pacific Trails Pipeline, offering to pay for the new bridge at a cost of $40,000. That leaves $60,000 left required to actually install the bridge and remove the old one. Five businesses are reportedly being approached to share the financial burden but a list was not available. The District of Kitimat approved a motion at their Nov. 19 meeting to commit up to $12,000 to
the project for the purpose of access to recreational areas. Acting mayor Corinne Scott said at the meeting that if more businesses end up being included, the District’s share of the cost would go down. Council was initially told a Nov. 1 deadline would be the time that decision would have to be made for the bridge but that date has continually shifted, but councillors were told on Nov. 19 that a decision on the bridge would have to be made that week to have the project proceed. Councillor Phil Germuth said that he supports this motion and that while it is a bridge on private property, given that it services recreational facilities on Clague Mountain — namely the snowmobile and hiker club’s new cabin — he would support donating the money. Rob Goffinet added that he sees it as a good sign that businesses have come together in generosity to see the bridge replaced.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
1.34 INCLUDES TAX
$
Two-month-old Nikkolai Hill looks a little out of his element in the arms of Santa Claus at the City Centre Mall Nov. 23, during the Christmas Craft and Gift Fair, and pajama night.
Budgetary needs pitched to council Cameron Orr Thirteen community organizations and clubs made their pitch to Kitimat Council for their budgetary needs as council moves towards planning the 2013 budget. Much of the requests are in-line with what the groups received last year, with a few asking for modest increases, while the Hirsch Creek Golf and Winter Club sought the largest increase of $90,000 more than last year. KITIMAT RCMP But first was the Kitimat RCMP, asking for $57,500 from the District, out of an entire year’s supplementary budget of $357,500. All of that comes out of five major capital projects; a cell retrofit, a closed-circuit security system upgrade, new phones, hard body armour and new furniture and equipment. Drawings for the cell retrofit are al-
ready done and the portion of budget needed for the project has already been allocated, so they don’t need any more money for this project, which will see a replacement of wall-mounted bunks to concrete sleeping platforms. New closed-circuit cameras are required, in part from recommendations from the Ian Bush incident in Houston, B.C. Courts now also require detachments to keep security footage for two years. The local RCMP do need $52,500 to cover the District of Kitimat’s portion of the cost for this project. The money to replace their aging phone system has also been previously allocated, the same for the delivery of hard body armour. Outgoing staff sergeant Steve Corp said that each hard body armour unit will cost about $1,000, and is required to be available to officers under new legislation. What they do also need more money
for this year is new furniture such as office chairs and utility chairs for their meeting room, at a cost of $5,000. KITIMAT LIBRARY The Kitimat Public Library is seeking an increase of $19,300 over last year, to $423,200. Although the library had $8,000 available to carry over last fiscal year due to some unexpected provincial money, they don’t have that this year and are facing increasing in staffing costs ($373,100 in salaries for 2013) and other increases throughout their budget, including an increased travel budget to attend a trustee conference in 2013. Software licence fees have also more than doubled for the library since last year. Other expenses either remained the same or increased incrementally. KITIMAT COMMUNITY SERVICES Kitimat Community Services Society
pitched their case for two of their functions, the first being victim services. They are seeking no increase to their funding from 2012, at $36,593. The program will be receiving $35,640 from the Ministry of Justice as well, most of that going towards wages. Between all their funding sources, Victim Services is expected to operate on $74,733. Meanwhile the Food Share Program needs $20,000 from the District, or they say they might have to shut down their program. They currently receive no funds for the program and have been running since November 2011. They say since they began they have picked up more than 80,000 pounds of food. The $20,000 being requested will cover basic costs such as rent, hydro, telephone and supplies. Continued on page 3
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Town takes a look at electric cars ... page 6