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THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013
City to aid Indoor Rodeo
Proudly serving Williams Lake and the Cariboo-Chilcotin since 1930
VOL. 83. No. 23
$1.34 inc. HST
CITY WATER LINES ROUTINELY SERVICED
Council finalized its authorization for payment of up to 50 per cent of the cost of hauling dirt in and out of the arena for the Williams Lake Indoor Rodeo for 2013 only. A number of city staff have volunteered to operate the city’s equipment to haul the dirt in and out, as they have for a number of years. City staff will volunteer between 70 and 90 man hours on the project, reducing the cost to the city.
Drink tasting Friday, Saturday Developers of an energy drink are looking for taste testers and logo critiques March 22 and 23 at the Tourism Discovery Centre in Williams Lake on Highway 97 South. The taste testing runs between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monica Lamb-Yorski photo
City utility operator Nelson Landry does annual routine maintenance cleaning of city’s underground waterworks during the Tribune’s tour of the city’s water system. See story on page A3.
Inside the Tribune NEWS A2 CRD fringe development plan.
Mayor and council want fringe area fire agreement
SPORTS Roderus competes in U.S.
Monica Lamb-Yorski Tribune Staff Writer
A8
COMMUNITY A15 Dr. Roberts shares collection. Weather outlook: Rain today, sunny Friday through Sunday.
PM 0040785583
Mayor Kerry Cook wants to seize on what she says is a short window of opportunity in regards to offering fringe area residents fire protection. “I am willing to provide fire protection services to rural residents at a cost that reflects the type of service we are delivering and providing to the rural areas,” she said during Tuesday’s council meeting. “I don’t believe we have to compromise the level of service to the level that they are agreeing to paying.” It was the first time since the law suit was launched by the CRD in December seeking to make the city keep to its original offer of a fiveyear term, and the subsequent oneyear agreement resulting from mediation reached this month, that mayor and council have spoken publicly about the issue. Cook acknowledged how difficult the last three months have been because of the legal action between the city and the CRD.
“I was in a majority that supported the October resolution for a fiveyear agreement and I was the minority decision of council to turn down the fire-year agreement and go to a one-year agreement,” she said. It’s not about pointing fingers and finding fault, it’s about moving forward to find an agreed-to amount, she added. “The reason I did not support getting away from the five-year agreement was because I was simply not willing to risk losing the $700,000 plus that we received for providing fire protection,” Cook said. “It would be a huge hardship to my taxpayers and the city.” It’s unfortunate that historically, when the city was looking at building a new fire hall it didn’t enter into a longterm agreement with the CRD at that point, she suggested. Coun. Ivan Bonnell noted the CRD is pursuing the option of providing its own service and he fully understands as a level of government they have the right to do that. “Until they run that discussion out with their residents and make a deci-
sion post 2013 there’s really no point from my perspective for the city to be making any comments about fire protection.” The biggest challenge is financing the capital costs and debt of the new fire hall, he added. “It’s been the cost-driver that’s driven everybody around the bend. We inherited that decision and there’s no getting away from that debt.” Whether it’s done by the city itself or in co-operation with the CRD will be yet to be seen, Bonnell said. Coun. Geoff Bourdon agreed fire protection has been a contentious issue. “Regardless of where this goes, because it is within the CRD’s right to go set up their own fire protection, moving forward regardless of the outcome we’ll either have an agreement or a deficit that we’ll have to deal with as a council,” he said. Zacharias said she is very relieved to be out of the legal challenges. “As a former CRD director from 2005 to 2008 in Area D we took great pride in building a good work-
ing relationship with the city,” she recalled. “After being elected to the city I’ve taken great pride in working on the relationship.” There was a “cloud hanging over” during the time, she said. “During my time as a CRD director there was a lot of support for the fire hall to be built to accommodate the future needs of the city and the rural fringe. The fire hall we had was so small and in such a concentrated area that it no longer served its purpose.” Zacharias added she is hopeful a longterm agreement can be reached. Walters also said she did not vote with the majority to cancel the fiveyear term. “I hope this extension will allow both the city and the CRD to come forward with another option that will be fair to all concerned,” she said. “It’s absolutely ridiculous and makes no sense whatsoever and is not fair to the citizens of both the city and the CRD and build another fire hall.” See MAYOR Page A3