TUESDAY
S I N C E
JUNE 25, 2013
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Vol. 118, Issue 98
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Festa Italiana attracts big crowd
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INCLUDING G.S.T.
PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALMO
School board saves cash by moving office
SISTER TEA
BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
There are 20,000 reasons why the next school district budget might not cut so deep. Since 1999, at a cost of $20,000 per year, School District 20 has been subletting office space in the downtown Trail Fortis building. When that lease expires on Sept. 30, the school board offices will move to the Kootenay Columbia Learning Centre (formerly called Trail Middle School) in East Trail. “This has been a pressing item for a long time,” said Mark Wilson, trustee. “Luckily our lease is expiring and we can get out of that building into a facility that we own,” he said. “And not only recuperate some good money, but save some as well.” Wilson is referring to the terms of the agreement between SD20 and West Kootenay Power (WKP) Corporation (now Fortis) 14 years ago. SD20 entered into an option to purchase the leased premises for $914,888 on June 30, 2013 by providing WKP a $157,469 prepayment. The prepayment (less GST) accrued an interest at over 12 per cent, compounded monthly, until the option was exercised. However, because the board has voted to move on, according to the terms of the agreement, WKP must return the initial option payment, plus $760,773 accrued interest. This item was listed on the 2013-14 budget adjustments, said Natalie Verigin, SD20 secretary treasurer. She added that there is office space capacity at TMS, and the move will create $20,000 in operational savings. Although the SD20 board continues its juggle to balance the 2013-14 final budget, one figure that won’t be adjusted anytime soon is the number of trustees on its board. At a meeting earlier this month, the boardappointed electoral review committee decided “not to pursue further review of trustee electoral issues,” said Darrel Ganzert, board chair, at the June 17 meeting. “I am disappointed with the outcome,” said Wilson. “We have the same number of trustees with 13 fewer schools.” In March, the board appointed a review committee to re-examine SD 20 electoral arrangements including: the total number of trustees; the number, boundaries and names of district wards; the number of trustees in each ward; and the trustee to elector ratio.
SHERI REGNIER PHOTO
Sister Norma Gallant CND, member of Neighbourhood Grans to Grans, was an honorary tea pourer at the organization’s strawberry tea fundraiser in the Trail United Church on Saturday. Over 100 guests were served homemade strawberry shortcake topped with fresh whipped cream along with their cuppa.
FRUITVALE
Fire ban request goes up in smoke BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
A Fruitvale resident’s request for council to ban backyard campfires has gone up in smoke. Melissa Hart approached council last month to request a total outdoor wood burning ban within the village limits. Hart’s reason for a ban was health related, as she and her four-year-old son require medical treatment for asthma, a breathing condition exacerbated by wood burning. “When we moved to Fruitvale five years ago, my husband and I thought it was a great opportunity to get clean, fresh air for our future child, she explained.
“But now I can’t even open my windows because of all the smoke.” Council deferred its decision pending further review, but after a committee of the whole meeting last Monday, it was decided that the village would not change its current burning bylaw. “I am feeling helpless because I am right back where I started, said Hart. The couple built an environmentally friendly home, an “asthmatic’s dream house,” said Hart. The interior is replete with hardwood floors and HVAC system, but due to air inversion in Beaver Valley, nearby campfire smoke settles into her backyard. Within the legal limits of a backyard fire, the neighbours enjoy intermittent
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campfires, she said. “But our house is kind of in a ‘hole’ and the smoke comes right down into our yard.” The Fruitvale burning bylaw restricts open fires to piled material no larger than one-half metre in height and onehalf metre in width and cannot contain household refuse or compostable yard or garden waste. “In a survey of our constituents we determined that most taxpayers enjoy their intermittent campfires and ceremonial fires that are permitted, said Mayor Patricia Cecchini. “Although council empathized with residents suffering from asthma and See WOOD, Page 3
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