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MERRITT HERALD FREE
TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
City approves longterm lending for batch of projects By Michael Potestio THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
Merritt city council voted to approve multiple bylaws on city projects last Tuesday at its regular council meeting. Council agreed on longterm borrowing from the Municipal Finance Authority (MFA) for five city projects that were approved in the 2013 budget process. They agreed to use the alternative approval process to obtain approval of electors. This means Merritt voters can come to city hall and vote against the borrowing process of any of these projects. After that, council would determine the percentage of votes needed to stop the borrowing bylaw.
A STYLISH SHADE Juanita Joe of Scw’exmx Child and Family Services Society blocks the sun on June 21 at Aboriginal Day festivities at Rotary Park. Temperatures soared as the sun made a long-awaited appearance from behind the clouds. Summer temperatures are expected to stay, with predicted highs in the mid-30 degrees Celsius range this week. Emily Wessel/Herald
Fire station architect fees Council voted unanimously to approve borrowing $165,000 from the MFA to finance the architectural drawing fees for the new two-phased addition to the Merritt fire station. Mayor Roline told the Herald council has been working on the fire station expansion for a couple of years and at first considered the idea of establishing an entirely new firehall in a new location due to a growing community and expanding needs. She said even just fitting the fire trucks into the current building is a problem. “Our fire vehicles and trucks are getting larger, just
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like most vehicles are getting larger,” she said, adding the current fire station was built in 1972. At that time, the Merritt Fire Rescue Department also didn’t have a work experience program at the fire station, she said. That program, which has five members living and working at the station, will also benefit from the fire hall expansion with living quarters, she said. Central Park upgrades Council passed a motion by a vote of five to two to approve borrowing $698,000 from the MFA for upgrades to Central Park. These upgrades include a new building for washrooms and establishing a lacrosse box at the park. Councillors Kroeker and Norgaard voted against the motion. Mayor Roline told the Herald the city put a washroom trailer in the park about 23 years ago as a temporary solution. “That trailer now is basically on its last legs; literally, it’s starting to lean over,” Roline said. “It’s getting more and more difficult to keep it clean just because it’s worn out. It wasn’t meant to be there for 23 years but it ended up [staying], so we’re building a new washroom building along with a concession.”
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