The Chilliwack
Progress Thursday
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News
Scene
45
Sports
Tour de Valley
CD Party
Football
Cops For Cancer are gearing up for their ride to raise funds and awareness.
Inez hosts CD release party on Friday.
Grizzlies host Friday night doubleheader.
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CUPE pay increase identified last year
■ H ENDERSON F IRE
But money not allocated Katie Bartel The Progress Chilliwack school district had anticipated the expense of a CUPE salary increase being put in their hands, but did not allocate funds for it in the 201314 budget. In the budget report, presented to the board of education on April 9, a 1.5 per cent salary increase for support staff was noted under “potential budget challenges” for the coming year; a cost the district estimated at $600,000. But no money was set aside. School district secretary treasurer Gerry Slykhuis said that while senior management had suspected the provincial government would offload the expense to school districts there was no guarantee. “We had a feeling… but it’s government and bargaining, it could go any direction,” said Slykhuis. “When you’re putting a budget together for trustees, you try to lay out all the contingencies so they’re aware. Your budget is your best guess at that time.” And while the now new expense, estimated at $700,000 for this year, is a kick to the district’s bottom line, Slykhuis doesn’t believe the district should have allocated funds for it back in April. “In an ideal world we’d have a rainy day reserve, but by the same token we only get so much money from the government to spend on education and if we put a couple million dollars into rainy day funds, then that money is not being spent on immediate needs,” he said. The district is working on an amended budget that will now include the $700,000 CUPE salary increase, the $50,000 byelection, and the $600,000 for early French immersion in the expenses column.
Firefighters responded to a house fire on Henderson Avenue shortly after 12 a.m. Wednesday. When crews arrived on scene, the bungalow was fully engulfed in flames. A neighbour who called 9-1-1 said he could hear popping sounds from the house next door. It is believed no one was home at the time of the fire. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
OCP review heads into drafting stage Jennifer Feinberg The Progress There is still time. Chilliwack residents are being urged to weigh in with their opinion about the way the city should grow in the coming years. So far folks are talking about topics from urban densification to what Rosedale and Ryder Lake will look like in the next 20 or 30 years. Review of the Official Community Plan (OCP) has
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been ongoing for months, and the upcoming drafting of the new OCP document represents Phase 3 of the review process. People have showed up to community cafés, commented on the website PlaceSpeak, and added their two cents to online surveys. There are public engagement process reports filed, and backgrounder reports ready, and two studies are nearing completion, one on environmental geotech maps and the other on economic development/employment.
The OCP discussion page on PlaceSpeak had received 2,641 unique views by press time. There were 80 comments and 70 participants signed up. PlaceSpeak seems to be the place most people are parking their remarks. About 300 took another online survey. But still more feedback is needed. Some may be hesitating with PlaceSpeak because of “potential concerns around privacy,” said Karen Stanton, manager of long range planning, at the
council meeting Tuesday. “There’s a link on our site that takes you right to the page,” she said. Coun. Jason Lum thanked the planning staff for the review process. “This is a huge task to undertake.” But he suggested finding a way to work around the privacy fears to get more people responding to the question of how Chilliwack should grow. Continued: OCP/ p16
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