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Sentinel
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Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 58 No. 50
Cold weather response set Cameron Orr Donations are welcome for Kitimat’s Emergency Cold Weather Shelter which is planned to go into operation soon, but the District of Kitimat doesn’t know quite yet what they’ll need. Boxes recently arrived at the Public Safety Building on Haisla Boulevard — where the fire hall is — and, contained in those packages from BC Housing were temporary beds, blankets and pillows. The idea is to provide a place for people without a home to go when weather dips into the sub-zero range, and after a technical issue with a prior plan to use an ATCO trailer, the former council chambers came up as a suitable alternative. If people have questions about making donations they can contact the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Warren Waycheshen at the District of Kitimat. Mayor Joanne Monaghan had sought for an ATCO trailer to be set up in the downtown area near the Northwest Community College however the unit they secured turned out not to meet building codes for Kitimat’s snow loads. Meanwhile the shelter at the Public Safety Building isn’t officially quite ready to be opened but Monaghan said she wouldn’t allow anyone to be without shelter with this week’s cold winds. “I would absolutely not allow anyone in my community to sleep out in cold weather with the wind chill the way it is now,” she said. Pets will also be taken care of and Monaghan said she has the assurances from the humane society’s manager that dogs with people using the shelter will get flea baths and flea collars. The old council chambers is considered for the main room to house people for the nights, but the Public Safety Building does have old police cells from when it was also the town’s police station and those rooms can be retrofitted to house people as well. The Deputy Fire Chief Peter Bizarro said that he’s happy to have the space used for the emergency shelter, living up to the facility’s name as a “public safety” building. He doesn’t expect the demand for the shelter to be very high this winter, however, as he said through the fire department’s work they haven’t seen many people on the streets without a place to go. Monaghan said that there were indications over the summer that there would be a demand for this facility. “There was a huge demand apparently in the summer when they [Kitimat Housing Committee] did the study,” she said. Continued on page 2
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
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1.30 INCLUDES TAX
The Kitimat Dynamics Gymnastics Club helped their annual Christmas Display, along with their winter registration, at the Riverlodge on December 1. Shown here are some young gymnasts showing their practiced routine to a packed gymnasium.
KUTE gets their rent boost Cameron Orr Kitimat Understanding the Environment (KUTE) has received their rent supplement from the District of Kitimat. KUTE President Barb Hall had asked council at an earlier meeting for money to match the increased rent, when they would have to renew their lease with the building owner of their recycling depot. Council asked District staff for a report following the presentation and the recommendation which came back was for council to approve the increase, which means $2,251.20 more a month. “I think our staff is still looking at options in the longer term but this allows for KUTE operations to continue at its present location for a two year period, and if we find something better...we’ll entertain that in future discussions,” said Mario Feldhoff right before the decision. Hall issued a statement following the decision by council, saying that they are thankful that the funding had been approved to cover their new rent. “KUTE has been at our current location since May 1994 and has enjoyed a
good relationship with the landlord,” she said. “They have been very generous to us by keeping the rent down for many years.” She said they understand that costs have risen, “and the reality of supply and demand for space in Kitimat.” She confirmed that they and the District of Kitimat have looked for other locations but have come up empty. Doug Hughan, a KUTE board member, explained that previous ideas such as moving the depot to the landfill isn’t ideal given the services they need for a workplace but suggested places like Forest Avenue, another of council’s thoughts, could be better. Even so, the current depot is well suited to their needs, he said. Staff’s report to council also included a review of considerations of Kitimat’s former animal shelter location, on Enterprise Avenue, as a possible new recycling location, but it was found that location would be entirely too small. The size is 40 per cent of the current KUTE depot, and only has a single ga-
rage area, with no capacity for efficient loading by forklift, the report continued. KUTE’s new lease term is for twoyears, and staff’s report said that time will give them options to explore whether they could eventually somehow teamup with a potential Multi-Material BC depot once that program gets underway. The MMBC program is a provincewide recycling program that aims to bring curbside recycling to communities across the province, including Kitimat. MMBC offered municipalities the option of being the provider of recycling pick-up and while many communities have signed on, Kitimat did not due to the concerns about post-collection placement of the materials and lingering questions about how much the program would actually cost. With the District saying no, the collection program will eventually go to bid for a private contractor. Hughan said MMBC could potentially move into the old animal shelter since their materials will be lighter than what KUTE handles.
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Pot canvassers wrap up petition ... page 3