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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014
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Fighting for HFP timber By Jackie Lieuwen Houston Today
BONFIRE Kick off
Jackie Lieuwen/Houston Today
The Houston ACT (Action Changes Things) Committee kick off WinterFest with sledding, a bonfire, hot dogs and hot chocolate on the hill behind Houston Secondary School. Above are Fire Lieutenant Sheldon Slaney and Fire Chief Jim Daigneault with Evann, Paige and Eryn, warming up by the bonfire with hot chocolate after sledding.
D u n g a t e Community Forests is working with Houston mayor and council to seek expansion. C o m mu n i t y Forests Directors Jerry Veillette, Arnold Amonson and Bob Clee gave a report to council last Tuesday. “We feel the opportunity exists to expand or maybe even double the size of Dungate Community Forests as a result of the [Houston Forest Products] announcement,” Veillette said. “This would benefit the community by maintaining community control over a larger portion of the local timber supply, for local job support and community economic benefit. “The board would welcome the opportunity to work with mayor and council and dis-
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“Keep that wood in the Morice TSA” - Houston Mayor Bill Holmberg
trict staff to attempt to realize this objective,” Veillette said. Mayor Bill Holmberg said he too welcomed that opportunity. He said council is meeting with the Minister of Forests in Houston and will notify Dungate Community Forests when that happens. The meeting was originally set for Feb. 3 but was postponed by the Ministry and council still does not know when the Minister will come to Houston. See TIMBER on Page 3
Council seeks funds for water system upgrade By Jackie Lieuwen Houston Today
The District of Houston is seeking funding to upgrade the water system. In 2012, council had a study done of the water reservoir and found major issues with the roof, requiring serious
repairs in the next five years. Opus Dayton and Knight, the consulting engineer, also found that the current water system is lacking redundancy (extra supply in case of failure) and does not have enough water supply for fire fighting a large
structural fire. Last council meeting, council considered five options, opting to seek funding for the best water system and prepared to settle for less if they don’t get funding. Council considered the following options: 1) Building a new
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reservoir on Mount Davis Way and the necessary pipe system for $2.25 million. 2) Building a new fused, steel reservoir beside the existing reservoir for $1.25 million. 3) Repairing the roof of the existing reservoir for $620,000.
4) Building a new reservoir on Mt. Davis Way, with piping, and repairing the roof of the existing reservoir for $2.87 million. 5) Building a new reservoir beside the existing one and repairing the old one for $1.87 million. With repairing
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the old roof, council discussed whether repairs could be done without decommissioning the reservoir. John Guenther, Director of Engineering and Development Services, said they could supply the water system from the
aquifer as a backup while the reservoir is being repaired for three months. That would be risky for three months as it would hamper the fire fighting ability, said Councillor Rick Lundrigan. See WATER on Page 2
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