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Water bylaw enacted
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2014
VOL 117 NO. 34
How big was it? Page 20
CRAIG LINDSAY Gayle Holmes
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Grand Forks Gazette
Despite strong objections heard during the Committee of the Whole meeting in the morning, Grand Forks city council passed the water regulation bylaw with the fourth and final reading at the regular city council meeting Monday night. The water regulation bylaw 1973 sets the guidelines for the city to establish a water system and provide water to the residents and businesses and other consumers in Grand Forks. Before voting in the new bylaw, council repealed the former water regulation bylaw 1501. Council also voted for municipal ticket information amendment bylaw 1957, which covers penalties for violations to the water regulation bylaw. Each vote went 5-1 in favour with Mayor Brian Taylor and councillors Cher Wyers, Patrick O’Doherty, Bob Kendel and Gary Smith voting in favour and councillor Michael Wirischagin as the only one opposed. Councillor Neil Krog was absent. There was little discussion from the dozen or so people in attendance regarding the vote. That was certainly not the case in the morning during the committee of the whole where council heard a presentation from Karin Bagn of the People’s Review Commission opposing the water meter installation. After Bagn spoke, a member of the audience gathered at the old Canpar building asked a question of council. When Bagn answered from the floor, Mayor Taylor banged his gavel and quickly called a recess in order to restore order. Several audience members booed Taylor loudly. After a short break, Taylor reconvened the committee of the whole meeting and proceeded on to the rest of the agenda items.
A mannequin sitting in the back seat of a 1956 Cadillac Convertible (belonging to Myron and Laurie Feniuk of Vernon, B.C.) attracted much interest at the second annual Park in the Park Car Show this weekend in Grand Forks City Park. See story and photos on pages A14-15. Wayne Mallette photo
City will put deer cull on ballot CRAIG LINDSAY
Grand Forks Gazette
It looks like the City of Grand Forks will have a referendum question on the November election ballot; however, it won’t be about water meters. Instead it will be asking people whether they support a local deer cull. A deer cull, which is a method of thinning the herd by trapping and killing deer, has been done in other nearby communities to mixed effect. Councillor Gary Smith, who chairs the local deer committee, said the referendum question is non-binding and will merely be used for information for council. “We essentially want to ask a question of the people whether or not they are in support of a cull as a management option,” said Smith. Smith said the deer committee has done a preliminary look into costs for a deer cull. They’ve also spoken to local First Nations bands to see if there is “an appetite for them to essentially harvest deer because they’re a people who use all the parts. But no hard costs have been settled on.” Smith said that before getting to the cull stage, he hopes the deer tracking program the committee is looking at will help determine deer patterns. “It will hopefully help us determine if the animals are actually moving out of the Boundary area or sticking around here. That’ll help us nail down how many
animals there are in town and what the resident population really is.” The deer tracking program is a $10,000 program which has yet to receive final council approval. “The Ministry (of Environment) has offered to give us assistance with an in-kind contribution of expertise and effort,” he said. “They have the expertise to be able to tranquilize the animals and tag them and set up the software so we can get the data points.” Smith said they plan to track nine deer including one buck and two does in each of three different herds over two years. “An important thing to figure out is buck movement,” he said. “Bucks are intrinsically shy. We want to know if they are coming in from the hills or are resident bucks; and then to track the movement of the does and figure out specific times.” The deer tracking program is expected to start in the fall. Smith mentioned that East Kootenay cities such as Cranbrook, Kimberley and Invermere have ran deer culls. “There’s a number of communities around the province that have undertaken deer culls,” he said. “What our committee is going to look at is holding a conference with the chairs of those committees and share information and share experiences and hopefully come up with some realistic options for moving forward.”
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Your Downtown Store• See WATER BYLAW page A13
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