VE
The Invermere
PHOTO BY BRIAN FENERTY
4
5
Se
19 56
er 5 Novemb 2014 Vo l .
Question #3 of pre-election Q&A
First responders tend to a vacant house on 10th Avenue behind Sobeys that caught on fire the evening of Sunday, November 2nd. For more on this story, see page 3.
he
ALLEY CHO
HOUSE ABLAZE
ue
4
BERNIE RAVEN CHRIS RAVEN 1-866-598-7415 TEAMRAVEN.CA Offices in Panorama, Invermere & Fairmont
veteran shares 12 Local memories of war
1
$
05 INCLUDES GST
Maxwell Realty Invermere
PUBLICATIONS MAIL REGISTRATION NO. 7856
Windermere water upgrade LOCAL NEWS Curling club receives funds for website making progress DAN WALTON dan@invermerevalleyecho.com The Regional District of East Kootenay is going over the ins and outs of providing potable water in Windermere. The Windermere Water System Utility Advisory Commission held a meeting at the Windermere Community Hall on Tuesday, October 28th. Windermere’s water has been under boil advisory for eight years, and is aiming to meet new water quality standards the province is implementing in 2015. First on the agenda, the commission analyzed the drilling of a well. “The RDEK will proceed with drilling a test well in the community in the next few weeks,” said Area F Director Wendy Booth in an email to The Echo. “While uncertainty exists whether or not it will be successful, the group felt it was worth the effort.” The groundwater analysis and test well program was approved by the board last May. Also, it was recommended by the Water Utilities Commission that the RDEK proceeds with building a new reservoir. The board will decide to support it or not at this week’s RDEK board of directors meeting.
“Regardless of the direction that the community proceeds to get properly treated water, a new reservoir (in addition to the existing one) is required.” “This is in addition to the existing reservoir,” said Booth in an email. “It’s required to meet fire flows and increased demand. Regardless of the direction that community chooses to go with treated water, a reservoir is required.” The project will cost around $2.3 million and a grant from the Building Canada Fund is getting close to expiration. “The Building Canada Fund is $2.1 million, and the balance is proposed to come from Community Works Funds and Reserve Funds (pending RDEK votes in favour).” Booth said the RDEK will have to apply for scope change before using the funds for that purpose. To figure out the most palatable way to pay for the upgrade, the RDEK will be experimenting with the costs. “Mock rates will be in effect for one year, before they come into effect,” she said. “The purpose is to give the users the opportunity to see how much they are paying on the flat rate, compared to what they would pay with a metered rate.”
STEVE HUBRECHT steve@invermerevalleyecho.com
During its most recent meeting, the Columbia Valley Directed Funds Committee voted to give money to the Invermere Curling Club to help fund the club’s website project. The committee also voted to ask the Columbia Valley Chamber of Commerce to give a presentation on its request for funding to help with building renovations. Committee chair Wendy Booth, during the committee’s Monday, October 27th meeting, began the discussion around the curling club’s request for $2,000 by telling the other committee members about her recent discussion with curling club member Christine DuBois. DuBois told Booth the club has had a financial shortfall for the past few years because of reduced capacity at the Invermere Community Hall, which has limited the club’s ability to raise funds during the annual bonspiel on Lake Windermere. Normally, the club raises $20,000 a year at events at the community hall during the bonspiel. “For $2,000, this would be money well-spent (by the committee),” said Invermere mayor Gerry Taft. “There’s something measurable at the end — a website — and it will help draw people to the valley and promotes a healthy lifestyle.” Radium mayor Dee Conklin said she was leery of setting a precedent by giving funding for a website, since this might prompt other groups wanting to set up websites to come to the directed funds committee for money. “These days, everybody needs a website,” said Conklin. Committee member Craig Knapp said the decision to give the money to the curling club would not necessarily mean the committee is then obligated to give money to every group with a future website funding request. The motion to give the curling club the $2,000 passed unanimously. The Columbia Valley Chamber of Commerce submitted a project information form requesting $25,000 to renovate the chamber building, with the intention of creating a better meeting space, creating new rental office space, and other business service improvements. In discussion on the request, Booth pointed out that the chamber had initially approached the Columbia Basin Trust for the money, but was told by the Trust See A3