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Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 61 No. 04
No study for DoK buildings Cameron Orr Just over half a million dollars is waiting to be spent on a building assessment study for the District of Kitimat’s $100 million worth of properties. That money will have to wait though. District of Kitimat staff sought pre-approval from the 2015 budget to spend $575,000 from the Capital Building Reserve on a building assessment, which would have looked at the maintenance needs for Kitimat’s public buildings and perhaps answered other questions such as if it would be feasible to develop a new city hall, and how far in the future that could happen. The question divided the council, and with a tie-breaking vote not available due to Mary Murphy’s absence from the January 19 meeting, the vote went 3-3, with Edwin Empinado, Larry Walker and Mario Feldhoff against spending the money, while councillors Rob Goffinet, Claire Rattée and Mayor Phil Germuth in favour. The even split negates — or in other words defeats — the motion. That leaves the spending to come up in the usual process of establishing the budget this year, but could be too late to get any substantial work done on it this year. Feldhoff said he was against pre-approving the hefty price tag for the study. He questioned its need, as well as the need to pre-approve it at that meeting, rather than wait to see the entire 2015 budget, and this assessment’s place within it. Fire Chief Trent Bossence who has been heading up the building assessment process for the District said that to get the project done before the fall would require getting requests for proposals done now and start the bidding process for the contractor who would eventually conduct the professional study. Continued on page 8
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
$
B.C. hunters upset at proposed new hunting allocations which emphasizes non-residents over locals made their distaste known outside the Premier’s Natural Resources Forum in Prince George last week. See page 3 for more on the concern from hunters, and see page 6 for more on the forum itself, which was attended by Kitimat’s Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer. Bill Phillips photo
It’s not that there’s more drugs, officers just have more time It’s been a mixed bag of local crime over the year, where there’s been a dip in some but notable increases in others. One area that saw growth: possession of cocaine. Staff Sergeant Phil Harrison presented council with the December statistics, which also reveal how the year compared with 2013, and that drug files were on the rise. Cocaine saw seven more files in 2014 than it did in 2013. There were two extra cases of trafficking cocaine over 2013 as well, nine in 2014. Marijuana possessions were also on the rise, although only marginally, with two more cases, 36, in 2014 than in 2013.
While there was no ecstasy possessions in December, the year did close with two files. There were none in 2013. Even with those statistics and a few others up, Harrison isn’t saying there’s a drug trade on the rise in Kitimat. In fact the truth is rather more optimistic than the numbers may explain. “When they [officers] don’t have to burden themselves with carrying out investigations they’ve more free time so they can do those kinds of things,” he said, referring to a drop in police calls that require dedicated investigations. “As calls requiring investigation decline, it leaves
more time for members to increase patrols and self generate files such as traffic and drugs,” Harrison explained via e-mail. “Also, as members gain experience, they also gain a confidence to generate those types of files. Two years ago we had seven members transfer out and were replaced mainly with recruits straight from Depot. Those members are now more experienced and it is showing in the increased liquor, drugs and traffic stats.” Harrison also says a number of experienced members had transferred to the detachment in recent time which may also contribute to the increase in drug statistics. There were a few other file increases in 2014 too. Continued on page 6
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