Fire victims are all housed, says community outreach
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www.avtimes.net
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
CITY
COURT
Parks and rec fees increasing Pater Facility rentals due for hikes to help cover losses if recommendations proceed ERIC PLUMMER ALBERNI VALLEY TIMES
Although they account for only a portion of the city’s recreation expenses, user fees are set to increase for parks and rec facilities to cover some costs. Effective Sept. 1 an overall increase of two per cent is planned for rental of the Echo Aquatic Centre, Alberni Valley Multiplex and other city-owned facilities. The increases are contingent on city council passing a recreation facilities fees and charges bylaw, which was up for its first three readings at a public meeting on Monday evening. Pool admissions will remain unchanged at $5.25 for adult city residents and $8.25 for those not living within the limits of Port Alberni. Teenagers, children and seniors will also continue to benefit from $3 admissions fees – $1.75 less than what is charged to those living outside the City of Port Alberni. These basic rates remain below Vancouver Island’s average for municipal recreation gate fees, which are $5.91 for adult users and $3.10 for children and seniors, according to a document on the proposed changes by Scott Kenny, the city’s director of parks, recreation and heritage. The proposed bylaw has free admission continuing for children under five and seniors over 80 in order to “encourage active living for children and the young at heart,” said Kenny in the bylaw document. Ice time is due to go up, amounting to $185 from the pervious $181 per hour for evening adult rentals – slightly higher than the Vancouver Island average of $177. Youth ice rates are also set to increase in the pending bylaw by $2 an hour to $90 for a prime-time slot, lower than the typical hourly rental of $97.87 seen across Vancouver
faces porno charges MARTIN WISSMATH ALBERNI VALLEY TIMES
Beth Brandle, left, and Lynda McFarlane participate in Echo Aquatic Centre’s aquafit class. A pending bylaw is expected to raise rates for Port Alberni’s recreation programs in the swimming pool and other municipal facilities. [TIMES FILE PHOTO].
Island in municipal rinks. The two per cent increase follows similar rental hikes imposed by the city in recent years to keep up with the costs of running recreation facilities, but for the most part rentals and admission fees cover only a portion of overall expenses. This year fees are expected to finance just 24 per cent of the Echo Aquatic Centre’s costs, leaving an expected expense of almost $905,000 to come out of the city budget. With a 53-percent cost recovery, the Alberni Valley Multiplex is budgeted to draw on $534,000 of public funds to operate this year. The Alberni Valley Museum has $90,000 in expected revenue from admis-
sion proceeds and grants, but is still budgeted to cost the city over $382,000 in 2015. As the city’s recreation facilities are used by residents throughout the Valley, each year the municipality receives grants in aid from six other communities in the area. In 2015 these amount to $33,004 from Beaver Creek, $25,727 from Sproat Lake, an $23,887 injection from Cherry Creek, $7,252 from Beaufort, $5,711 from the Tseshaht First Nation while the Hupacasath is budgeted to contribute $1,650. These grants are two per cent higher than what the communities gave the city last year. Despite these contributions from the Valley’s outlying areas,
estimates given by the parks and rec department while the muncipal budget was being developed stated that city residents are paying more than their fair share of recreation costs. While non-city residents pay an estimated $12 per capita to run municipal facilities, those living within Port Alberni contribute $175 per resident. Eric.Plummer@avtimes.net 250-723-8171 » We want to hear from you. Send comments on this story to news@avtimes.net. Letters must include daytime phone number and hometown.
Repeat sex offender Shaun Neil Pater is back in court today on charges of child pornography. Pater, 35, is scheduled to appear in Port Alberni provincial court at 9:30 a.m. for an arraignment hearing. He faces charges of making and distributing child pornography, possession of child pornography, and breaching probation orders. The accused was arrested after the alleged offences took place on Dec. 31. “A complaint was made, and we followed up,” said Insp. Mac Richards, officer in charge of the Port Alberni RCMP detachment. Pater was previously convicted of sexual interference of girls under age 16 in January 2012 and in January 2013, placing him on the federal sex offender registry for life. He was granted an application in December that relieved him of probation conditions that he avoid contact with minors under age 16, so that he could spend time with family for the holidays. According to local media reports from court proceedings, Pater was sentenced to three months of time served plus one day when he was convicted for sexual interference of a 15-yearold girl in January 2013. Those offences took place between August 2010 and January 2011. Pater was sentenced to six months in January 2012 after pleading guilty to sexual interference of a girl under age 16. martin.wissmath@avtimes.net
WATERFRONT
Navy expected to share with kiteboarders ERIC PLUMMER ALBERNI VALLEY TIMES
An 180-foot naval vessel used to monitor B.C.’s shoreline will be docking in Port Alberni later this month, and organizers behind the visit hope the main attraction will be the community’s underused waterfront. The HMCS Yellowknife is scheduled to land at the port on May 22 at 2 p.m. for a weekend of tours from the public and sea cadets. For the last two years the Port Alberni Maritime Heritage Society has been asking the Royal Canadian Navy to bring a ship here, an event that used to regularly occur in the 1960s, said the society’s director Pamela Day. “Ships used to regularly come
here so people could go on board, visit the ship and find out a little more about the navy,” she said. “It think that it’s important for people to see that we have a navy in Canada and learn a little bit more about it. It’s also exciting for kids to go on a big ship like that, see how it all works.” The Yellowknife is one of seven Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels currently being used to watch over Canada’s shores. With crew ranging from 30 to 45, the ship is capable of detecting submarines and sea mines. Port Alberni’s Sea Cadet Commanding Officer Capt. John Cloke, who has experience serving in the navy, is working to coordinate public tours of the
HMCS Yellowknife over the weekend. “In a wartime scenario, if a submarine, for example, is trying to get close to land, they would be out there patrolling to see if those are there,” he said of the Yellowknife’s role. “These aren’t really defensive vessels. They’re mostly monitoring and they would be the ones that identify an issue and call in a frigate or destroyer escort that would come in and engage the enemy.” The naval ship will be docking at the Harbour Quay Marina’s breakwater, immediately north of the lighthouse. See WATERFRONT, Page 3
The HMCS Yellowknife, far right, is scheduled to dock in Port Alberni May 22 for a weekend. Public tours are planned for the coastal monitoring vessel. [SGT ANGELA ABBEY/ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY PHOTO]
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ALBERNI VALLEY TIMES VOLUME 66, NUMBER 91
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