S TANDARD TERRACE
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VOL. 27 NO. 13
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
City economic arm gets overhaul By JOSH MASSEY THE CITY of Terrace says it will work together with the Terrace & District Chamber of Commerce to reformat the municipality’s economic development program following council’s vote to terminate its contract with the Terrace Economic Development Authority (TEDA). Council’s decision at the July 13 regular council meeting to terminate the $165,000 contract with TEDA is effective Sept. 30 and came about after a close vote held in camera. Created in 1999, TEDA has employed both an economic development officer and front end staffer to perform various functions related to attracting and facilitating
commerce in the city and area. Councillors Stacey Tyers, Michael Prevost, James Cordeiro and Mayor Carol Leclerc voted in favour of closing up the organization, while councillors Lynne Christiansen, Brian Downie and Sean Bujtas voted against the motion. According to TEDA board chair Rob Dykeman, the city’s new plan to combine the role of TEDA’s economic development officer with the internal city position of corporate lands manager might be an attempt at increased efficiency on the city’s part, but that something will be lost in translation. Remaining an arms-length organization, Dykeman argues, would have allowed for TEDA to continue its tradition of “dialog with businesses so they can have a non-bi-
ased, non-political viewpoint on their business or their business opportunities.” Now that the economic development officer position will be in-house, Dykeman said that healthy distancing will be compromised. And while the city could save money by combining the positions and boost community grant spending which used to pay for TEDA, Dykeman remains concerned. “That money paid for wages and marketing and promotion of Terrace, I feel it was money well spent,” he said. In a press release last week, Leclerc argued that shuttering TEDA and making its mandate one internal to the city will “also improve the free flow of information between city departments related to economic development, and provide the business com-
munity and investors with a direct line to the city and council.” A new, internal economic development officer position will be created to fill the old external economic development officer role with the added duties of the corporate lands manager position, Leclerc explained. The corporate lands manager position was created several years ago and was held by city official Herb Dusdal until he quit this winter to take a private sector job with local construction company Nechako Northcoast. His main role at the city was managing the city’s real estate portfolio, with the central piece being the Skeena Industrial Development Park.
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New doctors on their way By CECILE FAVRON
RESIDENTS WHO may have lost their family doctor will be happy to know that three new doctors and a surgeon are slated to begin arriving here next month. This will bring the total number of family physicians up to 13 and Northern Health also says that a new general surgeon is on his way later this year as well. The first new doctor, Dr. Cesar Lacsamana, is a graduate of the Saint Paul’s residency program in Vancouver and will practice in Terrace on a two-year contract that begins just after the August long weekend. This is the first new doctor to start in Terrace since the departure of Dr. Nanette Fourie last March. “We’re looking forward to having Dr. Lacsamana start here,” said Dr. Geoffrey Appleton who is the local medical director for Northern Health. A new pilot program is also aiming to settle a new foreign doctor from South Africa in Terrace on a three-year contract in September, however, the candidate has yet to graduate. Dr. Ali Mohammad is currently placed in Prince Rupert pending his start date in Terrace and will take over Dr. Appleton’s part-time practice when he retires this fall. Another two doctors – Dr. Aniedi Dear, a general surgeon, and Dr. Natasha De Sousa, a family physician, have confirmed with Northern Health that they plan to relocate to Terrace later this year or early next year. According to Northern Health, they are still struggling to fill the positions of specialist doctors. Urologist Dr. Francis Osie-Tutu retired this summer and Dr. Leilani Therese Almas retired from her gynecology position earlier this year and now works solely as a general practitioner. Neither vacancy has been filled yet, and the community will still rely on the expertise of the retired specialists.
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JOSH MASSEY PHOTO
■■ Wind in her hair DYLAN CURRIE of Terrace and her horse complete a fine jump at the Totem Saddle Club Timberland Horse Show held July 18-19 at the Thornhill Community Grounds. The first day were the hunter and jumper competitions and the next day was the dressage.
Scouting Japan
Rosswood
Derby record
Local kids visit distant island to participate in Scouts gathering \COMMUNITY A15
Take a closer look at the small community and learn more about it \NEWS A5
Nightmares set point record on their way to defeating Rated PG \SPORTS A22