VOTE TIME | Familiar names face each other for B.C. Fruit Growers Association presidency [A6]
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Wednesday, January 20, 2016 P R O U D L Y
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COMPLETING THE CARVING
ROGER KNOX Morning Star Staff
LISA VANDERVELDE/MORNING STAR
Gail Kopp, of the North Okanagan Wood Carvers Society, applies a tongue to her friend Shirley Pattyson’s rattlesnake carving at their open house and endangered species awareness event at the Vernon Community Arts Centre.
Enderby moves on derelict buildings empty buildings downCity staff insist there town and concerns exist are sufficient enforcearound public health and ment tools but the chalsafety. lenge has been a regular “One had a verif ication flood a couple of compliof years ago and ance with we’re not sure if bylaws and it was cleaned codes. up or they just The proshut the water posal would off,” said Mayor be incorpoGreg McCune. rated into the “We want Shawn Shishido fire inspecto make sure tion program downtown and be funddoesn’t burn down ed on a user-pay basis. because someone didn’t “The program would look after their building,” provide common sense,
RICHARD ROLKE Morning Star Staff
Owners of derelict and abandoned storefronts in Enderby are being put on a short leash. The city is moving ahead with a policy that will allow it to inspect vacant commercial and industrial buildings. “We hope people will step up and take responsibility for their buildings and not just let them be run down,” said Coun. Shawn Shishido. There are a number of
risk-based provisions to ensure those vacant commercial and industrial properties which represent a relatively low hazard or potential for non-compliance are subject to less frequent inspections,” said Tate Bengtson, chief administrative officer, in a report. The prevelence of vacant buildings is negatively impacting the economy. “Businesses want to come to town to rent and there are spots
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available but the places are shuttered,” said Coun. Tundra Baird. “A lot of them are painted up on the outside and you don’t know what’s going on inside.” The push to deal with empty storefronts comes at the same time that the city is looking at beautifying Cliff Avenue. “We have a vision about redoing the business centre and to have vacant buildings can create challenges,” said Shishido.
Spallumcheen council will discuss the possibility of giving itself a raise in 2016. Staff was given direction at a committee of the whole meeting in December to prepare a report comparing township council remuneration with that of other like-sized communities in the province. Chief financial officer Amy Vienneau gave council two reports showing the remuneration summaries of 10 similar-sized communities by population. “The first report includes calculations of the average, mean (middle number), lowest and highest using all 10 communities,” said Vienneau. “The second report shows comparable calculations, however the two communities with the highest and lowest values have been removed so the calculations are based on the remaining eight communities.” Spallumcheen’s population is listed at 5,185. Mayor Janice Brown earns $19,369 while the six councillors earn $9,685. Remuneration-wise, Spallumcheen would be 11th compared to the other communities, but would be the third-largest in terms of population. The 10 communities compared in Vienneau’s report are Creston, Duncan, Fernie, Gibsons, Grand Forks, Hope, Kent, Oliver, Osoyoos and Peachland. The District of Kent (Agassiz), in the Fraser Valley, is the largest, population-wise, with 5,890 people. The smallest of the 10 is Grand Forks (4,048). The mayor of Kent earns $33,239 while councillors are paid $15,736 annually. Grand Forks’ mayor pockets $22,290 per year, while council members draw $16,718. The average of the 10 communities, population-wise, is 4,911. The average mayor’s salary is $24,811 and the average council remuneration is $13,506. Spallumcheen council voted unanimously to defer the report to a committee of the whole financial planning meeting, and include the average figures for budget discussions. Councillors Todd York and Ed Hanoski were absent from Monday’s regular council meeting. In the neighbouring City of Armstrong, where the population is listed at 4,878 (according to Vienneau’s report), the mayor receives $22,302 per year, and council members earn $12,820.
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