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The Lake Windermere District Rod and Gun Club’s annual Wild Game Banquet on Saturday, February 20th at the Invermere Community Hall was a savoury affair for local hunters and wild game connoisseurs who sampled a wide array of unique dishes, from a deluxe appy table to cougar meatballs. PHOTO BY BREANNE MASSEY
Multi-use centre grant still in limbo STEVE HUBRECHT steve@invermerevalleyecho.com A recently released list of municipal projects in B.C. approved for grants under the Strategic Priorities Fund did not include the planned new multi-use centre in Invermere, for which the District of Invermere had applied for a $2 million grant from the fund. Invermere mayor Gerry Taft was quick to caution, however, that the project’s absence from this initial list does not necessarily mean it has been rejected. “It may appear that way (that the multi-use centre grant application was turned down), but we are currently exchanging some more information with (those in charge of approving the grant application) and we are still
cautiously optimistic. At this point, we multi-use centre from the Strategic don’t have anything more we can say,” Priorities Fund, but later reduced that he said. request to $2 million. The federal government supplies “We felt that by lowering the amount $253 million to B.C. communities we were asking for, and by already through the federal Gas Tax Fund, and having some funding in place, we then that money is distributed through would increase our chances of having three different funds to various in- the grant approved,” said Taft. “I think frastructure and we’ll have a better We are still cautiously idea (on whether capacity building projects through optimistic... I think we’ll or not the multithe Union of Brituse grant will be have a better idea by April. ish Columbia approved) by GERRY TAFT Municipalities April.” MAYOR, DISTRICT OF INVERMERE (UBCM). If this is the case, This year, the Strategic Priorities the timing will work out well as April is Fund drew more than 222 applications when the tendering process for confrom across the province, and so far struction contracts for the multi-use cen57 of them have been approved. tre will wind down, according to Taft. The District of Invermere had initialA different application to the fund by ly applied for a $6 million grant for the the district, however, was among the
57 approved projects, with the Invermere receiving $65,000 for its infrastructure priority replacement plan. “It’s for capacity building around asset management,” said Taft, explaining the grant will help the district manage the life cycles of its various assets, and replace outdated assets in a timely manner. “So it will be used to hire consultants and to dedicate more time to staff training,” said Taft. “It’s not super exciting and it’s not a key priority of council, but it’s still good to have (the $65,000 grant) approved.” The 57 approved projects includes two more in the East Kootenay — $2.8 million for Cranbrook’s Idlewild Park rehabilitation project, and $4.5 million for Kimberley’s Gerry Sorenson Way reconstruction project.
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