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www.nanaimobulletin.com
THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2016
Earth Hour saves power I
CITY WILL DO its part to try to unplug. By KaRL yU THe NewS BULLeTiN
The City of Nanaimo is doing its part for Earth Hour on Saturday (March 19). The global environmental initiative will see lights turned off between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m., with the aim of conserving energy. The city will turn off non-essential lights at Vancouver Island Conference Centre and will advertise Earth Hour on the Front Street LED screen. Additionally, it will hold glow-in-the-dark skating at Nanaimo Ice Centre between 7 and 9 p.m. Scott Pamminger, the municipality’s infrastructure planning and energy manager, said the city is continuing to switch from older incandescent-style and highintensity discharge lighting to LED lights – it can generally reduce energy consumption by 50 per cent, he said. A study is also set
to begin in the next month, examining further energy-efficient lighting, Pamminger said. “The thing we are going to be looking at is street lighting more because a lot of those are not LED, but we’ll be looking at those in the near future,” said Pamminger. The study is estimated to take six months, he said. As for the skate, Gary Paterson, city recreation coordinator, said it is in line with the environmental theme. “We’re going to do our LED and our energy-efficient glow lights ... skate under the stars is the theme,” said Paterson. There will be ambient lighting and the ice will be lit in “patches” and colours, Paterson said. In terms of safety, Paterson said ice centre staff has had experience with roller skating and ice skating events over the years and found that once people are on the ice and their eyes have adjusted, they have a good time. reporter@nanaimobulletin.com
250.390.1871
VOL. 27, NO. 89
Councillors express non-confidence in Nanaimo’s mayor By TaMaRa CUNNINgHaM THe NewS BULLeTiN
CHRIS BUSH/THe NewS BUlleTIN
Natalie Golbeck, recreation assistant at the Nanaimo Ice Centre, gets gear ready for an Earth Hour-themed glow-in-the-dark public skate session at the centre Saturday (March 19) from 7-9 p.m. The event is one of a few ways the city will support Earth Hour on the weekend.
Nanaimo mayor Bill McKay has no plans to resign, despite a letter of non-confidence and calls for his resignation by the majority of council. Seven of eight elected city councillors signed a letter expressing non-confidence in the first-term mayor it was hand-delivered to him last week. The action was revealed in an open council meeting Monday as council fielded questions and concerns from the public tied to alleged workplace bullying, but the letter itself has not been released. Some politicians telling the News Bulletin it’s confidential or private correspondence. Councillors have laid out concerns for their lack of confidence in the mayor’s leadership, including claims there’s no communication with council and staff, poor attendance at meetings and instances of speaking against the will of council. While several elected officials report the letter calls for the resig-
nation of the mayor, councillors also refer to it as a wake-up call. Coun. Ian Thorpe said there have been issues for some time, it’s been getting worse and “we felt we needed to take some strong action.” He is sorry he felt he had to sign the letter, but wanted to signal to the mayor that things cannot continue as they have, adding that McKay has not been talking to councillors or responding to their requests through motions or messages and hasn’t shown a willingness to work with council or the new chief administrative officer. Thorpe hoped there would be a response or a willingness to sit down and discuss issues, but that hasn’t happened. In an interview with the News Bulletin, McKay said he will not respond to the letter, signed by all except Diane Brennan. Nor will he resign. He doesn’t feel he’s been involved in bullying at city hall, as a councillor has alleged. See ‘MAYOR’ /8