Royal City Record July 14 2010

N E W

WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2010

W E S T M I N S T E R

INSIDE FEATURE: Helping the city get fit ◗P13

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Kites take ﬂight at Port Royal

◗ CITY HALL

Council gets a raise

BY THERESA MCMANUS REPORTER tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com

The folks at the Port Royal Community Garden celebrated the expansion of their garden with the first ever Kites in Bloom celebration. The event took place on Saturday, July 10 at Port Royal in Queensborough. Organizers estimate about 400 people attended the firsttime event. “Fantastic,” Carrie Gogela, a member of the Port Royal Community Garden committee, said about the event. “It was a real hit. Everybody had smiles on their faces. For a first-time event, it was fantastic. We had a lot of great support throughout the “It was a real hit. community and with Everybody had volunteers.” Many people took smiles on their the time to check out Royal’s commufaces. For a first- Port nity garden. Kites in time event, it Bloom was held to celebrate the expanwas fantastic.” sion of the community garden, which got CARRIE GOGELA its start in 1999. committee member “We had about 20 to 25 plots that we started with,” Gogela said. “We have now expanded to 78.” All but two of those plots are taken, and people are hard at work growing an assortment of plants. “People were on it very quickly,” Gogela said. “They really seem to be enjoying it. That is why we were able to get the expansion – we had such great interest in it.” The garden plots house plants from vegetables to flowers. Two plots have been designated for growing food for the local food bank. The Kites in Bloom event includes a professional balloon artist, face painting, food, refreshments and prizes. People were invited to bring their own kite or build their own courtesy of the B.C. Kite Flyers Association. Jason Lang/THE RECORD “It turned out there were about 146 kites Soaring: Catalina Casas guides her kite as mom Patricia watches. They were among the that were made, aside from people bringing their own,” Gogela said. “We were very, very estimated 400 people at the Port Royal Community Garden Kites in Bloom event. pleased.”

BY THERESA MCMANUS REPORTER tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com

Members of New Westminster city council will be getting raises of nearly four per cent. On Monday, city council approved an updated remuneration policy that includes pay increases and separation allowances for members of city council. The mayor’s annual salary will increase from $81,987 to $86,878, and councillors’ remuneration will increase from $31,534 in 2009 $34,089. Mayor Wayne Wright believes citizens get good value from their elected officials, as they all put a lot of time into their council jobs. “They are very communityminded,” said Wright. In May, the city sought input into a review of council pay. A staff report said that generated “limited media or public response” in the form of three newspaper articles, one letter to the editor and one e-mail. No one spoke about the proposed changes at the May 17 council meeting, when delegations were being heard on the issue. “I think we are there,” Wright said, when asked if the increases were fair. A staff report provided council with a lower range, mid range and upper range amount for councillors and mayors in the region. The city’s practice has been to apply the mid-range when adjusting council members’ pay. A policy established in 2001 provides the method used to calculate changes to city council’s ◗Council Page 8

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