Advance City Council Meeting Notes

City Council Meeting tonight at 6pm at city hall. You can also watch on the local Shaw Channel
Here are some of the hi-lites from tonight's Council Agenda/Package

Administration Updates for December 6th, 2010

- Municipal Fibre-optic Broadband Network
This $2.25 million project is moving ahead with Prestige Telecom Inc. in association with Consulting Gateway Corp. The fibre optic network is being built entirely underground using directional drilling technology. Construction commenced the week of Nov 15 with scheduled completion date of March 31, 2011.
- Memorial Arena should re-open Saturday Dec 18, 2010. While all the upgrades are not  complete the ice will be available to the public. Remaining items include exterior work, painting, mechanical room upgrades and fire control upgrades
-Library Services. During the month of December people can pay off their fines by donating a non-perishable food item.  All food to be donated to the Cranbrook Food Bank 


Correspondence

There were 6 letters submitted to the City including;
-Correspondence from the Regional District of East Kootenay stating its November highlights
-Correspondence from the from Minister of Health Services Kevin Falcon regarding a new health promotion initiative
- Correspondence from the Mayor of Trail re: Excise Tax Act Amendment
- Correspondence from Gerald Jolliffe regarding the donation of the pedestrian bridge over Joseph Creek to the city.

-The 2 most significant pieces of correspondence included a letter from David Humphrey regarding the Spray Irrigation Site and the ability of cattle on that site to drink run off containing effluent. The contents of pond G1 tests above government guidelines for cattle watering.  While the city has repeated that there are no problems at the site, Mr. Humphrey's diligent investigative work has discovered just the opposite. Is it not about time that the City respond in an adequate way to the obvious issues of non-compliance.

The second letter comes to us from the community of Slaterville and some of the ongoing issues it faces regarding lack of public transportation, no curbs, no gutters, no storm sewers, no side walks among many other issues. Now is the time for Slaterville to get some of the attention it deserves and ensure its ongoing success as a neighbourhood here in Cranbrook. The city has arranged to have a community meeting on April 30, 2011

New Business

- Rails to Trails Maintenance. That the council commit to $10,000 for future maintenance of the Rails to Trails as per an operating agreement between the City of Kimberley and the City of Cranbrook in anticipation of a Society being formed over the next 2 years
- recommendation re: Audio/Visual System replacement  If you have been watching on Shaw you know there are ongoing issues with the sound quality making it very difficult to listen to the meetings.
- From Corporate Services comes a recommendation to take the St Mary River Crown land out of the Agricultural Land Reserve to create a city park adjacent to the Shadow Mountain Development.  Concerns have been raised over public access to this park and we will continue to follow this story with great interest.

By-Law

By-law 3710 and 3715 are increases to the rates for the water and sewer billing. Water rates would increase by $1.00 per month while sewer billing would increase by $2.00 per month.

By-law 3716 would support a "wood first" policy when it comes to building.  The city would encourage the use of wood in  all building projects and that the procurement procedures would reflect this new requirement.

To read the entire package please go here http://cranbrook.ihostez.com/Documents/DocumentList.aspx?ID=1214