There were a number of relevant issues at the recent Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) convention that members of Grand Forks city council dealt with.
The city made a presentation to the Interior Health Authority (IHA) regarding the provision of health care in the community.
“That was a presentation requesting that (IHA) visit Grand Forks and we have more of an open dialogue with (it),” said Brian Taylor, mayor of Grand Forks.
“IHA agreed that it will be visiting here.”
Taylor said that the issue of the Broadacres care facility was discussed – proprietor Rod Gustafson was denied funding for residential senior care beds.
“Broadacres was addressed but only briefly because all parties agree at this point that we’ve exhausted all of the options here. Broadacres is on a review list with a lot of people so it didn’t get a lot of airtime,” he said.
Chief Financial Officer and Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Cecile Arnott and the city presented the workshop on infrastructure and despite the fact it took place early in the morning, a lot of people attended.
“There was obviously concern from many, many communities about the infrastructure issue and how to move forward on it,” Taylor explained.
“We were amongst a large group of people who were looking at similar kinds of approaches but we’re again, we’re further ahead in terms of where we’re at with our infrastructure plan.”
The deer issue was on the minds of many, especially with the Cranbrook recently announcing an urban deer cull.
“The deer discussions were fairly extensive, with variously levels of the government and there was a lot of support for the direction that everyone is going, including Cranbrook’s decision to cull,” explained Taylor.
“There is support for (Cranbrook’s cull). They’re not supporting it financially but they’re buying traps and they’re buying the bolt guns and they’re giving the permissions in terms of licences to the appropriate contractor to do the work.”
Taylor said he introduced the topic of deer signage issues during the Highway 3 mayors’ meeting and it was well-received by other mayors and Minister of Transportation and
Infrastructure Blair Lekstrom.
“We were talking about the tremendous cost in terms of accidents that occur with animals,” said the mayor.
“This is becoming epidemic and there are things that we can do to reduce the chances of hitting a deer on the highway in our area.”
The issue of Smart meters was a topic of discussion and delegates voted down the controversial meters.
“They voted Smart meters down, not by a lot, but it was clear from the floor that they were against Smart meters but I understand that Fortis BC and BC Hydro is that they’re going ahead with this anyway,” Taylor said.
The city has no plans to install Smart meters according to Coun. Christine Thompson.
“It’s not the cost of the Smart meters, it’s the cost of the software, which is exorbitant,” Thompson said.