Restorative Justice Week

Mayor Bill Streeper proclaimed November 18th to the 25th as restorative Justice week.
Restorative justice approaches strive to provide support and opportunities for the voluntary participation and communication between those affected by crime and conflict (victims, offenders, community) to encourage accountability, reparation and movement towards understanding, feelings of satisfaction, healing and a sense of closure.
This year’s theme for restorative justice is “diverse needs; unique responses”.
Staff Sgt. Tom Roy reported there have been 3,730 calls for RCMP assistance this year compared to the same period last year which had 3,344 calls.
In September there were 24 were general assaults, 63 disturbances, 24 damages to property, 16 impaired driving, and 23 people were incarcerated. This is down from September 2011 when the number was 45.
One charge of sexual assault was laid, five domestic assaults, eight drug related charges and three non-injury accidents were reported.
There were no homicides, attempted homicides, fatal motor vehicle accidents, or thefts of motor vehicles in the month of September.

$25,000 for security screen
Toni Turbide, director of finance, has requested that council support the supply and installation of a security curtain in the Treasury Department at the municipal offices at a cost not to exceed $25,000. She pointed out that the Treasury Department is located in the entry level at the municipal square and is currently accessible to the public after hours. “The security of financial information held within the Treasury Department is in question,” Turbide said.
No breaches of security had been reported. There is money in the municipal officers town square budget to pay for this. Bird Construction has an estimated cost of $20,000 for supply and installation and a contingency of $5,000 recommended. Council considered the matter at its regular council meeting on Tuesday.

Fuel costs and savings
It was recommended that the board move forward with the Union of British Columbia Municipalities which has partnered with Prairie Creek Fuel. The program is aimed at securing better fuel and lubricant pricing for local governments in BC. Scott Barry, director of Public Works, said, “We contacted UBCM to inquire about the program and as a result they analysed six months of our invoices. This time frame was from October 2011 to March 2012. – our highest. Of consumption, they advised that should we have been in their program we would’ve saved $4,316 or roughly 8%.”
Request for proposals was made in August for to all fuel providers in the area and UBCM was the only respondent for both regular gas and diesel fuels card lock and block fuel supply.
Prices for delivering fuel at the airport
Currently, the airport obtains bulk fuel delivery from Petro Canada. “As a result of the RFP we have compared Husky ballpark prices against our current supplier, and confirm that Husky is significantly cheaper and will also not charge the cottage fee on deliveries to the airport,” the staff report noted.
Therefore, staff is recommending that the municipality purchase delivery bulk fuel from Husky.
Public Works has compared fuel prices, both regular gas and diesel from card lock suppliers, including: the current supplier, Husky Bulk respondent, ESSO, via UBCM. Prairie Fuel advises Scott Barry who suggested the following options: that the board move forward with Union of British Columbia Municipalities fuel purchasing program, which recommends that each ESSO be utilised as a municipal card lock provider, and that Husky be utilised to provider of bulk fuel deliveries at the airport. As a second option, that the board move forward with Husky as the sole fuel provider.

Workforce workshop
Councillor Laurie Dolan would like to attend the BC Natural Gas Workforce Strategy and Action Planning committee in Vancouver on November 29th. It’s a one-day workshop, members will be invited to review ways of attracting and retaining and developing workers required for the natural gas industry over the next decade. The board approved all expenses.

The work of the Arts Council
Lisa Bush, president, Peace Liard Regional Arts Council, thanked the board for its grant of $3,200.
“This year’s grant has helped the PRLAC to improve its website, start a handbook for the annual regional juried art exhibit, provide mentoring to the community arts councils, support the Peace River zone Drama Festival and to those professional development workshops (an initiative encouraged by the BC Arts Council).
In the coming year, the council plans to continue to develop the website to include a juried exhibit, participating artist information and websites, record and archive the permanent art collection some of which is housed in the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality’s offices, offering added value to the annual art exhibit with artist development workshops and to reignite the regional initiatives grant program with an advertising campaign. “We look forward to hosting the 1913 juried art exhibition in Fort Nelson,” Bush concluded.

Canadian use of PVC pipe to be copied by US municipalities
The Water Finance Research Foundation, a nonprofit organisation that focusses on water delivery and financial practices that are sustainable, efficient, and affordable, is concerned about the growing water main break problem and how this epidemic contributes to revenue loss for water and the issues of premature failure due to pipe selection, installation, erosion and maintenance activities.
One critical finding is the Canadian experience with PVC failures per 100 km is nearly 76% below US figures the exception or results for Canadian PVC water main breaks is a critical point of interest which needs to be explored and promoted as a best practice in order to help US and other water utilities also achieve such unprecedented reductions in water main failures the research foundation notes.

Variance approved
Doug Tofte, Community Resource and Planning Officer, sought and received approval from the board to continue with a development variance application from Harry and Karen Duchamp for a lot at the corner of Barber Way and Tackama Drive in the BC Industrial Park.
The application is for one principal building and an accessory building.

Update from Northern Rockies Lodge
It is good news to hear that Northern Rockies Lodge, owned and operated by Urs & Marianne Schildknecht, had an excellent, summer. With a steady flow of guests for their outpost cabins. “The last occupants came out of the South Katadin Lake just before the first snowfall hit on October 8th,” Urs writes in a newsletter.
The plan is to dismantle the original cabins built by Jim Grant in the late 1950s. They will remove place by two new cosy cabins. The lodge has changed winter hours, with just 7:30 to 10 PM.
Chris, Sylvie, and Jill will be spending the winter at the lodge. Because it’s a small crew, please call ahead for room reservations at
1 (800) 663–5269.
There’s been lots of interest again for this annual New Year’s celebration. If you would like to come and join us please make a reservation soon as space is limited.