Great news for Edgewater! Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) has awarded the Edgewater Recreation Society (ERS) a grant of $153,000 to rebuild the skating rink and construct a permanent washroom and storage building to serve both the rink and the adjacent baseball field.

The ERS has worked hard over the last four years fundraising approximately $40,000 for the project. They have established a building committee to work with CBT and the RDEK who will be providing contractual and inspection oversight to the project. The base of the rink will be rebuilt and surfaced with concrete to fully engineered standards. Not only will the permanent hard surface make maintenance of the rink much easier, it will also accommodate a variety of activities in the summer months.

A good deal of planning and thought has been invested in this project already and once the project design and details are firmed up, the Recreation Society will host a community meeting to showcase the project.

In May, I attended the Spur Valley Homeowners Association AGM and discussed the possible provision of fire protection to the subdivision. This service, which has been under review by our RDEK Protective Services staff, could be provided through the Edgewater Fire Department. Staff have sent out an information sheet to all the residents outlining how the service would work and the projected cost. If there is strong community support for the service, it could be instituted later this year.

Last weekend I was invited to the Toby Benches Society AGM and was pleased to advise them that the RDEK is working on securing an access site for a supplemental water supply for fire trucks coming from Invermere. This project is still in its early stages and the RDEK, Ministry of Transportation, and District of Invermere Fire Department will continue to collaborate on it. Also on the agenda were discussions on garbage collection, concerns about recreational trail development on adjacent Crown land and the possibility of an Electoral Area boundary re-alignment to consolidate all of the properties under Area G. Currently some of the parcels in the benches are in Area G and others in Area F.

I enjoyed both the Shuswap and Akisqnuk celebrations of National Indigenous Peoples Day last week. Following a provincial conference in early June on the Musqueam territory in Vancouver where discussion focused on sharing information on socio-economic ventures and reconciliation action plans, I was pleased to be involved in the traditional opening ceremonies at these events in the valley and to reflect on the mutual benefits of our respective local governments working together.