Steve Hubrecht and Dean Midyette

The Valley Echo

 

Canal Flats is moving ahead with its new dock bylaw, which received second reading at the most recent village council meeting.

The amended dock bylaw was given the readings during the Monday, February 22nd council meeting and will be the subject of a public hearing in the near future before it can receive third reading and be adopted.

Also during the meeting, council members appointed Cheryl Ottey as interim chief financial officer and deputy village clerk.

Ms. Ottey will fill the role while Sylvie Hoobanoff (who has been the village chief financial officer for years) acts as interim Canal Flats chief administrative officer, temporarily filling in the shoes of outgoing chief administrative officer Brian Woodward.

 

Miscellaneous

Council heard two presentations at the meeting, one from Kimberly Hrynyk regarding a summer hockey camp for Canal Flats kids. Ms. Hrynyk asked for a grant in aid of $2,500 to offset some of the cost of the camp. She said she is also placing a request to the Columbia Basin Trust for $8,000 and thanked Nick Hoobanoff for the incredible job he is doing as a volunteer coach.

Columbia Lake Stewardship Society member Tracy Flynn made a presentation asking that the summer student hired by the Village of Canal Flats be assigned to do work for the society one day per week. She also offered some wage subsidies to offset the cost of hiring the student.

During the meeting, councillor Paul Marcil expressed concern over the amount of dog noise. Mrs. Hoobanoff said dog noise cannot be addressed by the dog control officer unless a formal complaint is made.

Council decided that village’s application to appear on the CBC television program Still Standing, which profiles communities that have bounced back from tough economic times, should put on hold indefinitely

until some substantive measures are undertaken and results achieved by the village on economic development.

Canal Flats will defer its application to the Columbia Basin Trust’s new recreation infrastructure grant until the July intake in order to allow time for the village to develop more definitive plans for the money which will be used for upgrading the community hall.

Council determined that no representative from Canal Flats would be able to attend this year’s Council of Forest Industries (COFI) convention in April.