TheColumbia Valley - Columbia Valley Pioneer

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2 • The Columbia Valley Pioneer September 14, 2007 Solid Wood Blinds Call The Blind Guy! Interior World (250) 342 4406 VALLEY NEWS CANAL FLATS Immaculate 2,262 sq. ft. home, 4 bdrms, 2 1/2 baths, 4 level split with laminate & tile fl oors, stone fi replace, stylish kitchen & dining rm, rec room, dbl car garage, deck & shed in the landscaped yard. $429,000 mls# k165332 EDGEWATER Beautifully landscaped lot, willow trees & shrubs partially border the south end of the lot and it is fenced on 2 sides. Fabulous mountain views. $115,000 mls# k163371 BARRY 342-5245 BARRY 342-5809 DAVID 342-1524 Strata Management BLACK FOREST HEIGHTS Duplex with fully contained 2 bdrm suite. Everything is immaculate. Large private yard. Enjoy the whole home with 4 bdrms/3 baths, or separate into 2 living spaces. $319,900 mls# k160004 ERIC 342-5914 COLUMERE PARK Fabulous 4 bdrm, 2 bath cottage on 0.51 acre. The large 32’x26’ garage/shop is fi nished & able to store all the toys. Large deck for S & W sun exposure. Marina, beach, boat launch. $659,900 mls# k163101 MARLENE 341-5600 CLARE 341-5335 www.rockymtnrealty.com WATER CO. LTD. • Drinking Water Systems • Water Softeners • Whole House or Specialised Filtration Call (250) 342-5089 385 Laurier Street Invermere, BC V0A 1K0 PAUL 341-5300 DIANA 341-5269 INVERMERE Spectacular country home with east/west views! Featuring in-fl oor heating, central air, inlaw suite, slate fl ooring, cherry cabinets, a gourmet kitchen & 2 fi replaces. $949,500 mls# k162900 RADIUM Beautiful, contemporary, luxury condo w/ exceptional mountain & Columbia Valley views. Central air, outdoor swimming pool, club house, & underground parking. $345,000 mls# k164457 BRENDA 342-1146 BILL 341-5168 Fairmont Village Mall, Fairmont Phone: 345-4000 526 B – 13 th St. , Invermere Phone: 342-6911 #5, 7553 Main St. W. , Radium Phone: 347-0003 Call 341-6299 to place your classifi ed. By Brian Geis Pioneer Staff Finally, you can start recycling plastic bags Nov. 1 Th ose of you who have been storing your recyclable plastics on the front porch or the trunk of your car have only a few more weeks to wait before the regional district begins recycling again. And the good news is that they will fi nally begin collecting the ubiquitous white grocery bags that seem to reproduce on their own in the pantry closet at night. Manager of Engineering and Environmental Services Eric Sharpe announced this week that regional district recycling of plastics numbered 1-6, includingplastic grocery bags, will resume on November 1. Regional District Solid Waste Superintendent Andy Pfeifer said his department is working with the vendor to place temporary, roll-out bins at transfer stations and recycling depots to process the backlog of recyclable plastics Columbia Valley residents have been storing since the popular service was suspended at the end of June. Mr. Pfeifer’s department has asked residents to hold onto their plastics until a new contract could be signed. As expected, a fi ve-year deal with South Sky Recycling in Cranbrook has been signed and, after November 1, area residents will be able to deposit their recyclable plastics in the familiar yellow bins along with their paper and tin. “Th e contract with South Sky Recycling starts October 1, 2007. We will ask them to supply many large roll off bins at our transfer stations and recycling depots to help assist with the plastic back log,” he said. “We will not have the public add plastics to our general recycling bins till November 1, 2007. Th is is due to the fact South Sky will have to put on new conveyor lines and staff to man them.” Th e new contract, Mr. Pfeifer said, will streamline the collection process and allow for fewer trucks on the road. “Recycling is a very popular program in the East Kootenay region, and we are pleased to continue working with South Sky Recyling,” stated Board Chair Greg Deck. Mr. Sharpe explained that the contract with South Sky Recycling provides for payment of a diversion credit base rate of $255 per tonne. Th e method of payment is designed to ensure that the recyclable products make it to market. Under the new contract, South Sky is guaranteed $255 per tonne for the recyclables it collects. If South Sky makes something less than an average of $255 per tonne on the market, the regional district must make up the diff erence. So, the contract will end up costing something between $0 and $255 per tonne to provide the service, he said. For more information, see the regional district web site at http://www.rdek.bc.ca.
September 14, 2007 Brian Geis Pioneer Staff Invermere Mayor Mark Shmigelsky appeared before the Village of Canal Flats council Monday night on a diplomatic mission. Flanked by Regional District of East Kootenay Area F Director Lillian Rose, Mayor Shmigelsky began to fl esh out his plan to create a super-municipality, a new form of government he says will broaden and strengthen the Area F communities linked together by the twin lakes, Columbia and Windermere. Mayor Shmigelsky reintroduced the idea of an Area F super-municipality last month and came to Canal Flats to begin inviting community leaders to gather around the table to discuss the idea. Canal Flats might be his toughest sell, but, if he is successful, the resulting super-municipality could be Mayor Shmigelsky’s political legacy and comes at a pivotal time for Area F, which continues to develop at a harrowing pace. “I’m staking my last 14 years of public offi ce on this,” Mayor Shmigelsky told the Canal Flats council. “Th ere’s nothing we could be doing that is more important than this. If, ten or 15 years from now, there are 13 or 14 municipalities in Area F, we’ll be looking back thinking why didn’t we do this?” Canal Flats Mayor John Tilley told Mayor Shmigelsky that, by his calculations, the plan would create The Columbia Valley Pioneer • 3 VALLEY NEWS Mayor pitches super-municipality Library, arts centre grows into multi-use facility Brian Geis Pioneer Staff the largest municipality in the world, but a municipality with a lower per-capita population than Canada. “Can we do it?” he asked. “I have a huge number of concerns, both social and fi nancial, but I would be interested in hearing it discussed.” Without any charts or graphs, Mayor Shmigelsky painted a picture of a super-municipality that would encompass all of Area F—from the height of the Rockies to the height of the Purcells, from the Jumbo Valley to Canal Flats—and would be governed by a council representing fi ve boroughs, something like New York City. Mayor Shmigelsky suggested a system in which each borough and its surrounding area would elect two councillors and vote for one “at large” representative. Th e restructuring, he said, would give Area F the broader powers of a municipality and generate political autonomy from the regional district - the very goals Canal Flats sought for itself when it became a municipality in 2004. Th e irony that Canal Flats was incorporated partly in reaction to an earlier push toward a centralized government was not lost on Canal Flats councillor Colin Cartwright. “Seems to me, the reason we incorporated is so we could make our own decisions,” Mr. Cartwright commented. “It seems like we would be losing everything we gained.” Mayor Shmigelsky explained that each borough would still have its own borough council and could maintain its own local character by employing a builtin veto power to opt out of bylaws adopted by the super-municipality. He, too, will have to sell the idea to his own Invermere constituents—the other municipality that would have give up some autonomy to another layer A committee charged with gauging the public’s needs in regard to a proposed library and performing art centre presented its report to District of Invermere council on Tuesday night. Th e report, delivered in form of fi ve recommendations, calls for an expanded multi-use facility that would include a lot more than just a library and performing arts centre. Originally proposed by the boards of the local public library and arts council for the site occupied by the old high school building on 4th Street, Invermere council immediately began looking at the proposal as a replacement for the 60-year-old downtown Community Hall and nearby municipal offi ce. According to the report, the proposal should expand to include multiple, modular buildings and more land to accommodate extra functions and additional parking. In addition to a library and performing arts centre, the report states the complex should include multi-purpose space for judo, gymnastics, military cadets, dance lessons, youth centre, food of government. Th e province’s Ministry of Community Services, he said, is wide open to suggestions and willing to facilitate the proposal if the communities of Area F agree to enter into discussions. Simultaneously, though, the Ministry of Community Services will be facilitating discussions on a proposal for incorporation by Fairmont Hot Springs, and considering the creation of a new municipality in Jumbo Valley. Director Rose said it is an idea whose time has come. “Everything we think is good for Area F voters is up to 14 other directors,” she said, fresh from the experience of fi ghting around the regional district board table for a public opinion poll. “It really does make sense. Th ose two lakes are really the lifeline between the communities of Area F.” Th e idea, she said, is only in the planning phase and Canal Flats can opt out of the process at any time. “We’re just embarking on this and we want people to keep an open mind,” she said. Mayor Shmigelsky extended an invitation to the Canal Flats leaders to attend a meeting on September 19th to discuss his proposed governmental restructuring in Area F. A week later, he will motor off to Vancouver to push the idea to provincial offi cials at the 2007 Union of British Columbia Municipalities. If all goes well, he said, he would like to pursue the project aggressively. “We should move as quickly as the minister (Community Services Minister Ida Chong) will allow us,” he said. “I would like to see it go to referendum before the next election in 2008.” bank and non-governmental organizations like Wildsight and the Columbia Valley Botanical Gardens. Invermere councillor Gerry Taft warned that if the project strays too far from the original idea, some economies of scale might be lost. “In the end, you want a building that is active and useful without being crowded and disfunctional,” he said. Councillor Sarah Bennett, who served on the committe responsible for the report, said the recommendations are soft because the public hasn’t been consulted yet. “Our community needs this, in whatever form it takes.”
Page 1: Vol. 4/Issue 37 Your Weekly Source
Page 5 and 6: September 14, 2007 MOTHER EARTH—W
Page 7 and 8: September 14, 2007 Dear Editor: Joi
Page 9 and 10: Encore WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE CO
Page 11 and 12: September 14, 2007 Toby Th eatre
Page 13 and 14: September 14, 2007 The Columbia Val
Page 27 and 28: September 7, 2007 The Columbia Vall
Page 39 and 40: September 14, 2007 FAITH ‘Cluster

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