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We had a wonderful surprise at
the beginning of this Council meeting. Katie Kriz, on behalf of the
Revelstoke Hospital Auxiliary, presented Council with a cheque for
$30,000.00. It will be used to provide lifts for the Aquatic Centre pool
to allow easier access for those who need it. Revelstoke is fortunate to
have such a dedicated group that continues to make valuable
contributions to the quality of health care in our town. I wish to
extend many thanks to them and to those that support them.
For those who like
numbers, the City of Revelstoke’s Annual Financial Report for the year
ended December 31, 2003 was presented to Council. Highlights of the
report show a positive net change of over $500,475.00. In addition,
equity in fixed assets increased by $1,309,990 and equity in subsidiary
operations (Revelstoke Community Forest Corporation and Revelstoke
Community Energy Corporation) increased by $472,027.00. The total city
debt at December 31, 2003 was $6,977,995.00 against assets of
$67,630,217.00. For those who are interested in the details, the
complete document is available for viewing at City Hall.
Our Director of Finance,
Graham D. Inglis, has done a remarkable job of balancing the books in
this challenging year where we spent over $200,000 more for snow removal
than was budgeted for. I wish to extend my congratulations for a job
well done to Graham and the City staff.
As many of you would have
noticed by now the angle parking experiment on Mackenzie Avenue has been
discontinued. It had many merits including a significant increase in
pedestrian activity in the core and a busy atmosphere. Unfortunately,
contrary to good sense, many oversize vehicles were using the spaces
which created a safety hazard by blocking sight lines and encroaching
into traffic lanes. All was not lost though. We did gain a great deal of
information which will help us in the planned extension of the revite
into these blocks.
After many meetings with
the public, healthcare workers, caregivers and Doctors, the Mayor’s
Advisory Committee on Health Care presented their recommendations to
Council. After considerable discussion by Council all of the
recommendations were accepted. These recommendations, plus a number of
concerns expressed by meeting attendees will now be forwarded to
Interior Health for their review and hopefully planning. An enormous
amount of effort by many locals has produced a ‘made in Revelstoke’
blueprint which will help guide future health care development in
Revelstoke.
The Mount Mackenzie
Resort Development Master Plan process continues to proceed, albeit a
bit slower than we had hoped. According to the government agent for B.C.
Land and Water, the main outstanding issues are water, waste and first
nations concerns. They did announce last week at a local meeting that
this project has received ‘Fast Tracking’ priority. Their target date
now for approval in principle of the Plan is by the end of this July.
The Aquatic Centre is
also enjoying good progress and we continue to expect the doors to open
in October. I see that the exterior of the water slide tower and the
change rooms are essentially complete and work is now beginning on the
recreation pool and the enormous hot tub. On the lighter side, there is
a persistent rumour around town that Mayor McKee has dibs to be the
first on the water slide. I can hardly wait for the pictures on page one
of the Times Review.
Prepared by Councillor
Terrance O’Hagan
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