Council Briefs
Councillor questions why city decorations still up in March
Kirsten Fenn
Northern News Services
Friday, March 31, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The holidays are long over, but the city is still rocking around the Christmas tree.
Christmas decorations are seen hanging on the walls outside city hall Thursday. Coun. Julian Morse questioned Monday when the city plans to take them down. - Kirsten Fenn/NNSL photo |
The tree and most of its lights were still up by Frame Lake at Somba K'e Civic Plaza as of Wednesday afternoon, while on the city hall building, red tinsel letters still spelled out "Happy Holidays" above the entrance. Christmas lights are still dangling around the branches of trees in the park as well, despite the fact that spring is almost here.
Coun. Julian Morse has noticed this too, and brought it up at Monday night's council meeting.
"I just have one question," he said. "When do we take down our Christmas decorations?"
Senior administrative officer Sheila Bassi-Kellett deferred the question to Grant White, the director of community services.
"What we like to do is make sure the weather is warm enough so that when we do take things apart, they don't come all the way apart," White said. "For example, the trees are notorious for breaking if the weather's too cold."
Dave Hurley, facilities manager in the department of community services, stated in an e-mail to Yellowknifer Wednesday the bottom set of lights around the city's Christmas tree have been taken down so far.
"If the weather continues to stay at these temperatures, we hope to start removal of the decorations by middle of next week," he stated.
Councillor hesitates over homeless employment program
The city is getting a new employment program this year to help homeless individuals find work, but one city councillor still has hesitations about its sustainability in the long-run.
"Like I mentioned at (municipal services committee), I did give my preference for option four," said Coun. Linda Bussey at Monday's regular council meeting.
That option - one of five that administration presented to city councillors last week - would have seen the creation of an on-the-land employment program.
Despite her hesitation, Bussey voted along with a unanimous council for a program based on a project in Winnipeg, which employs homeless individuals to do work such as picking up garbage or clearing snow around the city on a daily basis.
While Bussey agreed to support a program based on the Winnipeg model, she wanted council to develop other ideas further.
"We need to think about establishing partnerships. And seeking long-term solutions will prove to be more beneficial," Bussey said.
She suggested looking at what other kinds of employment programs are already offered in Yellowknife could be a good start.
"I don't want us to lose sight of other opportunities and still think we need to look at long-term solutions," she said.
The city now plans to prepare a request for proposals for the employment pilot project, which it will spend $50,000 on this year.
The program could be implemented as early as May or June, according to a memo presented to council.
Reservoir repair gets green light
Council unanimously decided Monday night to fix the leaky potable water reservoir at the city's water treatment plant.
The city plans to hire Proform Concrete Services Inc. to complete the work at a cost of $596,870 plus GST.
The leak was discovered after officials noticed a buildup of ice at the bottom of the slope below the water treatment plant near Tin Can Hill.
About 35,000 litres of treated water - or 0.4 per cent of the city's daily water consumption - is being lost each day because of the leak, according to a memo presented to council.
Last week, councillors indicated they wanted to fix the problem right away.
There were concerns the damage could affect the structural integrity of the reservoir, impact the city's water licence and cost the city money since it has already paid to treat the water that is leaking.
Bylaw to scrap Grace Lake boardwalk gets first reading
A bylaw to remove a floating boardwalk from the Grace Lake development plan had its first reading at Monday's city council meeting.
The amended bylaw would also remove a six-metre pathway from the middle of the subdivision area and would include park nodes at the east end.
Last fall, the city held public consultations on the development plans that showed 87 per cent of people surveyed saw the boardwalk as a low priority, according to a city report.
The boardwalk would have cost $250,000 and would have allowed for waterfront access behind some Grace Lake properties.
