Kent Driscoll
Northern News Services

Iqaliut (Aug 22/05) - The Iqaluit cemetery will see an additional eight to 16 plots.

City council voted last week to remove the storage shed in the front left corner of the cemetery.

Another option for council was to remove the turn circle at the front of the cemetery, which would add another eight to 24 new plots.

Council decided to start by removing the shed, and to hold off on reworking the traffic circle.

A new cemetery has been designated in the West-40 area of Iqaluit, but the city is hoping to let the soil on that site settle before interments begin.

Council also plans to "dignify" the new cemetery.

Debts forgiven

Council voted to write-off $45,511.71 in bad debts. The debts were described as "unrecoverable" by chief administrative officer Ian Fremantle. The debtors include people who are dead or who have left Iqaluit years ago. Fremantle also stated some accounting errors were found.

Offices combined

The director of public works and the director of engineering will soon be the same person.

The positions have opened up at the same time, and council has decided to hire one person to handle both portfolios.

For now, Chris Freda is the acting director of public works and Geoff Baker is the acting director of engineering.