City Committee Briefs
57 assaults a quiet month, says RCMP
Candace Thomson
Northern News Services
Published Friday, February 21, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
It's been a slow month for the RCMP in Yellowknife, at least according to detachment commander Insp. Frank Gallagher.
RCMP Insp. Frank Gallagher gave the monthly RCMP report during the municipal services committee meeting Feb. 17, in which he said January was a "fairly quiet month overall." - Candace Thomson/NNSL photo |
Gallagher gave his report for the month of January at the municipal services committee meeting on Monday at city hall.
"There were seven sexual assaults reported and 50 assaults," Gallagher said.
"Overall a fairly quiet month."
Members of the RCMP have been doing a campaign since December to be more vigilant against drinking and driving, and do more checkstops.
"There have been 26 impaired driving instances in January," Gallagher said. "Most of the work has been making sure intoxicated persons are placed in safe keeping."
He said he would like to continue discussions with council on the idea of having informal monthly meetings with councillors so the RCMP can be updated on the concerns of citizens.
"So if things are going sideways I get to know about it," Gallagher said.
City pledges Kam and Grace Lakes help
The city is aware of complaints from residents in the Kam Lake and Grace Lake areas and is aiming to do something about it.
A memorandum is being brought to council that directs administration to start planning public consultations to hear issues and implement a plan to improve them.
"This is long overdue," said Coun. Cory Vanthuyne. "Residents over many years have brought forward concerns."
"Kam Lake seems like a bit
of a forgotten part of town, but forgotten no more," said Coun. Dan Wong.
"Residents have been involved in the community for a long time and have been working hard to put some plans on the table to take care of issues."
According to Jeffery Humble, director of planning and development for the city, consultation
will take place over a series of meetings. Once recommendations from the public come in, the city will then create a plan.
Some of the issues identified are the quality of area roads, water quality, noise and safety concerns in regards to the dog kennels and veterinary clinics in the area.
"All of a sudden this is no longer an industrial park, it's a residential neighborhood and we need to take a hard look at the issues outlined so far," Wong said.
Once the memorandum is passed, planning for the public consultations will begin. The city hopes they'll be completed this year.
Getting warmer and greener
After announcing savings of one million litres of oil since installing a pellet boiler at the Yellowknife Community Arena in 2008, city administration is hoping to install more.
Carl Bird, director of corporate services, gave a presentation at a committee meeting on Monday in hopes that city council will give
permission for administration to apply for $150,000 in federal funding to go toward design and planning for a biomass boiler to be installed at the Multiplex.
"Wood pellets cost less than oil for the same amount of heat, and a centralized system costs less to operate
than many small ones," said Bird, who told councillors the Multiplex boiler would heat several city facilities including the Multiplex, Fieldhouse, city garage, fire hall and some warehouses.
The boiler, Bird estimated, would save the city a net savings of $215,000 a year in fuel costs.
There is already $150,000 of city funding committed for the project, and Bird hopes to secure funding from the Canadian government.
Along with the recommendation for the Multiplex boiler, administration is also looking for permission from council to start planning installation of a pellet boiler at Pumphouse No. 1. The pellet boiler will save an estimated $111,000, according to Bird.
"Both of these recommendations are absolute yes, emphatically yes, and I couldn't support them more," said Coun. Dan Wong.
"This is going to save money and it's going back into city coffers. We could double our special grants, repair another road ... there's many things we could do with that money."
One member of the public spoke to the recommendation - Bruce Elliot, of Arctic Green Energy.
"We're the ones who installed the pellet boiler at the pool and talked the city into installing it but ... you have to support your local pellet delivery, because without us there will be no sub-delivery to the smaller pellet boilers," Elliot said.
For the pumphouse boiler, administration hopes to start installation by late autumn.
