Nelson council hands out dollars for positive community-building, gets tasered by blogger, and more at April 22 meeting
By Bill Metcalfe
Every second meeting of Nelson City Council, like the one held on April 22, is designated a Committee of the Whole meeting at which individuals and groups may present their activities or issues to council.
Schunke tasers council (verbally)
Local blogger Claus Schunke appeared before council to criticize the Nelson Police Board’s decision to re-introduce the use of tasers without input from the council or the public. He cited contradictory information from different people at the Nelson Police, called the police board unaccountable, and sharply questioned the need to re-introduce tasers. He cited a recent story in The Nelson Daily about the return of tasers to Nelson. His presentation is contained his his most recent blog post.
Councillor Deb Kozak thanked Schunke for his presentation and said, ”When I first found out they had re-introduced tasers, I ask the police chief for the rationale for that, and he told me tasers are only used in the most extreme cases and that each officer has a choice of whether or not to carry one.
“They told me tasers had only been used twice in Nelson, so I too questioned the need. Council is interested in this, and alert to it, and we will continue to monitor it.”
Acting Mayor Robin Cherbo told Schunke he should be talking to the police board. Schunke responded that council should ask the board to be more forthcoming with information.
Councillor Candace Batycki said she would like council to hear from the police board on this. Councillor Kozak said council should invite a presentation from the board. Acting Mayor Cherbo reminded council and Schunke not to forget that tasers can be used against vicious dogs.
To the community from the CBT
Each year the Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) gives grants to communities for a variety of initiatives, and the regional districts and municipalities allocate the grants through an application process. This year the CBT allocated $126,448 to Nelson. Community groups in Nelson asked for a total of $327,446, requiring some priority-setting from council which was mostly done in a special meeting preceding the Committee of the Whole meeting.
Council awarded money to 28 of the 40 groups that applied, giving some the full amount asked for and others less.
The largest grants given were:
- $33,000 to the Chamber of Commerce’s Regional Gateway Business Opportunity project,
- $10,000 to the Nelson Curling Club’s accessibility upgrade,
- $8000 to the Oxygen Art Centre’s exhibition and residency project,
- $8000 to the Civic Theatre Society’s renovation of lobby and washrooms,
- $6500 to the Nelson and District Arts Council for the 25th anniversary Artwalk, and
- $6000 to the Elephant Mountain Literary Festival.
For a full list of applicants and the amount of their grants, see the documents attached to this article.
Greenhouse gases
Fiona Galbraith, the city’s Corporate Energy Coordinator, presented council with an update on the progress of the city’s Corporate Greenhouse Reduction Plan, which envisions a 25% reduction in city-produced greenhouse gases by 2015.
The first step in the process has been reducing emissions from city buildings, the largest of which are City Hall, the Civic Centre and the policy/library building, whose combined emissions have decreased 33% and whose energy costs have decreased by $45,000 since the beginning of the project in 2007.
Galbraith explained that the next steps in the process are medium-sized buildings and the city’s fleet of vehicles. Her presentation is attached at the end of this article.
Jumbo
Council passed Councillor Batyki’s motion that council send a letter to the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) encouraging them to become interveners in a judicial review case brought by the West Kootenay Ecosociety against the provincial government.
The issue coming before the B.C. Supreme Court is not the Jumbo Glacier Resort itself, but the process by which the provincial government instituted a municipality with no residents and a government-appointed council.
At its 2012 annual meeting, the UBCM passed a resolution protesting the formation of the resort municipality on the grounds that it is undemocratic and against the very definition of a municipality.
Emergency Preparedness
Isabelle Herzig from Emergency Social Services presented an update on emergency preparedness in the Nelson area, on which that volunteer group collaborates with Red Cross Disaster Management. Herzig said the two groups will have booths at the Kootenay Co-op and at Wal-Mart on May 5. She stressed the likelihood that climate change will increase the need for individual citizens to be prepared for fires, floods, and other extreme weather.
