|Council
Shorts

Pave plans

will go ahead

-SPARKS ST. residents on the
bench and the southside will
get their road repaved whether
they like it or not.

Councillors agreed last week
the city should override the ab-

“jections and pave Sparks from

Haugland to Keith Ave. and
from Gair to the Kitselas Ac-
cess road,

The cowncil-initiaied Local:

Improvement Project (LIP) on
the southside to pave and in-
stall sewer at a cost of $22.33
per frontage foot was opposed
by 51.6 per cent of the Sparks
St homeowners there, But
they represent only 45.2 per
‘cent of the assessed value of
the property.

Residents must have a major-
ity of owners representing
More than 50 per cent of the

Property value opposed to.

defeat a council-initiated LIP.

The project on the bench was
opposed by 44.4 per cent. of
Sparks homeowners, represent-
ing 48 per cent of the assessed
value. ;

The North Sparks LIP will
pave. the street al a cost of
about $12 per frontage foot.

Both projects were recipients
of substantial , government in-
frastructure grants which cut
the cost of the LIPs.

Finance committee chairman
David Hull shook his head
with disbelief that some resi-
denis would still oppose them.

“A 66 per cent discount and
they still don’t want it,’? he
said. ‘“How much cheaper do
they think it will get?”’

_ “Ask the people on Twedle
who are paying $67 per foot.’?

Road push
called for

RUTH HALLOCK is worried:

there’s already ‘oo much road
work planned for 1996 and that
much of it again may ,not get
cémpleted,” EAT ah

The city is projecting ayear™

‘end surplus itt all accounts “of

just over $3 million in various
accounts because a number of
| proposed public works projects

‘couldn’t be completed.

In some cases contractors
were too busy or were com-
“tnitied elsewhere.

City hall’s reorganization
alsa contributed to delays of
soime projects this year.

“*We beiter get it done in

96, because that’s an election
year,’” Hallock said.
- She said she doesn’t view it
as wise to leave large public
works projects straddling be-
tween the terms of two city
councils.

‘96 will be the catchup
year, I suspect,’”’ councillor
David Hull said.

Rail crossing

‘gates wanted

CN RAIL is asking the city to
pay about $18,500 towards the
installation of a flashing cross-
ing light and crossing gates
‘wher the mil line crosses
Frank St.

‘But so far city officials aren’t

, eager to hand over any money.

~ They’re asking for a better
‘breakdown of the anticipated
costs. And they suggest the
[city may opt out of paying for
“} the crossing gates.
~ Councillors echoed the con-
cern of director of engineering
Stew Christensen that the gates
will be expensive to neplace if
they're broken by big trucks,

“He predicted annual
maintenance costs of more
J than $10,000 with the gates, —
~ | Without them, the cost would
| decrease -but the city would
‘Tikely still pay CN about
‘$4,000 a year to maintain the
lights”) —- a figure that
astounded councillors present.
“Christensen sald Transport
‘Canada has designated the
| crossing a dangerous intersec-

Hon.

| Sidewalk work

approved

THE CITY will pay an
estimated $23,400 to rebuild
the decaying sidewalk and
curb in front of the Terrace Inn
building on Greig Ave.
Councillors last week recom-
‘mended. council approve the
work,

| Northwest. Comnfi
Native |

needs
prompt

new post

NATIVE students at Northwest

Community College in Terrace.
will find a new service available

to them this year.
Mae Derrick has taken on the

position of First Nations Student ~

Access Coordinator.

The students Derick will be

aiding come from diverse back-
grounds. There are 24 native

communities in the college area, -

representing seven different cul-
tural groups. _

Her position was created as a
result of an examination the col-
lege carried out last year of its re-
lationship with native com-
munities,

From this also came a recom-
mendation to establish a first na-
tions education council.

The plan is to have the council
in place by year’s end and have it
work towards common goals in
education and training needs,

The motivation bebind the col-
lege's actions does not come
fom a growing number of native
students enrolling in programs in
the college. In fact, Derrick con-
etded, the college doesn’t even
know how many native students
it has.

Nor is NWCC unique in creat-
ing the post. There are 23 other
first nations co-ordinators at post-
secondary institutions across the
province,

AS PART OF Orientation Week at the Terrace campus of Northwest Community College, students
placed pins in a map of B.C. indicating where they came from. That’s Charlene Ottenbros above.

One of Derrick's first priorities
will be to establish a talking cir-
cle which would meet in the
evenings. The talking circle
would be the first of many ways
Derrick hopes to make native cul-
ture visible on campus,

“ll be helping to promote cul-

tural awareness, as well as help-
ing students overcome barriers to
successful learning,’? she ex-
plained.

As part of raising that aware-
ness, Derrick plans to meet with
Students to organize a feast and
an Orientation session which will

explain ‘the

sweat = lodge
ceremony,

All cultures will be invited to

lake part in these and other
events, in an effort to promote
CTOSS- cultural understanding,

She will also be organizing a

cultural competency program for

college staff and the public,

College
facts

JUST WHAT. happens-behind the
wails of the,; Northwest) Com-
munity College campuses: across
the region? Who's studying, what
do they spend and what does it

‘cost to run this post-secondary in-
stitution?

Just over 40 per cent of all stu-

dents at NWCC attend college in
Terrace. The next thiee most pap-
wlar campuses are. Prince Rupert
at 19.4 per cent, Kitimat at 11.9
per cent and Hazelton at 9.5 per

cent, These communities are fol-
lowed by Smithers, Houston,
Nass Valley, Queen Charlotte Is-
lands and Stewart.

. The college region stretches
across 130,000 sq. km. and has a
population of. approximately
90,000 people, . ;

In October last year the college
counted 1,028 full time students,
522 part time students and an Im-
pressive 7,731 students enrolled
in night school and general inter-
est programs.

The average age ‘of the typical
NWCC student was 29 years old,
and 59 per cent of all students
were female. The shrinking num-
ber of male students seems to fol-
low a national trend in post
secondary education, as_ women
are increasingly outnumbering
men at these institutions.

What does il cost to enrich the
minds of all these students?

The gross annual budget for the
1995/96 school year . is
$18,030,000. Your average full
time student chips i in $1, 188 of
that fi figure. .

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