The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - A5
CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD

The Mail Bag

It'll cost their soul
Dear Sir:
As you are aware, I have attempted to light up my por-
tion of Straume Ave.
For reasons unknown to me, a person or persons, have
seen fit to steal these Christmas lights. On the first oc-
casion it was nine bulbs; yesterday it was four. Today,

Friday the 9th, it was sixty-four. — ”
The cost to me,-a pensioner, . “hurts but is withstood.

The cost to the perps is their immortal soul. «
‘Merry Christmas!

he,fagtors.crjving the,s

ITY COUNCIL
_ ¥ was expected to
'. approve a ‘réc-
* -ommendation
brought before
- it Dec. 12 to te- -tender the
sportsplex/second sheet of
ice project next month de- -
spite another rise in the es- °
otimated cost of the proposed
plan. ;
It would be the first ma-
jor decision to be made by
Terrace’s new city council.
The most recent estimate ~
released by the city indi-
° cates the. project will now
cost at least $10.255 million
because of rising building,

ing costs.
“T really believe that time

* Is not on our side with this
project, the cost escalation °
is really significant.and. the
sooner the project is com-
pleted the better,” says rook-
ie councillor Brian Downie.

“It’s an investment in the
future and we'need to move

oni”

Even councillor Lynne
Christiansen, who has long ’
been a voice for extreme fis-
cal restraint on council, says

_ too much time and money
has been spent on the project
“to abandon it now. .
“We've come this far we

0

f Ron Gowe, Terrace, B. C.
” fi

Flawed export logic a
Dear Sir: oe
Iam amused, but not surprised, by Roger Harris’ per-
spective in the published guest column of the Noy. 23 is-
sue of The Terrace Standard, “Log exports spur innova- .
tion.” t
According to his thinking, raw log exports are a good
- thing for our region. .
' His perspective does not surprise me. It’s the same
flawed line of thinking as he has expressed regarding Al-
can power sales issuc. ~ oo,
Whether it’s wood, water or electrons, we. need our: |
“ elected representatives to stand up and advocate for the.
* collective interests of our communities, and not: just let a
our futures be at the mercy of big business economics and

costs. can’t really turn around,” | :
That includes $9.13 Christiansen said. ‘the bottom line: * -
million for. construction, © “I would hate to sée do- If you talked to any logging truck operator, they would ° ah
$500,000 for design. work nations and money we’ve al- much rather be hauling their load to a mill that would pro-.. )
and a $625,000 contingency : ‘ready spent to go to waste.” - cess that material and. resulted in- employment for their
~ Council's other newcom- « community, rather than a far off land. “

fund.

~ This newest estimate in-
cludes $830,000 built in to
cover what could amount to
a 10 per cent jump based on
the initial estimates of $8.3 ©
million: received earlier this

“One would think after being defeated in a ‘election,
some reflective thinking would take place as to, what the
majority constituents in this area believe.

-well put it out:to tender,” he ’ What this column confirms to me is that Roger. Har-

_ <~ | ris-continues to miss the point that our regions natural re-

says.
° Once bids come back | Source must be used for the full benefit of the citizens of _

‘er, Brad Pollard, agrees.
.  “T think in the boat they.”
‘are in, yes — they might as

Loe om

the area.

year.
The motion was brought
forward by. city leisure ser-
vices director Ross -Miln-
. thorp, acting on a resolution
adopted by council Aug. 22.

It’s based on the premise .

that looking for prices in the
winter will result in lower

and more competitive bids —

because winter is tradition-
ally a:slower work season
for construction contractors.

But in his recommenda- |

council will then have to

- determine how it is going to
. make up the difference be- -
~ tween how much the project.

is expected to cost and how
much it already has’ commit-

_ted to the project.
Milnthorp « outlined ‘the
potential schedule to: pro- -
‘ceed with the project pend- —
ing council. approval of the ~
‘ recommendation.
Tender advertising will:
* go out immediately with.

I contend this is also why Roger finds himself now
writing guest newspaper columns: rather than sitting as a.

‘MLA for Skeena.
Gord Lechner, Kitimat, B. c

Kitimat needs beds, too

Dear Sir: 3
_So it seems the Northern Health Authority (NHA) has

finally faced reality and have come to the conclusion there. -

is a definite, strong growing. need for more services for ae

seniors here in the northwest. |

- Recently. it was announced that Terraceview Lodge

Se teen pane ae pa nn gene

will seean increase in the number of beds (not yet known) . “Sy

|. at that facility, which offers Jong-term and extended ¢ care: |
accommodations. .
And to think that this was the same facility which the

Northern health Authority has said was going to see 25 of .

_ the 75 long term care beds closed.

It’s not a time to applaud the NHA, it’s about damn.
middle of March 2006 with time. Seniors and their families have been faced with un- .
a completion’ date of” March : due'stress due:to the NHA’s ignorance : .of the shortcom;
2007. a ; ings ir in the health care 2 system up. here i in. northern rile

| ‘Columbia; ali the while their only Solution itt cat further
already inadequate services.

For years seniors and their families have lobbied for. ok
further beds and services to meet the growing needs ofthe -
elderly in our communities.

In the past the NHA has complained. about the stress
put on-acute care units from elderly people seeking a
place to say while awaiting placement i in one of the areas
long-care facilities.

This stress put on acute care services is the sole fault of
the NHA and its predecessors for failing to recognize the

_ need for further growth of facilities for seniors. =

The new Kitimat Healthcare Centre, which ‘opened ss;

only three years ago, kept the same number of longterm
’ care beds, rather than seeing a single new bed open forthe | 2§
citizens of Kitimat. ‘

All the while there were long time residents of this
community, in the acute care. ward waiting for placement
in the extended care unit. :

I'm glad that finally the NHA has recognized the need
for more beds for long-term care patients i in the northwest,
but it is not enough.’ 7

Putting in new beds in one ‘community does not im- —
prove health care in the northwest, it improves it for the
people of Terrace. ~ a

‘Kitimat deserves no less than our neighbouring com- oo!
munity, and neither do our residents. 5

When people grow old in a community in which they:

- information to be available

. early next month. Feb. 2 is; .
‘the scheduled tender closing _
date with the awarding of |
the contract going out at the ©
end of February. Construc-
tion could then start in the

-tion Milnthorp cautions any °
savings that may have been ©
incurred by waiting to ‘re- ‘
tender “have been. eroded
by global economic factors
such as crude oil prices, Hur- ;
ricane Katrina, steel prices, to expect a 10 per cent esca-
exploding Asian economy.” lation in, construction costs |

The city’s architect, Allen *'' of the project based on cur-".
Jury, has advised Milnthorp" rent trends ‘iri the industiy.”

City outlines
financing

options for
sportsplex

FOR THE FIRST time in
recent memory the City of
Terrace has released detailed
financial: _ information
‘council can use in making its
decision on how to proceed
with its planned sportsplex/
second sheet of ice project.

_. While much of the in-
formation has been seen by
council members in the past,

’- TERRACE RIVER KINGS players get high fives from enthusiastic supporters. If the -
Sportsplex goes ahead another sheet of i ice could be ready by 2007.
: | MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO |

get a bid that is as cost effec-
tive as possible before other .
‘unforeseen global factors
‘cause another spike i in build-

That means city council
iis under some, pressure to
. Bet the” tender ‘out ‘there. as
“so6n" as’ possible'in’ order to

$1 96,871
money needed to
avoid referendum

endum or not.

“The purpose is so they.
can make an informed deci-
sion,” says Milnthorp.

He submitted the infor-
mation along with a recom-
mendation that city council

. te-tender the existing sport-
splex project in January.

The ..documents show
$4.9 million is available

Current estimated cost of
second sheet of ice »
$10,255,000.

its been discussed only in
camera and not released to
the public.
Documents. submitted to
--council for consideration
from director of teisure ser-
vices, Ross Milnthorp,.Dec.
/12 include exactly how
much money the city has
committed to the project and
how much money is avail-
. able right now for short-term
borrowing. That information
can be used to determine
how much money may have
to be borrowed to, complete
the project and whether the

amount of money to be bor-

rowed would require a refer-

. from what’s called an Ap-

proval Free Zone with debt

repayment over 20 years.
That amount

mined by a formula which

takes into Consideration the |

city’s population and exist-
ing debt load, says city ad-
ministrator Ron Poole. |
In addition to that, the
city has a $605,450 capacity
for short-term borrowing,
payable over five years, the
documents show.
. That means the city. is
able to borrow up to $5.505

million without going to a

referendum.
But that. may not be

is deter-

‘enough to avoid:a referen-
dum based on current esti- .

mates for the project which
put, the. total at $10.255 mil-
lion, says city councillor
Brad Pollard. .

“Based on what I can see.

from the numbers provided,
we don't have.the money as
it is to go with. the project
with the lower price without
going to referendum,” Pol-
lard says.

The city has $4,552,679
in money committed to the
project already. Add that to
the $5,505, 450 in short-term

borrowing, and the most the
city has at its disposal right
now equals $10,058,129. .
That leaves $196,871
outstanding if the city should
want to avoid a referendum.
_ “If council chooses to go
to referendum on the project,
a minimum of nine-10 weeks
and a budget of $6,000 will
be needed to conduct the ref-
erendum,” wrote Milnthorp.
The earliest the referen-

dum process could begin
would be after tenders close -

in February, he writes.
That’s largely because

- amount,

bids may come
more than the - projected
which determine
whether council can proceed
with borrowing without a

- referendum or not.

Councillor Lynne Chris-

tiansen says: regardless of:

how much the bids come
for, she favours the idea of

"putting the issue to the ‘Ppub-

lic.
“J think if we are going to
go very far down this road it

‘should go to referendum ,’

she says.

in lessor —

have established a family, worked, and lived they deserve |
to spend their golden years’ with their family. and friends

by their side.

As a citizen of Kitimat I believe strongly that we must,
further make knows the needs of our area seniors so that
the services that they so require and deserve are there to
accommodate tlie needs of our Kitimat residents.

Terrace is seeing a bed increase in their long- -term care:

facility, how about Kitimat? .

Derick Stinson, Kitimat, B. Cc,

- Where are priorities?

Dear Sir:

I believe I know how the local realtors feel about an
outside company being brought in to handle the co-op sale’
when they are very capable to do ‘the. transaction them-

selves.

I, too, was very disappointed earlier this year when:a

| water well and monitor well program was started in Ter- iz

_ race and my company, Double D Drilling Ltd. who Have
had a Terrace business licence for several years, hire lo-. ,
cal employees, buy our supplies from local businesses as -
‘the realtors do and were not asked for any prices on the ©
work.

‘Thave tried twice to contact Mr. Talstra about why we

were excluded or not included on bidding on this work,

What about a multiplex?

AT LEAST one city councillor says he would like conference centre, Pollard says. the cost of building a multiplex using the 1999

voters to decide whether the city should consider
building a multiplex instead of a second sheet of

- ice. _
Brad Pollard says the numbers before council

indicate that unless a windfall of money comes.

forward immediately, the city probably won’t
have the short term borrowing capacity to top up
what’s needed to proceed: with the existing ice-
rink only project.

That means if the city decides to proceed with
long-term borrowing for the project it will have to
go to a referendum. ,

And if a referendum happens anyway, voters
should also have a chance to decide if it wants
council to borrow money for a larger multiplex/

“It looks like no matter how we do this is we:
‘are going to end up -with a referendum...unless we

can get a Fairy Godmother. I would at least in-
clude that full package on the referendum.”
Councillor Rich McDaniel has also long sup-
ported the notion of building a multiplex rather
than just a second sheet of ice.
The issue of building a multiplex with a con-
ference centre and a second sheet of ice reared

‘its head again leading up to the Nov. 19 munici-

pal elections. Councillor Marylin Davies said
she ‘polled dozens of area businesspeople and
was overwhelmingly told they would support the
building of a larger multiplex.

Documents submitted to city council indicate

design — that was voted down in a referendum that
same year — could exceed $18.6 million based on
today’s estimates.

That doesn’t include provisions for expected

inflation relating to skyrocketing construction .

costs. That estimate was done by PBK Architects,
the firm currently working on the drawings for the
second sheet of ice/sportsplex proposal.

, City director of leisure services Ross Miln-

thorp has laid out a “what-if” scenario for council

to consider.

He says if council adopted that option and -

design work began immediately, the earliest an-
ticipated date to start construction would be some
time in August 2006.

oe

once by e-mail to city hall (Nov. 1,2005) and once by
leaving a message on his answering machine at his office,
about one week prior to the e-mail.
I have yet to hear from him. Perhaps his priorities are.
’ not with the local businesses..

Doug Stanvick, Terrace, B. Cc.

The Terrace
address is 3210 Clinton St., Terrace, B.C. V8G 5R2.
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