Council motion a great sign
City of Powell River Council has voted to provide $50,000 from the Community Works Fund to support Tourism Powell River with the Northern Sunshine Coast Regional Signage Renewal Strategy.
At the Thursday, February 5, council meeting, Councillor Russell Brewer said Tourism Powell River had been working for some time on rejuvenating the signage, not just in town, but also in the regional district area and at the ferry terminals. He said there are plans to fix up the signs at Little River and Earls Cove that are “a little worse for wear.” He added the plans also call for redoing the welcome sign coming into town, plus installing some information kiosks at Westview Harbour, Lund Harbour, Blubber Bay and Saltery Bay. There were also plans for way-finding signage at the Sunshine Coast Trail, Powell Forest Canoe Route and Duck Lake area.
“It will make it easier for locals and tourists to find their way around,” he said.
Brewer added that Tourism Powell River had a commitment from the Powell River Regional District to allocate $50,000 to the project if the city pledged a similar amount.
Councillor Maggie Hathaway said she had previously been council’s tourism representative.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea that the regional district and city are equal partners, so this signage will be all the same for the entire area,” she said. “Hats off to the regional district and us that we approved this.”
Council approved the funding unanimously.
Mayor travelling with totem
Mayor Dave Formosa is being sent to Slovenia to be part of the contingent delivering International Choral Kathaumixw’s Choir of the World totem pole.
Council carried a motion to fund Formosa’s transportation and accommodation expenses to accompany the totem pole delivery to Ljubljana, Slovenia from May 5 to 11, 2015, to a maximum cost of $2,500.
Councillor CaroleAnn Leishman said Paul Cummings, Kathaumixw’s artistic director, had requested the mayor attend. She said it was the mayor’s idea to create the totem pole. She said the Slovenian choir was honoured to win and is excited to receive the award.
“It’s a pretty big deal in Slovenia,” she said.
Formosa said the event will be on national television.
He thanked the sponsors for the totem pole initiative and said $20,000 was raised locally to make this happen.
Mac Fraser, chief administrative officer, said a sponsorship deal had been completed with Claudia Medina Culos, the filmmaker who is creating a feature production on the Choir of the World totem pole. She will be accompanying the Powell River group to Slovenia to complete the feature. Fraser said the city will be the major sponsor and the production will be shared with various networks across the country and around the world.
“It really helps put Kathaumixw on the world stage,” said Formosa.
Longer opening hours
Seasonal operating hours will be changed for the Lindsay Park washroom facility beside Cranberry Lake. The washrooms will open in May and close in late September each year from now on. Councillor Jim Palm said the Cranberry Ratepayers’ Association is very active in the community and has done some great work bringing forward a number of recommendations.
“We’ve acted on several of them over the last little while and this is just another of their requests, having the washrooms open for an extended period of time rather than the shorter duration that they were open last year,” he said. “My hat’s off to the Cranberry Ratepayers.”
Same rates
No changes will be made to the fee structure in the Waterworks Regulations and Rates Bylaw 2346, 2013.
Councillor Karen Skadsheim said there has been a review of water rates and the chief financial officer has made an analysis and comparison with comparable communities to Powell River. The rates here are comparable to other municipalities.
