The District of Barriere council meeting of Monday, Mar. 22, was held by virtual conferencing with a full slate of items to be reported, discussed, and decisions to be made.
CAO Bob Payette report to council included the following items of interest:
• The district was successful in receiving a grant for relocating the wildfire monument (Louis Creek Industrial Park) under the Tourism Dependent Community Fund for $24,490.
• Mayor Stamer and the CAO met with Barriere’s fire chief and deputy fire chief to discuss ongoing operations and look at any future infrastructure planning that could be done in the event of grant opportunities, the following items where considered; the association will start to fundraise for a new rescue response vehicle, look into provincial standby rates for assets such as the old tanker that may be kept specifically for wild fire support, future requirement for an additional bay or two, contact forestry services regarding response times in area and protocols, conduct a building efficiency review, and the fire chief to look at fire hazards assessment review in District.
• Final completion on the sale of lot 4 and 14 in the Louis Creek Industrial Park are pending final PID from B.C. Land Registry.
Utilities manager Ian Crosson reported that the DW3 well screen air jetting is underway and communication with Drillwell is showing a positive result, with the pumping test to resume immediately following.
”We are still on Bradford park PW1 well for another few weeks, however we are pushing upwards of 1000m3 a day and the well is not getting its continuous recovery time,” said Crosson.
He reported that a planned power outage from BC Hydro has been advised for April 11, 2021, with an expected duration of four hours, that will effect all of Barriere and the Louis Creek Industrial Park.
“This will have a huge bearing on the utilities department which will require overtime hours and additional staffing to keep all the systems running,” said Crosson.
Parks and Roads Manager Chris Matthews reported grading has been completed on Dixon Creek Road, Birch Lane, Bandshell Road, and the lane behind the post office, with some sweeping in the downtown area and along Barriere Town Road also completed.
Planned tree planting will be held off until there is a sufficient water supply for irrigation.
“Solar lights, benches, and bike racks for our park upgrades have arrived and will be installed by parks staff as soon as possible,” said Matthews, adding, “An agreement with Barriere Grocers has been made to construct a trail from the end of Power Road to the Bike Park on Barriere Town Road. Trail construction will commence in the next few weeks.”
It was also noted that the 2021/22 Winter Roads Maintenance Service contract for the district has been awarded to Borrow Enterprises Ltd. of Clearwater.
The Thompson Nicola Regional District (TNRD) continue to advise district staff of upcoming proposed changes to their collection program regarding commercial corrugated cardboard. The first proposed change, if approved by the TNRD board, will see a cessation of the acceptance of corrugated cardboard as disposal (in regular garbage disposal). To clarify, ‘commercial corrugated cardboard’, means corrugated cardboard that is collected by commercial haulers. The District of Barriere is considered a ‘commercial hauler’, therefore this proposed change includes residential curbside collection along with commercial business collection.
Pieces of corrugated cardboard are currently not accepted curbside in the district, and Barriere residents are already used to taking this material to disposal structures around town or to the Eco-Depot itself. Smaller pieces are accepted within the paper product stream in each resident’s curbside tote. Therefore, the amount of corrugated cardboard included in regular garbage bags is likely very minimal. However, it was pointed out that community education regarding this change is important to ensure the District does not exceed the threshold that will result in fines and ultimately, higher collection fees. The proposal is set to be presented to the TNRD board in late spring, and should the proposal be adopted by the TNRD board, the change will be implemented in January 2022.
New highway welcome signage for Barriere was also discussed by council as part of the district’s strategic plan. Designs and options were considered and suggestions made. The district has a highway sign reserve fund with a balance of $26,227 which will cover the costs of the signage. It is expected that signage will be located at the north and south boundary points along Highway 5.
It was noted that the municipal office will be closed during the Easter weekend from Friday, Apr. 2 to Monday, Apr. 5.
