City Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa relayed the concerns from some residents of the city who would like to see some action taken about the growing level of pot holes in the city
For those that have suffered the perils of driving along the city's streets these days and have taken on the challenge of the ever increasing slalom run of pothole avoidance, Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa has heard you!
The City Councillor, who is the owner operator of a driving school, as well as the operator of a taxi cab in the city, brought forward the concerns of the city's motorists on Monday evening, highlighting a few areas where residents are anxious to see some road remediation take place.
Mr. Randhawa made note for Council that he has heard from many residents about the particularly nasty condition of the roads in the community, calling attention to the route on Sixth Avenue East from McBride to the east end of the city as perhaps one road that is in need of some immediate attention.
Two views of Sixth Avenue East, one particularly troublesome area in need of road repair that Councillor Randhawa called attention towards at Monday's council session
Another area of road repair note, among many in the community, is the circuit around Summit Avenue.
It is a roadway that seems to be in particular need of some prompt attention, with a growing number of potholes appearing along the twin routes that lead to the Prince Rupert Hospital.
The weekend snow made for some camouflage for the lurking pothole monsters along Summit Avenue, that route is one of many that will need some attention from city works crews in the next few weeks
And while the issue has now been raised in public forum at City Council, it would seem that any immediate relief to the situation may yet still be some ways off in the future.
In his reply to Councillor Randhawa, Mayor Brain's only comment related to the roads at the moment was to state that the city's paving program for 2018 would be released following the winter season, with no actual date or timeline offered up by Council at Monday's session.
You can review the discussion on the state of the roads from the City's Video Archive, it comes up towards the end of the night's work at the forty four minute mark.
For now, motorists will have to endure the bone jarring journey across the city's streets, with city crews hopefully dispatched to address to some of the larger issues as best they can until the larger paving program is rolled out.
As we await the city's blue print for road rebuilding for the year, we shall attempt to compile a list of those streets in the city that our readers may have found particularly challenging.
You can add your contribution to the comments section of this post in the space available below, as well as through our twitter feed, where we highlight our stories of the day.
Should you have a road to add to that list, make sure to use the hash tag #PrinceRupertPotholes to make for a rolling archive of trouble areas in the city.
Just as we prepare to head into the weekend, another travel alert has been issued by Environment Canada, with the Weather Service issuing a Snowfall warning for the North Coast Inland area and all regions to the east, as far as the Alberta border.
The warning which was released just before 11AM today calls for up to 25 centimetres of snow to fall, mainly in the Smithers area over the course of the next 24 hours,.
The situation is the result of a clash of weather systems features moist Pacific air and cold air from the North, making for the extended period of snowfall starting this evening.
More snow is on the way for points east of Terrace tonight and tomorrow
(click to enlarge)
Motorists with plans to travel across Northwestern BC overnight or on Thursday will want to be watchful of the conditions, with an Alert for motorists already issued in anticipation of the weather system's arrival, you can keep track of the evolving situation through the Drive BC website and twitter feed.
For the coastal regions of the North Coast including Prince Rupert, the forecast for the next few days makes for mainly sunny skies and relatively warm temperatures, with little in the way of precipitation expected until Sunday for the most part.
The topic of the Mayor's full time position and full time salary made for a question from the public at Monday's Council Session
The theme of financial remuneration for the top elected official in Prince Rupert made for a short overview at Monday evening's city council session, that after Larry Golden, a resident of the city and frequent contributor to public commentary at City Council meetings raised the topic of the Mayor's salary as part of Monday's Committee of the Whole public comment opportunity.
Mr. Golden, outlined some concerns he has when it comes to whether the status of a full time Mayor may steer some would be candidates for the October election away from a run for office.
With the city resident asking Council if there were any plans to address the temporary status of a full time mayor and with it the full time salary that has been in place since the start of 2015.
The thinking at the time was one that with all the talk of hyper economic growth for the region, the city required that its Mayor be on hand on a full time basis in order to address the many concerns that might come from such economic development.
As the years have moved forward however, much of that proposed economic growth (the majority of it LNG driven) has since faded from view for the community, which might open the door for a discussion on whether the Mayor's position should be full time and at the increased level of pay.
For now however, Mayor Brain noted that the position will remain that of a full time one, with a sunset clause set to take effect in late December, after which the position would revert back to its former status, unless Council chooses to keep the full time designation.
In the Mayor's eyes however, that discussion is one for the next council to take on, with a municipal election set for October.
At Monday's session, Mayor Brain observed for Mr. Golden, that any decision related to the Mayor's position and salary would be addressed by those that the electors send to office later this year.
"I can easily answer your question, you are referring to wages, the Mayor's wage is not up to my discretion, it is a council discretion, the planning for Major projects budget was passed in 2015 it sunsets at the end of this year, December 31st 2018. At that time the full time wage also sunsets, so Council will have to use at their discretion on what they believe will be moving forward, most likely after the next election" "As I mentioned it sunsets at the end of December 2018 and that's where the discussion is at, so at the next election, the next council who moves forward if they decide to move it beyond that they will and that's their discretion, at the moment the expectation is that this wage will go back to its part time salary at December 31st 2018"
And while the mechanism of that decision may indeed fall to the next council, one imagines that the theme of whether the City should continue to have a full time Mayor at full time pay, might make for some kind of a discussion topic prior to the October election.
Residents of the city will want to know how this current council, including the current Mayor, may feel about the remuneration package that is in place, and whether they believe that in the current economic climate in the city, if the city can continue to pay the top official the same kind of compensation package that is found in communities that are much larger than Prince Rupert.
One imagines that sometime between now and the fall election campaign, the topic of financial compensation may make for a theme for discussion both for the incumbents and any potential candidates that may declare over the next few months.
To get a complete overview of the topic, the most recent compensation levels for Council and upper management of City Staff can be reviewed from the City's financial report of last June.
You can review the question and response from Monday's Council session from the City's Video Archive, the public comment period begins at the very start of Monday's meeting.
CFO Corinne Bomben presented the City's 2018 Budget forecast to Prince Rupert City Council on Monday evening, the process now moves forward towards public consultation in March
Prince Rupert residents will have two opportunities to weigh in with their thoughts on this years City of Prince Rupert budget, with the two regular City Council sessions of March designated as the host for opportunities for public comment for this year.
The path towards those consultations was put forward this week, when the City's Chief Financial Officer Corrine Bomben, provided for the 2018 Budget Presentation for Council as part of Monday's Regular Council session.
Ms Bomben took City Council through the process for Budget development, making use of a short slide show presentation that touched on a number of themes.
The first was a look at some of the service challenges that the City faces with the Digby Island Ferry flagged as one of the challenges faced by the City, with Prince Rupert residents subsidizing the airport Ferry to one million dollars.
As well the CFO made note of some of the financial elements that provide for challenges, including the Provincial Incentive Program, and the concerns of the city over the Provincial offsets program that is in place and the nature of the Taxation Burden Transfer that the city faces from them.
The review of the financial themes and number crunching took a slight political detour during this portion of the presentation, as the CFO drew attention to some ongoing concerns of the city related to those tax caps that have been put in place by the province.
Ms. Bomben added that the tax cap that the Provincial has legislated has been an ongoing issue for the city and City Council for a number of years now.
As part of her commentary, the CFO noted that the City had hoped that with a change of government there would be some relief, then firing what could be considered a political salvo towards Premier Horgan and North Coast MLA Rice. "The problem has been that the province has placed a limit on the property tax rate that the city can use to collect taxes, Council has tried for years to make the province aware of the unintended consequence of this legislation. There was hopes that the new government would bring some relief, however it has only been a change of actors and not the story"
Ms. Bomben then relayed the wish of Council that residents should contact MLA Jennifer Rice to express their concerns:
"We encourage you to write your local MLA Jennifer Rice insisting that this provincial incentive program be compensated in total by the province"
When it comes to Budget requirements, the CFO outlined a few of the financial expenditures ahead for this year, included on the list were such items as the replacement of the public works building on Wantage Road, the upgrade of the RCMP cell block, as well as completion of phase one and the start of phase two of the water supply projects.
There is also a requirement for an upgrade to the aquatic centre, work on the west berm expansion of the landfill and the replacement of the city's solid waste trucks.
The City will need to pay contractual wage increases for the city workforce as well as for the RCMP, another expense item is an increase by 300,00 dollars in the payment that the city makes to Port Edward as part of the Ridley Island Tax Sharing agreement, that will make for a total payment to the District of 900,000 for this year.
The CFO noted that those expenses have been offset by taxes from expansions and new builds and experience savings, that has resulted in a balanced budget, with no planned increase to the residential mill rate.
As part of her presentation Ms. Bomben also provided an explanation of what the mill rate is and how it is applied towards property taxes for residents of the community.
For those that look at their tax bill and find the lengthy list of additional charges confusing the CFO also outlined the range of other taxes the City collects as an agent on behalf of other taxing authorities, noting that the City of Prince Rupert only has control over two elements of the levies that are put in place.
Of note for the public will be the upcoming revision for the BC Assessment roll which will be announced on March 31st, that revision could result in changes to the tax rate and may impact on the proposed mill rate.
When it comes to property taxes for this year, to this point, while there don't appear to be any plans to reduce the tax burden on residents. However for those looking for the silver lining in the financial review, there currently is no plan to increase the amount of tax that is in place.
As for questions from Council from Monday, Councillor Randhawa asked about how the property tax process was evaluated and what factors the Finance Department takes note of as they prepare the Budget from year to year. She observed that the City can only tax on property and does not have the authority to tax based on income.
Councillor Cunningham, asked for some clarification and offered up some observations when it comes to the major industrial category of taxation and the nature of the cap system that is in place related to that element of the budget process.
He observed how the cap system that is in place from the province has an impact on how the city can distribute the level of taxation to the three main taxing areas of residential, commercial and industrial.
The CFO provided some further background on how the city approaches those taxation elements in order to provide for a balanced budget.
Councillor Mirau offered his thanks to City Staff for their hard work on delivering the budget recommendations and then inquired as to the timeline ahead for the Budget.
Ms. Bomben outlined that the two public consultations would be taking place in March and that the Finance Department would need to have the Tax Bylaw and Five Year Financial plan in place by April 24th, she also added that the BC Assessment results of late march will provide the final glimpse for the City as to what the mill rate will be set at.
Councillor Niesh added his thanks to Ms. Bomben and City staff for their work on the budget process and then reminded the public that if they have any issues that they want to have addressed in the budget they need to bring them to the attention of Council, suggesting that they make use of the two public consultation sessions set for March.
The City will host two public consultation sessions on the Budget in March during the March 12th and 25 Regular Council sessions, those sessions will also be streamed through the city's website and by CityWest Community television. Ms, Bomben also advised that a print copy of the Budget document will be made available at City Hall, the Library and the Recreation Centre, with a copy of the Budget presentation to also be posted to the City's website.
You can review the full presentation to Council from the City's Video Archive of the Monday night City Council Session, Ms. Bomben delivers her financial preview at the 8 minute mark of the meeting.
Our first look at the Budget presentation came on Monday as part of our Council preview, included in that review was a link to the full Budget presentation document that was presented to Council.
As the city moves through the Budget process, we will add any items of note to our archive page on City Budget issues, which you can find here.
It was another quick evening for City Council members as Mayor Brain, back from his travels of earlier this month, was at the head of the Council table, the Mayor steering the five Council members in attendance through the light agenda for the night in less than fifty minutes.
Included as part of Monday's session was a public comment period through the Committee of the Whole process, as well as a pair of presentations from the City's Planning department related to zoning issues
The key element of the evening was the 2018 Budget presentation by the City's Financial Officer Corinne Bomben, who put forward the blue print for this years financial discussion by Council.
The evening wrapped up with a short discussion on a motion from Councillor Cunningham to provide for more public commentary opportunities for those groups that the city provides funding for.
With Mr. Cunningham recommending that the Committee of the Whole process be used for those public information sessions.
Some background on the items of note on the evening and the various Agenda elements for the February 26th Council session can be reviewed here.
Council also met in a closed session earlier in the day, the notice closing that meeting to the public can be reviewed here.
Further information from our overview and placement in the video archive can be found below, with the permanent record of the minutes added as they are posted to the city website.
In attendance February 26, 2018
Mayor Lee Brain -- Present
Councillor Barry Cunningham-- Present
Councillor Blair Mirau -- Present
Councillor Wade Niesh -- Present
Councillor Nelson Kinney -- Absent
Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa-- Present
Councillor Joy Thorkelson -- Present
Video Archive for February 26, 2018
(0:00 -- 1:00) City Council Committee of the Whole Session -- Mayor Brain reviewed the list of minutes and agenda items to be noted by Council members, with Council then approving the Agenda while the past minutes of previous council meetings were adopted.
( 1:00 -- 3:30 ) Only one participant took advantage of the opportunity to speak at the public speaking opportunity of the COW session. With resident Larry Golden asking a question about the current status of the position of a full time Mayor and if Council had plans to return to the previous arrangement prior to 2014, of a part time mayor with a part time salary.
Mayor Brain outlined that the position, which has a sunset provision, would remain as full time until the end of 2018, with the full time salary that goes with it. The Mayor added that it would be up to the next council, which will be elected in October, to determine whether the position will remain as a full time one, or if Council would wish to return it to the part time position it once was.
( 3:30 -- 4:30 ) City Council Regular Council session -- Mayor Brain reviewed the list of minutes and agenda items to be noted by Council members, with Council then approving the Agenda while the past minutes of previous council meetings were adopted.
( 4:30 -- 7:30 ) Report from the City Planner related to a variance permit for a property on 9th Avenue East -- Council received a short overview of the nature of the variance request and followed that up with a vote in favour of the motion. Councillor Niesh added that for future reference on such projects, if people have any opposition to a proposed variance they should provide more details as to why they are opposed.
( 7:30:00 -- 31:00 ) Budget Presentation Report from the Chief Financial Officer -- Ms. Corinne Bomben took City Council through the process for Budget development, making use of a short slide show presentation that touched on a number of themes.
The first was a look at some of the service challenges that the City faces with the Digby Island Ferry flagged as one of the largest of issues faced by the City, with Prince Rupert residents subsidizing the airport Ferry to a cost of one million dollars.
As well she made note of some of the financial elements that provide for additional challenges, including the Provincial Incentive Program, the concerns of the city over the Provincial offsets program that is in place and the nature of the Taxation Burden Transfer that the city faces from them.
Ms. Bomben added that the tax cap that the Provincial has legislated has been an ongoing issue for the city for a number of years now. Noting that they had hoped that with a change of government there would be some relief, but observed that "it has only been a case of a change of actors and not the story"
She relayed the wish of Council that residents should contact MLA Jennifer Rice and insist that the provincial incentive program be compensated in total by the province.
When it comes to Budget requirements, the CFO outlined a few of the requirements, including such items on the list as the replacement of the public works building on Wantage Road, the upgrade of the RCMP cell block, completion of phase one and the start of phase two of the water supply projects.
As well there is a requirement for an upgrade to the aquatic centre, the west berm expansion of the landfill and the replacement of solid waste trucks.
The City will need to pay contractual wage increases for the city workforce as well as for the RCMP, another expense item is an increase by 300,000 dollars in the payment that the city makes to Port Edward as part of the Ridley Island Tax Sharing agreement, that will make for a total payment by the City of Prince Rupert to the District of Port Edward of 900,000 dollars for this year.
All of those expenses have been offset by taxes from expansions and new builds and experience savings, that has resulted in a balanced budget, with no planned increase to the residential mill rate. Ms. Bomben then provided an explanation of what the mill rate is and how it is applied towards property taxes for residents of the community.
She also outlined the range of other taxes the City collects as an agent on behalf of other taxing authorities, noting that the City of Prince Rupert only has control over two elements of the levies that are put in place.
The revised BC Assessment roll will be announced on March 31st, that revision could result in changes to the tax rate and may impact on the proposed mill rate.
The City will host two public consultation sessions on the Budget in March during the March 12th and 26th Regular Council sessions, those sessions will also be streamed through the city's website and by CityWest Community television.
Ms, Bomben also advised that a print copy of the Budget document will be made available at City Hall, the Library and the Recreation Centre, with a copy of the Budget presentation to also be posted to the City's website.
As for questions from Council, Councillor Randhawa asked about how the property tax process was evaluated and what factors the Finance Department takes note of as they prepare the Budget from year to year.
The CFO observed that the City can only tax on property and does not have the authority to tax based on income.
Councillor Cunningham, asked for some clarification and offered up some observations when it comes to the major industrial category of taxation and the nature of the cap system that is in place related to that element of the budget process.
He observed how the cap system that is in place from the province has an impact on how the city can distribute the level of taxation to the three main taxing areas of residential, commercial and industrial.
The CFO provided some further background on how the city approaches those taxation elements in order to provide for a balanced budget.
Councillor Mirau offered his thanks to City Staff for their hard work on delivering the budget recommendations and then inquired as to the timeline ahead for the Budget.
Ms. Bomben outlined that the two public consultations would be taking place in March and that the Finance Department would need to have the Tax Bylaw and Five Year Financial plan in place by April 24th.
She also added that the BC Assessment results of late March will provide the final glimpse for the City as to what level the mill rate will be set at.
Councillor Niesh added his thanks to Ms. Bomben and City staff for their work on the budget process and then reminded the public that if they have any issues that they want to have addressed in the budget they need to bring them to the attention of Council, suggesting that they make use of the two public consultation sessions set for March.
With no other comments from Council members, Council voted to accept the report, the Mayor added his thanks to staff for their work on the city's financial matters.
( 31:00 -- 36:30 ) Report from the City Planner related to a zoning amendment for the property at 333 11th Avenue East -- Council received a short overview from City Planner Zeno Krekic who outlined the nature of the proposed supportive housing facility at the address indicated. He highlighted some of the elements towards the definition of the proposed facility and how it will be governed by a housing agreement between the proponent and the City of Prince Rupert.
He provided some background on the public consultation meeting that had been set up for the proposed zoning request.
Council then moved forward with the zoning request, scheduling a Public Hearing for the process to be held on March 26th prior to the Regular Council session that night.
Councillor Thorkelson asked for some clarification on the wording related to the Public Hearing session before Council moved on to the Housing agreement that has been put in place related to the proposed facility.
( 36:30-- 37:00 ) Report from the City Planner related to the Housing Agreement between the City of Prince Rupert and the proponent of the Support Housing facility -- Council received a short overview from City Planner Zeno Krekic who provided some background to the Housing agreement that has been signed between the City of Prince Rupert and the facility proponent.
Council then gave fourth reading to the Housing Agreement.
( 37:00 -- 42:00 ) Report from Councillor Cunningham related to Committee of the Whole and plans to invite community funded groups to make presentations to Council -- Mr. Cunningham outlined the nature of the motion that he and Councillor Mirau created to make use of the Committee of the Whole process to bring provide a forum for Community organizations and societies that are funded by the City.
The resolution for council makes for a project that is designed to provide opportunity for those groups to expand on some background on their work.
Councillor Thorkelson offered up the suggestion that the proposal not be limited to just those groups that are funded by the City, but that it include any group in the community which wishes to make a presentation to Council be allowed to do so.
Councillor Mirau outlined the nature of some of his hesitation towards using the COW process to include reports from City staff and departments, observing how he fears that the city may be overstepping its bounds on governance.
The Mayor noted that when it comes to any reports from the RCMP or Fire Department that the main presentation would be limited to stats and notes of their work in the community and not operational aspects.
Council Thorkelson then suggested that the City should try to encourage organizations that are involved with community recreation to come and explain how they are working together to provide for recreation options in the community.
Councillor Cunningham echoed that theme, noting that those groups could make use of the COW forum to better promote their programs.
( 42:00 to 47:00 ) Reports, Questions and Inquires from Council
Councillor Niesh offered his condolences at the passing of Peter Witherly, a sentiment that was added to by Mr. Cunningham who noted that there is a fund raising effort for the music studio in the name of Mr. Witherly, he also observed that there are plans in motion for a music concert to commemorate his work through the years in Prince Rupert.
Councillor Mirau joined in on the condolences, noting the loss to the community adding that in lieu of flowers the family had been asking for donations to the Music Society.
Councillor Randhawa asked if the City had any procedure to forward a letter to the family from the community, the Mayor noted that he had spoken to the family who advised they would let the City know if there was anything that Council could do.
Mr. Randhawa brought two other topics to the Council on Monday, offering up his congratulations to the organizers of the All Native Basketball Tournament for another successful event in the city.
He then inquired about when a paving plan for the pothole problem in the city would be released, advising that he had heard many comments from residents in the community about the situation, the Mayor noted that the paving schedule would come out following the winter season.
Councillor Cunningham offered up a reminder about the Community Clean Up planned for March 11th and noted this is an opportunity for the residents of the city to participate in helping to clean up the City. The Mayor noted that it's called the Rupert Rubbish Round Up with a Facebook page available for those looking for more information.
Councillor Thorkelson added her voice to the condolences at the passing of Mr. Witherly, and also noted that Larry McKay, a long time former member of the School Board had passed away and offered her condolences to his family.
The Mayor provided for the last item of note on the night, advising that the planned Community Build Day for the McKay Street Park Project had been postponed from its March 4th date, noting that because of the weather of late, organizers had decided to reschedule that event for sometime in April.
He directed those with an interest in that project to a Facebook page that has been created for the event.
With no other comments offered up for the final portion of the evening, Council then voted to adjourn the meeting.
You can access the City Council Review for February 26th here, where a number of items regarding the council session, including links to local media coverage, if any, can be found.
As always, our Council Timeline is only a reflection of our observations from the Council session of the night. Be sure to consult with the official minutes from the City, when posted to their website for further review. Official Minutes of the Regular Council Session from February 26, 2018 (not available yet)
In addition to the city's official minutes, the City's Video archive provides a helpful record of the events from each public council session.
Council members next meet on Monday, March 12th.
To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.
You'll be seeing a lot of pink around town today, as Prince Rupert, like many other communities in British Columbia takes note of Pink Shirt Day, the day set aside to send and reinforce the message to eliminate bullying in all of its forms.
This year, some of the focus will shift away from the more common forms of bullying that are found and direct some attention towards cyber bullying, a growing concern for school officials and health professionals.
Today Pink Shirt Day is being used to encourage us to think twice before posting something negative and instead make use of the Internet to spread kindness.
The Province of British Columbia is also sharing information about the day, with the ministry of Education providing a range of material to develop a respectful and safe environment for education in the schools.
More on the provincial initiatives towards erasing bullying can be explored here
Ready to get to work, the Charles Hays Junior Girls Rainmakers are in Langley this week, as the Northwest Zones champs look to claim a Provincial banner
(Roster and photo from the Tournament website)
A day of travel behind them, the Junior Girls Rainmakers Basketball team can finally get down to the work of the day, as the Northwest Zones champions get ready for their first tip off in the BC Junior Girls Provincials today.
The four day marathon to a provincial banner finds the team taking to the court in a qualification round match up this morning, the Rainmakers one of sixteen teams that will be looking to move into the Championship Bracket by the time Saturday's finale to Provincials takes place.
The Rainmakers head into the tournament ranked as the number twenty seed of the twenty four participants in this years Provincials.
But before anyone gets to looking too far down the tournament schedule, there is some early work to be done today, with a possibility of two games on opening day for the Rainmakers.
Coach Sonny Henry's will be turning the girls focus to game time for now, as the Junior Girls squad prepares for the first match up of the Tournament today at 9 AM when they take on North Surrey. The winner of this morning's qualification match, will then move on to some tough competition in St. Thomas Moore Collegiate at 3 PM, the Lower mainland school is currently listed as the number four seed in the tournament.
The road to a provincial title makes for a four day journey, and should the Junior Girls Rainmakers find success as the week moves forward, the Championship Game will take place on Saturday, March 3 at 1 PM
Win and you're still in is the theme for the Junior Girls Basketball Tournament taking place in Langley BC (Bracket courtesy of Jr. Girls Tournament website, click to enlarge)
The games will be streamed live from the Langley Events Centre, with two Pay Per View options for viewers to consider for the four day event, that of a one day pass at $8.50 or a tournament pass for $24.
There was a Good share of awards for Charles Hays on Sunday, as the program led by CHSS Drama teacher Alison O'Toole had another impressive result from the Northwest Zones competition (photo from CHSS Twitter feed)
Fans of theatre had much to celebrate last week, as over 75 enthusiastic theatre students and their teachers shared three nights on the stage, delivering strong performances in six presentations.
Arriving in town for the four day run of the Northwest Zones were students from Hazelton, Smithers and Terrace who all brought their theatrical skills to the North Coast's home of theatrical productions of the Lester Centre of the Arts.
The Zones competition made for more of a reunion than any kind of competition, as students and teachers reconnected from past years, shared experiences from the year and learned more about their craft from each other over the course of the four days and nights in Prince Rupert.
Along the way, the audiences on all three nights were treated to some entertaining and at times thought provoking presentations.
Featured on the show bill for the week were the following productions:
Black Butterfly, Jaguar Girl, Pinata Woman and other Superhero Girls, Like Me -- Terrace Fifteen Minute Minimum -- Prince Rupert
The Philadelphia -- Smithers The Misadventures of Romeo and Juliet -- Prince Rupert
Check Please -- Hazelton The Merry Wives of Windsor -- Smithers
When the Awards were handed out on Sunday, nine awards were claimed by members of the host Charles Hays group, among the honours from the weekend.
Three awards for acting for the Misadventures of Romeo and Juliet, with Jordan Jackson, Henry Vo and Kathy Nguyen acclaimed for their work.
Fifteen Minute Minimum which was basically a two man show, gained the Excellence in Acting in a Lead Male Role Award with both Marvin Wilson and Joseph Cooper-Shaw sharing in the success, recognized for their talents in bringing the characters of Boris and Stanislov to life.
That production also took home the top honours from the competition, chosen as this years Representative Play for the Northwest.
The Drama Festival's adjudicator Joan MacLean hailed the way that the two lead actors made each other better during the course of their performance.
The Charles Hays Technical skills were on display through the week as well and for his work Scott Langille claimed three awards from the three nights of shows.
Such was his dedication towards the success of the event, that he not only worked on the Charles Hays productions, but assisted each of the other participating schools in getting acquainted with the Lester Centre lighting and sound systems.
For his efforts Mr. Langille received the Spirit of the Festival Award and Excellence in Lighting Award, as well as an honourable mention for the Sound Design Award.
Charles Hays will now take Fifteen Minute Minimum to the Provincial Stage in April, when they participate in the Provincial Drama Festival at Douglas College from April 26 to 28.
Making the journey to provincials has become almost a regular occasion for the Charles Hays Drama program which takes place under the watchful eye of Alison O'Toole, with many of the presentations of past years making their mark at the Provincial competition.
In addition to showcasing the North Coast production, those attending the event will also get exposure to the range of material being created across BC, as well as to take part in workshops and learn from professionals in the Vancouver area who will be part of the provincial festival.
Prince Rupert residents may get a chance to see all of the Charles Hays productions one more time this Spring, when the annual Dessert Theatre showcase takes place, the date for that event will be announced in the near future.
The Charles Hays Twitter feed features a number of photos from the three nights of the Drama Festival, as well as some Periscope video of the Sunday adjudication notes and Awards presentation.
For more items of note about Charles Hays see our SD52 Archive page, further background on community events in Prince Rupert can be found on our archive pages below:
There is no travel between Terrace and Prince Rupert today, that after the Ministry of Transportation closed the highway over the noon hour owing to what is called a high avalanche risk
Update: The Road was reopened to traffic at 8PM on Tuesday evening
The ROAD CLOSED signs are back up at both ends of Highway 16 between Terrace and Prince Rupert as the Ministry of Transportation keeps an eye on a growing avalanche risk.
The road closure notice was issued during the lunch hour, with the estimated time for the reopening of the highway advised as 9PM
The next update on the situation is anticipated for 5 PM tonight.
February has been a particularly rough month for travel between the two communities, with a number of road advisories, road closures and avalanche issues recorded over the course of the last 27 days.
Another Banner for the CHSS Gym, as the Senior Boys Rainmakers Basketball team claimed yet another Northwest Zones Championship. The Rainmakers swept their competition on the weekend, Charles Hays now heads for Provincials in March
The Charles Hays Senior Boys Basketball Rainmakers are Langley bound once again, with a pair of impressive victories on the weekend helping them turn towards the travel plans for March.
The Northwest Zones were held at the Charles Hays Gymnasium on Friday and Saturday, with the Rainmakers playing host to Mount Elizabeth from Kitimat and Smithers Secondary at the season ending regional finale.
The action opened up with Smithers and Mount Elizabeth taking to the court, with the Gryphons getting the best of a 72-56 victory over the Kitimat squad.
Game Number two on Friday brought the Rainmakers to the court for the first time on the weekend, and the Number three ranked team in the province provided for some strong play to cement that status, taking the play to the Smithers team, knocking them off by a final of 94 to 31.
The Saturday opener found the Smithers and Kitimat teams back in action, with a berth in the final on the line and from a loss on Friday, the Mount Elizabeth team regrouped nicely holding off the Smithers group in the waning minutes of the game, topping the Gryphons 58 to 47.
The afternoon brought the Zones Final and the Rainmakers would prove to be a challenge that the Mount Elizabeth players could not overcome, with Charles Hays claiming the Zones banner with a final score of 88 to 20
The five players named to the Zones All Start Team included:
Christian Clifton Malcom Brown Kai Leighton Nolan Striker Jericho Julaton
Named as MVP from the Zones competition was Rainmaker Liam McChesney
Hoops fans on the North Coast can check out what some of the competition may be like through Howard Tsumura's Varsity Letters blog, it is the definitive source of all things basketball when it comes to the game at the high school and university level in British Columbia.
We will preview the Rainakers in Langley in the week to come, including notes on the Bracket Draw which will provide for their first opponent when the first tip takes place on March 7th.
As the flight cancellations on the YPR board piled up as fast as the snow on the ground in Vancouver, there was no way for Kevin Sawka's team to make it to Langley in time for their Saturday morning tip off, with the team having to withdraw from the competition.
A Winter weather delay in store for McKay Street Build Project
The unsettled weather and the return of cold temperatures and snow has resulted in a change to the schedule for Transition Prince Rupert and their plans to get to work on the Mckay Street Playground installation.
The Community Build Day, which was originally set for this Sunday, March 4th, has now been pushed back by a month, to allow for better conditions for those that will be volunteering of their time to install the much anticipated park equipment in the abandoned ball field at the corner of Kootenay Avenue and McKay Street.
While the community Build Day at the McKay Street Park has been postponed until April, some preliminary work will continue through march
We outlined some background notes related to that project earlier this month
Transition Prince Rupert posted the postponement notice to the organizations Facebook page on Monday. Noting that the current frozen state of the ground conditions would make it impossible to make sure that the playground is put properly in place.
As well, Transition Prince Rupert notes that by shifting the date of the build to April, the organization will also avoid the SD52 Spring Break period.
They also note that while the Big Build Day has been pushed back to April, some preliminary work will be taking place through March, advising residents of the area to stay clear of the site.
Transition Prince Rupert has postponed the planned McKay Street Build day, originally scheduled for this Sunday. The new date will be confirmed in early April (click to enlarge)
Organizers suggest that the new Build Day will come either April 7th or 14th, they will confirm the event once they hear back from BCAA, the provincial organization is providing for the majority of the funding for the project, that as a result of Prince Rupert's success in the BCAA Play Here competition of last Spring.