The First Ever Giving for Goals Fundraiser for KidSport Prince Rupert was a huge success with the organization taking in over 3,800 dollars from the Saturday night event at the Civic Centre
With an assist from the Prince Rupert Port Authority and the Prince Rupert Rampage, the Kidsport Program in Prince Rupert had a successful night of it on Saturday, with the local organization that strives to ensure that everyone gets to playbringing in over 3,800 dollars from their Dinner event at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre.
As we outlined in November, the Giving for Goals Fundraiser provided for a full night for those in attendance as part of the 50 dollar ticket, the event featuring a Turkey Dinner Buffet, entry to the Saturday night showdown between the Rampage and the River Kings, as well as a chance to bid on a range of items from the Silent Auction.
The Prince Rupert Port Authority made it doubly enjoyable night for all by matching each of the dollars that were taken in on the night to go towards the program operation.
Members of the Rampage also took part in the night's festivities, with the organization providing their thanks to all this week through their Social Media Stream.
Two major projects related to the Ridley Island landfill site were part of Monday's Capital Spending Review by City Council
Where we stored our garbage in the past, where we store it today and where it will go in the future made for a segment of Monday's Special Capital Spending Presentation, with a tally of over 4.3 million dollars in spending approved towards three projects.
The Old Wantage Road Dump is of some interest of the Province which now has the city conducting a monitoring program for the long closed refuse site
The first item of note takes us back to the days of the Wantage Road Dump site, long closed but not forgotten by the Province of British Columbia, which has recently instructed the City to monitor the location, the task bringing with it an unexpected bill of 100,000 dollars.
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Councillor Cunningham had some questions related to the 100,000 dollars of spending, asking if the Utility fund is the right allocation for that, expressing concerns over potential increases there.
Towards the need for the funding for the monitoring, Director of Operations Richard Pucci provided a bit of background on the requirements from the province.
"At this point right now we're unsure how long we'll be doing this testing. So as the justification talks about, is that there was a unilateral re-permit on the site. So originally there was what was called a pollution control order on the site, the site was closed in 1991. But during COVID Ministry staff reviewed a lot of the closed permits and they reissued a permit that required the city to start some very rigorous programming and monitoring of that site. So it's in the order of about 96,000 to complete that, we've got a proposal to do it.
We are looking at working with the Ministry on finding a happy medium at that site possibly and also we've talked about other uses for that site as well. So at this point we're keeping it in operations and one day that may be reduced or removed"
Ms Bomben added some further notes on the topic outlining how the city plans to allocate spending towards the issue
"And I will just add, that because utilities are a self funding fund, utility fees pay for all aspects unless we can find a grant for it, so it's appropriate for us to be paying for this capital item out of utility fees"
Two items of note made for review for the current Ridley Island Access Road landfill site, with Council approving Capital spending for the closure of one land fill cell and the opening of a new one.
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Neither of those two items related to the Ridley Island Road landfill site generated any discussion or comment from the Council members.
Everything you may want to know about the landfill sites can be reviewed from the City's Video Archive page starting at the 23 minute mark.
Further background on the themes of landfill development can be reviewed from our Major Projects archive page.
Council members were energized at the prospect of two new Electric Charging stations for the community that were part of Monday's Capital Spending plans, with the topic generating a fair bit of conversation as part of the presentation earlier this week.
The 20,000 dollar project to be funded by surplus and a grant will see two Level Three charging stations placed at the Civic Centre and in the Cow Bay Area, a project we made note of in early November when the City announced an RFP for the twin sites.
The two locations for Level Two charging stations identified by the City in an RFP from November
To open the Monday afternoon review on the planned spending, Councillor Gurivnder Randhawa noted of the two spots that Public works plans to install in the community.
Councillor Nick Adey then expanded on the discussion to the topic asking a few questions of the Director of Operations Richard Pucci.
"My question is maybe out of curiousity more than anything else, because I think these things are important and I fully support them. I'm just wondering if we have some sense of the degree to which the one that exists is being used and what is the current demand - and there's a good one, a good pun - for additional charging stations. And I'll say about it, that I would be in support of them anyway because I think that it's certainly a forward looking initiative, but I'm just wondering about usage at the moment.
Towards the one referenced by Mr. Adey located across Mariner's Park, the Director of Operations noted he had no data on that station, observing how it was a BC Hydro installation.
"We actually don't have any data on the current usage of the one that's in town, that was provided by BC hydro that one. This is another one that is, I believe this is called Charge the North and this is the one where they're having installations all the way up Highway 16. We know there is a need for it in town there are more and more electric vehicles in town, so we're excited to put these in, but we don't have the data on how many people are using them daily"
Mr. Pucci's comments provided an opening for Mayor Lee Brain to join in on the topic recounting some of the background to the Charge North Program.
"That initiative Charge North, is ... the idea is to have every sixty kilometres a charging station from Haida Gwaii to Kamloops. So part of the grant that this is part of, is a bulk purchasing program that all the communities and Regional Districts across, six Regional districts are purchasing together to make sure that that network gets established. On top of the fact that BC Hydro is also doing Level Three chargers all across the north as well, in like rest stop areas, down in our community as well.
So the idea is that you will actually be able to drive from Prince Rupert to Vancouver without having to you know wait, it would take you four days now in an EV, hopefully it will take you a regular amount of time with this number of chargers in place."
In reply to a question from Councillor Randhawa as to what cost if any there will be any fees for the chargers the city has planned, Mr. Pucci noted that there would be no charge with the City to pay for the electrical cost.
The City's Chief Financial Officer Corinne Bomben followed up to explain that the city's two EV chargers would be of a lesser output that the BC Hydro version.
"These are small chargers, l'll just say that they are level two chargers they're not fast chargers, so as far as I understand it, it's just a little top up type charging. It's not ... the level three chargers like the one that BC Hydro had installed those are considered the rapid chargers, so and they can do a full charge"
The Mayor shared then some more notes on the difference between the chargers that will be in place in the community.
"The Three's are thirty minutes and the Level Two's could be up to four hours, but the Level Two's are not designed ... they're branded as Shop and Stops. So you go and you actually start charging and then you shop in the community that you're staying at there kind of waiting for their change to happen. So they're not necessarily designed for rapid, but to more promote tourism and to have access to chargers in the community"
You can take in the full tutorial from the Council Video Archive starting at the 43 minute mark.
We've reviewed some of the past work on the EV Charging station plans through our archive page here.
Stones at the ready for a toss at the PRCC (photo from PRCC FB page)
The 2021-22 season has seen it's first tournaments come and go and as the Holidays draw closer, there are only a few more stones to toss to the House before Prince Rupert's curlers take a break, with this Friday making for the final night of league curling until January.
The 70 members and counting of the Seal Cove club are set to take a few weeks off from December 18th to January 3rd before they pick up the brooms again and hit the ice.
If you've missed out on the start of the season, they are still looking for new teams and will be accepting applications from those with an interest in the New Year.
Club officials are also working on some of the 2022 Bonspiel plans with the RONA Mixed Bonspiel set for February 25 to 27 and the Marine Bonspiel marked on the calendar as March 11 to 13.
More renovation work continues inside the Seal Cove facility as well, with the Club installing two new furnaces to help with the ice/sheet conditions, the club features some photos of the work of installation through their Facebook page.
As they put a wrap on 2021 in the District of Port Edward, the Mayor and Council have some positive notes to relay for the early days of 2022 with a December update for residents that provides a snap shot of some projects set to get underway in the New Year.
District residents will soon have one less eyesore to view in the harbour with demolition work on the derelict barge Scotch Cap set to begin in early January. As we noted earlier this fall, the Prince Rupert Port Authority had put the project out for tender and is now ready to move forward on the work. The District also advises its residents that progress is moving forward towards remove of the second vessel Fairwinds, with discussions now under way among a range of participants and officials.
There will be no chorus of Auld Lang Syne for the Scotch Cap as the PRPA prepares for demolition work in Port Edward in early 2022
The Port is also busy in the District as well, with machinery currently working around the Skateboard Park in the community, that fo install a new air monitoring station. The installation will allow the Port to measure air quality in the District on a continuous basis. District officials note that the data that is compiled will be made public and that the District Council will be making the delivery of a report a requirement of the Port to allow for review by Port Edward residents.
Work on an air monitoring station (similar to above) in Port Edward is now underway near the community skateboard park
Plans for a community garden remain on hold, with hopes of a volunteer group picking up on the project in the new year to try and move the plans forward by the spring. Towards the initiative the District notes of their willingness to explore the use of municipal property for the garden. Council members are asking those in Port Edward with an interest in the creation of the community garden to get together to bring a proposal to Council.
The District also observes of continuing challenges for the municipal website, with new tech support hired to try and address the issues, they ask residents to pass on any glitches they may find or if they have any suggestions for improvement of the online portal to contact the Municipal office.
District of Port Edward officials are asking residents to repot any glitches that they may find with the District website which is being worked on
And like most communities across the province, the District has reviewed a draft capital budget for 2022, we looked at some of the potential capital works earlier this month. The Port Edward Council was to finalize the plans at their December 14th session, with projects to proceed in early January.
The District has also been keeping residents up to date on their Snow Removal work this snowy December, those notes for the community can be found from their Facebook page.
When it comes to the review of Covid case report data for the Northwest for the last week, the results are somewhat encouraging from those recorded just a few weeks ago.
That as a number of communities show a strong decline in the reported case counts of the last seven days.
Terrace leads the pack with just 26 cases recorded this week more than a fifty percent drop from the returns of last week.
Likewise, Kitimat saw a significant reduction, while most other communities held to the levels of last week or saw slight decreases from them.
Prince Rupert was among those, holding steady at eight cases recorded for the week of December 5 to 11.
The full review across the region for the week of December 5-11 from the BC CDC looks as follows:
Terrace -- 26 cases
Kitimat -- 8 cases
Upper Skeena -- 8 cases
Prince Rupert --8 cases Smithers -- 7 cases
Burns Lake -- 3 cases
Nechako --1 case Snow Country-Stikine- Telegraph Creek --1 case
Haida Gwaii -- N/A
Nisga'a Region -- N/A
Central Coast --N/A
Bella Coola Valley -- N/A
Wednesday's provincial report lists 31 new cases of COVID for Northern Health, with 217 Active cases.
Charts for British Columbia as a whole and for the Northern Health Region from the BC CDC for December 8 (click to enlarge)
Perhaps taking note of the volume of footprints in the snow heading off to the fairways, the Prince Rupert Golf Club is looking to share in the spirit of our recent snowfall, offering up hot coffee or hot chocolate this weekend for those using the Club's landscaping as Prince Ruperts Winter Wonderland.
In a post to their Social Media stream on Monday, the invite has been issued with the coffee and hot chocolate at the ready from 11 AM to 1PM on Saturday and Sunday at the Pro Shop.
The extended stay of this fall festival of snow (Winter officially does not arrive until Tuesday December 21st) has made the long down hill fairways a popular destination for sledders, with snowshoers and cross country skiers traversing the eighteen holes as part of a rare physical fitness regimen for Rupert.
There may even be some free powder on those runs by the weekend, with the Weather Network noting of the possibility of up to 5 cm of snow on Friday and Saturday, while the Daytime temperatures are perfect for a few runs down the hills.
For those who prefer the Golf Course in its more natural colours of Green and splashes of sunshine, the summer golf season is the focus for the Christmas one, with the Club House featuring a number of items of interest for Golfers or Santa's helpers in the community.
Follow the Prince Rupert Golf Club's Facebook page for updates on activities at the golf course during the offseason and for when it again opens to golfers.
More items of interest on the Prince Rupert Club and Course and golf across the Northwest can be found from our archive page.
