City Hall and Council don’t stop work during the summer months, so August passed quickly filled with the usual appointments, events and meetings.

I’d like to welcome Staff Sergeant Lorne Craig back as he was missed while filling in at Cranbrook for the past nineteen months. In his absence, thanks go to Sgt. Will Thien who did a great job for the Elk Valley. Welcome also to new constables recently relocated to this area.

The Salvation Army opened their new thrift shop so congratulations go to Majors Hagglund for the attractive space. The free Wapiti Thursday concert was truly wonderful and of course kudos to the Wapiti team for another monster musical hit.

The Parkland group that organized the Dr. East and Mary park dedication spearheaded by Tara Beck, Dawn Voysey, Ellen McCauley and Bruce Elson. It was a wonderful event attended by many people. Kudos to the Library organizers for a most amazing kid’s festival, hundreds of children participated in the fun event that had a myriad of interesting activities.

I need to thank organizers and volunteers of the Sunday and Wednesday Socials and the Mountain Market and all special events held. These activities kept our town wonderfully vibrant all summer long.

A new plaque dedication was held at the site of the internment area, with attendance by visiting mayors and relatives of those that had been detained. This was to commemorate 100 years since this had occurred.

I also attended the first Elk Valley hospital baby registration festival that provided much information on what the Obstetrical team offers such as “5 female physicians who combined have over 80 years’ experience and have delivered close to 1,500 babies. The operative service offers 3 anaesthetists, 2 surgeons offering C-section capabilities and several specialty trained nurses with countless years of experience. This community also offer private doula support and post-delivery breast feeding education and a home visit from a public health nurse to answer any questions you may have after your baby is born.”

I met with Dr. Halpenny, Board Chair Embree and others from IH to complain about some issues. I was told that “When Dr. Nalley retires if the hospital is unable to fill the position in the same way as Dr. Nalley works, the OR will close.” I don’t believe this is on the horizon anytime soon but when it does happen, I responded that Fernie will not take this quietly and that people will object to not having an available operating room with the influx of visitors in winter and five mines in close proximity. This is understood but still it is IH’s plan. I brought up other items of interest and was reassured that some of the items would be addressed.

Kudos go to the organizers of the Kids Triathlon and to the organizers of the Wam Bam Dirt Bike Jam. I attended both and it was wonderful to see so many kids and family members.

The James White ball field will be remediated by the end of September and that is good news for those who believed this field wouldn’t be available for next year. Government wheels move slowly at all levels and as much as Council would have preferred to have seen this field ready earlier there are processes that have to be followed that take time.

The bylaw officer has been ticketing for infractions and the public isn’t happy. However, after constant complaints that the City doesn’t enforce bylaws, this is now being done. Please don’t be upset with the bylaw officer as he is only doing his job of daily patrols on streets, bike patrols in parks and trails, animal control, business licensing management and also coordinating bylaw enforcement action with other departments in the City.

The City held an open house regarding Development Cost Charges as an amendment was made to when payment will be made and also this bylaw is being studied for other changes.

A modification has been made in realignment of the role of the emergency program coordinator from the director of corporate administration to Fire Chief Ted Ruiter as this falls more in line with Fire Services. Congratulations go to Lieutenant Tom Hopkins who has been awarded the position of Fire Prevention Officer and to auxiliary fire fighter Bruce Nelson as the next career member. These changes are due to Dave Kurscheska’s retirement at the end of this year. Dave has been a phenomenal member of the Fire Department and although has earned his retirement will be sorely missed.

A partnering agreement between Shaw and the City of Fernie will provide the general public complimentary guest access to the Shaw Go Wi-Fi cloud for a five year term in the downtown area and public facilities.

At the Regional District Board meeting I voted in favour of sharing the costs of a Koocanusa transfer bin with Central subregion as this was supported unanimously by Council. This cost is based on assessed value to provide users of the area a place to leave their garbage. This still hasn’t been ratified as other mayors in the Elk Valley haven’t yet agreed; this idea came about due to the excess garbage left behind this past year.

Councillor Macnair has been appointed to the Cemetery committee to replace Councillor Krats who has moved. At the last meeting, there was still no discussion as to what kind of monument/commemoration should be planned by the committee who say they need to do more research.

The City had Legal do a title search that clearly states that on “May 25, 1973 lot 1 plan 8614 acquired by School District No 1 owned by Crows Nest Industries.” T

he results of the ground penetrating radar have come in and are being studied by an archeologist and will be made public as soon as a report is provided. This is something that this Council has wanted to take on as it would have been very easy to ignore the issue as was done in the past.

Unfortunately, as the old saying goes, “No good deed goes unpunished” so Council is taking the brunt of misinformation being put forward by people that are only hearing what they want to hear instead of coming to City Hall and asking about what is actually being done. If they did, they would discover that an incredible amount of time and effort and funding has been put into this one issue and all because Staff and Council care.