July started hot and sunny with fantastic celebrations at Prentice Park: music, markets, games, fireworks and a larger attendance than I’ve seen before of residents enjoying the day.

Months of planning culminated in dumpster painting Sunday, July 6th. Special thanks go to all artists that produced lovely artwork and also to organizers and volunteers of the event.

I greeted the Peace Runners at City Hall and Councillor McSkimming read the proclamation of Peace and drove around town with them in the Studebaker fire truck.

I attended Teck Communities of Interest meeting in Sparwood with representatives from all communities including Crowsnest Pass and CP Rail. Illegal trespassing of railway tracks is considered very serious by CP Police and tickets have been issued and monitoring will continue. Enforcement, education and environmental knowledge is needed. CP Police and the Dangerous Goods Manager are willing to meet with Councils, Police and Fire departments to provide information.

Teck was designated as a Best Corporate Citizen in Canada and is on the list of 100 most sustainable corporations in the world. Demand for steel-making coal grows but the market is in surplus right now. The strong Australian increase pushed down pricing and global supply is uneconomical at current prices but it is anticipated that more supply will come off the market. Coal price went as high as $300 a ton, now it hovers about $120.

Teck’s focus is on controlling costs to ensure that they remain competitive, they have reduced spending by 5%, keeping costs low so as to be ready when price rebounds to about $160.

CPR speaker said that 10% of all CP revenue comes from the five mines in this valley. Canada Transportation Act mandates CP to transport dangerous good and do it safely although if an incident happens CP is liable. New regulation has been put in place since the tragedy in Lac Megantic, but CP believes there are gaps. For instance, CP cannot randomly do drug testing on employees and they have outward facing cameras in engines but would like inward facing ones too.

The College of the Rockies manager was present and said that a childcare program will be offered and a course at the Fernie Campus for childhood workers that will lead to a licence. Courses are subsidised by the government.

A meeting was held of the CBT Community Directed Funds with three proposals being discussed. It is difficult to find one project that fits all of the criteria set out in this committee but the committee is working on this.

The Guinness World Record for a Yoga line wasn’t broken in Fernie, however, kudos go to the organizers for putting on a most amazing event. Music, fire dancing, children’s games, opportunities for doing all kinds of yoga practice and the Yoga Line. The day was extremely hot and discouraged many as it was difficult to sit on a mat on the road for nearly two hours. Thanks to all volunteers that put this on.

In an effort to secure the railway crossing promised some time ago, the City has taken traffic counts of both 13th and Mt. McLean Road. “Current CP train counts are now closing in on 20 trains per day which is on the high end or range of trains volumes per day, this number is also subject to seasonal fluctuations for the various commodities and markets so it could range between 15 and 20 trains per day.” It was further said that the crossing falls short to achieving any of the warrants for adding gates. This is a necessity and so will continue to be pursued.

On August 22 at 11:00am, Council will join other municipalities in the unveiling of 100 plaques simultaneously to recall Canada’s first national interment operations and historic injustice. This is at Dogwood Park as that is where the internment camp was in Fernie.

A teleconference was held with BCEHS Resource Allocation Plan to discuss changes made province wide to delivery of services. Changes impact First Responder services in our community but Council was adamant that for the “highest level of care that our local first responders are capable of providing, we intend to retain the existing FFR emergency medical response protocol and not downgrade the response mode to match the new RAP.” Our FFR are trained to deliver management care in the critical first moments.

BCAS ambulance service in Fernie provides two ambulances 24/7, year round. Ambulance #1 is called the Day Station Car and is capable of responses within 90 seconds of initial time of call. #2 is called the Day Pager Car and is capable of responses within 15 minutes of initial call time. Based on RAP changes there will be longer waiting times for emergency responses. To the person in distress, every minute is of utmost importance.

A meeting was held with Urban Systems to discuss the Development Cost Charge Update they are currently working on. Council made a motion to amend the bylaw by adding DCC’s to be paid at issuance of building permit.

Vendors hours of operation and siting was also discussed. It was decided to leave the hours of operations for the mobile street vendors the same as under the existing bylaw. The location of where they are to operate will be changed, they will now be allowed on the east side of 2nd avenue between 7 and 9 streets. This motion was defeated in a subsequent meeting until a task force is organized to study this issue.

Council regularly gets requests to assist with events in town by providing street closures, chairs, tables etc. Council can make motions to allow for assistance when staff cannot. Please know that whenever assistance is required, the proper process is to get on the agenda and provide information to council so that a decision can be made.

Notice has been sent to three properties to inform that if they don’t clean up their unsightly yards the City will do it and they will be charged. This notice comes after many attempts at getting the owners to clean their properties.

Longtime museum curator Mike Pennock has retired. Congratulations Mike and sincere thanks for all of your contributions. The Museum and Miners Walk wouldn’t have been accomplished without you. Your generosity of time, knowledge and energy towards individuals and organizations in this town as well as the many visitors will never be forgotten.