Skip to content

BID building could become a radio station

BID building could become a radio station The District of Barriere’s Nov. 7 council meeting

The District of Barriere’s Nov. 7 council meeting started with a petition from Steve Shannon regarding renting the old Barriere Improvement District (BID) building for a Radio Station.

Shannon asked that the District consider ‘trading’ the rental fee (not including utilities) for advertising minutes.  He said he would be hoping for a 10 year lease.

Shannon will put together an official request, with help from District staff, and it will be voted on at the next council meeting.

Council members passed the first reading of the District of Barriere Cemetery Bylaw #83, and expressed their thanks to the Cemetery Committee for their hard work in preparing the document.

Council members also passed the second and third readings of the OCP Bylaw #85.

Staff members brought forward a recommendation that the District office be closed on Dec. 28, 29, and 30, for the holidays, and that the regular council meetings in January be moved to Jan. 9 and 23.  Council passed a motion to accept the recommendations.

Colleen Hannigan, CAO, reported on the status of several projects.  The documents for the water meter project are in the process of being signed; the storage area for the meters has been cleared, and the project should get underway in the next couple of weeks.

The cost for the Land Exchange with School District #73 for the EcoPark will be put forward to the 2012 budget deliberations.  The surveyor has quoted a cost of $5,200 to transfer the lands.

The District of Barriere is now the proud owner of barriere.ca as well as barriere.bc.ca and barrierebc.ca.  Staff will now work with the internet provider to begin the process of changing over the website address and all email addresses to @barriere.ca.  During the transition period and beyond, both districtofbarriere.com and barriere.ca email addresses will work as they will be tied together.  All new business cards that are printed will reflect the new email address and website address, although the old ones will still work.

A lot of work has been completed at the parks concession, including the new lighting at the front and back of the building.  New siding to match the fieldhouse will be completed in the spring.

Plans for improving the parking at the District office (the Ridge) are underway to provide safe parking on site for events and busier days.  The plan is to add approximately a dozen more parking spaces.

The stop sign at Barriere Lakes Road where it meets Dunn Lake Road and Barriere Town Road has been upgraded one size, after several complaints about people not stopping.  Hopefully the larger sign will be more visible and motorists will stop.

Council members voted to award this year’s snow removal and sanding contract to Tri-Service Contracting.

Mayor Fennell reported that a resolution put forward by the District of Barriere was endorsed by the Union of BC Municipalities at their 2011 Convention.  The resolution was regarding Rural Dividends: “Therefore be it resolved that the provincial government be requested to develop a program that would provide additional financial and capacity building resources to communities by returning a fair share of the revenue created by resource industry activity in their respective regions.”  This resolution and others that were endorsed by the UBCM will now be brought forward to the next level.

Council then asked if there were any questions or comments from the public.

Bill Kershaw asked for a status report on the Louis Creek industrial park.  Mayor Fennell replied that one last approval has to come in from the various parties involved, which should be in the very near future, at which time the land will be officially part of Barriere, (all the other approvals required have been received).

The next general District of Barriere council meeting will be on Nov. 21, at 7 p.m.