Mayor Ward Stamer of Barriere is proud of the community’s ‘win’ during the recent 2023 ParticiPaction Community Challenge, which has garnered the community the top provincial prize of $15,000 in B.C.
“Our Barriere representatives, Jamie Mosdell, Recreation Coordinator for the District of Barriere and Bob Payette, CAO for the DOB will be accepting the award for our community as being the best in B.C.”
Stamer told Black Press that council has approved the Simpcw Resource Group Trading Post project during the most recent District of Barriere council meeting.
The Louis Creek Industrial Park (LCIP) reservoir will be getting the final inspection and then it will be filled with water within the next two weeks. The mayor acknowledged the “optics” of construction water trucks filling in town, saying, “With regards to Dawson Construction working on the Dunn Lake Road improvements and water trucks being filled within the district, it’s really not that much water at this point. We plan to have the reservoir at the Louis Creek Industrial Park (LCIP) inspected and full soon. The water trucks are helping with the paving project and if we were in an emergency those trucks would be available immediately to assist. Within two weeks we will be at the industrial park with a full reservoir to accommodate those trucks and other needs instead of using water from town.”
Stamer is confident in the DOB preparedness with staff monitoring the wells and said that everything is running smoothly despite drought conditions. “We realize the river is getting low, but the ground water is still fine. We encourage residents to conserve water as much as they can. We are on standby, and staff has gone through multiple emergency drills, and we are ready in the event that something should occur. We hope that we don’t have to enact emergency measures but if we do, we are well prepared.”
The mayor is hopeful about meetings scheduled ahead with the provincial government ministries soon, “When we attend the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) in September in Vancouver we are looking forward to having serious discussions about highway safety, specifically dash cams, keeping weeds and grasses down alongside the highway as well as commitments from government for additional safety improvements such as more passing lanes, pull outs, and signage.”
