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Friday, January 30, 2015
Legal costs, severance kibosh zero increase ANDREA RONDEAU CITIZEN
Jamison Kolodinsky rides the coping along one of the steep edges of the main bowl at the new Chemainus Skate Park in brilliant sunshine Wednesday. Even before the official opening, youths are flocking to the facility. [LEXI BAINAS/CITIZEN]
Much-delayed skate park opens LEXI BAINAS CITIZEN
The long-awaited Chemainus Skate Park is now open. The 7,500-square-foot park was created to accommodate BMX bikes, scooters, in-line skates, skateboards, and users of all ability levels. The skate park is made up of a combination of street-style terrain — features found in urban landscapes such as railings, stairs, and ledges — and traditional skate park features, with names familiar
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to users, such as banks, pockets, and hips. “The park was finished two months ahead of schedule, and we couldn’t hold back the users. As soon as the concrete was dry, they were in,” said North Cowichan Mayor Jon Lefebure. New Line Skateparks Inc. did the construction, and the project came within the budget of $350,000. The idea for the park was first brought to council in 1997, by Sgt. Don Butler, then officer in charge of the RCMP detachment.
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He proposed a park as a means of enhancing public safety and providing youth with recreation options and they were certainly out enjoying it during this week’s sunny weather. North Cowichan will host a grand opening at the park, which is located at 2970 Severne St. (the site of the former Chemainus Elementary School right behind Chemainus Secondary School) at 3 p.m. on Friday, March 6. The event will include a ribbon cutting, demos, and vendors.
Of nine regional budgets presented to Cowichan Valley Regional District directors Wednesday, seven of them came in with a zero per cent increase in cost, and only one came in with a significant increase. Mark Kueber, corporate services manager, apprised the Regional Services Committee, which is made up of the members of the CVRD board, that in accordance with the board’s direction to staff last July, each budget was made with the goal of a zero per cent increase. Several large items in the general government budget made that goal “unreachable”, Kueber said, leading to an increase in requisition of $759,802. The items in question included a $135,000 grant the CVRD has received in the past that they have not gotten a commitment on yet this year, so that amount has not been included in the budget, he said, and legal costs in
the ongoing fight against South Island Aggregates importing contaminated soil to their site in the Shawnigan Lake watershed came in at more than $460,000 — significantly more than had been budgeted. The CVRD is also still paying out part of a healthy severance package, which Kueber described as the highest he’s ever seen in his 20 years with the CVRD, to former CAO Warren Jones. The other budget that came in over zero per cent was for the Kinsol Trestle, where the CVRD will increase the requisition by $8,839 for extensive maintenance work that is expected to take place in 2015. Kueber pointed out that the lion’s share of the money for that work, $85,000, is being raised through donations. He also said there is some concern that while the Emergency 911 budget met the zero per cent increase this year, it was due to a transfer of funds from reserves. See ZERO PER CENT, Page 12
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