Industrial protection
Port CEO advocating for new kind of land reserve
3
Out of truck
Delays at ports prompting truckers to walk off job
6
Playing the market Fear and greed can prove costly to investors
14
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Bantam hockey team falls to winter club powerhouse
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Centre remains partially closed Pools open but arena still off limits after stucco façade at rear of Ladner Leisure Centre falls to the ground BY
JESSICA KERR
jkerr@delta-optimist.com
Half of the Ladner Leisure Centre will remain closed until further notice as crews work to assess and repair a wall damaged last week. At about 10:30 a.m. last Thursday, a significant part of the stucco façade came away from the wall on the east side of the 40-year-old building, said Delta’s chief administrative officer, George Harvie. He said stucco fell after the anchoring system that held the façade to the wall failed. No one was injured and staff and patrons were evacuated from the centre. The weight room, cycle-fit studio, ice arena and rear parking lot remain closed until further notice. The customer service area and all pools are still open. Delta staff is working with sport user groups affected by the temporary arena closure to make alternate arrangements and a meeting was planned for Wednesday evening to update groups on the process and estimated timeline for repairs and re-opening.
The arena, weight room, cycle-fit studio and rear parking lot remain closed at the Ladner Leisure Centre. The Delta Ice Hawks, who are in the first round of the Pacific Junior Hockey League playoffs
against the North Vancouver Wolfpack, had to move last night’s home game to North Delta’s
Sungod Arena. A structural engineering firm has been retained and work began
PHOTO BY
GORD GOBLE
over the weekend to assess the building envelope as well as demolish and stabilize the façade.
Municipal politicians vote themselves modest salary increases BY
SANDOR GYARMATI
sgyarmati@delta-optimist.com
Delta council members have voted to give themselves a modest pay hike. The civic politicians voted in favour Monday of a staff report recommending Mayor Lois Jackson’s annual salary increase
by almost three per cent, jumping from $110,653 to $113,832. The councillors will see their remuneration rise by just over two per cent, from $47,653 to $48,734. All raises are effective Jan. 1, 2014. Council’s last pay increase was in 2012. For years Delta has calculated
council salaries based on a comparison of four Metro Vancouver municipalities that are supposed to have similar populations: Coquitlam, Richmond, Township of Langley and District of North Vancouver. The salaries of Delta’s mayor and councillors are set at the average of those four municipalities.
The current Delta remuneration rate had fallen below that average, so the raise recommendation was brought forward. They’ll also see their benefits package increased. Six years ago, in 2008, the mayor’s salary was $88,451, while councillors earned $36,295. Civic politicians argue they
carry a heavier workload than their counterparts elsewhere in the region. The report from staff once again brought up the fact Delta is the largest municipality in the province that continues to employ a mayor and six councillors. It’s normal practice for municipalities with populations over 50,000 to have eight councillors.