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MERRITT HERALD FREE
THURSDAY, THURSD DA AY Y, D DE DECEMBER ECEMBER 3, 2015 • M MERRITT ER E RRIIT RRI TT TN NEWSPAPERS EWSPAPERS
A VERY Merritt CHRISTMAS Merritt Country Christmas 2015 brought in the holiday season in style, and the Herald was there to document the dancing, music, parade and goodies. See pages 2-3 David Dyck/Herald CITY BEAT
RIDING REDESIGN
Two down, one to go Merritt won’t lose in riding shift, says Tegart Michael Potestio THE MERRITT HERALD
David Dyck THE MERRITT HERALD
The city has filled two of the three vacant MLA Jackie Tegart said she’s ready to represent administrative positions at city hall. whoever is in her riding as and roads. Starting in the new year, “I’ll say it’s the largest job what’s old is new again in Sasha Bird will take the in the city, and that was my reins as the new director of Fraser-Nicola. engineering and development — a position formerly known as the manager of public works — and Will George will take the business and economic development manager title. “We’re on the upswing,” an optimistic Merritt CAO Sean Boven told the Herald Tuesday afternoon. “Things are looking good.” Bird brings close to 20 years of experience to the chair Boven left to take the CAO position back in August. She’ll be responsible for things like water, sewer
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old job, one that I’m very fond of.” Boven has been managing the department in the meantime, along with his CAO duties. Bird is set to begin in February. “We were looking for the right person, the right fit for the community and for the team that we’re putting together at city hall,” said Boven. “She fit the bill perfectly.” George currently works as the economic development officer for the Village of Lytton, Boven said.
See ‘Corporate’ Page 5
Changes to the provincial electoral districts via Bill 42 (the electoral districts act) has added the town of Hope to the Fraser-Nicola riding, removing it from the Chilliwack riding. Additionally, Princeton has been bumped from the local electoral district and added to the Boundary-Similkameen riding. Fraser-Nicola has included Hope before, as up until the 2009 election Hope and Merritt were included in the former Yale-Lillooet riding. Tegart said she doesn’t think the addition of Hope — a Merritt-sized city — will shift any attention away from the Nicola Valley in the provincial riding. “Location, I think, is not as impor-
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tant as it used to be, and the communication links that we have throughout the riding makes everyone accessible,” Tegart said. The MLA said that while its sad to see Princeton leave the riding, she’s eager to meet with people in Hope and build a relationship with that community. The change to Fraser-Nicola is part of the BC Electoral Boundaries Commission’s report, which recommended the creation of two more electoral districts — one in Surrey and the other in Richmond-New Westminster — and a reworking of other ridings to address population imbalances.
“The commission was looking at numbers,” Tegart said of the change to Fraser-Nicola, adding that, to her understanding, the population of the riding hasn’t changed by much. The riding has approximately 22,000 people, she said. There is a wide range of populations to be represented by a single MLA with the new ridings. The lowest populations are Stikine with 20,616 and North Coast with 22,382. The highest are Vernon-Monashee, Vancouver-Fraserview and VancouverKingsway, all with more than 62,000
See ‘Two new’ Page 5
What’s going on with the
CENTS? The team’s recent performances are nothing less than bewildering.
/ Page 25
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