Merritt Herald - November 21, 2013

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MERRITT HERALD FREE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS

A CINEMATIC ACHIEVEMENT Members of the Merritt Community Cinema Society accepted a $12,000 donation from the Rotary Club of Merritt – Sunrise on Tuesday at the site of Merritt’s future movie theatre. The society recently purchased the property downtown and will soon get to work on fundraising about $5 million for the four-bay theatre. (From left) Merritt Community Cinema Society members Patty Beers, Jack Polmans, Clara Norgaard, and Kurt Christopherson; Rotary Club of Merritt — Sunrise president Sue Sterling; and Cinema Society members Rich Hodson and David Brown. Emily Wessel/Herald

Merritt, Nicola Valley tourism plan unveiled By Michael Potestio THE HERALD

reporter@merrittherald.com

A draft of the Destination British Columbia Tourism Plan for Merritt and the Nicola Valley went to Merritt city council at its last regular meeting on Nov. 12. Simone Carlysle-Smith from the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) requested council accept the plan as a guiding document. The 71-page tourism plan calls for initiatives such as a new imagery inventory pilot project between the City of Merritt and TOTA for

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seasonal photo shoots of the Nicola Valley. It also includes an initiative to encourage implementing a plan to build a new Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. Establishing a valley-wide task force that could work with the City of Merritt’s signage committee on documenting, auditing and prioritizing signage improvements is suggested in the plan. Expanding the existing festivals in Merritt or creating new festivals with a focus on supporting the Country Music Capital theme and working with TOTA and

Aboriginal Tourism BC to develop an aboriginal tourism plan and develop more aboriginal experiences in the Nicola Valley are specified as well. The plan pointed out prominent themes of the area that can be used to drive tourism initiatives, including western heritage and cowboys, First Nations communities and Merritt’s designation as the Country Music Capital of Canada. The plan lists Merritt and the Nicola Valley’s target markets as visiting friends and relatives, and people seeking outdoor recreation such as

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hiking, biking and fishing. Small meetings and conferences for business travellers and the valley’s western culture also bring people here, the plan states. Merritt Mayor Susan Roline told the Herald the plan could come up for adoption as early as the next council meeting. If the plan is accepted by council, they will commit themselves to working with the plan, Roline said. Firehall drawing fees coming from budget Merritt city council voted unanimously to abandon

a borrowing bylaw for the architectural drawing fees for the Merritt fire hall at its last regular meeting. The bylaw would’ve seen the city borrow $165,000 from the Municipal Finance Authority (MFA) to fund the architectural fees for the two-phase expansion project. Now, the City of Merritt plans to fund the architectural fees internally from reserve funds for future expenditures, financial services manager Ken Ostraat told council. Back in June, council approved the first three readings on the borrowing bylaw for the $165,000.

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“Since the bylaw received first three readings, it’s sitting on the books right now, unfinished. Staff are recommending that we abandon that bylaw and then have it taken off the books,” Ostraat said. Ostraat told council that although borrowing the money seemed like a good idea at the time, upon advice from the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, staff decided not to go through with it. The amount they intended to borrow was too small to go through an MFA long-term loan, Ostraat said.

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