THE FRIDAY
2010 WINNER
MAY 6, 2011 www.tricitynews.com
TRI-CITY NEWS Election aftermath
Wheeling to give back
SEE FACE TO FACE, PAGE A11
SEE PAGE A12
INSIDE Things-to-do Guide/A17 Green Scene/A18 Your History/A20 Sports/A37
There’s fitness and there’s FireFit-ness, as local smoke-eaters find out: page A7
LEFT: CRAIG HODGE/THE TRI-CITY NEWS; RIGHT: TRI-CITY NEWS FILE PHOTO
Craig Stewart (left) is one of the organizers of the FireFit Challenge being held tomorrow in the parking lot at Coquitlam Centre mall. Competitors from across the country will be on hand to take on an obstacle course while dressed in full turnout gear and carrying, at various times, fire hoses full of water and a 165 lb. dummy. For more on the competition, see article on page A7.
Bigger budget carries risks SD43 board approves new spending in hopes of getting more provincial money By Diane Strandberg THE TRI-CITY
It was an uncharacteristically subdued board of education that approved $9 million in new spending for teachers, support workers, new programs and a beefed up internet system. Tuesday night, the School District 43 board of education gave the nod to spending hikes in preparation for a new budget bylaw worth nearly $250 million that trustees will likely pass May 10. The funding enhancements come after years of wringing supply budgets and the staff development department dry for money to pay for salaries as well as hikes to utilities and premiums. Thanks to a $6-million infusion from the province to cover increased enrolment, mostly from full-day kindergarten, the district will hire dozens of new teachers and support workers. see WITHOUT BUDGETED GRANTS, GRANTS, page A3
Fire hall on front burner after controversial vote Mayor forms new committee to look at new options for replacing PoMo fire hall By Todd Coyne THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Port Moody’s new No. 1 fire hall will be built on schedule and well under its voterapproved $16-million budget, the city’s mayor promised. And Joe Trasolini picked a select committee Tuesday tasked with ensuring the construction of the hall moves forward after hitting political stumbling blocks last week. The three-member committee was chosen at a special meeting of council follow- JOE TRASOLINI ing the previous week’s eleventh-hour defeat of a bylaw to allow borrowing of up to $16 million to begin construction on a building that’s considered unsafe in case of an earthquake.
That’s PoCo’s $764 4,000 budget surplus. What could it be spent on? See page A6 Coun. Karen Rockwell was picked to chair the fire hall task force and is joined by councillors Gerry Nuttall and Meghan Lahti as well as by two members of the Port Moody Fire Department who will serve as non-voting advisors. Those three councillors and Trasolini voted against the borrowing bylaw last week while councillors Mike Clay and Bob Elliott voted for it (Coun. Diana Dilworth was absent). Trasolini told The Tri-City Newss on Wednesday the committee was directed to look at: • new designs and locations for the hall, supplanting the spacious, three-storey proposal for the current site at Ioco Road and Murray Street; see SMALLER HALL POSSIBLE, POSSIBLE, page A4