Friday, December 11, 2009

Sewage Treatment

Its going to cost a bit more than expected to install and ultra-violet treatment system at the city's sewage treatment plant.

Council has been asked for an additional 100 thousand dollars for the project.

Councillor Dave McCann says new regulations require the city to eliminate the discharge of chlorine into the Winnipeg River from the treatment plant.

He says the plant was never designed to house a U.V. treatment plant, so they need the extra money to cover the cost of additions and changes to the scope of the project.

The city is spending about 1.4 million dollars on the upgrades.

Long Term Parking

Kenora City Council is having second thoughts about allowing parking along the south side of Lakeview Drive along the Greenbelt.

Initially council agreed that the additional 30 parking spaces could be used for people who use the south parking lot on the Harborfront for long term parking.

A number of spaces will disappear next summer, because the city plans toset up the big tent in the parking lot again.

But mayor Len Compton says allowing people to park on Lakeview Drive will create too much congestion.

The Operations department has been asked to come up with another plan for parking next summer.

Family Day Rec. Centre

Kenora City council has given tentative approval for the Rec. Center toopen on Family day next year.

Initially council wanted to wait until the 2010 budget was finalized beforeagreeing to open the facility on the statutory holiday.

But councillor Chris Van Wallenghem says due to staffing and bookingreasons, they wanted to get a committment from the city sooner ratherthan later.

He adds the Rec. Center will be open for eight hours on February 15th, from 8:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon.

Council Committee Changes

Kenora's newest city councillor has taken on some new duties.

Jim Parson's will represent council on the Board of the Northwestern Health Unit.

Parson replaces Charito Drinkwalter, who resigned this past week.

She says that the demands of her job made it very difficult to get toall the Health Unit meetings, because they require a lot of travel.

Council Rec Facilities

A long awaited report on Kenora's recreational facilities will be unveiled next week.

The city hired a consultant to review local recreation facilities and programs and recommend ways of reducing operating costs and increasing revenues.

Recreation Services co-ordinator for the city Colleen Neil saysthe report is still in its draft stages and the public can comment onit during a final public meeting on Thursday.

The consultants will also be making a presentation on the draft report on Monday.

Hampton on Second Career

Kenora-Rainy River M-P-P Howard Hampton says a change in the eligibility criteria to access the provincial retraining program Second Career will prohibit many from participating.

Hampton says the changes announced in November would drastically limit the 130 individuals now participating in the program through Northern Community Development Services.

Universities and Colleges Minister John Milloy says the changes announced in November will actually lead to an additional 8-thousand people across the province being now eligible for Second Career.

Library Budget

The Kenora Public Library says its still plays a crucial role in the community despite the emergence of new technologies.

Erin Roussin is the head librarian and says they have seen an increase in demand for their services during this economic downturn.

The Library Board has requested an additional 50 thousand dollars from city council in 2010 to cover their costs.

Last year, the city provided just over a half a million dollars to the library for its annual grant.

New School Dryden

It took longer then expected, but the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board is almost ready to move ahead with construction of a new Elementary School in Dryden.

Superintendent of Business Dean Carrie says they expect to get final Provincial approval shortly after finding 830-thousand dollars in savings.

The Public Board has awarded the contract to Thunder Bay Based Finnway General Contractors.

Green Schools Project

The Keewatin Patricia District School Board is on the receiving end of Provincial Funding.

The McGuinty Government has awarded funding to the public board under its Green Schools Pilot Initiative.

Superintendent of Business Dean Carrie says they're lucky to be involved in the project.

A solar system will be installed at King George school in Kenora, and a Solar Wall PV Thermal system will be put in place at Ear Falls school.

The KPDSB is working with the lead boards on the project to ensure the installations are operational no later than next September.