Thursday, November 12, 2009

Dryden New School

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board should know by next month whether it will be able to proceed with a new elementary school in Dryden.

Superintendant of Business Dean Carrie says they have been meeting with the contractor who submitted the orginal tender to build the school to find areaswhere they can reduce costs.

He says if Ministry of Education approves the new costs for construction,then they will bring the
tender to trustees for approval at their December meeting.

The project would start in the spring at the earliest.

The board rejected the initially tender back in June because it came in well above the funding they had available for the project.

School Property sold to City

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board says its willing to sell a small parcel of land to the City of Kenora for one dollar.

The city had requested a 30 meter wide strip of land to help develop an urban trail system in the area.

In order to sell the property however, the public school board had to declare the property surplus and now has to offer its to other agencies, before it can formallysell it to the city.

The property runs along side Laurenson's Creek and is just outside the fencing surroundingKing George School.

All Day Kindergarten

The Keewatin Patricia District School Board will swear in a new nativetrustee next month.

Mary Anne Katchemonia from Eagle Lake First Nation was the only personto submit an application for the position.

Chair of the public school board, Dave Penney says they sent letters toevery first nation that they have tuition agreements with, asking fornominations.

He adds that they did receive two nominations that came after theirdeadline, so trustees agreed to appoint the Eagle Lake resident to theboard.

Snowmobile Registration

The City of Kenora's snowmobile and ATV committee is asking for council's support for proposed changes to the provincial trail permit system.

The committee wants the Ministry of Transportation to introduce snowmobile registration fees for District 17 of the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs.

Councillor Wendy Cuthbert says the fees would do away with the trail permitting system.

The registration fees would be forwarded to the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs to be dispersed among District 17 snowmobile clubs to cover the cost of maintaining trails.

District 17 includes the communities of Kashabowie west to Thunder Bay and the Manitoba Border.

CAO Job Posting

The City of Kenora will soon have a vacancy for its Chief Administrative Officer.

Bill Presentanz has announced to council that he plans to step down next year.

Presentanz says he wanted to give the city lots of time to find a good replacement.

Presentanz is planning to retire before the new council is sworn in next fall.

He says they will post the job sometime before Christmas and hope to hire someone by next August.

Funding for Police Stations

Five remote communities in the Kenora Riding will be getting new police detachments thanks to a 20 million dollar announcement from the federal and provincial levels of government.

Cat Lake, Kasabonika, Wunnimun Lake, Pikangikum and Webequie will get anywhere from 1.3 to four million dollars for new construction.

Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle says the announcement comes as a result of recommendations into a coronor's inquest into the death of two inmates on the Kashechewan First Nation.

A total of 12 communities will receive funding for new police detachments,including seven served by the Nishinabe-Aski Police Service.

Jack Pine Budworm Infestation

The Ministry of Natural Resources says a jackpine budworm infestation inthe Kenora and Rainy River Districts over the past few years could pose a severe forest fire hazard in the next few years.

The MNR says in some areas, 90 to 100 percent of the jack pines have been killed off and are becoming an issue for fire crews.

Wildlife biologist, Scott Lockhart says the Auleneau Peninsula in Lake ofthe Woods has been particularly hard hit.

The MNR has been meeting with local municipalities to make them aware of the potential fire hazard and how they might need to respond if a major forest fire broke out in the region.

Rafferty on HST

Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP John Rafferty says there's still time to stop the harmonization of the provincial sales tax with the GST in Ontario.

Rafferty says it can be halted in the House of
Commons.

Rafferty says he's planning to tour the province in the new year as part of a campaign against the HST.