A: -piece of mail, from the Cariboo . sparked considerable debate among directors at a meeting of the Kitimat-Stikine. -. Regional district board Sept. 16. Quesnel mayor Michael

- . Pearce is soliciting the support

of municipal:.councils and re-. ‘gional district ‘boards through--

out the province to. petition:

against the federal government’s

nine percent Goods and Services ° - Tax. According to Pearce, most

municipalities“agree that both the Union of B.C. Municipali-

ties and the Federation of Cana-

dian Municipalities should mon- itor the potential effects of the proposal. and be prepared “to ‘oppose anything that will nega- tively affect Canadian munici- _palities and their citizens. ‘Further to that, Pearce says that. many boards and councils

“have said the proposed tax.

_ should be scrapped altogether | - and that the federal government should be reducing rather.than increasing spending and taxa- tion. In light of this, Pearce asks councils, boards or their individ- ual members to sign.a petition requesting. that the federal gov- ernment abandon their pro-

posed Goods and Services Tax

and consider other means for reducing the deficit — primarily through decreasing government spending. ~ ~~ * " The Regional District of Kiti- mat-Stikine has voted, with ‘ some opposition, to endorse the Quesnel petition but Terrace city council has not. At their Sept. 11 - meeting, council entered into lit- - tle discussion . before. simply receiving. Pearce’s' letter for in- formation only. At the regional district level, however, there was considerable discussion.

The stage was set by a motion from Kitimat director John Le- Sage supporting the motion, to which board chairman Jack Tal- stra replied in surprise, ‘You - guys want to support that?’’ He explained later in the discussion that he believed the federal gov- ‘ ernment would simply come up with a different plan if they were forced to scrap their proposed tax but at the same time admit- ted that a new proposal could be better than the present one. Tal- stra also pointed out that only one premier, Bill Vander Zalm, was lobbying for a 15 percent cut in federal spending as an alternative to the new tax.

Stewart director, Andy Bur-.

ton. said that he, like most

people, doesn’t like paying taxes of any sort, He added, however, “The bottom line is, if you want the services you have to pay for them... It’s a very complex is- ue.”” He pointed out that a similar tax in New Zealand was

working and in response to fed-

eral spending suggested, ‘“We should look a little closer to home first.’’

Terrace director Bob Cooper also opposed the motion. but only in part. He said he felt the

_- proposed nine-percent ‘tax rate

. will be too high byt at tbe same

time -believed there is “some |. OA.

balancing going on’? and: the nine peicent may be negotiable in order to make the tax accept-

_ able..In some cases, he sald, the .

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Tax gets two strong” ‘supporters on. n board —

price .of . manufactured goods would drop. For these reasons,

ment’s proposal thrown out.

Other directors, however, were in.favor of endorsing the petition. and: having the tax scrapped. One point brought up

by Les Watmough was the fact

that American tourists would be able to purchase Canadian goods at a lower cost than Cana- dians. All they have to do, he explained, was save their re- ceipts and mail them in for a refund, This quirk in the pro- posed tax law was. confirmed by

stra, -.

"Harry Nyce, representing the Nass Valley, pointed to a more

-obvious problem, If the tax is -

imposed, he said, everyone is going to have to ‘“‘catch yp”’. Industry, manufacturers and

unions will all be looking for

more money to cover higher

Referred to

The following items“were re- ferred to committee by Terrace city council Monday night and

may be. discussed at the next:

committee meeting. The general

-public may attend committee _meetings with the exception of ‘cases where the agenda contains

property or personnel items. For more information contact

‘Denise Fisher at 635-6311.

(Note: dates or times may be changed for the convenience of committee members.)

Finance, Personnel and Ad- ministration, Tuesday, Oct. 3 at 12 p.m, (1) A report from the executive of the Terrace and District Chamber of Commerce which concludes that Sunday shopping in Terrace has great economic benefit and asks that council not pursue adopting a bylaw which ‘would’ regulate Sunday business hours.

Planning and Public Works,

Wednesday Oct. 4 at 1 p.m. (1)

A letter from Terrace resident Bob Jackman asking council to address commercial traffic

-problems on Medeek Ave. and _Kenney St. Jackman asks that.

council consider rerouting com- mercial traffic from Medeek to Braun and Keith, change the stop signs at the Keith/Kenney

‘intersection to make Keith a

through-street which could help alleviate commercial congestion at the Hwy. 16/Kenney intersec- tion, There is also a request that the Ministry of Highways install a traffic light at the Keith/Sande intersection to facilitate left turns onto the Sande Overpass.

Community. and Recreation Services, Thursday at 1 p.m.

letter from ‘Minor: . Hockey’s -Terrace. Summer Hockey School. and -Summer League chairman; Jake DeJong, —

. costs for materials and transpor- tation, according to Nyce, and Cooper : said he couldn’t support - a motion.to have the ’govern-.

this is a cost that will ultimately be paid by -the consumer, ‘I

; don’t think they’ve looked at it _hard- enough,” he said, referring a to the: federal government.

Two Kitimat directors also

_supported the motion. Chee

Ling said he was in favor of

leaving things just as they are, fim

and John LeSage, who made the

original motion, .said, “‘If we

.don’t vote this down they'll

figure they have a free hand,’’ He added that a show of opposi-

tion might force the government --to have another look at their tax . proposal and come back with

something more acceptable. ‘“*We need a (tax) increase... it’s the nine percent I oppose.” Le-

_Sage’s motion was carried but

with opposition from Cooper and Burton. Burton’s negative vote was recorded.

committee

‘ requesting a reduction in the

hourly ice rental fee. The current

“rate is $67.50: per hour and minor hockey has been advised a.

five percent increase will take ef- - fect next year. ‘According to De-

Jong, the rental fee for a two-.

-week session in August came to nearly $12,000. -

‘Tourism and Economic De- velopment, Thursday at 5 p.m. (1) The Ministry of Regional Development’s ‘Strong Com- munities in the ’90’s program. The program is designed to assist one community per year in each of the eight development regions to help imple-

‘ment economic development

strategies.

Referred to Administration:

(1) A letter from Bob Jackman —

suggesting that the city locate

garbage containers at both

shopping malls to reduce litter in the downtown core. Alderman Darryl Laurent describes the suggestion as a reasonably good idea at a reasonably good cost. Mayor Jack Talstra, on the other hand, reminded council that smaller. downtown business- es paid $200 each for existing trash containers already located downtown. Administration is to investigate the idea and report back to council. (2) Ald. Ruth Hallock has asked city and re- gional district administration to discuss the cost of Sustut timber access with Prince George log-

ging firms. According to Hal-

lock, access already exists from the west and there may still be an opportunity for Hazelton

and Smithers firms to-gain ac- .

cess to Sustut timber. Referring

to the high cost of access from.

Prince George, Hallock says,

“They shouldn’t be. throwing good money after bad to access - timber that was formerly ours.”” .

City bylaw enforcement officer Fem Sweeting spent some time recently reviewing the bylaws with city administrator Bob Hallsor. Sweeting will Initially be working a 14-hour ‘week examining parking problems, curb painting and other detalls, and in a new weeks, she will be dealing with un- sightly premises and Issuing tickets under the city’s Nuisance, Noise Control, Street and Trafite, Parking and

Smoking Control: Bylaws.

Arena contract awarded

Terrace city council has ac- cepted the recommendation of Superintendent of Parks and Recreation Steve Scott, and Yvonne Hill has has been

awarded a two-year lease on the’ Terrace Arena concession at a:—

cost of $2,500 per year. Scott says that invitations for

proposals to operate the conces-

sion were advertised last month and Hill’s submission was the

only one received.

According to Scott, . ‘Hill's proposal was a fair one con- sidering the profit potential of

the concession. He ddded-that . — -

other alternatives, such as vend- ing machines, have been con-

‘sidered and found to be less

profitable for the city. .

Hill operated the concession last year’ and her new lease expires Aug. 31, 1991.

City

provide this protection. .

Jack Talstra Mayor

of Terrace INCORPORATED 1927

. PUBLICNOTICE MUNICIPAL LIABILITY _ INSURANCE CLAIMS °

Section 755.3.of the Municipal Act states that fnunicipalities are not liable in any action based on nuisance where the damages datise, directly or indirectly, out of a breakdown or malfunction of a sewer system, a water or drainage facility or system, or a dyke or a road. Nuisance actions are defined as instances in which a home is damaged as a result of a sewer, drainage or water system, or roadway or dyke, breaking down and malfunctioning. It would be a basement covered by several inches of water stemming from a drainage system be- ing jammed by someone dumping garbage into a municipal ditch, or it may be a home filled with backed up sewage.

In the past municipalities generally picked up the damage of these costs or left it to the municipality’s insurance policy; however, Section 755.3 now releases the municipality for liability for nuisance actions. As a result most home owners do not realize they are no longer covered under a municipal policy and their own homeowners’ insurance policy way. nol Residents are strongly. ureed to review their insurance policy with their individual brokers to ensure adequate coverage in the event of a Nutisanee claim, ,

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