Council Chambers was packed in Grand Forks yesterday for the new council’s first Regular Meeting. After a bagpipe-lead inaugural ceremony, mayor and council flew through the agenda before some closing words from Mayor Brian Taylor.
Mayor Taylor says Councillors Moslin and Zileinski will be appointed as flood recovery liaisons. “Take that very complex situation in flood recovery and bring it back to this table and make it understandable and that’s your chore to do that, and that will be a chore. It’s a moving target, things are changing and I think it’s really important that link begin to work really well.”
He says Councillors Thompson and Korolek will be part of an economic steering committee for the downtown. “Councilor Korolek and Thompson have got a tough job ahead. They’ve gotta [sic] bring the DBA and The Chamber into a position of cooperation and getting that group downtown ready for what we can see as future revitalization. I think there will be a real tremendous challenge there.”
Mayor Taylor says one group he sees sense in forming is regarding the BC Housing projects floating around. “I see a real need for one particular task force here, and what I’m recommending here at this point is that we set up a task force that connects the community in a formal way to the BC Housing projects that are going to be happening throughout our community, and there are probably three at least now and possibly more in future.”
Runner-up Everett Baker and Councillor Neil Krog were mentioned as possible members.
Also on the agenda: All Councillors will serve as acting Mayor on a rotating basis. Mayor Taylor will be the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary board and Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital District representatives. Councillor Eburne-Stoodley will also be a Hospital representative, and the alternate RDKB board representative. Mayor Taylor and Councillor Krog will be on the Boundary Flood Recovery Policy Group with Councillor Korolek as the alternate, and he adds that Councillor Krog could be his “wing-man” for the RCMP.
The total ballots cast at this year’s election were approximately 1568, up 13 votes from the 2014 election. Voter turnout in Grand Forks was approximately 52%.
