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Quick council meeting wraps up loose ends, prepares for future

It was all over in the space of minutes. Mayor Karen Hamling called the November 26 Nakusp council meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.

It was all over in the space of minutes. Mayor Karen Hamling called the November 26 Nakusp council meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. and all business was dealt with by 6:48 p.m. So fast that you would have missed it if you were 20 minutes late.

Cleaning up loose ends

The business was mostly rubber stamping matters detailed in the previous meeting on November 13 or discussing upcoming matters.

In this in-between meeting, Mayor Karen Hamling mentioned that news about the status of the Village’s application to the Community Infrastructure Improvement Fund hadn’t arrived; the deadline for the decision was Nov. 19.

Hamling said she was told that the application would be automatically resubmitted for the next round of funding if they didn’t make the cut this time.

Unsightly premises process

Counc. Ulli Mueller brought up the subject of “unsightly premises,” saying she had received complaints about a certain property and wanted to know what the protocol for dealing with them was.

In the CAO’s report to council, it was noted that two “unsightly premises” are being monitored.

The CAO, who is currently on vacation was not at this meeting, and will be away for the next one as well, the mayor told council.

“There are several letters that have to be sent,” outlined the mayor.

The first letter alerts the property owner that there have been complaints and that they need to clean up.

A specific amount of time is given, but if the owner does not comply, a couple more letters are sent.

“And then the last one tells them we will be sending our staff in to clean up,” said Hamling. The cost of the clean up is charged to the property owner as part of their tax bill.

Getting a move on the sewer project

The shift of money for the internal borrowing to get the sewer treatment plant done was approved, the details of which were addressed at the November 13 meeting.

Future schedule

Looking ahead, council considered a tentative schedule for next year’s meetings which would continue the every-second-Monday night tradition – Tuesdays when a holiday intervenes.

The only date of contention was September 23 which is the Monday after UBCM, an “almost impossible” date in counc. Mueller’s words because councillor, mayor and CAO are all at the conference.

Dates will be discussed further at the next meeting.

Minor Hockey beer garden good to go

Nakusp Minor Hockey’s application to hold a beer garden on Dec. 7 in the Arena was approved.

MP Wilks to meet with council

The council will be meeting MP David Wilks during the afternoon of December 19.

Snow mobile sold to ski hill

The sale of the 1993 340cc Bombardier snow mobile to the ski hill was next on the agenda.

Counc. Joseph Hughes asked what the process is for selling Village assets. CFO Rob Richards replied that typically equipment is put up for sale through a public bid offer process, with an upset price – the estimated value for used equipment.

ue ($1,000) and because the ski hill made a specific request, it seemed reasonable to sell it to them for the upset price.

Counc. Mueller asked if the Village could donate it to the ski hill, as they were always short on funds. The mayor answered no, but she knew RDCK director Paul Peterson would support their funding request.

The motion passed to sell the snow mobile to the ski hill.

CRT meeting coming up

Mayor Hamling asked councillors to come to the Columbia River Treaty meeting on Thursday, November 29 if they could, stating there will likely be answers to some good questions about water levels and more.

Financial Open House kudos

Counc. Mueller complimented staff about the Financial Open House, and Hamling echoed the sentiment, saying that there will likely be more people at the next one, because this one was so well attended and well done.