Business

Grappling with dramatic funding cuts hasn't prevented Selkirk College from looking toward an ambitious future, if a series of local community consultations is any indication.

Selkirk College staff and administration representatives travelled to each of the six regional communites in which one of the nine college sites are located, beginning with Grand Forks on April 23, Nelson on May 2, Kaslo on May 7, Castlegar on May 10, Trail on May 15 and wrapping up in Nakusp last night.

College president Angus Graeme said these community meetings came after an extensive consultation with students and the college's 550 employees.

For $1250 per month Rossland could hold the reins to a municipal Internet utility that connects to a world class, open access, fibre optic network that clocks stratospheric speeds, said Mark Halwa, chief operating officer of the Columbia Basin Broadband Corporation (CBBC), to a group that gathered at the Chamber of Commerce last week to hear the CBBC pitch.

The province is investing more than $13 million in Highway 3 improvements, with more than $3 million to be spent in the West Kootenay region.

Four projects valued at $13 million will get underway this year, improving safety and travel for residents, visitors and commercial drivers on Highway 3 in the West Kootenay, Similkameen and Upper Fraser Valley.

Council has approved a multi-million dollar contract with Copcan Contracting Ltd. for the renovation of Columbia Ave. and Washington St. up to First Ave.—Rossland's biggest single project ever—as negotiated by CAO Victor Kumar and contract administrator Kevin Terness of ISL Engineering.