COUNCIL MISCELLANY: Local support for winter shuttle, branding decision deferment, tourist support for local trails
By Arlen MacLaine
Although there were some empty seats around the council table (Mayor Greg Granstrom and Councillor Cary Fisher were absent), the same could not be said for the public gallery seating. The council chamber was packed with members of the public last Monday, all for their chance to provide input on some of the topics before council.
Local businesses show support for winter shuttle
Many were there to voice their support for continued operation of a winter shuttle running from Red Mountain Resort, through Rossland, and down to Redstone Golf Resort. Representatives from Tourism Rossland, the Prestige, The Flying Steamshovel, Red Mountain Resort Lodging, Red Mountain Academy and other local businesses all echoed the importance of maintaining this shuttle service as being an integral part of their businesses as well as tourism in Rossland itself. The matter will be presented to council by Tourism Rossland, and discussed at length at the next council meeting. Until then no decision has been made.
Council defers decision on City Wide Branding Project
A decision on the new word mark for the city was before council, but with two members absent, it was thought better to defer a decision to a later date. It was also thought that an informal discussion with the designer was important, before making a decision.
“In the meantime,” said Councillor Jody Blomme, “we should sit down with the graphic designer and look at details and ideas of the different options. In the normal process of this sort of thing, you would have this sort of discourse, and we haven’t really had that.”
Councillor Jill Spearn added, “There’s a lot to be said about improving on this branding, and we haven’t had the opportunity to have that conversation. What someone thinks is right for our community, may not be for those of us who have lived here for a long time.”
A Committee Of the Whole meeting has been set for Monday, June 17th at 7pm, to discuss the options for the word mark with the graphic designer, Shelley Ackerman. A decision will then be made at the next council meeting, which will be the following Monday.
Visitors praise KCTS for trail maintenance
During her member’s reports, Councillor Kathy Moore mentioned that she talked to a person who has a connection with a mountain bike group that bikes the Kootenays every year. They used to alternate years between Nelson and Rossland, but now they only come to Rossland because the trails are maintained much better than Nelson’s. This is a group of middle-aged mountain bikers who stay in hotels, and they eat out every night. Last year there were 18 of them, including family members. Not only are they staying in our hotels and eating at our restaurants, the families were also shopping in town.
Moore stated that this was a good example of just one of, what are most likely, many groups that travel and visit Rossland in order to experience the wealth of well-maintained trails we have.
“It just reinforces that making an investment in our trails is, really, a good investment,” said Moore.
