Rossland's auditor, Amed Naqvi of the firm Berg, Naqvi, Lehmann (BNL), described the upcoming audit to council on Monday evening, and he also explained the important role of "concerned citizens" in the process. Each year, municipal records are subject to a third party audit to ensure that the business of the city was procedurally...

In response to opposition to the Columbia Ave redesign with a wider sidewalk and parallel parking on the north side "feature block" between Queen and Washington, Bill Profili led a delegation to council on Monday evening to support the design. Profili said, "I'm here on behalf of a group of individuals who are very interested...

Anyone following online citizen media closely this month, would inevitably have come across the heated global debate over the Invisible Children viral campaign to stop Ugandan war criminal and rebel army leader Joseph Kony. While the Kony 2012 campaign certainly received the attention it sought, many Ugandans and Africans...

Following an attempt last year to achieve a mediated solution to the ongoing sewer dispute between Rossland, Trail, and Warfield, the chair of the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary (RDKB), Larry Gray, wrote Minister Ida Chong on Feb. 8 to ask that  the issue be declared a "prescribed matter suitable for binding arbitration."...

Council will soon debate a series of bylaws to revoke both the Development Cost Charge (DCC) and the regional Sewer Cost Recovery Charge (SCRC), and to replace these with a single Service Capacity Connection Charge (CCC) for water, sewer, and drainage. Council's decision to support CCCs over DCCs and SCRCs was unanimous. They...

Council voted to release the tender documents for the Columbia Ave. project after an in camera discussion and a "special" meeting on Monday night, but when the public were admitted for the following committee-of-the-whole meeting, Mayor Greg Granstrom moved to modify the tendered design "to have angle parking be the design ...

My reassessment by green builder Ray Smith was not only an opportunity to secure a fat cheque in the mail from BC and the feds—albeit three months from now—but Smith took the time to give me more insight into the future of construction.   Every stage of this energy-upgrade project has been a valuable education, from my original...

Dear editor, At a council meeting on Monday night, Rossland City Council recommended eliminating Development Cost Charges and the Regional sewer service cost recovery charge and replace them with a connection charge. Instead of paying the current $3,362 and $2,500, respectively, for a single family dwelling, the charge will...

Check out this new cartoon from Gerry Hummel highlighting the push to open up BC and Alberta's fossil fuel resources to emerging Asian markets like China. In recent months both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Resources Minister Joe Oliver have told Canadians and leaders on the world's stage that the Enbridge Northern ...

A three-day strike to begin next Monday may cost BC teachers the support of some local parents, as residents scramble to find childcare with less than 48-hours notice (not counting the weekend). Jeanette Cook is a Castlegar mom with three kids, ages four, 12 and 13, who was supposed to start post-secondary school on Monday. […]