A Wynndel resident appeared before Creston Town Council at Tuesday’s regular meeting to request the addition of public washrooms at the dog park on Cedar Street.
Pointing out that the Millennium Park washrooms are closed from late fall to spring (they are unheated and closed to prevent freezing pipe damage), Connie Gardner said that the nearest public washroom is downtown, which causes an inconvenience to some who use the park.
Mayor Ron Toyota responded that staff would be asked to report on the issue.
In other Town Council meeting news:
• Council passed a resolution to receive the Creston Fire Department Interim Measures Report (as reported in last week’s Advance) and to direct staff to establish options, including the associated costs.
• Couns. Kevin Boehmer, Adam Casemore, and Karen Unruh will review and shortlist candidates for the Mayor and Councillors Leadership Bursary, with the short list to be reviewed in a Closed Committee of the Whole meeting. Council will also consider “deferring potential participation in this initiative for one year.”
• Chief Mike Moore accepted two plaques thanking the Creston Fire Department for its efforts in the 2017 wildfire season. The plaques, from Emergency Management BC and BC Wildlife Service, came with letters of gratitude for the participation of Creston Fire Department firefighters and equipment.
“The Creston Fire Department participation was made possible because we have the trained firefighters required for this program, and still have sufficient numbers of firefighters to remain in our community for local callouts,” Toyota said in making the presentation.
• A $25,000 grant from the Community Emergency Preparedness Fund for the 2018 Emergency Operations and Training Program has been received.
• Council approved a $1,000 donation to help with costs associated with the Lower Kootenay Band’s 2018 Pow Wow on May 19-20.
• A request for $500 for a ladies’ golf memorial tournament did not receive support, but Council voted to donate some Town of Creston items for prizes.
• The Creston Lions Club got approval to use the south parking lot of Millennium Park for garage sale fundraiser on April 28.
• The Town of Creston’s pilot project to get public input on the budget process was deemed a success and will continue next year. A total of 473 visitors to the web site were recorded, 114 of which spent an average of 11 minutes to rate their spending preferences for nine services. Fire protection was the most popular service, with 68 percent of respondents wanting more money allocated to it.
The cost for the survey was $3,600.
Some changes will be undertaken to make the interactive project more specific to the Town of Creston budget.
• A request from Casey’s Community House to close the adjacent portion of 12th Avenue North for an outdoor celebration during Blossom Festival has been withdrawn.
• Readers are reminded that complete agendas, minutes and information packages for Council and Committee of the Whole meetings can be found by going to the creston.ca website and clicking on Agendas & Minutes.