A dozen Creston Valley residents are set to roll up their sleeves and start working on the design, development, and construction of a new fire hall.
Appointments to the Technical Building Advisory Committee were made at Tuesday’s regular Town Council meeting.
“We are so impressed with the quality of the applications we received representing a wide range of project management, legal, construction experience and more,” Mayor Ron Toyota said yesterday. “We are also appreciative that several members of the Advisory Select Committee (ASC) expressed an interest to continue the work that they started nearly a year ago. It is very important to Council, and our community, that we continue to uphold the principles that were put forward by the ASC - to build the best possible fire hall at the best possible price that meets the operational needs of our community now and for the future.”
Among the appointees are three people who sat on the ad hoc Advisory Select Committee—Gertie Brown, Wendell Marshall, and Brandon Vigne. Joining them will be applicants Rita Scott, Tom Wells, Ted Moffat, and Glen Guthrie. Bruce McFarlane will represent Area B portions that have contracted fire service from the Town of Creston and Area C director Adam Casemore will represent his constituents who also get contracted fire protection from the Town of Creston. Randall Fabrro will represent Creston Fire Rescue and Town Council will have two voices—Jim Elford and Arnold DeBoon, with Joanna Wilson as their alternate.
The committee will once again work with Ernie Polsom of FireWise Consulting Ltd., a technical consultant who assisted the ASC with the exploration of solutions to address the deficiencies of the existing Creston Fire Hall, subsequently bringing those recommendations forward to Council for consideration. The TBAC is composed of individuals who have extensive experience in fields such as building, construction, project management, actuary and legal.
“On behalf of Council, I would like to express my appreciation to the community for moving this important project forward”, Toyota said. “We have received a clear mandate from the public to proceed adeptly and transparently.”
The Technical Building Advisory Committee will hold its first meeting on January 21, 2019. The meeting will be open to the public with more details forthcoming.
In other Town Council news:
• A request from the Creston Valley Minor Hockey Association for a grant to help with costs of hosting a provincial midget hockey tournament was referred to staff to get more financial information from the organization.
• A $500 discretionary grant was approved to support the Kootenay Region Figure Skating Championship, which will be held in Creston.
• Finance director Steffan Klassen informed Town Council that the purchase of the Creston Education Centre and other properties on Canyon Street has been completed.