We, the Mayor and Council of the City of Trail, would like to welcome all persons interested in being a part of the revitalization of Silver City Days to contact City Hall or your council representatives.
A new committee, chaired by Councillor Sandy Santori, has been created to coordinate the annual festival. In addition to City Council and staff who will be working on the details of Silver City Days, interested volunteers are required to assist and support the event. Silver City Days is vital to our community spirit as this event gives us the opportunity to celebrate and show that we are proud of Trail, its diversity and what the City represents.
By taking this community event to the next level, Silver City Days can be used as a catalyst to promote the City and create economic opportunities for business and non- profit organizations.
The committee will focus on celebrating our community heritage and cultural diversity as well as incorporating more interactive activities and events for people of all ages. We welcome all interested citizens to join our team of volunteers and we welcome all your wonderful ideas, which will assist in making Silver City Days the best family-friendly event that Trail can offer.
We would like to thank the Trail Festival Society for their past coordination and management of this City-funded event and we have extended an invitation to members of the Society to join this new organization should they wish to continue contributing in a volunteer capacity.
More information on the volunteer positions will be provided in the the coming weeks as early planning of the committee and event structure takes place.
Not only is the City committed to enhancing our community through planned events, we remain committed to infrastructure improvements and continuing our downtown revitalization activities. Over the past month, since rejecting the pipeline/pedestrian bridge tender bids after they significantly exceeded the earlier estimates and budget, we have been working diligently with our regional partners, Warfield and Rossland, along with the low bid contractor, Graham Infrastructure LP, and the bridge designer, Buckland & Taylor to find a solution which would allow the project to proceed. Through these efforts, we’ve found a solution which will address the matter of removing the sewer line from the condemned Old Bridge to a new pipeline/pedestrian bridge which represents tremendous value in terms of the reduced pricing that has been advanced by the low bid tender.
We’re in the process of finalizing the necessary requirements for the loan authorization bylaw to allow the Regional District to borrow an additional $3 million on behalf of the partners.
In the meantime, the province has provided conditional approval on the awarding of the contract to Graham Infrastructure LP subject to a condition of public consultation. Each community scheduled the appropriate meeting for its constituents; the City of Trail held its public consultation meeting on Thursday in the Council Chambers to discuss the details of the project. At the time of this article being published, Graham Infrastructure LP will be mobilizing their workforce and final steps for the loan authorization should be in place.
The City and its partners would like to thank the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary, as well as the Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, Peter Fassbender, and his staff for assisting in bringing about an expeditious approach to a process which under normal circumstances could take months to just a few days. Everyone recognized the urgency and the value being created through a quick resolution.
The issue of homelessness in Trail has come to the forefront once again due to the awareness brought to this issue by the Downtown Business Group. Our community is not unique in facing this challenge as this problem goes well beyond our City and region. Council has committed to pulling together a task force which will gather the necessary facts on the scope of homelessness in our community as well as determine avenues by which the problem can be adequately addressed. Having solid facts and information on homelessness in our City will help us not only determine what we can do but as importantly more effectively engage active support from the Province and Government of Canada to establish long-term systemic change.
In closing, we want to extend the thanks of the City to all the firefighters, BC Wildfire Service, Red Cross, Salvation Army, Emergency Response Coordination Center personnel, and others who assisted in so many ways in dealing with the forest fires which impacted so many over this past summer.
Community Comment is an opportunity for elected officials from our local municipalities to update citizens in the region on the events, plans and progress in their respective communities. Every Friday, the Trail Times will present, on a rotating basis, a submission from councils, school trustees or regional district directors.
