At the regular town council meeting on Dec. 17 council approved a request from Jared Riel, Creston Fire Rescue chief, for staff to work with the Creston Masonic Lodge and the emergency services building architect to create and install a cornerstone and time capsule project for a public ceremony in 2020.
At a Committee of the Whole meeting on Nov. 26, Mason Mike Gibbons explained the history of a cornerstone ceremony for public buildings and the concept of having a local ceremony for the soon to be constructed fire hall building.
The custom has been to lay the cornerstone, symbolizing a square and a true foundation of a building, with a symbolic representation of the emergency services as the cornerstone and foundation of a solid community. A deposit box or time capsule with the contents to be determined by the Town could be embedded into the bottom of the cornerstone.
Coun. Arnold DeBoon asked if there were any other ‘cornerstones’ in the community, to which Gibbons advised that the only other ‘cornerstone’ in Creston is located at the Masonic Temple, which was installed in 1938.
In other town news:
Colin Farynowski, manager of engineering, has been appointed as the deputy approving officer for the Town of Creston.
The approving officer is a statutory official with separate and independent jurisdiction from the municipal council with the responsibility to independently apply provincial statutes and local bylaws regarding subdivision and uses their own discretion in making decisions regarding subdivision approval and other matters within their jurisdiction.
The position has been vacant since the departure of the former chief administrative officer Lou Varela.
Farynowski attended the Local Government Management Association’s approving officer training program in preparation for this appointment.
