Thursday, July 12, 2007

Petitions to block loan fall far short (PRINCE GEORGE)

By Arthur WilliamsFree Press Jul 04 2007 Prince George Free Press

City council did not receive enough petitions between April 30 and June 25 to stop the approval of a bylaw to borrow up to $5.95 million for the construction of the Cameron Street Bridge. Under the alternative approval process, had city council received 5,535 or more petitions against borrowing the money they could not ratify the bylaw. In a preliminary report to city council, city clerk Don Schaffer reported only 686 valid petitions were received by the June 25 deadline. Two invalid petitions were received and discarded because they did not come from city residents.

The Ministry of Community Services gave the bylaw its approval in April, meaning city council could approve the borrowing bylaw during their July 9 regular meeting. In his report, Schaffer said the clerk’s office will present council with the bylaw for approval at that meeting. In addition to the city’s $5.95 million, council has applied for $2 million from the Municipal-Rural Infrastructure Fund to replaced the bridge which has been closed since October 2005 due to rotting wooden trusses. If Prince George does not receive a portion of the $102 million provincial-federal fund, the city won’t be able to go ahead with the bridge replacement. The fund is expected to announce its recipients sometime this month.
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