Taxpayers put the brakes on bridge borrowing

Published: January 26, 2010 5:00 PM HOPE STANDARD:

Hope council has been forced to go to referendum on the borrowing of up to $5 million dollars to replace the aging Kawkawa Lake Road Bridge. A reverse approval process by council to gain taxpayer’s support brought on heavy opposition not so much to the borrowing or the building of the bridge but the seemingly high cost of construction. The project is being funded in a three-way split between the local, provincial and federal governments. The local government, however, faces some costs alone including the purchase of private land needed to properly align a new bridge. Acting chief administrator Karla Lanktree confirmed at Monday’s council meeting that enough signatures had been received to send the question to formal referendum if council wants the bridge project to move forward. According to Lanktree, 498 signatures were needed to defeat the proposal to borrow, and 737 responses were received by the January 5th deadline, with 707 confirmed valid by district staff.

Voters will head to the polls on the question on March 13. Councillor Steve Shroeder questioned the acting CAO on whether she felt the March 13 date will ”gives us enough time” to clearly explain the project to the public. Lanktree told council she was expecting to send them a formal communications strategy for the campaign after meeting with a communication consultant, Tuesday. What the public needs to understand is that the objective of council is to save the community money not cost the community money, added Councillor Donna Pleadwell.At the meeting council also approved Lanktree as Chief Elections Officer and Heather Stevenson as Deputy chief Election Officer for the referendum.The referendum is expected to cost $23,000.