by Raven Nyman
PAC dinner and auction tickets on sale now
The David Stoddart School PAC dinner and auction will take place on Saturday, Nov. 17 at Clinton’s Memorial Hall. Doors for this event open at 5 p.m. with appetizers served, and dinner following at 6 p.m. The evening’s meal will be ham and scalloped potatoes, with a live auction to follow.
Local resident Russell Allison has been hired as the evening’s auctioneer, so be sure to get your tickets for this hometown fundraiser as soon as you can. Tickets for the PAC dinner and auction will not be sold at the door, so you’ll need to purchase yours before Nov. 17 by visiting Clinton Home Hardware, Junctions Coffee House (Cache Creek), Integris Insurance, or David Stoddart School. Tickets are $20 each, and will support the local Parent Advisory Council.
Council meeting briefs
Most residents will have already heard the news that Susan Swan, former Clinton correspondent to The Journal, was voted in as mayor-elect in the recent municipal election . Congratulations, Susan!
An informal recount took place on Oct. 23 but found no change in results. Swan received 121 votes, while former Clinton mayor Roland Stanke received just one vote less: 120. The race was exceptionally close, and Clinton should be congratulated for its impressive voter turnout. Congrats, too, to each and every person who ran for a position in the election.
The other two mayoral candidates were Diana Guerin, who received 81 votes, and Ira Zbarsky, who received 11. The only incumbent councillor returning to the table alongside Swan is David Park, who will begin serving his eighth consecutive year in council. Park received 260 votes in the election. Joining Park and Swan are three newcomers to the political scene: Sandi Burrage (242 votes), Christine Rivett (174 votes), and Kim McIlravey (165 votes).
Some 62.5 per cent of eligible voters turned out to exercise their civic right in Clinton on Oct. 20, and the Oct. 24 council meeting was also well-attended, with no seats remaining in the gallery—this doesn’t happen often.
At the Oct. 24 meeting, members of the gallery used question period not to ask questions, but to offer their thanks to mayor Jim Rivett and councillors Susan Swan, David Park, Diana Guerin, and Wayne Marchant for their service over the past seven years. Robin Fennell observed that the bar has been set “pretty high” for future council members in Clinton.
At the meeting, councillors Swan and Marchant agreed to volunteer their services cooking and serving hot dogs to the kids at the Spirit of Clinton’s Halloween event on Oct. 31. This decision came in response to a letter from the SCC, inviting mayor and council to participate in, and volunteer at, the event. In previous years, mayor and council have volunteered in the kitchen at the community’s Kids’ Halloween party. Mayor Rivett suggested that mayor-elect Swan volunteer this year, as Rivett has done in the past. Swan, who just completed her FoodSafe certification, happily agreed to help.
Also at the Oct. 24 meeting of council, on the subject of cannabis regulation and licensing, the mayor and all councillors agreed that council should stay involved with the approval of all future applications for cannabis sales within the municipality. Thus, council will continue to review and approve such licenses in the future.
Since Sept. 7, 2018, the Village of Clinton has been without a designated Financial Officer. Although a job posting was made for the position, no viable candidates were received. Consequently, council has chosen to appoint the current CAO, Monika Schittek, as its new Financial Officer, “for the purposes of financial oversight as outlined in the Community Charter”. All councillors voted in favour of this motion.
Council members also discussed residential utility rates at the meeting, and voted to endorse a policy direction on the future management of Clinton’s water and sewer rates. For those who would like to know more about this and how it will directly affect taxpayers in Clinton, refer to page 67 of the Oct. 24 meeting agenda, which is available on the Village’s website (https://village.clinton.bc.ca/).
CAO Schittek presented a helpful PowerPoint to explain the goals of the proposed Water and Sewer Asset Management Plan, outlining specific funding strategies for years 2019 to 2028 and indicating Reserve Policy best practices. The goal of any proposed changes to water and sewer in Clinton, said Schittek, is to stabilize the rates and establish predicability. In order to keep rates reasonable, Schittek’s plan argued that the following considerations can be made: expansion of service, redistribution of fee structure, and reduction of operating costs.
Mayor Rivett reminded members of the gallery that waterline issues are currently being faced nationwide, as communities big and small struggle to replace decades-old infrastructure. On Oct. 24, council voted to endorse the creation of a new water rate bylaw for 2019, which means that the incoming council will review those changes.
Be sure to attend upcoming council meetings if you’re at all interested in this subject, as the proposal for a change to water and sewer rates is in the process of becoming a policy. Residents are invited to join council for the official inauguration that will take place in Council Chambers on Wed., Nov. 7 at 7 p.m.
Do you have Clinton news? Contact Raven Nyman at ravenbrookn@hotmail.com.
editorial@accjournal.ca
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