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Count down to composting facility begins

Carney’s will begin loading waste into its brand new composting facility next week. The first load of waste through the facility will mark the beginning of a 30-day trial period until the system becomes fully operational.

Carney’s will begin loading waste into its brand new composting facility next week.

The first load of waste through the facility will mark the beginning of a 30-day trial period until the system becomes fully operational.

On Monday the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District board members approved the final steps to get the composting facility up and running.

The SLRD approvals mean Carney’s can now import organic waste from the Greater Vancouver Regional District.

This is just a temporary measure until the SLRD and its member municipalities can put in organic waste support mechanisms such as banning organics at the landfill. This will allow enough local food to get to the composting facility and eventually end the need to import the organic material.

The second approval from the SLRD will allow Carney’s to use clean, segregated wood waste and dimensional lumber from the regional construction industry in the composting facility.

Generally construction and demolition waste is excluded from composting operations in case it contains toxic materials like pressure treated wood, paint and plastic. But clean, segregated wood is an essential part of the feedstock for Carney’s composting operations.

The state of the art facility is located in Squamish. The first load of waste will be tested out on Wednesday, Feb. 4.

Conservation Officer attempts to honour slain Game Warden

Sir William Logan, the surveyor who made Canada’s first geological maps in the 1800s, got one and now a B.C. Game Warden who died 70 years ago may get one too.

Lillooet District Conservation Officer Bob Butcher is drumming up support to get a mountain in Lillooet named after Albert Farey, a fellow officer who was shot and killed in the line of duty in 1932, back when Conservation Officers were called Game Wardens.

Butcher said Farey was a man who served his country in World War I and then later his province and district as a Game Warden for 12 years in the Lillooet District

He was shot and killed in the Bridge River area on Oct. 3, 1932.

Butcher has chosen a steep rock peak close to Lillooet as the mountain to bear Farey’s name.

Butcher asked the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District for a letter of support at its monthly board meeting on Monday. The letter will be part of the application process to get a mountain in Lillooet named for Farey.

Some members of the board were at first hesitant to offer support, concerned about a backlash from First Nations.

SLRD Director Greg Kamenka, who is also mayor of Lillooet, explained the position of some of the older members in the First Nations community.

A First Nations man shot Farey but there is some feeling that he had been overzealous in his pursuit of the man.

"He was doing his job, whether he was zealous or not," said Butcher.

Ultimately the board members voted to support the application process saying that First Nations will have a chance to voice their concerns further down the road.

Only two conservation officers have been killed in the line of duty in B.C.

The second officer was Dennis Greenwood. The East Kootenay Regional District has written a letter of support for naming a mountain in the Purcell Range after Greenwood.

Honouring the fallen conservation officers is part of the 100 th anniversary celebrations of the B.C. Conservation Officer Service in 2005.

SRLD Board members get raise

SLRD board members voted to give themselves a $1,250 raise each on Monday after eight years at the same pay rate.

A report showed the SLRD pays its directors less than the average in other regional districts. For example, electoral area directors on average get $9,030 compared to $7,500 in the SLRD. Likewise municipal directors on average get $5,115 compared to $3,800 in the SLRD.

The issue of remuneration sparked debate at Monday’s meeting on whether electoral directors should make much more than municipal directors.

Generally the rationale for the different pay scales is that municipal directors also get remuneration for sitting on municipal councils.

"I’m spending more time on regional district business then on council," said Squamish Councillor Raj Kahlon, who along with Mayor Ian Sutherland represents Squamish on the SLRD board. Both called for increases for municipal directors.

Russ Oakley, director of Electoral Area A, said: "I think it’s probably fair to close that gap."

The $1,250 raise each will also include yearly cost of living increases.

The board also approved its priorities for 2004 at the meeting and chief among them was the Regional Growth Strategy. This was followed up by the Emergency Response Plan and transportation issues like the Rutherford Creek Bridge.