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Pemberton council grudgingly hands $3,500 to service society

Councillor fed up that organization did not show for meeting to discuss fund application

The Village of Pemberton handed $3,500 to Sea to Sky Community Services on Tuesday, but not before registering its dissatisfaction with the lack of attendance by the people requesting it.

The Village got a request for $5,000 out of its Community Enhancement Fund at its June 21 council meeting, money that would go to the organization to assist it with the construction costs of installing a children's playground at the Cottonwood Community Centre.

Councillor Ted Craddock was the most vocal of council members noting the fact that no one from Sea to Sky Community Services showed up before council when the request came up.

"This has happened the last three times we've given money out," he said. "If you don't show up, we put it off to the next meeting. I think it's a pretty easy thing, there's no reason somebody couldn't have been here today."

Sea to Sky Community Services estimates the total cost of moving the playground from the old Pemberton Meadows Daycare facility to the new community centre is $13,000. The organization has already raised $1,000 through fundraising initiatives and has applied to the Ministry for Child and Family Development for another $2,000.

The organization applied to council hoping that a $5,000 contribution would be matched by funds from Area C of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District.

Lois Wynne, executive director of Sea to Sky Community Services, said the staffer handling the file was out of town this week and claims she was never told she needed to be at the council meeting.

"I feel sick about that," she said. "I would definitely have been there or one of my staff from Pemberton would have been there. Maybe there was a miscommunication, we weren't aware that we should be there and that's just darn bad. I feel bad about that."

Council members generally agreed with Craddock's statement but Sheena Fraser, the Village's manager of administrative services, said it isn't legally necessary for applicants to speak at council before requesting money.

"The application process does not require them to come to make a presentation prior to the project being completed," she told council. "But it does require them to make a presentation after the project's completed, talking about how the money was spent."

The last time Sea to Sky Community Services requested money from the Community Enhancement Fund was in 2008, when it got $1,234.80 to go towards the purchase of bicycles for the Pemberton Meadows Daycare facility.

 

Council frustrated with waterpark delays

 

Pemberton council also registered its disappointment with delays that have dragged the opening of its waterpark beyond the June 1 date that they hoped for.

Craddock spoke on this issue, telling council that the reason it has taken so long to open a waterpark near the Pemberton Community Centre is that someone "dropped the ball."

"I'm thoroughly disappointed and somewhat disgusted and I'm hoping we get a serious look at this and find out what happened," he said. "It's just not right, we've had a year to do this and I'm thoroughly disappointed for the town."

The waterpark was initially envisioned in early February when the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District put out a request for proposals for a facility that would be completed by June 1. The contract, which was eventually handed to Delta-based company RecTec Industries, was delayed beyond June 1 as it awaited approvals from Vancouver Coastal Health.

Pemberton Mayor Jordan Sturdy said at the meeting that responsibility for the delays was traded back and forth between the regional district and the health authority, though he was not certain who was centrally responsible for them.

"The regional district said they supplied the information with heaps of time and Vancouver Coastal Health has been sitting on it," he said. "VCH says they received correspondence on May 23 or 24 and everyone else was sitting on it, and I'm not sure we're ever going to the bottom of it."

Council nevertheless voted to request an explanation from the regional district as to why it took so long to get the waterpark open.

 

$1,000 reward to be offered for information on torched school buses

 

The Village of Pemberton is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to a charge or conviction in the torching of two school buses.

The burning of the buses was reported June 6 at about 4:30 a.m. by a resident driving on Portage Road. Gasoline tanks and fire accelerant were discovered nearby, leading investigators to the conclusion that anyone involved in the incident could be charged with arson.

Village Administrator Daniel Sailland said the municipality has already issued a reward for information leading to a charge or conviction.

Councillor Lisa Ames asked whether the reward would be announced in schools before they let out for the summer. Fraser responded that the Village has already had ads in the paper and it can forward its reward information on to police.

Sturdy said at the meeting that some information relating to the incident has already been forthcoming.

"The word on the street from the high school is that it wasn't a high school kid," he said.

"There's some speculation that someone was using the bus to sleep in."