S TANDARD TERRACE
1.30
$
$1.24 PLUS 6¢ GST
VOL. 26 NO. 24
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
City committed to recycling THE CITY remains keen on signing up to a recycling program that’s come under attack from other municipalities worried about its overall cost. “We want to become a community that is highlighting how this program can work to the advantage of the community, so we’re moving forward with this as soon as we can,” says mayor Dave Pernarowski of a program in which a new agency made up of producers of paper and packaging will provide the city a subsidy to blend curbside recycling in with its existing garbage collection system. City council this summer ap-
proved a contract offer made by Multi-Material BC to provide a subsidy of $143,000 a year in return for the city picking up residential recyclable material every two weeks and delivering it to a depot to be run by the agency. Garbage would be picked up in the off weeks. City council had, through a motion passed in August, been ready to sign the contract by a Sept. 16 deadline but then held off when other municipalities pressed MultiMaterial BC for more time to negotiate better terms. Pernarowski last week said that while Terrace has made its inten-
You’re right. It was nicer
EVERYONE WHO was talking about this summer being warmer and nicer than last year was right: the temperatures from May to September were higher, anywhere from one degree to six degrees warmer, but the biggest difference between this year and last was much less rainfall this year. May’s average high temperature was 17.2 C compared to last May’s 13.5 C, June 2013 averaged a high of 20.2 compared to June 2012’s 16.3, July’s average high temperature was 23.4 compared to the July 2012 average high of 22.4, August this year averaged a high of 23.3 while August 2012 averaged 22 and September 2013, up to the 19th, averaged a high of 23.2 compared to the whole month of September 2012, which only saw an average high of 17.3. With the exception of July, it was much drier this year. This May totalled 31.6 mm whereas May 2012 saw 66.8mm, June 2013 saw total precipitation of 32.8mm compared to June 2012’s 67.8mm, July 2013 saw 44.1mm total precipitation while July 2012 totalled 17.8 mm, August totalled 39.2mm while August 2012 saw 49.8mm in total. September this year, up to and including Sept. 19, saw only 35mm of precipitation compared to September 2012’s deluge of 91.2mm. And Terrace did set a couple of new temperature records in September: 27.8 on the 11th to rise above the old record of 25.6 in 1960 and 28.5 on the 12th to smash the old record of 26.1 in 1957 and 25.2 on the 15th to top the 1995 record of 23.5. The fire season was less active than usual with the exception of the first week in August where the Northwest Fire Centre responded to 29 fires that week, said Suzanne Pearce of the Northwest Fire Centre in a wrapup. The fire centre was slightly busier than the 10-year average of 91 fires, responding to 130 fires as of Sept. 13, she said. Besides fighting fires, crews worked on the Bornite Mountain trail and maintenance of forest recreation sites as well as other tasks.
tions clear about joining the program, he hopes to continue negotiating a final contract. One change being sought by other municipalities is a reduction in penalties of as much as $5,000 for loads delivered to the MultiMaterial BC depot containing nonrecyclable material. “We continue to negotiate on the contract. We haven’t signed it, we just indicated that we are interested in participating in the program. So there will be opportunities for us to meet again and have a dialogue working towards signing off on a final contract,” said the mayor. Should a municipality not sign
on with Multi-Material BC, the agency will find its own contract material collector. Aside from cost worries, Pernarowski said municipalities with existing curbside collection aren’t sure how existing services would fit in with the new agency’s program. He said that while the subsidy may not cover the entire cost of curbside recycling, it would be better than having the city cover all of the expense. Pernarowski also promised there would be no tax increases to cover costs. The city has already started
making preparations to begin curbside recycling next May. And it has set aside money to promote the program so people understand what can be recycled to avoid penalties. Part of the education effort includes providing clear plastic bags to hold recyclable material. It then means city pickup crews will be able to check to see that only recyclable material is inside and to reject bags containing material that can’t be recycled. There’s no indication yet from Multi-Material BC as to where its local collection depot might be located.
Anna Killen PHOTO
■■ It’s Forestry Week Here are Skeena Sawmills employees Deana Cambell, right, and Tara Salmon on Sept. 20. Check out how the sawmill is doing one year into operations, and see the rest of our Forestry Week 2013 coverage beginning on page A14.
Blind builder
Life in Fort Mac
Sharp shooters
Man makes beautiful furniture despite losing the majority of his sight \COMMUNITY A9
Carol Fielding has questions after a visit to Fort McMurray \NEWS A5
The annual bike biathlon is in scope, and young biathletes training hard \SPORTS A28