THURSDAY
DECEMBER 24, 2015
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Vol. 64, Issue 243
Proudly serving Cranbrook and area since 1951
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Lee Pratt reflects on mayoral year past TRE VOR CR AWLEY
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Legendary Canadian ski racer Nancy Green-Raine (left) joins Zoe Chore (middle) and Reece Howden (right) at a ski-cross qualifying event at Sun Peaks for the Youth Olympic Games. Chore and Howden won the right to be Canada’s representatives in the sport during the YOG, which is being held in Lillehammer, Norway from Feb. 12-21, 2016.
Local ski-cross racer off to Youth Olympics T R E VO R C R AW L E Y
Another Cranbrook athlete is heading to the Youth Olympic Games in Norway. Following in the footsteps of India Sherret, a local ski cross racer who went to the same event a few years ago, Zoe Chore recently notched the same achievement, quali-
fying for the latest edition of the same event in February. Hosted at the former Olympic site in Lillehammer, Chore will be there with fellow Olympic hopefuls from around the world to compete in ski-cross and get a taste of the Olympic experience. “I think it’s really cool and
it’s great to see what the big stage looks like and what it’s like to experience the Olympics in a smaller forum. Also the pressure, just to get used to it more,” Chore said. In addition to young athletes, there will Olympic ambassadors—either current or former Olympic athletes—
mixing it up with the youth. In particular, Chore is looking forward to the opportunity to possibly meet or hear from Lindsay Vonn, a former downhill Olympic gold medallist and world champion ski racer.
See ZOE, Page 4
It was a year of firsts for Cranbrook Mayor Lee Pratt, who—along with a slate of rookie city councillors—have tackled many issues to start his four-year term. As the year draws to a close, Pratt reflected on the accomplishments that city staff and council have made, while looking ahead to the challenges of 2016. Noting that he — along with almost every councillor who won a seat in the 2014 municipal election — was new to political life, Pratt singled out city staff for their patience in helping him and his colleagues to do their jobs. “It was a huge learning curve for all of us,” Pratt said. “But we’ve learned a lot in the last year and certainly we had a lot of support from city staff answering our many questions and dealing with our inexperience.” Immediately after the municipal election, the new mayor and council went into budget talks, where they canceled a $500,000 loan to the Cranbrook and District Arts Coun-
May you enjoy the beauty, warmth and wonder of the season. Happy holidays from your friends at Kootenay Savings
better. together.
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LEE PRATT
cil for planned renovations to the old fire hall and slashed a tax increase from a projected 5.77 per cent to only 2.58 per cent without cutting city services. That budget also included a one per cent dedicated road tax, as the city spent just over $3 million to fix up the road infrastructure and complete a asset report on the road and sewer networks of the city. “We have an asset management plan, which is an inventory of all our roads and the services below them,” said Pratt. “So now we can prioritize which ones can be resurfaced and which ones require full infrastructure replacement.
See PRATT, Page 3