THURSDAY
< Bringing out the boards
JANUARY 7, 2016
Cranbrook Chess Club being put together | Page 2
Buying Selling Buying or Selling Call First Call Marilyn First
The Year Past In Sports >
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A look at Kimberley/Cranbrook highlights | Page 8 Like Us TownsmanBulletin Follow Us
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Vol. 65, Issue 04
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Orchestral Manoeuvres
Plans are underway for a new orchestra in Cranbrook — the Cranbrook Community Orchestra. Organizers David Pasivirta and Shelagh Redecopp tell all. See Page 3. Trevor Crawley photo
Kimberley needs money Local accommodations to battle weed reputation get behind new hotel tax C A R O LYN G R A N T
Kimberley has a reputation within the Regional District of East Kootenay that it may not want — that of being the worst community for invasive plants. And with a budget of $18,000 yearly for invasive plant control, only ten per cent of these plants are treated. The two companies hired to treat invasive plants in Kimberley in 2015, Maple Leaf Forestry and Mountain View Resources, have submitted a report to Council, which s a y s that there are currently 12 species of invasive
plants within city limits. The report says that the City needs to up its invasive plant budget to $60,000 ($30,000 for all streets and back alleys within the urban areas and $30,000 for the outer fringes). Invasive plants thrive on disturbed ground, and there is plenty of that in and around Kimberley. It can be large areas of disturbed land, such as the land along Jim Ogilvie Way or very small areas, such as weeds thriving around the bases of city-planted trees.
See KIMBERLEY, Page 5
A R N E P E T RYS H E N
Visitors staying in Cranbrook hotels could soon be paying three per cent more for their room. At Monday night’s City Council meeting, the Cranbrook & Region Tourism Society was seeking support for the additional hotel tax in order to help fund its work as the new Destination Marketing Organization (DMO). The application is under the province’s Municipal and Regional Tax Program. City staff
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estimated that the three per cent tax will generate somewhere around $450,000 annually in support of the DMO business plan and marketing efforts. Council approved the recommendation and put its support behind the application, and a letter of support will be prepared to be signed by Mayor Lee Pratt on behalf of council. City staff noted in the report for council that the provincial tax program is intended to significantly enhance funds avail-
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able for such efforts through the additional hotel tax, and not to defray current investments in local tourism destination marketing. By supporting the application the city has committed to maintaining its current level of funding for tourism marketing of $30,000 a year over the fiveyear term that the Municipal and Regional Tax Program will apply.
See COUNCIL, Page 4
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