Newsmedia council dismisses letter complaint, page 8 Dave fuller on how to lead in fearful times, page 17
Prince George Thursday March 26, 2020
Kathy Nadalin profiles Clasina Van Adrichem Page 15
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UNBC students adjust to online learning Ted Clarke Citizen staff
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No extension for city taxes, utility bills Arthur Williams Citizen staff
The City of Prince George is encouraging residents to take advantage of several remote-paying options for utility bills and property taxes.
After one last-blast farewell party the previous night at the UNBC student residence, Ty Cloarec said goodbye to some of his university friends as they loaded up their belongings in the parking lot Saturday morning.
The 18-year-old first-year wildlife and fisheries management student was among the 522 students living in the two residence buildings who received a soft eviction notice last week due to concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus and he was heading back to his parents’ home 45 minutes away near Ness Lake. “We’ve been told that moving out would be the best because it would decrease our chance of getting infected,” said Cloarec. “Some people are worried about it. A lot of people have already moved out, I’d say there’s about an eighth left here.” While they have been encouraged to leave to protect their own safety, it is not compulsory and students are still allowed to finish the term living in the residence. That’s reassuring for international students, most of whom can’t return to their home countries with international flights canceled and borders closed. UNBC announced last weekend the end of face-to-face learning from. Professors now use online software that allows them to deliver lectures either live or on demand for students to download. Students are using electronic audio/ video setups to present term papers or projects and they receive new assignments and submit reports through email. Because there is no way to ensure the integrity of testing procedures outside of a monitored classroom, students facing final exams worth 30 or 40 per cent of final grades will instead be given open-book tests which count for only five or 10 per cent of the course grade. Marks from assignments will carry more
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Citizen staff Photo
Gurleen Bajwa, a first-year computer science student at UNBC, stands in front of the nearly-empty student residence on the Cranbrook Hill campus. Students have been asked to leave the residence and the 19-year-old international student from India has had to adjust to online learning now that face-to-face learning with instructors has been stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
weight in determining grades and that news came as a huge relief to Cloarec, whose biggest worry this semester was what he thought was coming his way during the April 14-24 exam period. “(Going to online instruction) changed
all my midterms and finals into open-book exams,” he said. “That took a lot of pressure off and increased my grades. I thought finals would be the hardest part.” — See ‘THIS IS THE BEST on page 3
Residents can pay online through their bank or credit union, use a credit card to pay via the PayTM mobile app, mail a cheque to city hall or sign up for a preauthorized payment plan, a statement released by the city said. “In recent years, roughly half of utility and tax payments were paid in-person at city hall,” the city statement said. “While payment in-person at city hall is presently available from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, the city encourages residents to utilize remote payment options in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of practicing social distancing. Online payments are also accepted for monthly parking and dog licences.” There is no change to payment deadlines for utility bills or property taxes, the city statement said. Utility payments for the first half of the year are due April 3 for properties on flat-rate billing. Property tax payments are due by July 3. “Even though the deadline for filing 2019 income tax has been extended to June 1 by the federal and provincial governments, municipalities in B.C. don’t have the authority to change tax collection dates or waive penalties/interest for late payment; these are governed by provincial legislation,” the city statement said. “In addition, nearly 30 per cent of the funds collected through property taxes are directly transferred to cover hospital and school taxes, the regional district, BC Assessment and the Municipal Finance Authority.” City utility bills provide the full operating funds for the city’s water, sanitary sewer and solid waste services, and delaying collection would have a “significant impact on the city’s cash flow,” the statement added.