Pinkest Town in the West
At the March 1st Council meeting, the
Pinkest Little Town in the West committee asked Council to declare a “Pink Day” in the beginning of June, in order to get students, businesses and residents involved in the breast cancer fundraising campaign.
During discussion at the March 8th GPC meeting, Mayor Bruce Decoux said former councils had developed a practice of not proclaiming special days, so as not to place emphasis on or discriminate between different events, and due to the possibility of increased requests from other groups and organizations for such a declaration.
Councillor Andrew Saje said Council should still support the event and fundraising efforts, a sentiment with which the rest of Council agreed.
“We should show a show of support for the event, and help publicize it in any way that we can,” said Councillor Emile Saindon.
Councillor Jerry Lonsbury said he sees this event as an opportunity to unite the community.
“It doesn’t take very much to participate,” said Lonsbury, “and everyone is focused on the same goal for even a brief period of time.”
Mayor Decoux proposed two possible motions to suggest to Council, the first being to recommend that Council decline the request based on the volume of requests that could be received from other organizations.
The second motion was to recommend that Council support the initiative as a worthwhile cause, and at a later date identify opportunities to participate in the effort, while also allowing the committee to identify a day of their choosing to unofficially name “Pink Day”.
Councillor Mitchell made the second motion, which was approved unanimously.
Capital equipment and project tendering
Myron Thompson, Director of Operational Services for the Municipality, provided Council with an update regarding the purchase of machinery and tenders for proposed projects.
In his report, Thompson said several tenders have been received over the past number of weeks, through a formal public bidding process.
Tenders for the light truck fleet, grader, hydraulic track excavator, and vibratory plate compactor have come in at $60,000, $300,000, $230,000, and $12,000, respectively.
Thompson said the majority of equipment will be purchased in the United States, due to the current strength of the Canadian dollar being greater than that of the American dollar.
He said the cost of purchasing the equipment will also include municipal discounts.
For example, Thompson said, the retail price for a grader runs around $440,000, but the municipal discount allows for $140,000 to be shaved off.
Thompson informed Council there has also been a lot of interest from contractors for the demolition of the Maplevue Hall.
