Council costs taxpayers $300K
Richmond’s nine city council members cost taxpayers $304,464 last year. That amount pays for the mayor and eight council members’ salaries and expenses. Mayor Greg Halsey-Brandt’s salary is $66,908. Councillors get paid $26,008. (Council voted Monday to raise the mayor and councillor’s pay by six and 9.1 per cent respectively.)
The council member who had the most expenses was Halsey-Brandt, who spent $722 on travel, $626 on registration fees, $540 on accomodation, $250 on meals, $146 on parking $24 on taxi fares, $25 on miscellaneous costs and $6,500 that paid for his city-leased minivan.
For the rest of council, most had no expenses except for registration fees.
Coun. Derek Dang (NPA) charged $45 in parking to the city, $21 in meals and $22.47 in registration fees.
Former councillor Corisande Percival-Smith had $1,591 worth of expenses, all of it paying for registration fees.
No city council member had any cell phone or taxi expenses.
Three councillors had no expenses last year: Coun. Harold Steves (NDP), Ken Johnston (NPA), and Malcolm Brodie (NPA).
Coun. Lyn Greenhill (NPA) charged $300 in registration fees to the city, while Coun. Linda Barnes (NDP) charged $200 for the same purpose. Coun. Kiichi Kumagai and Bill McNulty (NPA) were each reimbursed for $35 also spent on fees.
Liberal criticizes NDP record
Richmond Liberal MLA Linda Reid has criticized the NDP government for what she calls “failing children” in the wake of a report by Joyce Preston, the child, youth and family advocate entitled Not Good Enough.
The report detailed the ongoing problems in delivering services for children in need. It is the fifth consecutive yearly report in which the child advocate’s recommendations have been ignored by the government, Reid said.
Reid said the NDP are diverting funds from front-line workers to bureaucratic restructuring while the child advocate maintains that the priority of the government must be in offering adequate front-line services for children.
Connections add up for new money
A local volunteer group is getting some funding help.
The Richmond Connections Information and Volunteer Society is getting $18,000 to streamline and modernize office procedures via technology and to create a generic training model of the procedure.
Richmond Connections is one of five volunteer agencies in the region to receive money from Involve BC, an agency of the Community Development Ministry. About $2.2 million will be doled out by the agency to assist other volunteer groups.
City gets cash for weed control
Richmond is getting a $4,000 grant to combat noxious weeds that threaten farm crops.
The provincial government gave out $269,500 in total grants to municipalities to fight the weed problem. As well as $44,000 research grant is being provided to a Swiss company to develop a natural solution to controlling noxious weeds such as dalmation toadflax.
Locals to talk leaky condos
Members of the Coalition of Leaky Condo Owners (COLCO) are holding their next meeting at the McMath elementary school gymnasium, 4251 Garry St. in Steveston on Sunday, April 16 from 1 to 4 p.m.
The meeting is open to the public.
For more information, call 683-0823.
Student earns cash from Tylenol
Denise Tom of Richmond won a $1,000 scholarship available from Tylenol.
Tom is one of eight students in the province who won the Tylenol Scholarships. the corporation doled out similar cash prizes to 50 post-secondary students throughout Canada.
Chamber hosts industry minister
John Manley, Canada’s minister of industry, will be the keynote speaker at the April 18 annual general meeting of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce.
Manley will be discussing his vision of creating opportunities for Canadians by connecting Canadians and advancing the use of the information highway. The meeting will be held at the Richmond Inn, 7551 Westminster Hwy., at 11:45 a.m.
The luncheon is open to the business community and reservations must be booked through the Richmond Chamber of Commerce at 278-2822.
Westwind organizes
Neighbourhood Watch
Residents of Richmond’s Westwind Subdivision will be meeting this week to discuss the Neighbourhood Watch crime prevention program
The information and sign-up meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 12 at 8:30 p.m. at Westwind Elementary School Library, 11371 Kingfisher.
Website promotes smoke free joints
A hospitality website launched to promote voluntarily smoke-free drinking establishments has listed only two for Richmond, so far.
The two establishments, World Wide Cafe and Kimberly Lounge are both located in the Four Points Vancouver Airport Hotel at 8360 Alexandra Rd.
The website is www.cleanairbc.com,.
Grads present fashion show
Grads will be in fashion Monday at Hugh Boyd Secondary.
The Hugh Boyd Grad committee is presenting Once Upon A Time..., a grad fashion show and silent auction for parents and students Monday, April 10 from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in the school lounge.
Contributors to the show include Osiris Framing, Sooters Photography, Mikado Hair Design, Fitwell’s Family Fitness, Thompson community centre, Howard Johnson Hotel, Red Robin, Off The Wall and many more.
Tickets are $3 or $4 at the door.
Call 668-6615 for details.
Suspect sought in Sony Store robbery
An armed man robbed the Sony Store on No. 3 Road across from Save-On-Foods Thursday afternoon, making off with an undisclosed amount of cash.
The man walked into the popular electronics store shortly after 4 p.m. and demanded money from an employee, flashing a gun in
the process.
The suspect then fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of money, but none of the valuable electronics in the store.
Richmond RCMP brought out a dog team to search for the suspect, but were not successful in locating him.
The suspect is described as a Caucasian male, about 20 years old and about 169 centimetres (five feet seven inches) tall and was wearing a black nylon jacket, sunglasses and a black baseball cap.
There were no injuries.
Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call the Richmond RCMP at 278-1212.
Liberals want public feedback
Richmond’s hat trick of Liberal MLAs are hosting a public forum on the provincial budget at the Richmond Cultural Centre’s lecture hall on Thursday, April 13 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
The moderator will be Mike Boehm of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce. The panel will include Harri Jansen, CEO of Richmond Savings Credit Union, Olga Ilich of Suncor Development and John Kenyon of KPMG.
Richmond’s three Liberal MLAs are Geoff Plant (Richmond-Steveston), Linda Reid (Richmond East) and Doug Symons (Richmond Centre).
Pot left on stove sparks duplex fire
Two families escaped unharmed after a fire late last Friday night at a duplex at 9102 No. 4 Rd.
Richmond Fire-Rescue’s Gordon Gill told The Review that the fire started around 11:15 p.m. on the shelving above a stove.
A tenant had been cooking and had left a pot filled with potatoes unattended on the stove, he said. The wooden shelf above the stove eventually caught fire and the blaze spread out a kitchen window and into a storage room. The flames then leapt up the outside of the building and started a fire in the attic.
Damage was estimated at about $125,000.
Peking group nets grant money
The Peking Opera Society of Richmond has won a $3,500 grants from the BC 2000 Arts and Heritage fund.
The opera society is the only Richmond group to receive a grant under the latest list of approved projects. The group will use the money to help pay for a performance at the Richmond Gateway Theatre for a play of the Dragon and Phoenix Fantasy.
|
