I am not sure why Council decisions should be unanimous. The people were not unanimous in voting for Councillors and Mayor. In fact, only 2 or 3 received more than 50% approval from those who cast a vote. Differences of opinions keep everyone on their toes.

I like independent thinkers. The reasons for voting the way they did was rational. I am unsure of the reason for the hurry to get this over with. Sure, it makes the process of working out the rest of the budget easier, but life is often not easy.

I think it would have been a nice gesture to give the new councillors the courtesy of weighing in on this issue, especially since it is such an important one over which the election was conducted.

But hey, as they say, might is right.

glad to see that the newbies are able to think for themselves and not just follow along, so far. time will tell the real story.

Finally a few people on council who are not sheep.

Wait until they have had a little more of the lemonade. Oh, and don’t sniff the scented candle’s.

Not to mention it’s pretty save opposing something to put a feather in your cap when you know the majority is going to vote to pass it anyways. Thier vote was pretty much meaningless since the incumbents still out number them. Green can say what she wants, but there is going to be an air of new against old for some time to follow. We needed at least 2 more new councillors to make any changes in the decision making.

I like what I see so far. Regardless of what administration recommends or proposes the critical point should be that prior to voting council members should be informed to make sure they are able to understand and look at other options. Prior councils would follow administration or the mayors recomendations like sheep………..hopefully a new reality has arrived at city hall!!!!

Increase #1 with many more to come. I wonder if they will do what previous council did on sewer and water rates and that is to raise the rates a second time before the first increase kicked in. We all lose with the old stream council like Krause,Stolz.wilbur and of course our new mayor Green.I think they never vote no when it comes to rate increases because this is the easy way around a problem which was created by councils.

Absolutely stupid having brand new councillors vote on something they have no background material on. Plain and simple. Good for them for voting against the increases.

Did this really need to be voted on at this meeting?

I think that the new Councillors should work to the best of their ability with this Council, and if they find that in most cases the **old guard** are basically running the Council without them, or giving their ideas any consideration, then they should raise hell. They were voted in on the platform of holding the line on costs. So were Green, Stoltz, and Wilbur.

Stoltz, Green, and Wilbur, have only been there for one previous term, and for all intents and purposes were voted in for the same reasons that Koehler, Hall, and Everitt, were voted in, that is **change**

The only real old guard left is Krause, and Skakun.

Lets get this council working for the betterment of all.

Failure to get any results this time around will make the turn-out at the next election even more pathetic.

Let’s just remember that this is about a need and not a want.

Well, maybe … LOL

The need is to fix things as they break, or to fix things on a preventative maintenance cycle. To do the latter, there is also a need to monitor infrastructure in place as cost effectively as possible.

It costs money to do any of that. That cannot be avoided.

What is adjustable is how we pay for it – pay as the cost arises, or pay on borrowed money. Pay on an a user fee, or pay from a general tax base.

And there may be other options available as well. How about a P3 … ;-)

Is there anyone here who knows waht decisions have actually been made about any of that. Some of those things I mentioned surely are braod enough that they should follow from policies that Council has created. If not, then I think there ought to be some.

I know I know very little of any such directions set by Council with respect to this issue.

Is there anyone out there in opinion250land who can enlighten me on that? Maybe someone could direct me to a page on the City’s web site which has such information.

I was on strata council for a few year (as lively as city council at times)and when we voted, it was a personal decision on how each of us felt on the impact of the of the complex so should be the same for city council.

So what heve they been doing with the money from all the other increases we have seen on every bill we have received?Just been pissing it away like everything else they have touched.It’s getting harder and harder to keep up with everything and we keep losing good paying jobs in this city and the people at city hall can’t see this,as there heads are so far up there asses,everything always comes looking like roses,even an increase to every bill they send out.

Well all of you that voted yes, You will not be getting my vote or my wifes next election.Im sorry to sat we voted for every 1 of you. So much for a change in city concil thinking . Here we go again.

Well I see that our new council is off to a flying start. 5% increase in our utility rates and if I heard the radio correctly, (please correct me if I’m wrong,) but they are projecting a 5% increase to our utilities for the next four or five years. At the same time CANFOR confirmed the permanent closer of Rustad Saw Mill. Yikes!! The tax base is shrinking and the tax increases are stinking!

BTW – Council confirmed the tax increase on their inaugural meeting held October 5 and it was a 5% hike, I’m glade inaugural night wasn’t the 12th.

I voted for all new candidates and was pretty sure everyone would. I see there’s a lot of people who don’t understand about politicians and promises. The best way to insure any government doesn’t run stupid, is to change faces every election. Didn’t anyone notice how cocky Kinsley became after his second term? We NEED new faces every 3 years, regardless of unfinished business.

Albert, Frank and Lyn good for you.