Brink Employees Back To Work

By Michelle Cyr-Whiting

Brink Forest Products owner, John Brink, in front of raised River Road (submitted photo)

Prince George, B.C. -  Access concerns to his property along River Road are being worked through, and Brink Forest Products owner, John Brink, says his employees are back on the job.

Most of the 100 workers were laid off back on January 10th, but returned to work this past Monday.  The City's efforts to raise River Road to create a temporary berm from flooding have been a source of consternation for Brink.(click here, for previous story)

Brink says his issues are two-fold:  1. he feels further bolstering the berm along the river would have been more effective than raising River Road by six-feet  2.  he was extremely concerned about safety issues associated with the temporary ramps the City planned to build into his yard from the newly-elevated River Road.

One the issue of the river-side berm, Mayor Colin Kinsley responded to a similar question at this week's Community Information Meeting on the flood, he said that portion of diking was seen to be the 'weak link' in the chain and there are concerns a water surge could wash it out.  He said raising River Road was done to protect the entire city. (click here, for previous story)  As for ramps into Brink Forest Products, the Mayor says the City was prepared to put ramps in back on Sunday, January 13th, but they were told not to by the property owner. (click here, for previous story)

John Brink says he has no interest in getting into a dialogue with the Mayor through the media, although he says questions surrounding the issue are fair ones.  "Our first concern is our employees and getting our business going again and the last thing I want to do is get into this."

"I did not see him (that) Sunday, I simply talked to the engineers that were building the road. I indicated to them, in a very professional way, that I had concerns about the ramps because of the traffic and we simply cannot allow heavy, heavy traffic going on a temporary ramp because it would potentially put in danger the people that are driving the heavy trucks and it would potentially put in danger our employees."

He adds, "So simply, what I said is that those ramps must be properly engineered by engineers.  So, from that point forward, we worked with our engineers to get proper design and they worked with the other (the City's) engineers and I’m sure we’ll get it all sorted out."

When asked if the lay-offs at his operation were due solely to the access issues, Brink says, "It was a combination of things that happened since the 10th (of January), but they could not come back to work until we had a proper access to our property."

"Now they are back at work, but, obviously, we'll have to see how it goes, we hope from here on in that they are able to work, that we complete our ramps."

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us