Let’s talk about the Mayor Forum and some class.

This afternoon I made a mistake at approximately 4pm I was send a link to a video on Youtube of a alleged conversation between our Mayor and his council. I posted that link probably a rash decision done in haste, at 6pm I checked that link again and there were further conversations posted about an alleged deal where a councilor had a invoice from the municipality that was written off. My response at this point was “holy shit” this is bad so I deleted the link.

Took my wife to the Mayor’s forum where she and I sat for two hours listened respectively to each person speak applauded and paid attention to where everybody stood on the issues. In the closing comments the Mayor decided that he was going to make an example of me. He choose to talk about the new lows of politics and invited everybody to check out Dean Ward’s blog and see the American style attack ad. Well I was a little shocked that a man who spent the better part of laughing his head of every time somebody said something contrary to his positions for three hours last night at the councilor’s forum, would slam somebody else about class.

I was especially upset when I saw Ed Strembicki stand up last night (actually somebody I have grown to  respect a lot over the last six months) and speak about how he did not appreciate the Mayor calling him a CAVER and a REDNECK, then I looked across the room and saw the Mayor hysterically laughing another a new low in politics. That’s class.

Let’s talk about the incumbent councilor, I have attended 95% of the council meeting in the last three years and watched this incumbent stick up his hand and usually start with. “Well all the questions I was going to ask have already been asked but I will ask something really insignificant to the conversation now”. At the same time watching some of the other councilor's smirk or roll their eyes. Suddenly he is standing up at the forums asking more questions than he as asked in the last three years. If you were that concerned about this community and that much in support of your "team" why are you not running? And yes Mr Rosner’s assessment of the way he worked the crowd was bang on.

Back to the start well if the man, that I watched attack the press in a bully type approach because they were not "accurately" reporting his council meetings then gave them no chance to respond. That attacked residents at public forums at the Elks Hall because they disagreed with his directions. That attacked anybody that disagreed with him in his newsletters with childish name calling, wants to talk about my level of class go ahead.
Then tonight he attacks and attempts to embarrass me in front of the most important person in my life go ahead. I hope you feel like a hero, but to you I say the people that matter will pass judgment on Oct 21^st. To the incumbent councilor you put up the good fight for your "team" but obviously you could no longer stand the heat in the kitchen.

P.S it was a neat trick to burn up my three questions quickly last night and then have one of your supporters attack me about a tax increase in 2008, (that I did not support) and leave me with no opportunity to respond.

To the residents of the Crowsnest Pass Thank you for your support.

Debbie and Dean    

Do you want it or not?

One of my readers posted the following comment. I think it is apparent where this group is going if re-elected the key question over the next four weeks is this what this community really wants for the next four years?

Mayor Decoux “now that a lot of hard work has been done, they can move on to “more sophisticated work”.

Larry Mitchell “he hopes to be re-elected to finish the things council started and to create a future by not dwelling in the past”

Jerry Londsbury “council needs to finish the initiatives of the strategic plan. A lot of thought and work went into it. It would be nice to run it through to completion.”

Brian Gallant “council started a lot of initiatives to help improve the community and wants to see them through”

Emile Saindon “he wants to continue working for the residents of the municipality and to finish what council started”

Seems like a fairly common theme here, I fully expect that strategic plan 2 will be much worse than 1. With the team above he would certainly have the tools to carry number 2 through.

I think the choices in our election are becoming much clearer. 

Crowsnest Pass where nobody is getting the answers

Courtesy of the Pass Herald, read more at Passherald.ca 

Municipal council may have wrapped up for the week but drama is still unfolding around the September 3rd meeting.

Councillor Andrew Saje filed a complaint with the local Peace Officer for what he feels to be an infraction against municipal council’s ability to do their job.

“I was not able to do my fiduciary duty to this community by being interrupted by the mayor,” says Councillor Saje.

Councillor Saje would have asked why Chief Administrative Officer Myron Thompson’s hours and the associated costs to the municipality (the time he spent assisting with the recent transaction for the rights to a Best Western Hotel franchise by Group Vachon) were not released to municipal council.

Councillor Saje’s question was stopped by the mayor before council could respond and deferred until the next meeting of municipal council, according to Saje.

“I wanted to know how these associated costs were addressed and to which project they were addressed and to which project they were assigned,” says Councillor Saje.

Saje’s questions follow the requested release by the municipality to the Crowsnest Pass Promoter of the figures involved for Group Vachon to retain the rights to a Best Western franchise from the municipality (Crowsnest Pass) and over $18,000 in additional cost released on.

The Promoter reported there was an additional $8,000 (approx.) in legal fees associated with building a new hotel on the site of the Crowsnest Centre, and another $10,000 spent on a hotel feasibility study conducted by Rich Eichler.

“I hope this brings awareness that council needs to follow the bylines and duties so council will be able to do their job,” Saje said.

Mayor Bruce Decoux insists he was not out of line because Councillor Saje’s question was not an actual motion declared to municipal council.

“I indicated to him to keep track of his questions and bring them for the next meeting,” says Decoux.

Decoux says the proper procedure for a question such as what Councillor Saje asked should be brought to the attention of the CAO before or after the meeting and if the matter is urgent, it can then be read before Part ll Section 7 of Bylaw 791 which reads:

When the Mayor or other presiding officer is called upon to decide a point of order or practice, the point shall be stated without unnecessary comment and the Mayor or other presiding officer shall cite the rule or authority applicable to the case.

The waiting is almost over, the time to step up is very soon.

Only eighteen days to nomination day (Sept 23 by noon), nomination forms will be made available to anybody that is interested starting Monday morning (Sept 9) at the Municipal Office. There are only three council meetings left prior to the election (Sept 17, Oct 1 and Oct 15) so if you want to get a sense of how the process works your opportunities are becoming fewer. I have not seen anybody show up with a note pad in the last couple of meetings. Maybe that is an indication that there are not a lot of people interested or maybe some potential candidates have made up their minds and do not see a value to attending council meetings.  

This election is going to be a big one for the Crowsnest Pass, first of the next council’s  term is four years, so if we make the wrong choices we are stuck with them for that extra twelve months.

Much larger issue in my mind is like it or not Decoux and his group promised change (unfortunately very few people asked what kind of change) but they did deliver change. Today we have the largest administration we have ever had, we have the most regulation we have ever seen in the Crowsnest Pass, more bylaws, policies and procedures than even the most avid bean counter would care to count. We enjoyed a council that promised us a mere 2.5% mill rate increases over the last three years, then attempted to fool us all by slapping on franchise fee increases that today would equate to an extra 5-6% tax increase annually. We saw changes that tore this community apart and led to 2500 plus people signing a petition in what appeared to be record time. At that point you would think a government at any level would have realized it was time to hear the people. Instead the taxpayers of this community got an attitude of “do your investigation you will not find anything illegal here” And a Mayor that used a monthly municipal newsletter to attack anybody that dared to disagree with his direction.  

Now on the eve of the election we see a desperate attempt to buy votes by spending $600,000 of our own money to demolish a building that could have been tore down three years ago long before we spent $70,000 buying a Best Western Name for a consultant, redundant studies and legal fees.

      

We the voters get a choice in forty six short days,  I am sure most of the present council will put their names forth, I am also sure we will have quite a number of other candidates to look at.

My hope for this election is that the public asks questions lots of them when somebody talks about “change” ask them what they mean by that. Do not wait for the public forums each candidate will be lucky if they get five minutes to speak. Seek out the candidates ask them where they stand on the issues important to you. If a candidate is serious, he/she will make their phones numbers, emails and mostly themselves available to address your concerns and questions.  

Do not be easily fooled if a candidate promises you no tax increases for the next four years he is a liar, if he promises you tax decreases he is not only a liar he is a fool.

Remember a candidate can promise you the world but unless he can convince a majority of council to vote his way the promises really mean nothing. So if there is a particular direction you would like to see the municipality head in then you better make sure that there are enough potential councilors that have those common beliefs.

I hope the public does not get fooled by the politicians that attempt to please everybody, it is not possible and those types of people end up not taking a position on anything.

I have often been asked what kind of commitment is required to be a councilor? Time, it is not just showing up every second Tuesday raising your hand 25 times and going home. You will put in an average of 20 hours per week you will attend numerous meeting, and events. You will receive calls, you will be approached by the public where ever you go. If you want to be knowledgeable about issues you will spend a lot of time doing research. You will have to make a lot of tough decisions, some that affect people’s livelihoods and some that involve issues that people have been very passionate about for a long time.

You will get paid for doing this but if you are in this purely for the money you will be disappointed over the last ten years councilors have made somewhere around  $12-14,000 a year and the Mayor $22-25,000 a year.

Lastly make sure you have thick skin there will be times where those calls you get will not be so pleasant, and yes it should never be personal but there are a very small minority out there that like to make it that way.

Kudos  to everybody that decides to put their name up for a very difficult job ahead.  

    

"Before the first snow falls"

No I am not going to talk about a new Best Western hotel, opening another coal mine or annexing Ranchlands.
We are going to talk about phase 1 of the Decoux/Gallant re-election campaign. For those that have not noticed the security fences are up at the old hospital/nursing home site. A very good source tells me that the hazard material guys will start work next week, with the demolition guys a week or two behind. My source also tells me that the job will take some where around two months give or take a week. I am sure it is sheer coincidence that it could finish as early as the week of October 23.



Please take a moment and vote on the new poll on the right hand side.

Mayor's Interview with the Calgary CBC, Eye Opener show

The following link is to a radio interview done by the Calgary Eye opener August 16 with our Mayor Bruce Decoux..


http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=2401401234


The only things I would disagree with are timing, he talks about four years to the mine operating that is certainly not consistent with any where else in Alberta the regulatory process is lengthy. This week the press release from Elan mining stated the regulatory process in Alberta takes about seven years.

The employment numbers the Mayor states that for every job at the mine there will be seven jobs else where in the community. That would mean in the Elk Valley, where Teck employees roughly 3000 people there should be 21,000 other jobs in the community?

Let's not forget that both these proposed mines are located in the MD of Ranchlands. So even if they move forward we will see the benefits of jobs, new people moving to the community and spending their pay cheques here. What we will not see for a considerable amount of time (if ever) is the tax revenues from these two proposed operations.

Irregardless still very good news for the Crowsnest Pass.

The Mayor's predictions for the Crowsnest Centre/Hotel

Does anybody think that maybe we should have looked back over the last 18 months before we handed $50,000 over to Vachon group to bring in the big fancy hotel at the Crowsnest Centre site. Two years from now I hope this hotel is a little more visible than the "Naturally Rewarding" on our new banners.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQygIHfnH9E




Note: Cost of administration $4325 per day

Contradictions and confusion highlights of the June 4 Council meeting.

Council meeting of June 4, 2013, Confusion, arrived at the meeting to see a representive of the Blairmore Smoke Eaters and two lawyers at the meeting. Next thing we know CAO Thompson is back and forth talking to these people who prior to the meeting starting leave. Mayor Decoux calls the meeting to order, asks CAO Thompson what that was all about. He informs council that he was off the previous week when communications between the office and the lawyers took place. The communications obviously did not work that well because the lawyers had the impression they could talk to council and the administration had the impression that they were not to talk to council. CAO Thompson stated he would clear it up and provide a formal apology if the mistake was on their end.

Contradictions, the new Economic Development Officer was introduced to council the Mayor stated “our team is now complete”, the new EDO is a lady named Sherry Poole. Bit of a contradiction on the same day that the administrative team grows by one and now becomes complete. The employees are informed that the municipality is contracting out road grading because they do not have enough operators working in Public Works to do it themselves. Mayor Decoux also announced there will soon be another wine and cheese event so the Chamber, Community Futures, Business leaders can meet the new EDO.    

Election news: Andrew Saje announced that he will, not be running in the up coming election. He also informed the public that he made a very lengthy submission in writing to the Municipal Inspector that he is having his lawyer summarize and will be realizing to the public in the not to distant future.

CAO Thompson also informed council that there will be more information coming about the hotel deal shortly.

We have heard this story before......

This morning all excited knowing that the deadline of April 30 had pasted and that according to the agreement between Medican and the municipality that the developer was supposed to announce the name of the hotel chain by that date.

So there I sat with the new municipal flag hanging over my fire place, and my pin of multi coloured triangles attached to my pyjamas top. I patiently sat in front of my radio this morning waiting for the Mayor to take his first opportunity since April 30 to bask in the announcement of the hotel coming to the old hospital site. There was much speculation that it would be a Best Western, has one of the comment's pointed out on my previous post, when you read the articles from the Okotoks paper, Medican, Group Vachon and Best Western seem like a natural fit.

I was so disappointed when the Mayor said the Board of Governors for Best Western are meeting next week to make a decision, (maybe the contract said April 30 2014? check below) which is really strange because about a month a go at a previous council meeting the public was told that the Board of Governors were meeting on April 8-11th.

Back to the radio the Mayor states that there are concerns coming from Sparwood because a Best Western was announced there quite a while back, (see Best Western update below, those two year deadlines are going to be difficult to make).

But the Mayor did come to the rescue with more positive news if Best Western does not come through then we have the Holiday Inn waiting in the back ground, hopefully their Board of Governors will not take too long to get together.

Word on the street is there is a third choice, the famous family ran Dick's hostel and discount water slides are taking a look at the site. (The head of the family Mr Dick suggests that he could get all the Dicks together for a meeting to make a decision, very quickly)

On a serious note folks does this not sound like the script from the Quebec Manufacturer saga except every where the words "Quebec Manufacturer" were used previously you now insert "Hotel Board of Governors" I will pee myself the first time I hear at a council meeting, "I'm sure these Board of Governors are running up lot's of Air Miles flying back and forth to the Pass"       

Medican and Municipality of CNP Contract available at http://transparencycnp.shawwebspace.ca/blog/posts/2/5/


Sparwood Update on Best Western site Feb 2012

 http://www.sparwood.ca/government/news/announcements/best-western-hotel-development

Crowsnest Pass The real numbers!

Last week I wrote about the bungled discovery of a 5.23% assessment base drop six momths into the budget process. http://crowsnestpasshome.blogspot.ca/2013/04/incompetence-creates-opportunity.html

Today we have a special meeting of council to see administrations recommendations to solve the $295,000 shortfall. Administration brings backs three options:

Option 1 Spending cuts of $295,000 including eliminating $100,000 for the York Creek Lodge Reserve, $57,000 by shutting the Albert Stella Arena, $52,000 eliminating banners and the rest in smaller cuts.

Option 2 Spending cuts of $193,000 and $102,000 raised from additional mill rate increases beyond the 2.5% placed in the original tri annual budget

Option 3 Spending cuts of $193,000 and $102,000 coming out of reserves.

After the presentation of these options and the explanation behind each, Council asked a series of questions including a number of areas in the budget that had seen substantial increases from 2012 to 2013 (Councilor Saindon asked some very good questions). At this point administration requested some time to get the answers Mayor Decoux recessed for thirty minutes.
At 3:20 the meeting began again CAO Thompson supplied the answers to the previously asked questions. At this point Councilor Saindon raised a concern about himself and the CAO working with different numbers. After some banter back and forth between administration and Councilor Saindon it appears that Council and administration were working with different numbers. Everybody is scrambling, to which the CAO requests that this debate be carried on tomorrow at the G+P meeting. Council will be supplied with the real numbers tonight.  
First the Assessment base was of by 3.23% now nobody is working from the same page never had a real debate on which option to move forward with.

The Mayor's catching up on the good news

In the Mayor's last newsletter he stated that the mine may be actually starting sooner than he previously anticipated. My first impression of that was good news especially when you see next door in the Elk Valley that the Bingay mine is now in it's eighth year (That's right 8 years) and they have still not started. So I have spent the last week searching the internet and trying to determine where the Mayor's optimistic out look is coming from.

Lo and behold the Mayor stated on his 15 minutes with Randy show this morning that Riversdale is doing a share offering in the next couple of months. Which means they will have money to begin construction. 

My heart skipped a beat that's nothing new back on Jan 29th Riversdale announced this share offering that will be taking place in June.  You can read it at the following address: http://crowsnestpasshome.blogspot.ca/2013/01/riversdale-resources-finding-money.html 

Now looking at the article you can clearly see that they are raising $63.4 million, the companies doing the share offering will take 5% which drops that number down to $60 million then they are paying $47 million for the land in the Pass which will leave a whooping $13 million which in today's mining world does not mean a whole lot they will need that money just to keep doing what they are doing as far as preparing for the regulatory process, and don't forget they are also working on their property in Alaska. So I would expect that the $13 million left over will get gobbled up very fast.

Sounds like a politician trying to put a new spin on old news. 

Fire Master Plan and Arrogance

During the debate on the Fire Master Plan there were two things that jumped out at me that nobody has spoken about yet.

The first being Councilor Londsbury referred in quite some detail to the Fire Master Plan of 2001, the fact that a large number of residents were interviewed about the quality of the fire service we received. What Councilor Londsbury neglected to mention during his comments on that issue were the results of the survey.

In summary this is what the survey said, the rest is available on the municipal web site under Fire Master Plan 2001:

234 residents were contacted 223 residents participated
49 from Bellevue, 59 from Blairmore, 65 from Coleman and 50 from Hillcrest.
90% of the respondents said they had no complaints about the fire departments
73% felt that response times were adequate
88% of the respondents strongly or moderately agreed with the statement "I am satisfied with the level of fire protection I currently receive" 
78% felt the same way about rescue services and 76% about ambulance services.

Another point, most members of council attempted to make it sound like nothing was done after the 2001 Fire Master Plan. A big step that was taken in 2002, was the purchase of $1.5 million worth of fire trucks, most people would agree that was a significant step taken by the council of the day.

The other issue that bothers me, our illustrious Mayor made the following comment during the debate which I copied from the Pass Promoter article written by Joni MacFarlane:

“You’ve been challenged in your efforts by situations and circumstances created by a 

lack of foresight or oversight by our predecessors,” he said. “The difficulties you’ve 

experienced should never have occurred much less the situation you found yourself 

having to correct… It’s time to move on to the next task.”

During the last thirty months I have heard this Mayor in all his arrogance go on and on about how previous council's failed this community, attempting to create the impression that there was no bylaws, no procedure, no policies and no processes in place. 

If he was not so arrogant he would realize that despite everything he believes, this council and his leadership are not perfect, even one of his own members stated publicly in the local papers last week that some of the things this council has done have been less than perfect.  

Over the years there have been some dam good people who sat on various councils. There have been literally hundreds if not thousands of bylaws, procedures, policies and processes put in place over the last thirty years.

Did some need changing and updating? absolutely, does he think that everything they have put into place will be left untouched by future councils? I don't think so. 

People keep saying over and over again that this council has done a better job of communicating than previous councils. That is a statement I actually agree with, what these guys have not grasped, is one the people are not agreeing with what they are communicating and two if you did not act with such a high level of arrogance people would have an easier time of hearing what you have to say. 

Anybody remember "bring it on" 
    

Who's in control? Agenda Committee

The more things change the more they stay the same.

Politics and the control of councils, during my two terms on council it became very apparent to me that the Mayor set the agenda, not an easy process unless you have willing participants. How did he do it? Simple he set up three committee’s, Corporate Services, Operational Services and Community Development. When an issue regarding a particular subject for example, a development it would go in front of the corporate services, a problem with infrastructure in front of Operational services and so on.

Very quickly it became apparent what was going on each of these boards were made up of the Mayor and two councilors appointed by the Mayor, so of course he would always appoint one councilor that towed the line to each committee. In reality these committee’s became a screening process so the Mayor could control what issues did and did not come to Council. When George Cuff came in and did his organizational review he made the following recommendation.

8. Eliminate the Standing Committees of Council

a) We recommend that the Council pass a resolution (which we will draft) to

rescind the resolution creating the three standing committees. We recommend

that the Council do so immediately.

b) We recommend that the Council create by resolution a Committee of the

Whole hereafter known as the “Governance and Priorities Committee” of

Council (GPC).

c) We recommend that the Council follow the terms of reference which we will

draft and that the CAO review/edit these as the need arises.

Council agreed to this change and it changed the way Council did business for the better, after this change all issues came to council without being screened.

Now according to Councilor Saje’s letter released today we have gone back in time, items that councilors wish to put on agenda’s are not being placed there. I have seen a number of times where somebody as tried to bring something up, the Mayor’s asked if the issue was given to the “AGENDA COMMITTEE” well was I ever shocked to read Councilor Saje’s letter and see that the “AGENDA COMMITTEE” is made up of??? The Mayor and the CAO this is even more blatant control than when I was on council.

Mayor Decoux clarifies Annexation and Taxation

At Council meeting Feb 5 the Mayor gave a little bit of a commentary on two issues in the Crowsnest Pass and even though his comments sounded strange to me the public deserves to know.

(Anybody that was at the meeting and feels I am misquoting the Mayor please let me know and I will be glad to change the comments but this is what I heard)

He began by talking about "Annexation" he stated "let me be clear we are investigating and talking about the process of annexation, we have never said that we are actually doing it"

Then he went on to talk about the inequities between municipalities in this province within his comments about those inequities he stated the following "This small community is having the life taxed out of us"

On point number two myself and the Mayor agree, fortunately for the Mayor and Council they have the opportunity in their hands to reverse that direction right now, the budget process is still ongoing. 

Note: Administration was asked the question what percentage of the RCMP tickets does the municipality receive? the answer was the same has the Peace Officers tickets.
Now keep in mind one subtle difference, we do not pay for the RCMP just another thought for the budget process.

Crowsnest Pass major announcement.

Well the press release is a little late this information has been on the blogs for the last couple of days and the Pass Herald facebook site since Saturday but never the less still good news. For more on this story John Pundyk wrote an excellent article available in both the Pass Herald and the Elk Valley Herald. 

Riversdale Resources Limited Enters Into Agreement to Acquire Coking Coal Development Portfolio in Canada

Riversdale Resources Limited, a public unlisted entity based in Sydney, Australia, has entered into an agreement to acquire a portfolio of coal assets from Devon Energy and Consol Energy located in the Crowsnest Pass area of southwest Alberta, Canada.

The portfolio, comprising over 35,000 acres in total, includes the Grassy Mountain Project located near the towns of Blairmore and Coleman and adjacent to a large capacity rail system already established for coal transport to the existing west coast ports of Westshore Terminal near Vancouver and Ridley near Prince Rupert Sound. Grassy Mountain is an advanced project that has been the subject of substantial exploration and feasibility work including approximately 364 drill holes, two trial pits and a 54,000 tonne bulk sample.  Currently Grassy Mountain has a Canadian 43-101 resource of 192 million tonnes and a reserve of 55 million tonnes although Riversdale sees the potential to expand this further.  Additionally, Grassy Mountain is located in a Category 4 zone under the Alberta Coal Development Policy.

 A earlier feasibility study for Grassy Mountain outlined a open pit development plan to produce approximately 2 million tonnes per annum of both metallurgical and thermal coal over a 28 year life with moderate upfront capital and an FOB cash cost for the first 12 years of US$85 – US$90 per tonne. Riversdale has been working with Norwest Corporation from Calgary, McElroy Bryan from Australia and two recognised Australian based coal quality consultants in undertaking its review of the portfolio. As a result, Riversdale has commenced work to evaluate the potential for a 4 million tonne per annum mine producing primarily a hard coking coal with a secondary PCI product. Riversdale believes such a project will be possible through the use of modern coal mining and washing techniques which have advanced significantly since the earlier feasibility work. 

In addition to Grassy Mountain Riversdale has acquired the Bellevue, Adanac and Lynx coal exploration leases which currently contain an additional 160 million tonnes of estimated resources and an extensive package of freehold land accumulated by the vendors over the past 30 years. The portfolio provides Riversdale an exciting opportunity to look at multiple developments in the region which has a long history of coal mining.

Riversdale has entered into an agreement to acquire the coal properties and freehold land assets for a total of US$ 49.5 million (A$ 47.6 million) payable by the end of June 2013.  Of the total amount, approximately US$35 million (A$ 33.6 million) is attributable to the Grassy Mountain Project. 

The Chairman of Riversdale, Michael O'Keeffe stated "the acquisition of the Crowsnest Pass assets concludes an outstanding first year of exploration and development for our company with a targeted program at our Chickaloon project in Alaska identifying a number of promising coking coal seams. The Crowsnest Pass assets will propel Riversdale into becoming a major force in high quality metallurgical coal production from multiple assets.”

Crowsnest Pass Mayor Bruce Decoux is thrilled with today’s announcement.  “One of this Council’s priorities has been to broaden our economic base and strengthen our local economy.”  The Municipality’s hard work with Riversdale is certain to generate great economic spin off for our community and region,” says Decoux  

Over the last few months Crowsnest Pass Mayor, Council and Administration have been working to support Riversdale and to ensure confidence in the strength and vibrancy of our community.  “We are confident that the support we provided to Riversdale helped pave the way for this initiative to come to fruition” said Decoux.  “We are excited that the Crowsnest Pass will soon be home to a highly reputable international coal mining group and that all citizens in our community will reap benefits,” added Decoux.

Background on Riversdale

Riversdale is an Australian public unlisted company with approximately 70 shareholders. The company was created by the former senior management of Riversdale Mining Limited, an ASX company acquired by Rio Tinto Limited in 2011. Riversdale currently has a 10 year lease over the Chickaloon Coking Coal Project in Alaska and is looking to develop a significant steel making materials business with a focus on high grade metallurgical coal in stable sovereign environments.

The board and senior management of Riversdale comprises:

Michael O'Keeffe (Chairman) - previously Chairman of Riversdale Mining Limited and former Managing Director of Glencore Australia

Steve Mallyon (Managing Director) - previously Managing Director of Riversdale Mining Limited and former Managing Director of RBC Capital Markets Australia

Gary Lawler (Non Executive Director) - former Director of Riversdale Mining Limited and Senior M&A Partner of Ashurst 

Tony Redman (Non Executive Director) - former Director of Riversdale Mining Limited and former Chairman of Anglo American Coal

Anthony Martin (Chief Financial Officer) - former Riversdale Mining Limitada Country Manager (Mozambique)

Russell Dann (President, Riversdale North America) - former Regional Director of Queensland Government Mines and Energy Agency)

 Steve Mallyon.                                          Anthony Martin

Managing Director                                     Chief Financial Officer

A media availability is scheduled for Tuesday, January 8^th between 10 am and 12 noon at the Municipal Administrative offices.  Mayor Bruce Decoux will be available to speak on this announcement.

Steve Mallyon from Riversdale Resources will be available to speak to media via telephone on January 8^th between 2 pm and 5 pm, mountain standard time at +61 407 464 529.

The Municipality will be hosting a welcoming reception in early February at which time  Riversdale Resources representative will be in attendance and available to speak with media.

Good news coming Thursday

Listening to CJPR this morning the Mayor stated there will be a couple of big annoucements at the end of the town hall meeting.

Looking forward to good news, my hope is that its the Centre coming down and a hotel chain moving in.

Thunder in the Valley Committee Reacts

Just took this off my fellow bloggers site John Prince at http://blog.johnprince.ca/

Dear Editor:

Upon learning of Crowsnest Pass Municipal Council's decision to cancel the upcoming Thunder In The Valley event originally scheduled for July 2012, we would like to express our sincere disappointment. 

For the past eighteen years we have poured our hearts and souls, as well as thousands of volunteer hours, into putting on one of the largest fireworks shows in southern Alberta. We would also like to thank the people of the Crowsnest Pass for their overwhelming support that has allowed us to continue for almost two decades. 

It has been made evident to us over the past few months that Council, as well as the RCMP, have lacked the support or desire to see this event continue. As it finally came to a tipping point on March 6, 2012, it became very clear that the members of the council have been looking for reasons to cancel the event rather than find solutions to promote and continue with it. 

In an email from Councillor Saindon on March 7th, he informed us that even though "(they) know this event draws an enormous crowd (that they) as a committee need to move forward with new events that will still draw people and make the weekend a success." 

We have always contended that we did not want to push an event on this town that was not desired. We now have to accept that it is not. Council has informed us that they do not have an adequate plan in place to address the concerns raised. This appears to be no more than an excuse, using the guise of inflated cost evaluations coupled with the refusal to make appropriate plans. We question as to why council has deferred this planning until only a few months prior to an event of such a large scale in the community? As far as we understand, the monetary value of the policing and management of the Rum Runner Days weekend was a large factor in council's decision. 

After reviewing the proposed 'budget,' which is full of inflated figures, it is no wonder that they decided to cancel the event. Rather than working with the current situation, they would prefer to go in a different direction and "focus on the parade, car show, Gazebo park events, free stage, potential concert, dinner and dance etc." 

We also find it unusual that the Municipal council based its decision on the recommendation of two individuals, the CAO and the Interim Manager, Enforcement Services, neither of whom even live in the community full time nor took the time to meet with our organization to discuss their concerns. 

However, as mentioned in our original statement following the announcement, we do not agree with Municipal council's decision, but we will abide by it as they have been elected to speak for the people of the Crowsnest Pass. 

We do find it interesting that the municipality has recently found funds available to create several new positions and to spend enormous amounts of money on having bylaws created and revised, but when it came to spending money on public safety for an event that draws thousands to the area, the financial burden became too high. 

Interestingly enough, the Crowsnest Pass Promoter recently published an article regarding a new fireworks bylaw, in which Donna Tona is quoted as saying "If we continue with our fireworks show, Thunder in the Valley, we do need to follow the rules of the province [and] all the Acts.” 

We find this surprising as news to us, as the members of our organization are regulated by the Federal Government through the Explosives Regulatory Branch and use fireworks that are not subject to provincial acts. It brings into question how much research was actually done by her. 

Following that up, the article mentions that "Mayor Decoux questioned why Thunder in the Valley organizers haven’t brought the issue to the attention of the RCMP if it was against federal law." Quite honestly, we are embarrassed that the mayor's ignorance regarding what we have been doing for the past eighteen years. We did not realize that it was a volunteer organization's responsibility to ensure that the municipal council was doing its due diligence in matters of legality. 

Between the comments of Tona and Decoux in the article, our organization was quite offended, making us feel that we have been nothing but a group of common criminals for the last eighteen years. 

We would ask that before Mayor Decoux or Interim Manager, Enforcement Services speak publicly about our organization in the future that they would do some adequate research to avoid slandering our organization's reputation. Possibly in the future they may want to actually consult us directly on such matters.


Thunder in the Valley Committee

Economic Task Force-Rum Runner Days/Thunder in the Valley

What I believe is going to be one of the most controversial recommendations in the Task Force Report is #10 regarding the whole Rum Runner/Thunder in the Valley weekend.
Below we have the Task Force recommendation and there suggestions about how to achieve it.
Some of council is already chomping at the bit to get to this issue, a few meetings back, Councilor Gail asked the CAO if they have received all the financial information from the Fire Dept yet, the previous CAO stated they were still waiting. Early in the year Mayor Decoux wanted administration to find out who owns Thunder in the Valley.
This last meeting Mayor Decoux notified a number of local residents that this year will be the last year that this weekend will be ran the way it’s always been, that next year there will be significant change. Councilor Gail this week also asked if it would not be better for the municipality to take back over the camping along the train tracks to realize that revenue for municipal coffers.

Then to top it all off Mayor Decoux stated that the real cost of this weekend for the municipality will be well in excess of $100,000.

Here is the recommendation and suggestions from the task force on how to enhance the weekend I have put a Note with my comments after each point

“10. Review and re-develop Rum Runner Days/Thunder in the Valley with a focus on increasing potential for economic benefit to the community and local businesses:”

• Establish a community committee to run Rum Runner Days/Thunder in the Valley with the support of the Tourism Coordinator. Note: This would clearly tie the two events together the arguments have always been made by the affected groups that they are two separate events.

• Develop a financial model that is transparent regarding sources and uses of funds and results in profit to the Municipality, local businesses and the event. Note: If the two events are being tied together will all parties share all financial information as requested by Councilor Gail.

• Consider payment for parking and bussing into a central location as a revenue generator and resolution for egress problems in the past. Note: Wow what a logistic nightmare, 50 people on a bus even if you forced half the crowd lets say 15000 to get on a bus that 300 bus loads where would you find them, park them and control who gets on which bus.

• Consider expanding the event to Thursday night, Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Note: great idea in theory lots of work will you find somebody willing to take on this load. There was a public request last year for help to take over the work load that Marion Vanoni as handled for year not a lot of people stepped forward.

• Add entertainment by inviting big name acts for Thursday night, Friday night Saturday night before the fireworks, and Sunday afternoon. Many of these entertainers may already be at the South Country Fair, which is the same weekend, and may be able to perform in a sponsored tent located a reasonable distance from residential areas with bussing back and forth from the designated parking. Note: who will put all the money up front to sponsor these events especially the first year, if you want big name acts you will pay big money guaranteed money. Even retro groups like Nazareth, April Wine command $12-15,000 up front money. Do we want to risk taxpayers money on the success of these types of ventures.

• Attract sponsorships including approaching Cowboys in Calgary to sponsor and manage the tent, as well as Bacardi Rum for donations of liquor, consistent with the Rum Runner theme. Identify other sponsors in addition to these examples. Note: I was involved with a beer garden once on this weekend if you are going to maintain this weekend as a family event I would like to stay away from this kind of event. In addition, easy to confirm with the RCMP the number of arrests without Beer Gardens as been way down.

• Enhance promotion through an integrated campaign building on web site, billboards, radio and social media. Note: Does this event need any more promotion I think anybody within a 300 km radius knows about the event. Also advertising is very expensive who will front those dollars in the first year.

This is going to be a very tough issue to deal with groups that have had control of different aspects are not going to relinquish them freely. There are certain parts of this weekend that are actually owned by groups, will we see a budget item this year to purchase naming rights to Thunder in the Valley. Some people want to grow the event some people want it to go away. Irregardless of what any of us think Mayor and Council seem determined to change this weekend.

Rum Runner Days weekend

As I previously reported council, specifically Mayor Decoux raised several issues in regard to Rum Runner Days, and the Thunder in the Valley event, further to those comments Joni raises the isuue in the Promoter Editorial today.

http://www.crowsnestpasspromoter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2930355

In addition the Promoter provides an opportunity for the community to vote, for their opinion as to whether the weekend is benefical to the community or not, whichever side you stand on this issue here is your chance to at least vote on it.

http://www.crowsnestpasspromoter.com/