Support from the District that helped the Clearwater Sno-drifters purchase a groomer a couple of months ago is paying off, Mayor Harwood said.
“They’re already starting to see people come,” he said.
The mayor noted that, even though the local snowmobile club has not yet set up donation boxes, many of the snowmobilers are leaving money at the places they are staying to pay for the grooming.
Councillor Gord Heisterman, who works at Clearwater Lodge, said they had a group of eight snowmobilers from Alberta come to stay one night. They were so happy with the groomed trails that they ended up staying three.
“The town was great and the mountain was great,” Heisterman said.
No help for Chamber
It appears that Clearwater and District Chamber of Commerce will not get help from District of Clearwater to keep its tourist information desk open at the Wells Gray Infocenter.
The Chamber requested the assistance several months ago.
Instead, the Chamber is being encouraged to work with Tourism Wells Gray. That organization has received substantial seed money from both the District and from Wells Gray Country services committee, and should soon become self-supporting as revenues from a local hotel tax begin flowing in.
During last Tuesday’s town council meeting, Mayor John Harwood noted that support for the Chamber is not an item in the District’s budget. He suggested that information be relayed to the Chamber.
BC Transit steps up to help
The Valley Connector Service that runs weekly from Vavenby to Kamloops and back could soon get assistance from BC Transit.
Until now the service has been called “extra hours” and its costs have not been shared by the provincial transit authority, director of finance Sheila Thiessen reported to council.
However, BC Transit is now proposing to incorporate those “extra hours” into scheduled hours in order to allow for cost sharing of the service.
Council voted to authorize the mayor and chief administrative officer to sign off on a new operating agreement that would include the cost sharing amendment.
“This is a good service that we’ve got going,” commented Mayor John Harwood. He contrasted it with the service from Greyhound, which seems to be drawing a number of complaints.
Age Friendly appointments
Council adopted the terms of reference for an Age Friendly Advisory committee. The committee is a requirement for a grant the District has received to develop an Age Friendly Assessment Plan.
Vancouver Foundation recently announced that a grant of $227,000 had been approved for the project.
The plan, to be titled “Front door to Grocery Store: What it takes to get seniors where they want to be in the community,” will be developed by the Community Development Institute at University of Northern British Columbia.
The nine committee members will be Mary Johnson, Wells Gray Country Seniors Society; Drake Smith, Evergreen Acres Seniors Society; Jack Keough, Yellowhead Community Services; Anne Krawec, Clearwater and District Chamber of Commerce; Bernie Easson, Interior Health; Shirley Genier, Clearwater Friendly Club; Cathy Tucker, Wells Gray Country services committee; Merlin Blackwell, councillor; and Jon Kreke, councillor