Housing and recycling were top topics that were presented at the Mayors Outlook Luncheon Wednesday afternoon (Jan22).
Acting Mayor Gladys Atrill, Telkwa Mayor Brad Layton and Bulkley-Nechako Area A Representative Mark Fisher were all in attendance.
According to Mayor Brad Layton Telkwa received a grant to conduct a housing report.
Layton explained what the housing report will do.
“In the Valley, we have a housing crisis as far as I’m concerned and this will help us identify where our weak points are and what’s needed,” he said.
Smithers Acting Mayor Gladys Atrill also mentioned housing and said it has always been a critical issue in the community.
“We’ve been looking at different ways to increase housing diversity in the community. The Chamber of Commerce brought to the town a while ago the notion of the narrow lots and we have approved the first skinny lot home,” she said.
Recycling was also a top concern for businesses at the luncheon since the recycling dept caught fire last May.
According to local businesses, it is hard to recycle plastic and cardboard because they cannot use the Telkwa Transfer Station.
According to Layton, Telkwa received a letter by the ministry and given the option to drive a truck to Terrace to get rid of the town’s waste.
He said the business community has to take every avenue that they have.
“You need to put pressure on everything, the Chamber, all of them to pass on up the line that this is a problem that needs to be dealt with and it is not acceptable to treat us like Kelowna, Kamloops or Vancouver, Surrey or any of those,” he said.
Layton added he is very disappointed in the direction things are going.
According to Acting Mayor Gladys Atrill, Smithers received the same letter.
Atrill also added the municipal governments are putting pressure on the province as well.
“As much noise as we make as a community about the fact that we need this to be a bigger priority all the way up the line,” she said.
Both Telkwa and Smithers turned down the offer to drive trucks of waste to Terrace.