Acid spills, downtown parking, the Union Hotel and housing are a number of the topics brought up in a recent mayoral forum in Trail. The event was hosted by the Trail and District Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club on Tuesday, September 26. The candidates had the opportunity to make introductory and closing remarks. Questions were submitted in advance and during the even in writing, to either all the candidates or on in particular. Here are the answers to three questions addressed to all three candidates.
Q: What will be done to ensure another acid spill won’t occur?
Lisa Pasin: From a city council perspective, I just want to say what’s happened is very, very unacceptable. Teck and its corporate partners have a corporate responsibility to do better for our community and they also have responsibility to up their communication so that our citizens are well informed with whatever happens at that plant.
So, what the partners have done, we just met with them on Monday [September 25]. They are stopping hauling of the acid, they’ve got four new trucks, they have new inspection procedures and they have a zero tolerance culture now for spills. From a council perspective we have to really engage with them to ensure that the communication and the culture of safety persists and that we are not left in the dark as citizens and as a city when any incident happens.”
Casey LeMoel: “I believe that the people of Trail deserve to be updated on this and I think that the City needs to do more to help the people in this situation. It’s a big deal, you know, this kind of stuff shouldn’t happen, it’s never happened in the past. Teck, the trucking companies, and the ministry of highways, they all need to work together to make sure this never happens again. Basically, you know, it’s unacceptable, it’s been a huge disaster for Trail and the citizens and anyone else visiting Trail.”
Bryan Deferro: “Well, I hope that Teck would have a handle on this by now as it’s happened three times and it causes undo financial hardship on people that are least able to afford to replace their vehicles. They have an issue that they have to deal with somehow and it’s going to be up to their management and their technical people to deal with it so it doesn’t happen. It puts Trail in a very bad light and it undoes all the hard work that this council and previous councils have done to enhance the image of the city of Trail.”
Q: There seems to be a higher number of visible vagrants and criminal activity in the Lower Columbia region. What role will the City of Trail play in addressing these issues and who will the City of Trail partner with to identify the community needs and develop a plan to address the issues.
Casey LeMoel: “It’s true, we have a huge problem and we need to work with the RCMP closer. We need to have more funding, whether it comes from the City or the Provincial government. We also should have programs like Citizen on Patrol back. Anything we can do to combat crime because it’s not getting better it’s getting worse. People are getting robbed and getting broken into in the middle of the day. It’s just not enough man power, and it’s not getting any better it’s getting worse all the time.”
Bryan Deffero: “Yeah, there’s been an influx, there’s no doubt about that. So, I think the City should engage with the RCMP and Citizens on Patrol. And mostly, find out where these people are coming from and a system to get back where they came from.”
Lisa Pasin: “So these social, health, wellness, mental health issues are not unique to Trail. I just got back from the UBMC [Union of BC Municipalities] and it’s a hot topic for discussion there. The police is our number one ally. Another ally is the community groups that support the housing programs. Our health officials and health authority who support the mental health programs. It really is going to have to be a collaborative effort. I think there’s a great opportunity for community members to be engaged, whether it’s Citizens on Patrol or Block Watch. But really, the way this is going to go, is that the police are going to come to us with a revised corporate structure on what they’re seeing based on the societal changes, for what they need to keep our city safe and the City applies a budget to that. We fund our police over $2-million right now and I look forward to working with our new Sergeant to ensure the safety of all our citizens.”
Q: How do you plan to support new families?
Lisa Pasin: “Well, it’s really exciting to see young families moving to Trail. I would love to see more housing starts and I would love to see new housing starts. I would love to see the development happen behind the mall and be able to offer that to families. And also, a part of supporting our families is advocating for schools and I was very grateful to be down meeting with Minister Fleming, talking about the Glenmerry school and advocating for a new school to be built. I think it’s not only a housing issue, it’s an education issue and we need to have the programs in place and the facilities in place to support our young families and that includes our amazing recreational facilities and our skate park, which is going to be opening in the next month or so, is another example of a core, free recreation service for families to enjoy.”
Casey LeMoel: I believe that it’s a great opportunity for Trail to grow. I believe that we need to do more and faster regarding affordable housing there’s not that much being done, and that needs to change. We need to keep these young people here. Jobs as well as education should be top priority and I, a couple days ago, attended Glenmerry School for support for the rebuild and there’s some things we seen there that shouldn’t be there . It should be better than that, and I know that we can do better than that. It’s important for Trail to grow and we need to move faster to keep these people here.”
Bryan Deferro: “We need to make some land available for people that want to build, to build houses here. We haven’t had any real development here, land available for many, many years now other than Miral Heights. And yes, we need to lobby for Glenmerry School. I mean we want people to live in this city. They want good recreation facilities and good education facilities and it all goes hand in hand.”