MEDIA COVERAGE : YELLOWKNIFER NORTHERN NEWS SERVICES CBC ET AL
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Peter Crnogorac
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Dec 15/06) - Councillor Kevin Kennedy made public his 2006
campaign account at Monday's council meeting.
He is following the lead of Coun. Shelagh Montgomery, who did the same
a month ago.
When Montgomery made her campaign spending public in November, she
encouraged other members to do the same.
Kennedy said he thought her idea was valid and is the first councillor
to follow Montgomery's suggestion.
For the 2006 campaign, Kennedy received $3,565 in donations and had
$1,416.85 of his own money in his coffers.
Infrastructure report accepted
City council unanimously passed a motion to adopt the Infrastructure
Needs Assessment report by FCS Architects and Engineers at the council
meeting on Monday.
Warren Whitford, from FSC, presented the report at the Dec. 4
Priorities, Policies and Budget Committee meeting.
He told council that for Yellowknife to replace all its aging
infrastructure they would have to come up with an additional $60
million.
The report has been accepted for information purposes. Council did not
discuss the motion before passing it on Monday.
No extra money for Cardinal
Council unanimously rejected Cardinal Coach Line's request for
additional money to run the city's bus system.
Cardinal Coach Lines has a contract with the City of Yellowknife to own
and operate the public bus system.
Cardinal's president, Stan Weber, asked for a cash injection of about
$60,000, pointing to an increase in employee wages and overall cost of
operations.
Cardinal will complete its second contract with the city on Aug. 29 of
next year, making it eight years that they have provided Yellowknife
with the bus service.
Before voting no to the motion, Coun. David Wind said it wouldn't be
fair to give funds to Cardinal beyond what they had originally bid to
get the contract.
When the contract expires in 2007, the city will put out a tender
request for it.
Council members appointed
Here's the list of appointments to council committees (the first name
listed is the primary member, the second is the alternative):
# Deputy Mayor - Mark Heyck
# Audit Committee - David McCann, Paul Falvo
# Board of Revision - Shelagh Montgomery, Kevin Kennedy
# Boxing and Wrestling Commission - Mark Heyck
# Development Appeal Board - Shelagh Montgomery, David Wind
# Downtown Enhancement Committee - David McCann, David Wind
# Heritage Committee - Mark Heyck, David McCann
# Solid Waste Management Advisory Committee - Kevin Kennedy, David Wind
# Special Grants Review Committee - Bob Brooks, Kevin Kennedy
# Yellowknife Area Policing Advisory Committee - David Wind
# 9-1-1 Management Committee- Paul Falvo
# Arctic Winter Games - Lydia Bardak
# Canadian Capital Cities - Mayor Gordon Van Tighem
# Con/Rycon Committee - Mark Heyck
# Facilities for Kids - Bob Brooks, David Wind
# Northern Frontier Visitors Association - David McCann
# Tourism Industry Representative - Paul Falvo
# Yellowknife Community Wellness Coalition - Shelagh Montgomery, Lydia
Bardak
# Yellowknife Homeless Coalition - Mark Heyck
# Yellowknife United Way - Lydia Bardak
# Yellowknife Dene First Nation - Shelagh Montgomery, Mark Heyck
# Northland Trailer Park Committee - Bob Brooks
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Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Dec 08/04) - Wade Friesen has done exactly what the mayor
suggested.
The Northland trailer court resident, along with several other fresh
faces, joined the board of Yk Condo Corporation No.8 at the
organization's annual general meeting Thursday.
The 22-year-old became the de facto leader of a group of Northland
residents this fall after he successfully organized a pair of meetings
that drew out most of the neighbourhood.
Residents came to discuss a multi-million dollar bill they may be
forced to pay in order to replace their aging water and sewer
infrastructure. Many of them feel the city should give Northland
residents a break because they pay property taxes, but don't receive
services to their individual lots.
Mayor Gord Van Tighem told Yellowknifer last month that he wouldn't
deal with Friesen from a legal point of view until he became a member
of the condo board.
Now, residents have elected Friesen to the board.
Board meetings, usually poorly-attended, drew about 140 people for the
AGM. Residents also voted to set up a committee to work with the city
in hopes of settling their problems.
The board still has to select executive members, including their
president.
Friesen said the committee's first task will be to organize their case,
so they can properly prepare for negotiations with the city.
"Now that I'm on the board I look forward to working with the city on
this," said Friesen.
"I look forward to resolving this quickly and I hope they feel the same
way."
Trevor Kasteel, a former city councillor, was also elected to the board
Thursday night.
He had previously never attended a board meeting, but said there is
plenty of interest now, from both himself and residents-at-large.
"The whole Northland is all on one page now," said Kasteel.
"The good thing is to have it all under Yk Condo Corp No.8. The city
will have to recognize the people who are bringing this issue forward
and dealing with it."
On Dec 31, 2:01 am, "odie" <tszo...@gmail.com> wrote:
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Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Nov 19/04) - Mayor Gord Van Tighem says nothing will get
resolved at Northland Trailer Park until its condo board takes charge
of negotiations with the city.
For the second time in a couple of months, dozens of Northland
residents filed into the Great Hall of the legislative assembly Monday
night. This time they were there to discuss a written response by Mayor
Gord Van Tighem to a number of questions residents had about their
property taxes, among other things.
Many feel the city is treating residents of the park unfairly. They pay
property taxes, but don't receive direct services from the city because
the park is considered private property.
They are also facing a multi-million dollar bill to replace their aging
water and sewer system.
The meetings have been led by Wade Friesen, a 22-year-old owner of
three trailers in the park. He doesn't sit on the park's governing
board, Yellowknife Condominium Corp. No. 8, but unlike the board, has
so far proved more successful at getting residents to show up for
meetings.
About 150 people attended Monday's meeting. There are 259 homes in
Northland altogether.
"As far as dealing with one member, unelected, just a spokesperson,
there's not a legal entity to deal with," said Van Tighem.
"What he needs to do now, as the personality, is to deal with the
board."
Van Tighem said it's up to residents to make sure they attend the
board's annual general meeting Dec. 2 to give the condo board some
direction, so the city can then work with them. Board meetings have
been poorly attended in the past, often with not enough trailer owners
attending to reach quorum.
Friesen said it likely won't be long before he has all the legitimate
authority he needs to deal with Mayor Van Tighem and the city.
He said a group of residents, including himself, are planning to ask
the board to strike a committee which will bargain with the city.
"If it's the board he wants to deal with, then the board we will
become," said Friesen.
"It's going to be a kind of advisory committee for the board, so they
can tackle the legal and we'll tackle the political with whatever
appears needed to be done."
Friesen said there appears to be a lot of support among residents to
form this committee. He also expects the AGM to be well attended.
Board treasurer Bill Graham, who didn't attend Monday's meeting, said
the board is prepared to hear what residents have to say.
Resident and former city councillor Trevor Kasteel intends to be part
of the committee.
"If we are thought of as just one big property, then why are we not
taxed as just one big property," said Kasteel. "The city is going to
have to bend on some of this stuff, and we probably will, too."
Frame Lake MLA Charles Dent, who attended the meeting, said he thinks
the city is being unfair on at least some issues. "Their trailers seem
to have been valued and assessed the same as mobile homes in other
areas of the city, where the services are handled in a different way,"
said Dent.
"I'm not sure that's being fair."
On Dec 31, 2:01 am, "odie" <tszo...@gmail.com> wrote:
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Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Sep 24/04) - About 200 residents of Northlands Trailer
Park filed into the legislative assembly Tuesday night to voice their
displeasure with City Hall.
They say the city is milking their condo fees, while demanding property
taxes that don't pay for any services.
Resident Wade Friesen, age 22, -- who spent the last three weeks
researching the city's relationship with the trailer park but is not a
member of the trailer park's condominium board -- organized the
meeting.
He had extended his invite to the mayor and city council, but only
councillors Doug Witty, Mark Heyck and Wendy Bisaro attended. Their
MLA, Charles Dent was also present.
The source of frustration with the city is myriad. The 259 trailer
residents pay property taxes, yet don't receive any services from the
city because the neighbourhood is considered private property, and thus
the city's jurisdiction ends at the trailer park's gates.
Condo fees gouged
Monthly condominium fees, which have risen from $65 two years ago to
$120 this month, are supposed to pay for the upkeep of roads and water
and sewer lines in the trailer park.
Friesen said water wastage fees from the city have drained the reserves
of Yellowknife Condominium Corp. No. 8, which represents the trailer
park, by as much as one-third every month out of the fees collected.
"That ridiculous," said Friesen, who owns three trailers. "You can't
expect to keep and maintain (services) when you slap them with this
huge bill."
The city began charging water wastage rates in 1993 after the trailer
park became a condo corporation three years earlier. Friesen said
monthly bills to the corporation range from $2,500 to $6,000 a month.
"As far as I know, we're the only people that get charged a water
wastage bill in Yellowknife," said Friesen, noting that the bills kept
coming even after the condo corporation made serious attempts to get
residents to fix their water meters.
He said when he checked with the land titles office, the only document
he could find that detailed the city's relationship with the trailer
park was a 1971 agreement that stated it was the city's responsibility
to maintain roads and the water and sewer lines underneath them.
Friesen said he couldn't find any document showing that the trailer
park agreed to take on responsibility for those services after it
became a condominium corporation in 1990.
He also pointed to city property tax assessments that he says appear to
double-bill trailer owners for maintenance of the commons. He said not
only are residents charged property taxes of 0.39 per cent each for
common areas of the trailer park, but the condo association itself is
also billed.
"I don't see anybody else out there paying some kind of area taxation,"
said former park general manager James Clark, who attended the meeting.
"Downtown taxes, Old Town taxes -- I don't see a separation like that."
On top of everything else, residents are faced with a bill that has
been estimated as high as $15 million to upgrade water and sewer lines,
although Walter Orr, an engineer with FSC Architects and Engineers,
told the audience his best guess was no higher than $11 million.
$50,000 or more each
Friesen said the city should take some responsibility instead of
expecting residents to enter into a long-term financing deal that could
see them pay $50,000 or more each.
"We've been paying for maintenance and repairs to the roads and
infrastructure since 1971 as far as I can tell," said Friesen.
"All that money combined should pay for the $15 million the city is
talking about charging us."
Residents at the meeting were clearly bothered by what they heard at
the meeting, but buoyed by the large turnout of their neighbours.
A couple of them suggested their strength in numbers -- with about
1,000 people living in the trailer park -- ought to be enough to
convince politicians that they are a voting block that should not be
ignored.
"We're two per cent of the population of the NWT," said one resident.
"Why are we saying we need new pipes?"
Coun. Witty, prodded to address the crowd, said he would take their
concerns back to City Hall.
"We need to get all the facts on the table and find out what the truth
is," said Witty.
'Unfair situation'
"If there truly is an unfair situation taking place then I'm sure
council will address it."
Dent said he heard numerous complaints during last fall's territorial
election campaign. He said Northlands residents may have a case.
"I think they deserve answers to their questions from the city," said
Dent.
"I think there has to be some look at whether or not, through their
taxes, they're deserving of some consideration."
On Dec 31, 2:01 am, "odie" <tszo...@gmail.com> wrote:
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Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Sep 29/04) - Northlands residents are going to have to
foot the bill for sewer upgrades, says the mayor.
Gord Van Tighem blamed a lack of foresight in anticipating future
infrastructure costs.
The mayor, who financed a few condominium deals in his days as a bank
manager, said most condo groups borrow money to cover infrastructure
needs -- like new water and sewer lines -- when they form a
corporation, but that wasn't the case with Northland.
"(All other condo corporations, at the time their condos were created)
borrowed enough money at the outset to purchase the land and renew all
of the infrastructure," said Van Tighem.
"At the end of a two-year warranty period, the infrastructure was
turned over to the city formally to care for it in perpetuity."
In this case, trailer park residents may have to fork out as much as
$15 million to replace aging water and sewer lines.
About 200 residents gathered for a meeting at the legislative assembly
last week, where the discussion focused on what many believe is an
unfair relationship with the city.
Organizer Wade Friesen uncovered a 1971 document that appears to
indicate it was the city's responsibility to pay for roads, water and
sewer infrastructure.
Van Tighem said that document may still need to be explained, but
insisted Northland's piecemeal approach over the several years it took
to sell off individual lots and form a working condo group is the main
reason why the trailer park is having problems.
"When Northland was converted, it was done over time and it wasn't an
entire package. So it ended up different than the others," he said.
However, residents' complaints over water wastage bills to the condo
group, which range from $2,500 to $6,000 a month -- despite enormous
individual water bills to residents who don't have working meters -- is
something the city will have to look at, the mayor said.
Property tax assessments, which puts Northland on par with trailer
residents on Bigelow Crescent who receive full services from the city,
also need to be explained, said Van Tighem.
Friesen said he hopes the city will put the condo issue before city
council before the end of next month.
He still maintains that the condo group could have had money put aside
for infrastructure replacements had the city not begun charging water
wastage fees in 1993, fees that at times drained one-third of condo
fees collected each month.
"We could've very well been a lot more prepared for this, but not for
the huge bill that was imposed on us," said Friesen.
Bill Graham, treasurer for Yellowknife Condominium Corp. No. 8, which
represents the trailer park, said he is pleased by the number of
residents who attended the meeting organized by Friesen.
He hopes many will show up at the condo board's annual general meeting
in December, which typically didn't happen in the past.
He said regardless of what the city tells them, Northland residents
have some tough decisions to make. A city improvement tax would at
least get residents out of long-term financing for water and sewer
replacements, but would still prove costly at tax time.
"It becomes very difficult to borrow the money to do the work," said
Graham. "We're talking 20 years, and most people won't be here in 20
years."
On Dec 31, 2:01 am, "odie" <tszo...@gmail.com> wrote:
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Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Aug 20/04) - Northland Trailer Park residents are facing a
$15 million bill for upgrading their aging water and sewer system.
Wanda Anderson, president of Yellowknife Condominium Corp. No. 8, which
represents residents of the trailer park, said many water and sewer
pipes are more than 30-years-old.
Condo board member James Clark says the city is treating residents of
Northland Trailer Park unfairly.
Northland's water and sewer lines are owned by the condo corporation,
which is looking at a long-term financing deal with the city, which
would allow the 258 trailer owners to pay back the cost of placing new
pipes.
The item is up for discussion at the condo corporation's annual general
meeting Dec. 2, but Anderson isn't sure the proposal will fly.
"We need two-thirds majority to pass and most of the time we don't make
quorum," said Anderson.
"The city would be more than willing to forward the money, but I'm just
not optimistic about the lack of involvement with our membership.
"They just don't seem to care until there's a leak in their yard and
then they're all in an uproar."
The condo corporation says another nagging problem is the growing
number of trailer owners who are not paying their condo fees. "Probably
about 25 per cent in arrears," said treasurer Bill Graham.
"We're taking action on that through small claims court."
The fees are going up from $100 to $120 on Sept. 1.
Former park manager, James Clark, who still sits on the board while
representing 16 homes belonging to Northland Mobile Homes, said they
won't sign any financing deal with the city.
He said they have been paying property taxes on top of condo fees for
years, but the city doesn't perform any maintenance in the park under
the claim that it's private property.
"What the city says is, 'well, we supply the water and sewer lines to
the front of the park so we've done our duty,'" said Clark.
He also said the trailer park is the only neighbourhood in Yellowknife
that is penalized for wasting water -- up to $6,000 a month.
Mayor Gord Van Tighem said the trailer park's woes stem from the deal
that made it a condo corporation in 1990.
He said normally a condo association will create a fund from condo fees
to pay for future upgrades.
"They chose to have the most minimum condo fees possible, which covers
their street sweeping and gravel in spring, just very basic maintenance
items for the commons area," said Van Tighem.
On Dec 31, 2:01 am, "odie" <tszo...@gmail.com> wrote: