About 125 people turned up for the town hall meeting in Mansons Hall, on Monday June 3, 2024. Noticeably absent were the air strip’s owner, Michael Ching, his manager, Judy Kemchand, or Martene Rothblatt, who is financing the air strip’s renovations.
This did not come as a surprise.
Continue reading Town Hall Meeting: The Cortes AirstripThe Cortes Forestry General Partnership (CFGP) held a public meeting on Thursday, May 30, 2024. CFGP is an equal partnership between the Klahoose First Nation and the Cortes Community Forest Co-operative and manages operations in the Community Forest, comprised of much of the island’s Crown forests.
The main theme of the meeting was wildfire prevention. Fire Chief Eli McKenty offered an opening presentation on ways the Community Forest and Cortes Island Fire Department are collaborating to reduce fire risks.
Continue reading Cortes Forestry General Partnership Public Meeting Covers Wildfire Prevention and the Five-Year PlanAround 30 people held an impromptu protest in front of the Cortes Airstrip on Wednesday. They received word that a paving crew was coming over on the ferry, to pave the runway. This turned out to be premature, but there will be a town hall meeting at Mansons Hall, from 7 to 9 PM Monday, to discuss the situation.
Continue reading Cortes Airstrip: the protest and Monday’s town hall meeting
At their May 22 Board meeting, the Strathcona Regional Distrct (SRD) passed 3 important monetary decisions for Cortes Island.
Firstly, the SRD will be increasing the annual fee for waste collection by $10 a year. This will be paid through our property taxes.
Regional Director Mark Vonesch explained, “we’re basically being forced to do this because Recycling BC changed their support for the solid waste collection fees so that we’re having to make up that loss through increasing our fees, which we’re going to be doing over the next couple of years.”
Continue reading Raising Waste Management Fees, A Road into Rainbow Ridge and a 5 Year Contract For The Cortes Fire departmentThe Cortes Island Fire Department is preparing for what could be the driest summer on record. They have purchased more equipment, a new pumper truck, and are about to start recruiting for a much larger wildfire brigade. After a year and a half as the interim Fire Chief, Eli McKenty may be staying on. This was not the story Cortes Currents expected to cover. An open fire prohibition came into effect at noon on Friday, May 17.
They were flushing water through one of the trucks in the front yard, when I arrived. Chief McKenty took me up to the office where it was quieter. There are two other desks there. BC Emergency Health Services Unit Chief Kim Robertson was away, but Office Manager Tammy Allwork was working on her computer. Their work spaces were meticulously laid out, with everything in its place. A few books and papers were sprawled across McKenty’s desk.
Continue reading Cortes Fire Department Preparing For The Worst Case Scenario
