Last month, the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) Board passed the bylaws needed to fund Cortes Island’s community halls and first responders. They followed this up, at the December 5, 2019, board meeting, with the decision that the SRD will begin negotiations with the with the Cortes Island Fire Fighters Association, Whaletown Community Club and the Southern Cortes Community Association.
Continue reading SRD Will Begin Negotiations WIth Cortes Community Halls & Fire FightersTag Archives: Cortes Island
The SRD Board Is Collectively Responsible
A quick perusal of the Agenda was sufficient. I knew I had to attend the next meeting. Chair Michele Babchuk was bringing a Cortes Island resident’s complaints before the SRD Board. On Thursday December 4, more than a half dozen Cortesians filed into the new SRD Boardroom to listen. Though seemingly humbled, Babchuk pointed to the SRD’s accomplishments and stated that Sue Ellingsen was wrong to single out Directors Jim Abram and Brenda Leigh for criticism: the SRD Board is collectively responsible.
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Cortes Cat Rescue
According to the definition at neighborhoodcats.org, “A “feral” cat is unsocialized and tends to be fearful of people and keep a distance.” This may once have been true of the sixteen cats Samantha Statton is currently looking after but, speaking as a former cat owner, a few of these are among the friendliest cats I have seen. It was hard to take a picture because they were constantly sniffing my lens, or trying to smooch, and one adorable youngster liked to jump up onto my shoulder for a nuzzle. In this morning’s interview Samantha explains how Cortes Cat Rescue came into being, what they do and ways you can help out.
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Augmented Home Support
In October, 2019, Cortes Island’s Augmented Home Support (AHS) program was looking at the very real possibility that they may have to shut down. They had enough funding to continue until the end of the year, after which they could not pay their part-time employees. Some of you may have read their appeal in the Cortes Community Health Association (CCHA) Newsletter and made a donation. The immediate concern is over, but it prompted me to reach out to the Augmented Home Support program’s organizer, Ron Croda.
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What is going on within the SRD?
Cortes Island’s Regional Director, Noba Anderson, has been under attack throughout 2019. The first that many of us heard of this was probably in January, when one of the silliest lawsuits ever was filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. I almost felt sorry for the plaintiffs’ lawyer on June 10, as he sat in court listening while the random gossip that his clients brought forward as evidence was torn apart.
He did not dispute a single argument, and in fact filed a joint submission with the defendants’ lawyer admitting there was no basis for the allegations made in his clients’ legal petition. The only excuse he offered was that his clients “were put up to it.” He did not say who was the real instigator of the legal petition; but we know that something odd has been happening within the Strathcona Regional District Board for more than a year, in addition to partisan shenanigans on Cortes Island. Are the two somehow related? What is going on within the SRD Board?
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