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- Tuesday - June 11, 2024 - Harrison's mayor resigns
Tuesday - June 11, 2024 - Harrison's mayor resigns
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Good morning!
We botched yesterdayâs link to our June Perspectives call-out, so some of you eager beavers may not have been able to access it. Sorry! You can find a link that works here. Weâd love to hear how you met your special-someone in the valley!
Now, to todayâs newsletter: below, we have my attempt to explain the unexplainable. Last week saw plenty of discussion about Sumas Prairie flood defences and the suggestion that it may be a better plan to let Sumas Lake re-form. Itâs a fascinating idea that has been repeatedly mentioned since 2021. The problem is that the conversations tend to miss miss the intensely complex nature of Sumas Prairie. The story is one of the longest weâve published and thereâs a reason for that: there are no good, easy options when it comes to a micro-region (one larger than just the Sumas Lake bed) stuck between two different flood-prone rivers.
If you like complex, detailed journalism that doesnât settle for easy answers, weâd love if you became an Insider member. It costs a couple bucks a week and supports our ongoing journalism. You also get our weekly Insiders edition on Saturday. You can sign up here.
â Tyler
Traffic & Weather
đ¤ Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope
đ Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBCâs latest updates.
đŁ Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.
NEWS
Should Sumas Lake return? The benefits, costs, challenges, and opportunities
đˇ Google Street View/City of Vancouver Archives/Tyler Olsen
Thereâs no cheapâor simpleâoption for reshaping the future of Sumas Prairie.
The City of Abbotsford has been denied billions of dollars to build new dikes and a pump station to protect the prairie against a future flood. Meanwhile, a new study suggests that buying out properties on the former bottom of Sumas Lake and allowing the lake to return would come with a significantly lower price tag.
The twin pieces of news sparked a rash of commentary from provincial politicians. BC Conservative Party president Aisha Estey suggested that buying out properties in a form of âmanaged retreatâ might be the best long-term option for the future. That led BC United to distribute a press release vowing to oppose what it said was the Conservativesâ âplan to flood Sumas Lake.â BCâs Agriculture Minister and Abbotsford-Mission MLA NDP Pam Alexis also described the suggestion as âshocking.â
It wasnât really all that shocking. The idea of a reincarnated Sumas Lake has been percolating ever since the 2021 flood. And yet, as conversations about the future of Sumas Prairieâor Sumas Lakeâtook prominence last week, most failed to recognize the complexity of the discussion.
Having decided that it wants to preserve a key economic driver of Abbotsfordâs economy, the city and fellow backers of stronger flood protections have never undertaken a full accounting of the costs and benefits of restoring the lake.
But the same can be said of proponents of reestablishing Sumas Lake. They have omitted considerations about the financial and economic costs related to re-orienting transportation and energy infrastructure, and re-imaging BCâs agriculture economy. And in making their case that buyouts would be cheaper, they have put borders on a lake that never had any.
Related
The future of Sumas Prairie is a multi-billion-dollar question. The Fraser Valley Current operates on a much, much smaller budget.
But we canât continue to produce journalism like this without you. If you think this type of journalism is important and valuable for local people, governments, organizations, and businesses, you can support us with a one-time donation here. You can become a Current Insider member here. Or you can get in touch and advertise with us here. Your contribution proves there is demand for in-depth, thoughtful reporting. Thank you. - Tyler and Grace
Need to Know
đ An Abbotsford artist won a prize at a Vancouver tattoo convention [Abbotsford News]
đ Mission elementary and middle school students will be banned from having cell phones next year [Mission Record]
đ An ATV rider was killed on a forest-service road north of Harrison Hot Springs last week [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]
đ The operator of five âLittle Free Librariesâ in Chilliwack says one site has sustained repeated vandalism and wonât be re-installed [Fraser Valley Today]
â A Chilliwack man received house arrest for his role in the kidnapping and killing of a man on Halloween five years ago [Chilliwack Progress]
đŚ A federal judge has ruled that Canadaâs environment ministry took too long to recommend key protections for BCâs spotted owl [TriCity News]
â A float plane crash-landed in Manning Park; the pilot survived [Fraser Valley Today]
đ The driver of an SUV who rammed police near an Aldergrove School last Thursday has yet to be caught [Aldergrove Star]
đ CN trains have resumed whistling at crossings in Chilliwack following a recent fatality [City of Chilliwack]
đŚ A chain ice cream shop is opening in Abbotsford later this month [Abbotsford News]
đĽ Firefighters extinguished a small fire near Hopeâs hospital [Hope Standard]
đś The continent's biggest race, the region's first public drone show, and more hit False Creek at the Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival June 22-23! Click here for info.*
*Sponsored Listing
SPONSORED BY FORT LANGLEY JAZZ & ARTS FESTIVAL
Fort Langley Jazz Fest returns with popular Cool Blues Show
Fort Langley Community Park will come alive on July 26, with 5 blues bands, a beer garden, food trucks, a vendor market and artists like Tom Lavin and the Legendary Powder Blues, Rick Estrin and The Nightcats, Miss Emily, Silent Partners (in a tribute to B.B. King) and Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne!
Get your regular, VIP or group tickets here.
The Agenda
Ed Woodâs resignation will leave a vacant space on Harrison council, and an upcoming byelection for the mayorâs seat. đˇ (Left) Tyler Olsen; (right) Harrison Hot Springs
Harrison mayor resigns
After two years of political divisionâfeaturing aborted meanings, states of emergency, staff departures, and allegations of coupsâHarrison Mayor Ed Wood has resigned.
In an extremely brief statement posted to the Harrison Hot Springs website, Wood said he was resigning effective at the end of the day. He thanked Corporate Officer Amanda Graham and Chief Financial Officer Scott Schultz for their âprofessionalism,â as well as their âintegrity, respect, and accountability.â He did not mention Harrisonâs top bureaucratâchief administrative officer Tyson Koch, with whom he had been at loggerheads for some timeânor any members of council.
(In March, council voted to hire a mediator for the mayor and the CAO. Wood later alleged there was a coup because he had not reviewed an agenda which included a CAO Covenant, outlining how council and the CAO should work together. Wood believed the covenant was an attempt to remove the mayor from a position of authority in the village.)
Woodâs resignation comes after he attempted to declare a State of Local Emergency (SOLE) to pass two fire safety contracts. The contracts were signed during the one-day declaration, and formally approved by council after Wood was forced to rescind the state of emergency. The approval passed 3-2, because Coun. Allan Jackson opted to side with the mayor. Although he normally sided with Couns. Leo Facio and Michie Vidal, and frequently complained about the mayorâs behaviour, Jackson had occasionally voted alongside Wood and Coun. John Allen. (During one such vote, he said about his change in position: âI just want to get on with this.â)
With Wood gone, Harrison councilâs four remaining members will choose a deputy mayor. Meanwhile, the village will prepare for a by-election to fill Woodâs vacant seat. Current council members will be able to run in the byelection if they also resign within two weeks of a Chief Election Officer being appointed. If that happens, a by-election for that council seat would happen at the same time as the mayoral voteâmeaning a councillor who runs for mayor wonât be able to return to their position if they lose. Once a Chief Election Officer is appointed, voting will take place within 80 days.
(Both Facio and Allen have run for mayor in four of the last five elections, and have been facing off in council for decades longer. Itâs unclear if either would be willing to give up a council seat for a spot at the mayorâs chair.)
In March, Wood attempted to trigger an election by putting forward a motion to dissolve Harrison council, and have the Ministry of Municipal Affairs replace them with a trustee. (That motion failed, with Couns. Facio and Vidal opposed, and Coun. Jackson absent.) But Wood said the goal he wanted to give residents another chance to vote for who they deemed âfit.â
âI would run again for mayor,â he said at the time. âI think itâs an opportunity for the public, and the public would have to make the decision.â
Wood won the 2022 election with 43% of the vote. He beat out Facioâs ally Samantha Piper, who received 34% of votes, and Allen (22% of ballots). Allen later won a by-election for a council spot.
The Current contacted Wood for an interview after he announced his resignation, but did not hear back before its publication deadline.
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