Wednesday, May 3 edition - Meet 13 Fraser Valley volunteers

Wednesday, May 3, 2023 | 🌦️ High 25C | Forecast

Hi folks,

Last month we started our membership program, and the response has been heartwarming – thanks to everyone who has signed up to support our journalism in the Fraser Valley!

Having hundreds of members on board is providing us with an important new source of revenue that has put us on a steadier path to financial sustainability.

All that said, we haven’t quite reached our target (we still need 162 new members). We’re doing better, but we’re still not yet where we need to be. And as we said, that will influence what ends up behind the member gates (or paywalls).

The Current might be mostly free to read, but it’s far from free to produce.

And while we want to keep it as open to everyone as possible, going forward we will be reserving two regular newsletters a month for members only. This mix of paid and free is how many newsletters operate and pay the bills and we hope you understand. But we also hope those of you who can spare $2 each week and want to have full access to each newsletter (and our Saturday round-up editions with behind-the-scenes content) can chip in and become members. We can’t do this without you.

NEWS

13 amazing Fraser Valley volunteers

People are at the heart of any community—and the Fraser Valley is home to some great individuals.

Nearly every week, local volunteers are recognized and thanked for their unwavering commitment to serve their community.

• Today, The Current spotlights 13 amazing volunteers who are making a difference in the Fraser Valley

Need to know

🍓 A family farm in the Fraser Valley is turning to vertical strawberry farming after dealing with extreme weather the last few years [CBC]; The Current wrote about the innovative farming practice last year [FVC]

➡️ A pharmacist pleaded guilty to the 2018 manslaughter of a Langley woman [Langley Advance Times]

🤖 Beloved metal robot statue “Scoops” is retiring from his career advertising the a Chilliwack gravel pit; he’ll have a new home at the Landing Leisure Centre [Chilliwack Progress]

🛬 A small plane crashed at the Langley Airport [Langley Advance Times]

👉️ A teenager was fined $1,600 for vandalizing a Chilliwack school [Fraser Valley Today]

🏞️ Restoration suggestions for Chilliwack’s Bell Slough include hydrological and operational changes [Chilliwack Progress]

🚘️ Langley teens are washing cars to raise money for high school graduation celebrations [Aldergrove Star]

🔥 About 20 firefighters responded to a blaze at a recycling depot in Chilliwack [Fraser Valley Today]

🇮🇴 Dickens Sweets and British Museum in Chilliwack will celebrate the King’s coronation with a special high tea [Chilliwack Progress]

🚓 A Mission RCMP officer came across a crashed car and helped revive the unconscious driver [Mission Record]

🌉 Efforts to restore Alexandra Bridge in the Fraser Canyon received a $1 million grant [Hope Standard]

✍️ Striking screenwriters in Hollywood might impact the timelines of productions filmed in BC [CBC]

😁 DAILY SMILE: The last time the Writers Guild of America went on strike in 2007-2008, several TV writers made a three-episode show for online distribution called Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog starring Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion.

The Agenda

Langley Township residents to decide whether to borrow $25 million to fund new fire hall

Langley Township council is getting behind a plan to borrow $25 million to replace a fire hall in Brookswood.

The Township needs to borrow the money because all the money it has on hand is already designated for other purposes, staff told council during Monday’s meeting.

“We still have significant reserves but they all have purposes.”

As of 2021, Langley Township had around $100 million set aside in capital reserves. That figure is far lower than Abbotsford, which has more than $300 million available for future infrastructure projects.

With council’s approval, staff will now put the plan to township voters. But it won’t hold a formal referendum. Instead, it will take another less-costly route called an “alternate approval process.” Staff will publish two public notices in the coming weeks to notify eligible residents to share their feedback. Residents will have 30 days after the second publication to submit their forms. The bylaw will be approved if it receives less than 10% opposition. (There were 96,390 registered voters in the October election. The 10% threshold would require 9,639 people to oppose the plans.)

Some conceptual designs of the new fire hall have been made, and staff anticipate the project could take two years to complete.

The bylaw will return to council for final approval in August if it meets the threshold for support by township residents and the province.

Mission posts surplus but money in bank declines

Mission posted a $38 million surplus last year, but the amount of money in its bank accounts actually shrunk slightly in 2022.

The city’s year-end financial statements showed the district posted a healthy surplus, but it spent its money as quickly as it brought it in. That’s partly because revenue that arrived in the form of grants from senior levels of government was tied to ongoing projects.

The city’s overall net financial assets—generally a gauge of a municipality’s long-term financial health and ability to spend—declined by $3.7 million, to $90.4 million.

About one-third of Mission’s revenue came from taxes. The rest came from developer contributions and payments, government transfers, forestry income, and investment.

The largest single expenditure was for police services, which cost about $14 million last year.

🤝 Now hiring

• Victim support worker at the Township of Langley

• Mail carrier at Canada Post in Abbotsford

• Director of facilities and transportation at Abbotsford School District

• Swim instructor at Propel (and a private pool) in Chilliwack

• Head chef at Blacksmith Bakery in Langley

Hiring in the Fraser Valley? Reply back and let us know!

📸 Current Cam

Each week we showcase a different photo from across the valley and invite readers to share their best guesses about where it was taken.

Any guesses as to where this week’s Current Cam was taken? Fill out this form with your best guess—or send us a picture we can use in a future edition.

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