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Year in Review: A look back at Observer headlines from July 2024

July

With the start the new year, the Salmon Arm Observer is taking this time to share some of the stories that made headlines throughout 2024.

July

Salmon Arm property owners could expect an estimated 1.63 per cent tax increase in 2025 just for policing services. At its June 24 meeting, city council voted to write a letter approving in principle the proposed 2025-26 Salmon Arm RCMP budget of $5,929.6544. Of that total, the city is responsible for 90 per cent.

A program that helped local employers fill their need for skilled workers through immigration was unlikely to be renewed in the Shuswap. In October 2022, Community Futures Shuswap (CFS) announced the federal government’s Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP) program, which launched in late 2019 in the Vernon-North Okanagan area, would be expanding to include Salmon Arm, Sicamous and electoral areas C, G and D. While supportive of the program, council did not support a three-year funding commitment of $25,000 annually. Without the city's support, CFS executive director Rob Marshall said “That will end this application opportunity."

A Shuswap mother was out close to $3,000 after being the target of fraudsters. At 9 a.m. on June 17, Salmon Arm RCMP received a report from a woman who said she’d been scammed out of $2,850. She said she’d received a text message from someone posing as her daughter. “The ‘daughter’ told the complainant her phone number had changed and she needed assistance paying a bill,” said Const. Andrew Hodges in a media release. Hodges said the money was e-transferred as requested. Afterwards, the woman became suspicious and the next day confirmed with her actual daughter that she’d been scammed.

With high temperatures and low precipitation in the forecast, Stage 2 water-use restrictions went into noweffect in Salmon Arm. The city announced the shift through social media on Monday, July 8.

Salmon Arm’s new Tree Protection Bylaw is official. Replacing the former Tree Removal Bylaw, the new bylaw received final reading at the June 24 city council meeting. The bylaw had been a work in progress since 2022, after council referred the former bylaw to the city’s Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC) for review. At the June 24 meeting, staff had no further comment on the final bylaw, which had been reviewed by the EAC and the Salmon Arm Nature Bay Enhancement Society. The city also hosted a workshop where the public was invited to provide to feedback and suggestions, some of which resulted in amendments to the proposed bylaw.

It’s Jurassic Park … with bubbles. Sicamous has taken a prehistoric turn with the recent arrival of Mark and Lois de Bruijn and their family, which includes cats, dogs and dinosaurs. The latter had many people doing double takes over the Canada Day weekend as a triceratops, T-Rex and other prehistoric pals, accompanied by a bubble machine, made their debut while cruising Main Street. “It’s what makes me happy, makes other people happy,” said Mark. “It’s just so much fun.”

Information collected from users of two Salmon Arm recreation facilities may inform future decisions related to fees. People paying to use amenities at the SASCU Recreation Centre and Rogers Rink (Shaw Centre) are also being asked to provide their postal code. Salmon Arm Recreation general manager Darin Gerow said the information is being collected on behalf of the city to “inform council where all of our users are coming from.” Gerow noted users of these facilities are charged the same rates (based on age/use) regardless of where they are from. This is opposed to differential or tiered pricing, a practice adopted by the City of Vernon and being considered by the City of Kelowna where non-residents pay more for the use of its recreation facility’s amenities.

City council was on board with providing support to bring next year’s BCHL All-Star Weekend to Salmon Arm. At its July 8 meeting, council received a letter and presentation from Salmon Arm Silverbacks general manager Brooks Christensen, who said the city had been conditionally awarded the opportunity to host the BCHL event in 2025, expected to take place the Jan. 17-19 weekend at Rogers Rink (Shaw Centre).

Numerous wildfires ignited in the Shuswap over the past week, with one of them prompting an evacuation alert for properties near Sorrento. Early Tuesday morning, July 23, the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD) issued the alert for 14 properties west of Sorrento. This was in response to the Newsome Creek wildfire discovered that morning that had grown to one hectare by the afternoon.

Winter weather is being blamed for a delay to the opening of a new student housing facility being constructed at Okanagan College’s Salmon Arm campus. The college announced Thursday, July 18, that the 60- bed building wouldn’t be ready in time for students this September as planned. The college anticipates the building will be ready for the winter semester in January 2025



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