B.C. municipal election 2018: Creston results

Ron Toyota held onto his mayoral seat with 43.5 per cent of the vote.

Jen Comer, Arnold DeBoon, Jim Elford, Jim Karountzos, Ellen Tzakis and Karen Unruh were elected councillors of Creston.

Candidates

Mayor:

Mary Blackmore

Bill Hutchinson

Ron Toyota (incumbent and elected)

Council:

Debbie Cherkas

Jen Comer (incumbent and elected)

Arnold DeBoon (elected)

Trish Drinkle

Jim Elford (incumbent and elected)

Karen Goforth

Jim Karountzos (elected)

Dallas Magnum

Ellen Tzakis (elected)

Karen Unruh (incumbent and elected)

Brandon Vigne

Joanna Wilson (incumbent)

Referendum question

The Council of the Town of Creston wishes to construct a new Fire Hall in order to meet the current and future needs of the Town and the surrounding areas, contractually serviced by the Town’s Fire Department, and fulfill worker safety requirements that the current fire hall cannot accommodate.

The total cost of the new Fire Hall is estimated at not more than five million, five hundred thousand dollars ($5,500,000). The Town of Creston will utilize one million dollars ($1,000,000) of reserves to reduce the borrowing amount to not more than four million, five hundred thousand dollars ($4,500,000). The Regional District of Central Kootenay has agreed to repay one million, five hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($1,550,000) as its share of the total amount, with the Town responsible for the remaining two million, nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($2,950,000).

Town council proposes to adopt “Protective Services Building Loan Authorization Bylaw 1872, 2018”, which will authorize the Town of Creston to borrow four million, five hundred thousand dollars ($4,500,000), repayable over a period of not more than thirty (30) years, for the development and construction of a new Fire Hall, for which the Town’s share will represent an annual property tax levy of approximately $22.60 per $100,000 of the assessed value of residential property within the Town’s boundaries.

Are you in favour of the Town of Creston adopting Protective Services Building Loan Authorization Bylaw 1872, 2018?

Boundary

Creston is a town in the Kootenays located a short distance from the U.S. border, and about 100 kilometres from Cranbrook.

Population (2016)

5,351

History

The Ktunaxa were first to the region that now houses Creston, and fishing and the hunting helped sustain them.

When European settlers came upon the area in 1883, they found a region flooded by a freshet that required people to travel using boats such as canoes and, eventually, sternwheelers.

Settler William Adolf Baillie-Grohman drained the Creston Flats to create farmland.

His scheme involved diverting water from the Kootenay River into the Columbia, exploding the Kootenay River’s bed east of Nelson and building dykes to contain it in Creston.

Grohman’s ideas didn’t quite work out as he had planned – but dykes were built, and they protected many thousands of hectares of farmland.

Farms in the Creston area have since produced fruits, dairy and vineyards.

Median total income of couple economic families with children (2015)/B.C. median

$102,144/$111,736

Crime Severity Index (2016)

RCMP — municipal/B.C.

66.79 (-11.58)/93.63 (-0.71)

RCMP — rural/B.C.

52.24 (-38.56)/93.63 (-0.71)

Violent Crime Severity Index (2016)

RCMP — municipal/B.C.

70.64 (+71.92)/74.86 (-9.81)

RCMP — rural/B.C.

42 (-68.78)/74.86 (-9.81)

Political representation

Federal

Wayne Stetski (NDP)

Provincial

Michelle Mungall (BC NDP)