Podunk Below the Masthead, Wednesday, May 27, 2009

A former Mayor heads for Hartley Bay, the School District considers the finishing touches from its All Budget Committee and the Wildlife Shelter gets more donations, the main items of note from the Wednesday edition of the Daily News.

DON SCOTT IS THE NEW FACE IN HARTLEY BAY-- He may have come in second in the recent Prince Rupert Mayoralty race, but Don Scott wasn't long between engagements. The one time Mayor of Prince Rupert has been introduced as the new CEO and Band Manager for Hartley Bay, the First Nations community due south of Prince Rupert. Scott will split his work time between the community and his duties at Prince Rupert's Northern Savings. (see full story below)

With sixty programs still to review, School District 52 is getting closer to delivering its revenue neutral budget next month. They have been paring down some of the costing expectations by as much as 20 per cent as they seek to fight their 405,000 dollar deficit. With more decisions to come, the input of parents and guardians will be welcomed at the Town Hall meeting on June 16th at Charles Hays Secondary School.
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The School district has posted on their website a copy of a handout delivered to students this week, outlining the terms of the grade configuration debate, one of the key items for discussion on June 16th. School enrollment and the declining trends in the community and its impact on education will be one of the main issues of that discussion at that Town hall meeting.

The Prince Rupert Wildlife Shelter continues to benefit from the generosity of Rupertites, as Brigette Hausner provides them with a 354 donation, the proceeds of her recent haircut efforts to raise awareness of the Shelters efforts.

The Daily News also included their weekly attendance and issue check of Prince Rupert's city council (detailed in a seperate posting)

The Sports section freatures a preview of the return of the Seafest canoe race, which makes its return at this years festival which runs from June 11-14.

Total pages in the Wednesday edition ( 16)

Front page, headline story:

DON SCOTT IS THE NEW FACE IN HARTLEY BAY
By George T. Baker
The Daily News
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Page one

The former mayor has been hired, as the new CEO and band manager of Hartley Bay, replacing interim manager David Benton.

Don Scott, who also ran for mayor of Prince Rupert last November, said that he was pleased with the opportunity to help the small Tsimshian community south of Prince Rupert as it moves forward with its plans to develop its economic fortunes.

"The position interested me, I applied for it and they decided to recruit me," said Scott by phone from his new part-time location in the heart of the Gitga'at Nation.

As per an agreement with the Hartley Bay band council, Scott will work part-time in Hartley Bay and part-time in Prince Rupert as he tends to his other role as vice-chairman of Northern Savings Credit Union.

Scott said that the his professional accounting experience and his role with Northern Savings related more to the he was about to do than his role as mayor, for which he sat until 2001.

He added that it would be more akin to becoming a city manager rather than a mayor.

“A band manager’s role is basically to carry out the wishes of those that govern,” said Scott.

Elected chief councillor Jack Clifton said that Scott's personal relationship with the nation was one of the reasons the council believed he was the man for the job.

"Hopefully he'll take us in the right direction where the band will be able to come forward, with all the environmental issues that are going to come up in the future, from where we are situated," said Clifton.

Among those items of concern are the pipeline projects that are proposed for the North Coast region and the sunken Queen of the North that sits west of the community near Gil Island.

Scott said he couldn't comment on Hartley Bay's position on what to do about the Queen of the North, but Clifton did say that Scott's focus would be on economic issues while other Hartley Bay employees work on the community’s environmental concerns.

Among the issues facing Hartley Bay is the establishment of its run-of-river, independent power station being developed for a one megawatt power service.

"There is significant interest in moving forward and governance and looking at sustainable job creation - and there are a couple of projects being considered," said Scott.

The community will be holding meetings in the fall with the Gitga'at nation members to discuss the potential economic projects that it appears Scott is there to help head.

The position had in effect been empty for the last year, but Benton had sat in the spot until the naming of Scott yesterday.