Town eyeing heritage river designation

Upon recommendation from the Fort Frances Museum Advisory Committee, town council agreed last night to consider the possible designation of Rainy River as a Canadian Heritage River (CHR).
Council directed museum staff to invite Robin Reilley from Quetico Park to make a presentation on the CHR program, and what Atikokan is doing with its “Path of the Voyageur Initiative,” at a future meeting.
This CHR designation is the formal proclamation of a river as a “Canadian Heritage River” by the minister of Canadian Heritage and the equivalent provincial or territorial minister.
The river would join a group of historic rivers found in each province and territory in Canada.
Since the Canadian Heritage Rivers System is promoted as a whole nationally and internationally, this designation potentially would broaden recognition of the Rainy Lake and Rainy River areas, appealing both to future residents, businesses, and tourists, as well as raising awareness of the environment and local culture.
Meanwhile, council passed a bylaw last night to approve an agreement with AbitibiBowater Inc. regarding economic development financial incentives for its biomass boiler project.
The incentives granted include:
•the provision of municipal services related to the project to a limit of $100,000 (this includes tipping fees, application fees, and service connection fees);
•the provision of a building permit, for the construction, at no cost (the permit has an estimated value of $70,000); and
•the implementation of the town’s Community Incentive Plan (CIP), providing tax relief of 75, 50, and 25 percent, respectively, in the first three years of operation of the facility.
Also at last night’s meeting, town council:
•accepted a resolution from the Economic Development Advisory Committee to request a meeting with the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corp. (OTMPC), and directed CAO Mark McCaig to contact OTMPC to make arrangements;
•approved a break-open ticket licence from the Riverside Foundation for Health Care at La Verendrye Hospital from Jan. 14-June 13, 2008;
•referred a letter from Rainy River Standard Condominium Corp. No. 1 regarding water billing issues to the Operations and Facilities executive committee for its recommendation;
•passed a bylaw to authorize the revised Community Services student wage schedule (this was adjusted due to the increase in minimum wage in 2008); and
•passed a bylaw to approve an agreement with DataFix for vote-by-mail services for purposes of the 2008 municipal byelection.