Mayor Ron Oszust is pleased with how town council is managing Golden’s affairs.
“I’m happy how council has worked together over the last four years and it looks like the new council will be the same,” he says, noting It’s critically important that everyone is working on the same page. “That’s not to say we agree with everything, but we’re respectful and working together to move the community forward.”
Looking back at 2022, Oszust says council accomplished major projects, including the Ninth Avenue North reconstruction that included replacing underground utilities, drainage, road and sidewalk replacement and landscaping, all to the tune of $2.2 million.
An airport study was completed, a study Oszust says speaks to the value of Golden Airport and strategies to move forward immediately. There is a need to renew the runway, taxiways, and aprons, at an estimated all-inclusive cost of $3 million.
The town received a $100,000 grant to begin some improvements and is hoping to get a $1.8 million grant through the BC Air Access Program (BCAAP), which is managed by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
The airport was built in the mid-1980s by volunteers and was funded by donations and grants. It has since been a steadily operating facility without significant improvements.
“This work is critically needed for the future of our airport. Without it, the airport will be at end of life in the next two to five years,” says Oszust. “I’m excited for the application for the airport. If we can get 90 per cent of the funding that would be bloody amazing, but bloody necessary.”
While council awaits a response from the ministry towards the end of January, Oszust is revved up about other projects.
A landscape architect was hired to consult with community members and provide concept designs for the Mount 7 Rec Plex. Oszust says council was able to garner $1 million of non-tax funding to complete the rest of the concept design and also received a grant to complete the almost $25,000 needed to remove the old floor and install new court hardwood.
“The energy refits were $225,000 and a good chunk of that was grants, while the local skateboard group raised an amazing amount of money to do the addition to the free ride park,” says Oszust. “The importance of that is it’s the largest gathering place in the community and we want to keep it strong and give it a long life for the community.”
Phases one and two of the project were started this year and included upgrades to the skateboard park and the installation of a new outdoor rink/slash basketball court. The next phase will include redoing tennis courts and pickleball courts and providing pedestrian connectivity and shaded seating areas.
Oszust says he is “super proud” of the level at which the Town of Golden has communicated with the community.
“That was set as a priority of the previous council and we had an amazing number of news releases and posts to social media,” he says of council’s intent to keep the community informed of what is going on. “Over the last four years, we did over 285 news releases and more than 1,500 social media posts.”
Oszust is also proud that council entered a memorandum of understanding with Golden Community Economic Development in which the town will allow the group to use town-owned property to bring affordable housing to the community.
He is satisfied with the work the Columbia River Treaty Local Government Committee has undertaken over the past year.
“We had the opportunity to have input into the Columbia River Treaty with the U.S. and our hope is that the updated treaty will include aspects of ecosystem function and also greater flexibility on how Canada operates the treaty dams,” he says. “That could provide benefit for the Kinbasket reservoir and could improve recreation capabilities for locals and visitors.”
The new Indoor Aquatic Centre Centre is another exciting opportunity and staff will be working forward with CSRD to complete detailed design concepts in the upcoming year.
A CSRD-wide project that will proceed in 2023 is the Solid Waste Management Plan Review.
“That has the potential of having a massive impact on the Golden Landfill and we look forward to the process in 2023,” Oszust says. “And we have so many infrastructure projects on the go. I don’t know if it’s newsworthy from a public perspective, but we’re spending grant money of more than $1.5 million as well as $380,000 of reserves for sewage system upgrades.”
“The vast majority of It will be for aeration equipment, blowers and pumps; not exciting but critical, especially when it comes to what it deals with,” laughs Oszust. “The remainder of the money will be used to continue our cast-in-place pipelining program.”
The inside of the aging pipes will be coated to give them an extended life.
“It makes them almost new without digging up the roads,” he says. “And the existing blowers use up to almost 60 per cent of energy, so the new blower will reduce that energy consumption dramatically.”
On a last but no less exciting note, Oszust says he looks forward to the continuation of Trans Canada Highway upgrades for Kicking Horse Canyon and maybe, even more importantly, working with the Ministry of Transportation to replace the Hwy 95 bridge over the Kicking Horse River.
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