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Daajing Giids council support CityWest’s new connection plan

Village also welcome new staff and approve staff wage increases
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The Village of Daajing Giids council. (Photo: Village of Daajing Giids website)

The Village of Daajing Giids provided an update on a number of projects, including CityWest’s revised plan to lay cable, the village’s new deputy chief financial officer and a cost of living adjustments for staff wages, during their regular meeting Jan. 23.

CityWest approached the village to discuss their plan to use existing hydro poles in Daajing Giids to connect houses to their sub-sea fibre optic cable for high-speed internet, Lisa Pineault, mayor of Daajing Giids, said.

Originally, the telecommunications company had proposed digging to run the cable through the community. They changed that plan because of the rock in Daajing Giids, she said.

The village made a motion for staff to draft a letter of support for the new plan, but Pineault clarified that even with the letter, CityWest will have to negotiate the use of the poles with whoever leases the equipment and will have to apply to the public works department if the equipment is in the village’s right of way.

Processing a request for CityWest to use the poles for their fibre optic cable could take a very long time, Courtney Kirk, chief administrative officer at the village of Daajing Giids said. Advocacy from the community supporting the proposed plan could speed up the process.

The village introduced a new member of their team, Pat Sibilleau, who was appointed as the village’s deputy chief financial officer. Kirk will be filling in the interim role after the departure of Allison Sinkins.

Sibilleau explained that in addition to being a chartered professional accountant (CPA), she is also a chartered management accountant (CMA).

“I’ve been trained in management and how to work with staff and how to work through processes and decisions and those kinds of things,” she explained.

She has worked with municipalities in B.C. and Alberta and before that in the forest industry too.

Mayor Pineault welcomed Sibilleau to the village and said having her is a “huge benefit” to the community.

She also thanked Sinkins for her time with the community.

“She’s not here to hear it but we appreciated her very much.”

At the end of the public meeting, Pineault released a motion that was made in camera Jan. 6 to approve a 3.46 per cent cost of living adjustment for 2023 village staff wages. It is based on the average of the consumer price indexes for 2020, 2021 and 2022.

In an email to the Haida Gwaii Observer, Kirk clarified that the increase is a village policy, which accounts for and manages the impact of inflation on staff remuneration.

READ MORE: Daajing Giids pens letter to BC Ferries, gov’t officials after cancellations leave residents stranded

READ MORE: WorkSafeBC fines Stephan Contracting $9.4K after worker injured in Port Clements


 Kaitlyn Bailey | Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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