The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Question: Do the city's rules allow someone who does not live in Flin Flon, but owns land in the town, to sit on our city council? If so, why/why not will the city change a rule that lets non-residents represent us/spend our tax money? Mayor Therien: This is an interesting question, one I have been asked about a lot lately. Firstly, rules of eligibility to run for council are not set by council at all, but by the Elections Act of Manitoba developed by our provincial government. Without going into too much detail, in order to run for council you must be either a resident or own property within the municipality for which you pay taxes to the said municipality. The question of why the province has control with various aspects of municipal elections would be a fair question. The answer is to provide consistency throughout the province. It removes any chance of there being a gray area, if you will. Changes to the Elections Act would have to be made by the provincial government. Having said that, we, as a municipal government, can make recommendations for applicable changes within the Act. The final decision still lies with the province. In fairness, a business owner pays taxes at a much higher rate of assessed value (in excess of 60 per cent) than a home owner (40 per cent of its assessed value). A business owner also pays business tax on top of property tax. * * * Question: I am not aware of any posted "school zone" or "playground zones" in Flin Flon. These zones denote much lower speed limits and increase driver awareness. I think they are necessary to increase pedestrian safety on roads close to areas where children and others are found. An otherwise unposted area is by default 50 kms/h and that is much too fast. Mayor Therien: Unless something has changed recently, we have posted school / playground signs in all applicable areas. What we do not have are signs that you see in Winnipeg, for example, which tell you that traffic violations within these zones will result in a stiffer fine / penalty than if you committed the same offence outside these zones. Regardless, the signs we do have have an implied meaning of reducing your speed as is dictated by your driver's handbook (unless they changed the book handed out to our potential new drivers). * * * Send your questions for Mayor Therien to The Reminder by phone at 687-3454, fax at 687-4473, e-mail at [email protected] or standard delivery at "Ask the Mayor", C/O The Reminder, 14 North Avenue, Flin Flon, MB, R8A 0T2. No names are required.
