Sparks fly, but no fireworks at council meeting

By Ken Johnston
Editor

Sparks were a flying, but no fireworks, at the regular monthly council meeting in Rainy River Monday evening.
Mayor Deb Ewald asked Councillor Ashley Stamler, who is also on the fire dept., "Is there going to be fireworks or not on Railroad Daze?"
Stamler explained that there are several issues involved with the reasoning why the fireworks were not held on Canada Day last week.
"The main reason is it was left too late. They were ordered on Tuesday and came in on Friday. Since they were ordered so late they (the supplier) had very little left in the way of mortars." Stamler went on to explain that usually when an organization orders fireworks they get the launching mortars for free. "But they had nothing left by the time we got them ordered."
Another issue, which Stamler seemed to take offense to people's attitudes, is who is actually in charge of the fireworks show in Rainy River. "Is it the Recreation Board or the Fire Dept? As far as we are concerned we just light them off." People blamed the fire dept. not the Rec. Board.
The job of lighting them off is also another issue. Only one man, Stewart McNally, is qualified to light them off. "There have not been any courses held to train more people," said Stamler.
The mortars the fire dept. had from previous years had also not been properly stored last year and were in bad shape.... hence prompting McNally to rule them unsafe to launch fireworks on Canada Day.
Stamler said Monday that there will be fireworks on Railroad Daze. "We are going to fix what mortars we can. I will do what it takes," jokingly adding that, "If I have to make a potato gun and fire them off I will."
As for next year, Stamler dialogue needs to begin now or at the latest this fall. "Not wait until the end of June."
"First thing is to get some training courses lined up and a decision on who is running the show needs to happen. If you want the dept. to do it all, we can do that. But until now we were only responsible for lighting them off. The fire dept. was bashed horribly this year and it was not our fault."
Mayor Ewald seemed satisfied that Stamler was on top of things. "We just need to tweak it out so it works better next year," said Ewald.

Other business
•Council approved a tentative contract with the Town Crew. If ratified by the union, CUPE 65, it will see the crew receive waged increases over a four year period.
•Council renewed the lease with the Rainy River Clinic for space in the Rainy River Health Centre.
•Councillor Gord Armstrong asked if the town could send an employee with a trailer this Thursday to pick up sod for the locum house. Council agreed.
•A motion passed supporting Rainy River Future Development Corporation's application to the Northern Communities Investment Readiness fund for the Rainy River District Personal Services Business Sector Analysis Project.
•A lease with Edna Barios for the operation of the Hannam Park Marina, concessions, campgrounds, pool and washrooms was approved. It runs from June 25, 2013 to Sept. 30, 2013.