Following concerns about the high cost of establishing a road rescue service, Falkland residents have largely voted to put the brakes on the initiative.
Preliminary results are in for the Columbia Shuswap Regional District's (CSRD) recent Alternative Approval Process to determine whether taxpayers in three rural areas would support funding a road rescue service, and Falkland was overwhelmingly opposed.
To defeat the proposed Road Rescue Service Establishment Bylaw for Falkland, the number of elector responses needed against was 99, whereas the actual number opposed was 216. Prior to the AAP, Electoral Area D director Dean Trumbley urged Falkland residents not to approve the service given the high cost, $201.18 per household in the first year, as opposed to the next highest of $53.64.
The two other areas that also did AAPs, however, were in favour of the service establishment. In the North Shuswap, 272 votes were needed to oppose it, whereas just 26 were received against. The South Shuswap (Electoral Areas C and G) needed 753 votes to keep it from proceeding, with just 13 received.
The results of the AAP, which ran from May 22 to June 30, will be discussed at the CSRD regular board meeting on July 17.
