North Cedar Improvement District

Winter Newsletter (January 2009)

Happy New Year!

We would like to remind residents on the water system that due to the snow, we have been unable to meter read for water tolls. The water tolls invoice that you will receive once we are able to read the meters will be for a longer period than the usual three months from your prior meter reading in September. Meters cannot be read when they are under three feet of snow. We would also like to remind residents to please conserve water when we experience a power outage. We have been so fortunate this year to not experience to many power outages but the season isn’t over yet so please conserve if you experience a loss of power. Thank you.

Low Flush Toilet Rebate Program

Starting in January of 2009, the North Cedar Improvement District is introducing a low-flush toilet rebate program. In order to further promote water conservation, we are introducing this new program. If you replace an old toilet with a low-flush toilet or dual-flush toilet in your home or business, we will credit your water tolls account $75.00 dollars. The rebate is available up to a maximum of two toilets per household or business. This rebate program does not apply to new construction, just existing homes or businesses. Once the toilets are installed, you should also notice a decrease in your water consumption, which is a further cost savings to you, as you are using less water with a low-flush toilet or dual-flush toilet.

Application forms are available at the office to be filled out by the homeowner along with a valid receipt for a low flush or dual flush toilet. Once we have all the information required and a receipt for the purchase of the toilet we will credit your water tolls account seventy five dollars for each toilet up to a maximum of two toilets or a $150.00 credit per house or business. This credit will be reflected on your next water tolls invoicing and in many instances homeowners will receive one water tolls account billing that has been completely covered by the seventy five dollar credit for that billing period.

For more information please contact the office and we will be happy to assist you.

2009 Assessment Notices

Enclosed with your mailed copy of this newsletter should have been your 2009 Assessment Notice. The local Government Act states an assessment notice must be sent when a parcel tax is being levied each year. On the assessment notice is a letter and number designation such as A1. Go down to the category that is A1, read the description of parcels that fall under A1 which should match your property. If it does not please notify the office that the description does not seem to match your parcel and we will correct the assessment notice. This is just a notice and does not require any action on your part unless the designation is incorrect.

Fire Department News & 2008 Wrap-Up

The North Cedar Volunteer Fire Department is committed to providing quality training for all members to meet the ongoing needs of the citizens of the North Cedar fire protection district. This year, the fire protection district grew in size when a referendum was passed, adding 375 new parcels to the overall fire protection area. These additional properties will be contributing taxes towards the operations of the department, as well as paying the seventy dollar parcel tax on the new fire hall administration building.

Training is broken down into man hours and in 2008 there was 2,985 man hours of training that took place. All members of the North Cedar Fire Department are enrolled in the BC Firefighter level I and level II certification program. This program meets the NFPA 1001 standard and is the designation for professional firefighter in North America. The firefighter program is administered through the Justice Institute of B.C. and is delivered through a module-based system, as well as attendance at the Justice Institute for practicum training. Our members are encouraged to complete two modules a year. Regular training topics include Justice Institute Modules 1 thru 10, driver training, pump operations (including foam application), motor vehicle rescue, first responder, ropes and knots, ladders, fire suppression and attack, ventilation, search and rescue, district familiarization (including all schools and large buildings), helicopter-spot training and much more. All of the above training is conducted weekly at the Tuesday night practices. Extra training sessions are also held on weekends when it requires more than two hours to complete the program. Extra training is attendance at Live Fire level I and II at the Justice Institute, as well as live fire refresher courses for our longer-term firefighters, as well as hazardous material awareness, agricultural rescue, CPR, first responder level III, air brake licensing, auto extracation, as well as confined space rescue awareness. New recruit training is a four week process held on another evening from Tuesdays. Once the four weeks are complete, the new recruit then starts to attend regular Tuesday evening training sessions, but remains a new recruit until all required training is complete.

The fire department also actively fund-raises for charities, as well as for the department itself. Last year the department won an award for selling the most firefighter calendars and they received two sets of firefighter turn-out gear, as the prize for selling the most calendars, which also benefited Muscular Dystrophy . We do not have the results from this years calendar sales yet, but we were thrilled to see our department featured on the cover of the calendar for 2009. Calendars are still available for those who may wish to purchase one, which features many island fire departments as well as North Cedar. (Just ask for one when you come into the North Cedar Improvement District office).

Attendance by members at regular practice night and extra training sessions is vital to the North Cedar Fire Department achieving its goals, as well as creating a highly trained group of emergency responders to service all of the residents within its fire protection boundaries. The Board of Trustee’s truly appreciates the dedication of the volunteers who service Cedar and will continue to encourage and support the department ,as it builds on all of its success’s to date.

The volunteer firefighters, staff and Trustee’s, wish everyone in the District a very happy and safe 2009. Remember to check that all smoke alarms are functioning in your home or business, especially at this time of year when there is more in home burning with fireplaces and woodstoves.

Scout Bottle Drive

A bottle drive will be held on Saturday January 17th, 2009 by the First Cedar Scouts. Bottles will be picked up as well as residents may drop off bottle at the fire hall on Saturday, January 17th, 2009 ONLY. Drop off’s are greatly appreciated as it is not possible to reach the entire area for pickup. Due to the fantastic support by residents for the bottle drives our group is able to do many fun events and we now have one of the largest groups on Vancouver Island with Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Ventures and Rovers actively participating in the Scouting movement. Thank you to all the Cedar residents for the continued support of scouting in Cedar, we are truly grateful.