Kevin Chernoff - City council incumbent

 Ed Note: Councillor Kevin Chernoff is two-term incumbent who was born and raised in Castlegar. He is 51-years-old and manages the family-owned and -operated Trowelex Rentals and Sales, here in town.

I have worked hard over the past three years representing the Community, always keeping in mind that I live and work here, and the decisions I make are for my family as well as the entire Community.
 
I am very proud of the work I have done on council and I will continue to advance the values that will help lead Castlegar to a sustainable future. I will accomplish this through a firm commitment to the environment, progressive and pro-active economic policies and a socially sustainable strategy that serves all the residents of Castlegar.
 
√  I will continue to support our cultural and special events that attract visitors and promote our community such as Castlegar’s Sculpture Walk, the Kootenay Festival and the B.C. Seniors Games.
 
√  I will continue to advocate for better health care in our region as I did over the Ultrasound staffing issue, supporting the creative initiative to close the road to any vehicle carrying such equipment.
 
√  Infrastructure will continue to be a priority, as it is the back bone of our Community.
 
√  I will be an advocate for controlled and focussed growth in Castlegar while trying to balance the attraction of jobs requiring skilled workers.
 
√  The environment will also continue to be a priority for me, which I will further by supporting programs like recycling, solar power, bio diesel in the City fleets, composting and other initiatives - working to make Castlegar the greenest City we can be.
 
√  I will continue to work at making Castlegar a community where our seniors can expect to be treated with dignity and have their voices heard.
 
√  I will continue to work collaboratively with the rest of Council to erase the City’s long term debt by 2014.
 
With more than $9.7 million dollars in Net Financial Assets, the City of Castlegar is in an enviable position when compared to most municipalities: for example, Trail’s 2009 Net Financial Assets of $102,000 and Nelson’s Net Financial Assets of -$5,313,000. The City has healthy levels of reserves, low debt, a competitive tax and utility user fee environment, and the financial flexibility to move forward with appropriate capital infrastructure work as specified in the Five Year Financial Plan. I am proud to have been part of the decisions that have gotten the City to this point.

Comments

City progressively moving forward on elimination of pesticides

by Kevin Chernoff on 07 Nov 2011 at about 17:09.
The Green Committee along with Transportation and Civic Works have been for some time trying to find the balance between the use of no pesticides and the visual and safe enjoyment of our parks and playing fields. When I talk safe enjoyment I mean playing fields that don’t have weeds creating such things as slipping hazards on soccer and ball fields. Like you I also have had a lot of personal interaction with the people in the community who are in favour of eliminating pesticide use as long as it did not impact the visual appeal that groups such as Communities in Bloom have worked hard to achieve and the safety of the users of our sports fields. The City has worked alongside such groups as the Food Security people to do testing of non-herbicide products in some existing parks with mixed results. The City has also found other products that have been effective eliminating the use of pesticide for certain applications such as Eco-Clear (citric acid) that has been used on the miles of City sidewalks. Over the past year the City was first out of the gate to try a new product called Fiesta at City Hall which the performance of this product from the summer will be brought forward this winter season for evaluation. As I as of yet have not seen any performance results on this product. The City also implemented use of organic fertilizer and corn gluten at both Kinsmen and Blueberry Creek Park which will also be evaluated this winter for its performance. I think the City has been progressive in eliminating the use of pesticides maybe not as quick as some hope but definitely moving forward in finding an effective alternative.

a step in the right direction

by ssanders (not verified) on 07 Nov 2011 at about 19:20.
Thanks Kevin, I am glad there is on-going efforts in this direction. However, I don't believe that the tripping hazard that clover presents reasonably justifies exposing children, pets and wildlife (and city mowing staff) to the dangers of 2,4D. If slipping hazards on sports fields are a concern, I suggest the city could ease up on its irrigation.

Cosmetic Pesticide ban

by ssanders (not verified) on 05 Nov 2011 at about 15:57.
I am posting this to Councillor Chernoff comment section as he is directly involved with Castlegar Civic Works. I welcome feedback from all candidates. Candidates, what is your opinion of banning cosmetic pesticides within the city of Castlegar? According to the city’s own survey, Residents having been calling for this since 2006 "The majority of respondents (71.8%) favor eliminating the use of pesticides and herbicides in municipal parks. 12.5% of respondents indicated that they do not support such an initiative."- sourcehttp://www.castlegar.ca/pdfs/AnnualReport2006.pdf page 21. This summer I was disturbed to see the continued use of 2,4-D in City parks. Having talked with many park users, it would appear that there is a great deal of concern about this practice. (2,4-D is one of the active ingredients in Trillion – used this July in Castlegar parks: http://www.sierraclubchinook.org/Pesticides/docs/facts/2,4-Dfactsheet.pdf. Having taken my concerns to city hall, I am convinced that city staff will continue to run pilot studies for eternity. Only a motion by City Council will see this done once and for all. We are actually falling far behind our neighbours in the East Kootenays on this issue: http://www.pesticidefreecolumbiabasin.ca The City of Castlegar has been waiving the “Green” flag a lot lately, but when will City hall accomplish this very basic tenet of the green movement?