City buries hatchet with Garden River (4 Council briefs)

The City of Sault Ste. Marie moved tonight to resolve a long-standing dispute with Garden River First Nation over what City officials say is a $96,000 debt owed for past fire protection.

City voted 9-3 to undo a 1992 resolution that prohibited Sault fire trucks from going to Garden River.

Voting to bury the hatchet were Councillors Caicco, Turco, Celleti, Collins, Butland, Hayes, Manzo, DelBianco and Mayor Rowswell.

Voting against the resolution were Councillors Mick, Curran and Sheehan.

Councillor Debbie Amaroso wasn't present.

Multi-modal gets $100,000

City Council tonight approved $100,000 in funding for aggressive marketing and lobbying of the multi-modal transportation initiative.

$50,000 of the money is earmarked for travelling and logistical costs to pursue the idea.

The remaining $50,000 will go toward the cost of developing a business case, cost/benefit analysis and an investment strategy.

Council has yet to decide where the money will come from.

The City's economic development funds were depleted by last November's $430,000 to ailing Northern Breweries, but they're expected to receive a substantial shot in the arm from the sale of the old F.J. Davey Home property. Waste-into-energy proposal approved

Enquest Power Corp. of Welland, Ontario received permission tonight to lease a bay at the City's Fifth Line landfill.

The company is testing a new technology that turns waste materials into energy.

The bay will be leased for five months, three of which will be used to build a one-tonne test site, company spokesman George Banks told tonight's meeting of City Council.

If the demonstration is successful, Enquest wants to erect its own building at the landfill, where it hopes to handle 5,000 tonnes of material a day.

The resulting energy will be used for heating and for vehicular fuel.

The project is conditional on Enquest getting a certificate of approval from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.

The technology is so promising, Banks said, that it will bring a steady stream of visiting scientists, politicians and business people to the Sault. "You will be as widely known as Kyoto," he told City councillors.

Council backs Scott Tournament of Hearts

City Council threw its weight behind a local committee that's bidding to host the 2008 Scott Tournament of Hearts.

To read more about this story, please click here.