Delta mayor Lois Jackson delivers inaugural address
In her inaugural address, Delta Mayor Lois Jackson highlighted some key environmental, infrastructure and economic projects the municipality plans to undertake in the upcoming year.
The newly elected mayor and council met for the first time on Monday (Dec. 5), and Judge Kimberley Arthur-Leung administered the oath of office and oath of allegiance to Jackson and six councillors.
After taking her oaths, Jackson, who was re-elected for a fifth term as mayor on Nov. 19, said Delta is on target to meet its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 20 per cent by 2015. She said energy retrofits to Sungod Recreation Centre and South Delta Recreation Centre are projected to bring Delta's 2012 emissions to 18 per cent below 2007 levels.
Delta also plans to implement a full-scale food waste curbside collection program for single-family homes in 2012.
"This is the next big step toward helping the Metro Vancouver area achieve a 70 per cent waste diversion target by 2015," Jackson said.
In 2011, Delta completed 12 "major" infrastructure projects, including a new home for the Delta Archives, the Delta Sport Development Centre and a new community gymnasium at South Delta Recreation Centre. Construction is expected to begin on the new Delta Community Animal Shelter in early 2012.
"The shelter will be centrally located in the Tilbury industrial area and the design will meet the needs of not only the animals, but the staff and the very many dedicated volunteers," Jackson said.
As mayor, she said she will push TransLink for improved bus service in Delta, and will press the federal government to reinstate funding to dredge Ladner Harbour and other secondary channels of the lower Fraser River.
Jackson said council will work to upgrade roads to accommodate increased traffic and goods movement, noting the George Massey Tunnel, Highway 99 and Ladner Trunk Road, and Highway 91 and 72nd Avenue as key "choke points."
Council will also focus on stimulating investment and development on the industrial lands around Boundary Bay Airport, after having approved an extension of Alpha Aviation's lease on the airport until 2099.
The six councillors sworn in on Monday night included re-elected Robert Campbell, Scott Hamilton and Bruce McDonald, Jeannie Kanakos, who served on Delta council from 2005 to 2008, and first-term councillor Sylvia Bishop.
Rev. Allan Carson of St. Cuthbert's Anglican Church in North Delta offered a prayer of dedication.
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