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Tuesday September 29 2015 3 POLITICS ENERGY NOTICE OF CANDIDATES TOWN OF FORT SMITH The following list of names are those of Candidates who have put their names forward to stand for election to the position of Mayor 1 and Town Councillors 8 MAYOR Brad Brake Lynn Napier-Buckley TOWN COUNCILLORS Dave Beamish Anneliese Kikoak Erika Bell Bob McArthur Jenny Belyea Rashmi Patel Al Dumont Kevin Smith Patricia Haaima Brenda Tuckey Ronald Holtorf Any voter who believes that a candidate is not eligible to be a candidate may prior to Wednesday September 30 2015 at 300 pm advise the returning officer in writing of the grounds for that belief. Margo Harney Returning Officer By DALI CARMICHAEL Unsatisfied with the information at hand decision makers on Hay Rivers town council opted to hold off on selecting a company to distribute power throughout the community at a meeting held on Sept. 21. Hay River began issuing requests for pro- posals from power companies in May after deciding it would not renew its current con- tract with Northland Utilities NUL the provider since the 1960s. So far NUL the Northwest Territories Power Corporation and Flash Point Facilita- tors have stepped up as potential proponents. Two of the proponents obviously would require infrastructure Hay River Mayor Andrew Cassidy said in an interview with the Journal. In the franchise agreement theres a provision for the town to take over Northlands infrastructure at the end of the franchise agreement but there is a cost to that and thats the purchase price. That purchase price is currently unknown. Until we can actually find out what the price of Northlands assets are were not 100-per-cent sure which set of numbers we are able to run with from the other propos- als Cassidy said. Council discussed that and we decided that now is certainly the time for us to move forward and get that asset price. At this point in time NUL has asserted it is unwilling to sell its infrastructure. Should the price point given by NUL be higher than town council deems reasonable a clause in the current agreement states it has the right to go to arbitration to fight for a lower price. However this process could be lengthy and costtensofmillionsofdollarsCassidysaidex- plainingcouncilshesitationintakingthisroute. We werent sure if there was going to be any other bidders other than Northland Utilities he said. Now that we know there is interest and now that it looks like there could be some potential rate reductions weve decided that it is worth it at this point in time for us to go forward and see what the true asset value is going to be through arbitration. Hay Rivers power distribution contract is set to expire in November 2016. Hay River puts off decision on power distribution contract PhotocourtesyofNorthlandUtilities BY CRAIG GILBERT Threeseparatecapsizedwatercraftincidents leftonepersonconfirmeddeadandtwoothers presumed deceased last week. A capsized canoe was discovered on the Mackenzie River five kilometres upstream from Tsiigehtchic on Sept. 23. Fishinggearandothersupplieslocatedwith the canoe have led police to believe that two people have fallen into the river and are now presumedmissingtheRCMPannouncedSept. 25. Their names were not released. Waterborne search efforts with help from aircraft from the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association and ENR personnel continued through the weekend but on Monday police announced the search had become a recov- ery effort. It is believed that the two missing people have succumbed to the elements however the investigation will remain an open missing persons investigation. A man was found deceased in the waters of the Mackenzie RiverSept.21two days afterhe was lost on the water in Tulita. He was trying to bring his boat around a floating dock at about 730 p.m. Sept. 19 when it capsized amid high winds and large waves according to the RCMP. The male was last seen holding on to the boat. However with poor visibility brought on byblowingrainandsnowpoliceandwitnesses quickly lost visual contact a press release read. He was not wearing a life jacket when he went into the water. ConcernedcitizensandtheTulitaRCMPde- ployedtotheriverbutwereforcedtocalloffthe search at 10 p.m. due to darkness and danger. The search continued in the morning with the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association helping out but the weather did not let up making the effort difficult. At about 11 a.m. Sept. 21 police found what they believe was the lifeless body of the missing boater. His identity has not been released. TheTulitaRCMPthankedthecommunitymem- bers who helped with the search and expressed condolences to those affected by the tragedy. The Inuvik RCMP detachment meanwhile had a happy outcome after a kayaker made a distresscallwithhiscellphonewhilestillinthe frigid waters of Big Lake on Sept. 20. The unidentified paddler phoned police shortlybefore530p.m.indicatinghehadcap- sized and needed help. Officers stayed on the line as the RCMP boat was launched and en- couraged the kayaker to swim to shore using the cell signal to triangulate his position. Po- lice found the kayaker within 15 minutes of hitting the water. On average 525 people die in water-related incidents in Canada every year with boats involved almost a third of the time accord- ing to the Canadian Red Cross. In more than 24 per cent of cases a lifejacket was on board but not worn. Tragic week on the water three capsizes days apart leave one dead two missing JUSTICE SAFETY The future of Hay Rivers power distribution hangs in the balance after town council decided to postpone the awarding of a contract to one of the three providers bidding to deliver the service.