SANDRA M STANWAY
Brooks Bulletin
CPKC Rail says they mishandled the construction of the garage at the south end of Second Street West in Brooks.
Mayor John Petrie said he received a call from Mark Piciacchia, manager of Indigenous relations and government at CPKC, who recognized the issue.
“CPKC kind of admitted that it wasn’t handled right. He wanted to open up the door for better communications,” he said.
Petrie did suggest that the company work with Communities in Bloom to beautify the building facing towards the city, perhaps a mural of a old steam locomotive.
“Other people in the community have other suggestions. He did mention they would maybe plant some vegetation or trees around it,” he said.
Petrie prefers that the company works with CIB, “but it would probably be at our cost.”
“He was apologetic that we should have had better communication,” said Petrie.
Lisa Tiffin from the city reached out to the rail company on Aug. 22 when they saw that something was being constructed on CPKC land that runs adjacent to city land.
Tiffin wanted to know about the project as well as construction permits and other documents but was told that municipalities have no jurisdiction over the federal government.
“The fact remains that municipal bylaws are not applicable to activities which are integral to the operation of a federal undertaking,” was a response from a CPKC representative to Tiffin.
The city has dealt with CPKC on issues in the past and has been told the same thing, however, the city took steps to prevent work until the two entities met.
While he was Brooks mayor Bow River MP Martin Shields played hard ball with the federal entity when the city received a call that CP Rail was doing work on rail lines and would close two intersections.
Shields refused to allow the work to move forward until they came to the table to discuss a plan.
Shields served as Brooks mayor from 2007 until he was declared the Conservative nominee in the Bow River riding in 2014 and was elected the following year.
