THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2017 | WWW.PGCITIZEN.CA Local 5 CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN A pedestrian crosses Third Avenue in the falling snow on Wednesday morning. City hit by heavy snowfall Citizen staff Light snow is expected to continue today before clearing up on Friday, according to Environment Canada meteorologist Lisa West. The change comes after Prince George was blanketed in a heavy snowfall on Wednesday afternoon, which prompted a snowfall warning by the agency. Environment Canada expected 10 to 15 centimetres of snow to fall within a 12-hour period, West said. “The heaviest snow will be (Wednesday), with this current band (of air),” she said. “It will take a few days for the unstable condi- tions to move to southern B.C.” As of Wednesday morning, Environment Canada was predicting for the snow to slow down to light flurries overnight. West said the agency is predicting a 60 per cent chance of flurries which could bring “another centimetre or two” of snow today. “Friday we get a bit of a break,” she said. However, she said, the amount of snow is expected to vary substantially throughout the region. The longer-term forecast for the city calls for high temperatures above freezing on Saturday and Sunday, but with the potential for rain or more snow. Ritche Brothers shutting down Prince George auction site Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca Auctioneering giant Ritchie Brothers will close the doors on its Prince George yard at the end of this year. It’s part of a larger consolidation of facilities into larger centres, according to Brian Glenn, the company’s senior vice president and head of sales for Canada. “Over the last two decades, ________________ there have been two strong emerging trends in the equipment industry: the growing comfort of customers to buy and sell online and an increasing number of selling customers wanting to take advantage of larger onsite events, as they draw more sizable crowds,” he said in an email. Four other yards, all located in the United States, will also be closed. Glenn said they’re all located relatively close to other larger locations, “and in most cases, have been sending a lot of equipment to these sites for the past several years.” The Grande Prairie site will host an auction on Nov. 21 and 22 that will feature 2,512 items. By comparison, the next Prince George auction, set for Nov. 24, holds 711 items. Six jobs will be affected locally. “Our sales representatives which reside in Prince George and are dedicated to the North-Central B.C. region will continue to help those customers sell equipment,” Glenn said. “And, if there is an opportunity to hold an off-site auction in Prince George in the future, we will be back.” The closure will deliver a blow, according to Melissa Barcellos, the city’s economic development officer. She said the auctions drew buyers and sellers from across the province and the nation and provided a boost to local hotels and restaurants. The closure will deliver a blow, according to Melissa Barcellos, the city's economic development officer. “Not only do these attendees spend money in our city, but outside investors attending the auctions get to see what Prince George is all about, including the significant business opportunities available in central and northern B.C.,” she said. The auctions have been an excellent source of used equipment for “start ups and younger companies that might not have the financial ability to purchase new equipment which can run into the six or seven-figure price range,” Barcellos added. She urged any other business thinking of closing down to contact her office before pulling the plug. “Economic development will work to support businesses through challenging times to keep them in Prince George and help get their business back on its feet,” she said. Complete with a ribbon-cutting by then-mayor Colin Kinsley, the 60-acre site at the corner of the Old Cariboo Highway and Highway 16 East was opened in May 2003, replacing a 33-acre location on Highway 97 South. It was built for $8 million and features a 1,000-seat covered and heated auction theatre and a state-of-the-art paint facility. There are no immediate plans for disposing of the property, Glenn said. Ritchie Brothers specializes in heavy equipment but has moved its share of novel items over the years. In 2007, the Moose Springs Resort, formerly Baldy Hughes Canadian Forces radar station, was sold for $650,000 to Edmonton-based Prowler Leasing in an auction that lasted eight minutes. It was eventually converted into the Baldy Hughes Treatment Centre and Therapeutic Community and, in December 2010, the provincial government bought the site for $3 million from Prowler. City receives provincial grant Citizen staff The City of Prince George received nearly $1.84 million in funding from the provincial government on Wednesday. The funding was part of more than $16 million distributed to 54 communities in lieu of municipal property taxes on provincial facilities. “These grants-in-lieu cover land and property owned by the provincial government, such as office buildings, warehouses and courthouses,” Minister of Citizens’ Services Jinny Sims said in a release. “Local governments provide vital public services that benefit all members of their community.” The grant was a $24,489 increase over last year. Schools, hospitals, highways, provincial forest land, provincial parks and B.C. Crown corporation lands are exempt from municipal property taxes and were not included in the calculation used to compensate the city. Some items will still be accepted for free —from page 3 The price for dumping asbestos and international waste would rise from $301.25 to $312 per tonne, under the proposed changes. The fee for dumping fridges, freezers, water coolers, air conditions and other appliances containing ozone-depleting substances would rise from $22 per unit to $22.50. The fee for dumping medium truck tires would rise from $11 to $11.25 per tire. Other categories of controlled waste - including food processing waste, gypsum board, pumpings, sterilized biomedical waste and industrial wood ash - would be charged at the increased base rate of $85 per tonne under the proposed increase. Recyclable materials including paper, corrugated cardboard, scrap metal, yard waste, used oil, light vehicle tires and propane tanks will continue to be accepted at the landfill for free, according to the proposed bylaw. Tinnitus Do you suffer from constant "ringing in the ears"? Tinnitus has commonly been described as a ringing in the ear, though the sounds resulting from tinnitus could also be described as a hissing, clicking, whistling or whirring. 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