Lytton residents push for more involvement, government transparency in rebuilding their town
CBC
A group of Lytton residents who were forced to flee their homes after a fire tore through their town during the summer told their town council Wednesday night that they want to be involved in rebuilding their community.
The council meeting took place on the eve of the Transportation Safety Board's release of a report looking into the possible cause of the fire on June 30.
Jennifer Thoss, who told council she represents 59 Lytton property owners, said she and others would like to see more transparency in the local government's efforts to re-establish the interior community. Thoss, a resident of Delta, B.C., also owns properties that were damaged in the fire.
"I think we're scared that the individuality, the community, the heart of Lytton will be lost. There is all these people working in the village of Lytton that we don't know," she said.
Thoss asked for council meetings to be recorded and posted online, and called for council to consider residents for positions and contracts pertaining to Lytton's reconstruction.
The Transportation Safety Board will be holding a virtual news conference on Thursday after making public a report on the "possible relation between train activities and the fire that destroyed the town of Lytton, B.C."
Concerns were also raised during the meeting about how much progress has been made as Wednesday marked 105 days since the fire destroyed Lytton's buildings and infrastructure.
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