Town appoints director of disaster services
Community peace officer Colin Whymark was appointed director of municipal emergency management, with Innisfail CAO Helen Dietz, and Director of Community and Protective Services Terry Welsh to be appointed in the event of an absence.
Alberta's Emergency Management Act requires municipalities such as Innisfail to name an authority that will prepare and co-ordinate emergency operations and resources.
Since council had passed the Emergency Management Bylaw in April 2010, an important next step is to pick the director of disaster services, said Welsh, at the regularly scheduled council meeting Sept. 10.
“He acts as the director of emergency operations on behalf of our municipal emergency management agency,” Welsh said. “And he co-ordinates all emergency services and other resources if there were a major incident in the community.”
Any declared emergency would last seven days, unless renewed or cancelled, according to documents discussed at the meeting.
A train whistle sounded during the presentation, and a derailment was mentioned as one possible catastrophe to prepare for.
The motion was approved unanimously.
Town agrees to land swap
A portion of a lot west of 61 Avenue and south of 42A Street that was enclosed by a fence will be sold to the adjacent landowner, meanwhile the town will receive a portion of the buyer's own land in order to access a sewer right-of-way adequately.
Following a public hearing, held at the Sept. 10 council meeting, which received no additional input, the town agreed to remove the municipal reserve designation from the sliver of land running approximately north-south so the subdivision and sale could proceed.
The land will be purchased from the town at fair market value.
In a subdivision report prepared by Parkland Community Planning Services it was noted no objections were received from Telus, ATCO Pipelines, Chinook's Edge School Division, or Alberta Transportation. The Energy Resources Conservation Board indicated wells and gas lines exist in the vicinity but noted these facilities have adequate setbacks.
The motion to allow the land swap to proceed was approved unanimously.
Comprehensive fee bylaw updated
The Town of Innisfail adopted a new version of its fees bylaw, meant to update the older document with the fee rates, which have been in effect in actuality since 2011.
“It's not a proposal to increase rates,” said Craig Teal, director of planning and development. “It will provide the framework to look at rates in the future, and council may be revisiting this bylaw if there's a desire to increase the rate we charge for development permits and building permits at a later date.”
The new bylaw was approved unanimously at the Sept. 10 council meeting.
“We're always looking at fees and keeping up with other municipalities,” said Coun. Jason Heistad, in an interview. “It's been a number of years since we've changed that bylaw.”
Policy needs to be revamped from time to time, he said.
“Sometimes sitting in our position those things are coming up,” Heistad said. “Are we in 2012 or are we in 1979. We want to make sure we're up to date and current.”
Towle addresses council
Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA Kerry Towle told council she wants to be a strong representative for the people and considers it important to work in tandem with the local government to do so.
“I want to make it very, very clear that my job is to work with you,” Towle said. “I'm here to work for the next four years.”
The Wildrose MLA spoke at the outset of the Sept. 10 council meeting, giving updates on acute care services and stressing she has as much power in opposition as any Progressive Conservative MLA would.
“We have the exact same abilities,” she said. “My job as an MLA is no different than a PC MLA.”
Mayor Jim Romane asked for an update of acute care resources following her address.
Health Minister Fred Horne agreed that Sylvan Lake's needs were unique at a recent meeting with the Urgent Care Committee, she said.
With all the traffic between municipalities it is important to work together on health-care issues, Romane said.
“We're concerned for them as a community, and we have our residents here in Sylvan Lake a lot,” Romane said.
