Penhold town council held its regular meeting on Monday, Feb. 28 in the council chambers at the Penhold Multiplex.
Assets to be assessed
Roads, water, sewer, and transportation in Penhold are a few things that will be evaluated in the Municipal Infrastructure Assessment that was approved by council.
The assessment will evaluate the condition of existing town infrastructure and will also look at how town administration will be able to plan for future growth in Penhold, according to the proposal by Tagish Engineering, the company that will be completing the assessment.
"What we need to do with this is assess all our present facilities and find out what may need to be upgraded or changed, the assessment will also determine the value of what we already have," said Penhold mayor Dennis Cooper.
"As development moves forward we have to be able to tell the developers what they will be looking at in that manner."
This is the first time this kind of assessment has been conducted for the Town of Penhold and is being done because the municipality needs to adjust its offsite levies, said Cooper.
A five year capital planning budget will be prepared as part of the report from Tagish Engineering which will help identify the priorities for the next five years.
The assessment will cost the municipality approximately $70,000.
Penhold holds Parent/Child Info Fair
The Penhold Neighbourhood Place will be holding a parent/child information fair on Wednesday, March 9. It will be located in the Jessie Duncan School gym from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
The fair will feature a number of different service providers in the community to showcase what they can offer to families. There will be games, snacks, and activities for children and information and resources for parents.
Water filtration needed at Multiplex
Penhold town council approved the purchase of a reverse osmosis system for the Penhold Multiplex to help alleviate problems with water quality in the building.
The town well water contains too much sodium which causes a number of problems in the facility, said Cooper.
The water is causing scale build up throughout the building but the biggest concern is the maintenance of the ice surface of the arena, as the condenser needs to work more to keep the ice surface cold.
The reverse osmosis system will increase the energy efficiency in the building and especially in the use of the condenser that maintains the ice.
Council passed the purchase of the system to a maximum cost of $58,000.
Several other options for solving the water quality problems were discussed by council including treating the water but the cost of that solution would also be fairly high, said Cooper.
Council amends policy
Penhold town council made another amendment to Policy 1.5, which is the policy that defines the structure of council meetings.
In the December 10, 2010 town council meeting, council made the decision to release the council package to the public and the media with an amendment stating they would strike out the names and personal information of residents who write letters to council.
However, after consultation with the Brownlee legal firm, it has been concluded that all information directed to council and addressed in council is public information. Therefore it is illegal to strike out the information from the public council package as previously decided in council.
"Under the original policy we were going to blank out names but if they address a letter to council then it becomes a public document so has to be release in council under FOIP laws," said Cooper.
