CARSTAIRS - At its regular council meeting on Sept. 9, Carstairs town council voted in favour of transferring $374,000 from reserves to cover the purchase of property located east of Hugh Sutherland School.
Carstairs mayor Lance Colby said the purchase of the land will save the town money in the long run.
"We're making a dry pond," said Colby. "If not we would have had to go under the highway and connect out. That's a million dollars versus what we're doing now. This will allow the water to dissipate and we don't have to go under the road."
Colby said the land will also be available down the road for a possible commercial development.
Council approved the purchase of the three-acre property at its Aug. 26 regular council meeting.
"This was just to make the motion to take the money out of the reserve account and into the accumulated surplus account to pay for it, essentially," said CAO Carl McDonnell.
In other council news, council approved the town's updated quality management plan (QMP).
"The province has an arm of municipal affairs called the safety code council," he said. "They oversee the building, electrical, plumbing, gas and fire disciplines. So we have to have a quality management plan with that to say how do we conduct our investigations and inspections and the reporting back."
McDonnell said since the province made changes on its side the town had to make changes and update its QMP.
Council approved a letter of support for Carstairs Heritage Centre, which is seeking a Community Facility Enhancement Program grant from the province for improvements to the museum.
