CARSTAIRS - Councillors reviewed a number of bylaws and policies at the recent regularly scheduled council meeting.
"There were some old policies that we wanted to get up to date," said Mayor Lance Colby. "Some were obsolete. We've been trying to update all our policies.
"We have committees that go through them all. We'll look at all our policies and bylaws and just make sure they are up to date and not obsolete and causing us problems. "
Council reviewed two very old bylaws, one on business hours from 1942, and another regarding business licences from 1960. Both were rescinded since there were newer versions on the books, said CAO Carl McDonnell.
Council also updated the town's policies regarding uniform and safety equipment standards for protective services, arena and parks department, fire and emergency services, and operational services.
"So people are aware of what our standards are and what we need from them," said Mayor Colby. "A lot of it is to do with wordsmithing. Some of the bylaws we have, the wording isn't quite right so it can be confusing. So we want to make it easy to understand."
McDonnell said the uniform and safety equipment standards used to be part of the personnel policy but were separated.
Council also updated its workplace smoking policy, substance (drug and alcohol) abuse policy and medical cannabis policy.
The medical cannabis policy states that medical cannabis will be treated the same as any regularly prescribed medication. The town has the same expectations from employees who use medical cannabis as those who use all other types of medication and will accommodate individuals up to the point of undue hardship.
Among the guidelines are: employees may only use medical cannabis with appropriate documentation in their names from a qualified health-care practitioner; and, if an employee must use medical cannabis while at work, and requires accommodation to do so, they must inform the human resources administrator.
There are several employee expectations including: management must treat employees who use medical cannabis the same as all other employees using prescription medication; be aware of the effects of cannabis use and ensure employees are not placed in any safety-sensitive situations; assess the effects of the use of cannabis on an employee's performance on the job; and ensure that the use of medical cannabis does not adversely affect the safety of the employee or their co-workers.
"We had smoking and substance abuse (rules) in the personnel policy," said McDonnell. "We had to add the medical cannabis policy."
McDonnell said the smoking and substance abuse policies were taken out of the personnel policy so they could be addressed without going through the whole personnel policy.
"One of the problems with the personnel policy is it gets so huge that every time you make a change you have to bring the whole policy to council," he said. "These are the ones that typically see some change."
In other council news, Sarah Nielsen of Urban Systems appeared as a delegation in regards to an application for subdivision on Nanton Street. The subject site comprises 0.11 hectares and is in the town's north-central area, east of the CPR right-of-way and west of Highway 2A.
The applicant is proposing a subdivision that would create two separate titles and change the size of both lots.
"She was there to go through the details and make recommendations," he said. "She said it met all the town requirements under the land use bylaw."
