CREMONA - At the recent regular council meeting, council approved a $0.25 per cubic metre water consumption increase.
CAO Luana Smith said the increase is necessary to prevent water consumption from being paid by taxes.
"Water and waste water should not be subsidized by taxes," said Smith. "It's currently being subsidized - not by a lot but some. We just have to do a slight increase so it's all based on consumption user fees."
Smith said the changes will take effect on April 1.
In other council news, council voted to update the election procedures act. One of the major changes was to open voting at 7 a.m. on election day (Oct. 16).
"That's so people can vote before they go to work," said Smith. "Voting will be 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. on election day. We have a lot of people who work in the city."
Smith said the voting location has not been determined yet.
Council selected its appointments for the Inter-Municipal Collaborative Initiative (ICI).
"We're going to start the process of inter-municipal collaboration with Mountain View County in April," said Smith.
Appointed to the committee were Mayor Timothy Hagen, Deputy Mayor Sonia Temple and Coun. Robert Reid as well as Smith.
"It's to deal with shared services agreements and such," she said.
The committee will also feature four members appointed from Mountain View County.
Council approved 2017 Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) funding recommendations made by the Cremona FCSS advisory board on Feb. 7.
In total, 12 organizations applied asking for $24,915.73 in funding. Of that, nine organizations were approved for a total of $9,954.73.
Council approved several appointments to the Capital Region Assessment Services Commission. The commission's panelists would hear any assessment complaints for Cremona.
Starting on March 21, council will be holding council meetings in the former United Church building.
"We just purchased the church and that closed end of January," said Smith. "Our immediate plans (for the building) are to hold our council meetings there and eventually move our FCSS office there. We don't know the timelines there yet."
Smith said the town has to look into the wiring and such to see if the building can handle the electrical upgrades and computer infrastructure.
"Water and waste water should not be subsidized by taxes. It's currently being subsidized - not by a lot but some."CAO Luana Smith
