Highlights from the Jan. 22 meeting
Music festival donation request approved
Following a funding request submitted by correspondence to the municipality, council discussed whether to support the Olds and District Kiwanis Music Festival Society’s 2018 Festival of the Performing Arts, which takes place March 12-28 with a final concert scheduled for April 3.
Administration informed council the municipal budget includes a $5,000 fund for community events donations, which has previously been allocated towards events such as the Sundre Pro Rodeo, centenarian birthday recognition events, the inaugural Play 4 Sundre Kidz golf tournament, as well as the second annual Sundre Hospital Futures Legacy Gala.
Since funds donated from the reserve are typically spent in Sundre, administration said allocating funds for the music festival was up to council’s discretion.
Coun. Richard Warnock motioned for council to approve sponsoring the festival and opened the floor for a discussion on an amount. Although specific numbers on Sundre residents attending the event are not known, Mayor Terry Leslie said the regional event draws out many people and was therefore in favour of supporting the request to the tune of anywhere from $500 to $1,000. However, Coun. Rob Wolfe felt monies from the fund should be spent in the community.
Warnock’s motion, which he clarified to specify a contribution of $300, carried.
Survey and geotechnical work approved
Council carried a motion to approve for an estimated cost of $15,000 a survey and geotechnical work to begin immediately before the final approval of the Main Avenue West capital project. Elected officials heard that the survey and geotechnical design portion is crucial to preparing for the eventual tender process.
"For the water and wastewater looping and crossing of Highway 27, this survey is imperative,” stated administration’s report to council.
Highlight from the Jan. 15 meeting
Request to waive tax penalty approved
Council carried a motion as recommended by administration to approve, as per the Municipal Government Act regulations, a tax reduction of about $650 for Wilde Law Offices, which had previously made the request.
While administration generally does not recommend approving similar requests, council heard that in this instance there was documented evidence to prove the company had indeed mailed a cheque to the municipality in early December that was returned to the law firm due to the wrong address on the envelope.
"In most cases, there isn’t supporting documentation to demonstrate they tried to pay early,” said Chris Albert, finance manager.
"Had it come through, everything would have been paid on time. This is an exception,” he said, adding the firm has operated with the municipality for a number of years and that this instance was a "one-off typo.”
Highlights from the Jan. 8 meeting
Youth leadership
Sundre High School leadership student Keyanna St. Dennis, who council had previously sponsored with $500 to help cover the cost of attending the Global Vision Youth Ambassador Summit in Iqaluit, Nunavut, recapped her experience and expressed as a result of the trip a desire to be more locally involved as a youth representative. St. Dennis said she wants to work with organizations such as the municipality and the Sundre and District Chamber of Commerce to connect groups and businesses in Sundre with local youth to open the doors of communication.
Mayor Terry Leslie said her initiative is commendable, and was hopeful the community could benefit from the experience St. Dennis obtained at the summit. Administrator Linda Nelson asked St. Dennis to stay in touch to discuss opportunities to engage youth in the local decision making process.
Transfer of funds approved
Following a presentation by operations manager Jim Hall, council carried a motion to approve the transfer of up to $33,000 from the unallocated water and wastewater reserve to cover cost overruns on the Second Avenue NW water main replacement project.
Council heard the overrun was the result of outdated and inaccurate specifications on the depth and kinds of materials originally installed, which meant having to dig deeper than initially anticipated, creating additional work that was not planned for.
However, the successfully completed capital project will represent significant cost savings following the elimination of substantial leaking that amounted to more than 400 cubic metres per day, which over a year represented approximately 156,000 cubes that sold to users would have amounted to some $350,000, Hall said.
Custodial contract awarded
With the previous agreement having expired at the end of December, council carried a motion to approve administration’s recommendation to sign a two-year contract, with an optional third-year extension, for the services of Angela’s Janitorial Service Ltd. to provide custodial care for the municipality’s office, the town shop as well as the fire hall. The selected tender amounted to an expense of almost $60,000. Council heard that out of six bids for the contract, four companies met the evaluation criteria.
Visit www.sundre.com and check the "council” section under the "government” tab to find agendas and minutes from previous meetings.
