Committees of council
Chief administrative officer Linda Nelson said the committees of council bylaw had two more terms of reference added under the Vision for Sundre Committee, which has had an opportunity to review the terms and made a few changes that were brought before council for approval.
“Those two committees are the Events and Festivals Committee and the Fundraising Committee,” said Nelson during the Feb. 10 meeting.
Additionally, since council is responsible for policies and bylaws, she said another change was made to the Policy and Bylaw Review Committee, with a suggestion that all members of council should sit on that committee to do a cursory review of all bylaws and policies that come forward.
“It’s just for a cursory review of council and then the bylaw or policy itself would be coming to probably the next council meeting,” she said.
“It’s draft legislation, it’s not complete for public review until it comes forward for first reading.”
The idea is to provide council an opportunity to see and provide input into the draft documents, rather than seeing the final document without having had a chance to first review it, she said.
Following a brief discussion, council carried all three readings.
Later during the meeting, council also carried a motion accepting a letter of resignation from Jim Eklund, who due to other commitments stepped down from the vision committee, said Nelson.
“We will be advertising for another committee member to take his place in the very near future.”
Regional Assessment Review Board
To be a member of the Central Alberta Regional Assessment Review Board, a municipality must pass a bylaw in substantially the same form as the bylaw approved by the City of Red Deer, which is responsible for performing all coordinator functions.
As such, the bylaw is regularly reviewed to ensure that it is compliant with legislation and legal decisions. Sundre's bylaw required minor housekeeping amendments to be compliant with new regulations passed in December.
In the background presented in council’s agenda during the Feb. 10 meeting, administration said there would be no direct operational impacts and no financial impacts related to the bylaw. Council carried all three readings.
Bantam provincials support approved
The Sundre Minor Hockey Association had previously informed council that the bantam Huskies are going to be hosting provincials March 19-22.
“They’re looking for some volunteers for the pancake breakfast,” said Linda Nelson, chief administrative officer, during the Feb. 10 meeting.
The association’s request for the municipality to provide in-kind support by offering the arena ice time and use of the Sundre Community Centre boardroom would come by way of a separate motion on the agenda under grants to organizations, said Nelson.
“They’re also looking for Town of Sundre swag,” she said, adding council participation was also being sought.
“They are looking for the mayor to give a welcome speech at the banquet.”
Without much discussion council unanimously carried the recommended motion approving the association’s requests.
Later during the meeting, council also carried a motion approving some funding for organization as recommended by the Grant Review Committee.
Numerous grants approved
More than 15 groups had applied for funding, but some did not meet requirements, said Linda Nelson, chief administrative officer, during the Feb. 10 meeting.
In the end, the committee recommended allocating a little more than $28,000 out of an original amount of nearly $60,000 that the groups had cumulatively requested. Among them was minor hockey, which received the full $4,325 requested in the form of facility rentals for the provincial tournament.
The Sundre and District Museum was also granted the full $2,000 it had requested for WinterFest while the Sundre Palliative Care Association received $2,000 from a requested $6,500 for training materials. The Sundre West Country Centre received $2,650 out of $5,000 that had been requested for the installation of an accessible door.
Greenwood Neighbourhood Place Society received the full $1,725 requested for a community event celebration of the organization to mark its 20th anniversary this year. The Foothills Bluegrass Music Festival was awarded $1,000 out of $5,000 requested for venue expenses.
The Sundre Rodeo and Race Association was granted $5,000 out of $15,000 originally sought to help cover rodeo event expenses while the Seniors Protected and Respected Under Community Engagement initiative received $2,500 out of $4,590 that had been asked for to support an education and awareness campaign. The Foothills Lodge Auxiliary Association received the full $1,500 requested for programs providing assistance to dementia patients.
Coun. Richard Warnock, who sits on the Grant Review Committee, said the process is not a “rubber stamp” approval and that there was substantial back-and- forth discussions before making the recommendations for council to consider.
The councillor said the committee wants to help as many groups as possible provided their applications are valid, but that there are limited resources to do so.
“I believe we did due diligence,” he said.
Expressing gratitude for the committee’s effort, Mayor Terry Leslie said there was almost $60,000 requested, with only $50,000 available in the budget and a second round of intakes remaining.
Sewer line camera replaced
The operations department’s sewer line camera suffered a severe failure and required a replacement at a cost of $10,715, an expense originally budgeted in the 2020 capital plan for 2023.
“We just recently went to deploy that unit for the second or third time this year, and we lost the entire video screen system on it,” said Jim Hall, operations manager, during the Feb. 10 meeting. The unit, he added, is an older system purchased in 2007 that no longer had supplier support and could subsequently no longer be repaired.
“It’s an item that has varied use. Last year, I think it went out 15 times, which is quite a bit,” he said, adding some years the unit had been deployed only once.
“It allows us to find where the problem is. Sometimes it’s even been able to prove that we’re not in culpability for an issue with a sewer line.”
Coun. Richard Warnock wondered whether there would be warranty servicing or contract.
“The company that we have now supports us with all of our locating devices out of Calgary,” said Hall.
“The two companies that put quotes forward, we deal with them every day and they stay on top of the technology,” he said.
Provided the camera is well taken care of, cleaned after use, and calibrated, the unit should last. The last camera could not be calibrated because there was no technical support, he said.
“Going forward, I’m not sure what the warranty is,” he said.
“But I do trust them because I’ve been working with them for 10 years.”
Council unanimously carried a motion approving the purchase of a new sewer line camera at a cost of $10,715 with funds being drawn from the Utilities Life Cycling restricted surplus account.
Committee appointments
Chief administrative officer Linda Nelson said during the Feb. 24 meeting that the next step following council’s approval of the Events and Festivals Committee and the Fundraising Committee’s terms of reference was to appoint members, one from the Vision for Sundre Committee and one from council.
Moe Fahey had volunteered to join the Events and Festivals Committee, while Jacquie Bargholz stepped up to sit on the Fundraising Committee.
“We will be putting these committees out to the public, and asking for members of the public at large,” said Nelson, adding she also sought two councillors to join each committee.
At almost the same time, councillors Todd Dalke, Cheri Funke and Charlene Preston expressed a desire to sit on the Events and Festivals Committee. Following a friendly bout of rock, paper, scissors, Preston was selected for events and festivals, with Dalke appointed to the Fundraising Committee.
Council proceeded to carry motions approving the appointments.
Spring workshop
With spring around the corner, chief administrative officer Linda Nelson presented council with a request to hold the workshop out of town.
“I believe that council should at least once in their terms have an off-site meeting for your spring workshop. Actually, if it was up to me, we would do it at every spring workshop,” said Nelson.
“(But) I know this council is very concerned with public funds that we are spending. However, I believe this is a very important, critical workshop. You’re halfway through your terms and it is a vision and goals and objectives workshop.”
Administrative staff had investigated costs, coming up with an expense of less than $4,500 for everyone to attend, she said, adding that cost could be reduced to less than $3,000 if councillors used their individual budgets to pay for rooms.
Coun. Rob Wolfe moved that the municipality approve holding the spring workshop April 3-5 in Red Deer at a cost not to exceed $3,000 with accommodation for council members coming out of their individual budgets.
Coun. Cheri Funke inquired where the rest of the funds were coming from, with Nelson adding reserves from financial stabilization were available.
Coun. Paul Isaac, speaking in favour of the motion, said holding the workshop out of town better enables council to focus on the meetings at hand and avoid distractions.
“To make good, solid decisions, we need to get away from our other lives,” said Isaac.
Coun. Todd Dalke said council should endeavour to car pool, as council doesn't need six or more vehicles each racking up mileage expenses when everyone is going to the same place.
“We could fit all into one van, or take two vehicles,” said Dalke.
“We also have a town vehicle that we can use that we wouldn’t be charging mileage for at all,” added Nelson.
Speaking in favour of the motion, Mayor Terry Leslie said council has always made a concerted effort to do as much as possible in house. Planning an out-of-town workshop will ensure council gets a better chance to discuss matters in depth rather than on a regular 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. timeline, he said.
Wolfe’s motion carried.
