Roof repairs approved
Council approved a roughly $130,000 maintenance expense on two municipal facilities.
“We finally got some tendered submissions in for repairing the roof at the old shop and the Sundre Community Centre,” said Jim Hall, operations manager, on behalf of the community services department.
“I’m pleased to see they came in slightly under budget.”
To initiate a discussion and follow up with a question, Coun. Paul Isaac moved the recommended action for the Town of Sundre to accept the tender of $125,165 plus five per cent GST amounting to $6,258 from Triumph Roofing to repair the facilities’ roofs. According to documents provided in council’s agenda package, the community centre repairs amounted to almost $54,000 while the maintenance shop repairs were roughly $71,250, and five contractors submitted quotes.
“Did we find out when the last time we did the roof at the community centre?” Isaac asked.
The operations manager said that while he did not have at the tip of his fingers precise dates, he from memory said the last time work had been done on sections of the roof at the community centre was around 2011.
“The shop has never had any repairs,” said Hall.
“It was found in about 2010 or 2011 that it was leaking, and further to that, leaking into the office space.”
Coun. Cheri Funke wondered whether Mountain View County might be able to contribute funding for the shop roof repairs since the municipal partner shares space in that facility.
Shared funding was not explored because there are no issues with the county’s portion of the shop, answered Hall.
Council unanimously carried Isaac’s motion.
Tax recovery sale auction date set
Council approved six reserve bids and the conditions of an auction sale to initiate a tax recovery process on properties that have fallen behind in tax payments.
“There are six properties that are currently in tax arrears,” said Chris Albert, acting director of corporate services.
“Over the course of two, three years, we send letters, reminders and notices. Once properties become more than two years in arrears, there is a process within the MGA where we have to submit them for tax sale.”
The municipality must sell the properties at market value, he said, adding that the properties in question were assessed in May.
On any given year, there is usually an average of one or two such instances, he told council.
Auction terms include a 10 per cent deposit on auction day for the winning bid, with the full balance — including any applicable outstanding taxes — to be paid within 30 days of the auction, which administration suggested scheduling for Oct. 16 starting at 9 a.m. at the municipal office.
While the assessments included in council’s agenda package ranged from about $63,000 to $263,000, one property stood out at approximately $1.9 million. If in the event of a successful sale the owners cannot be found, the town must reserve the funds for a period of 10 years to allow time to attempt to track down the proprietors, after which point the funds become the municipality’s, said Albert.
“We go through this pretty much every year.”
However, the last time a property actually went through the tax recovery sale process was more than 10 years ago, he said.
“Usually the lien-holders will come forward and pay the tax bill and attach it to the mortgage.”
Coun. Paul Isaac said the municipality should strive to work with present owners to facilitate finding a suitable solution to help them pay their bills.
“We certainly don’t want to take a home away from somebody,” he said.
Council also heard that a couple of the properties are already vacant and that one is a vacant piece of land, then carried six separate motions to set the reserve bids and auction sale date.
Municipal Accountability Program
Alberta Municipal Affairs has a new initiative called the Municipal Accountability Program review, and Sundre is slated to be involved, said Linda Nelson, chief administrative officer.
“On July 9, the Town of Sundre will participate in a municipal accountability program with Alberta Municipal Affairs. The objective of this review is to collaboratively foster effective local governments and build administrative capacity in Alberta’s municipalities,” she said.
The program will review municipal processes as well as procedures, and is intended to assess and develop knowledge of mandatory legislative requirements. All municipalities with populations of less than 5,000 must participate, she said, adding administrative staff will coordinate the effort with provincial officials.
“Under the mandatory requirements, they will be reviewing our council code of conduct bylaw, the CAO bylaw, subdivision authority, development authority, subdivision and development appeal board bylaw, tax rate bylaw, municipal emergency plan, emergency advisory committee, public participation policy, and a few other requirements that are now mandatory under the MGA.”
The goal is to improve municipal capacity and mitigate minor issues that could potentially escalate into an in-depth inspection process or viability review, she said.
“This program is not an inspection nor is it a viability review. The program is a means for Municipal Affairs to gain an understanding of where we, as a municipality, are at in compliance to legislation.”
Administration has striven over the past year to ensure full compliance with the upcoming changes to the modernized MGA, which is now among the biggest pieces of legislation in Alberta, she said.
“So it is not a small project.”
On July 9, the ministry will be sending representatives to Sundre to complete the review, she said.
“We have been preparing reports and supplying information to facilitate the review and to support the ministry’s staff in the review process,” she said, adding the municipality has proactively pursued updating procedures, policies and bylaws to ensure compliance with new rules.
“We are very pleased to have been given this opportunity to present our details to Alberta Municipal Affairs, especially this early in the game,” she said.
“We are confident that we have done an excellent job in complying with the legislation and we are eagerly anticipating the review and a positive report as a result of the review.”
Mayor Terry Leslie called administrative staff’s effort “a massive undertaking.”
The program, he said, reiterating Nelson’s earlier comment, is not akin to a ministerial inspection or viability review that is initiated when issues arise in a community. Rather, council is very proud to be able to showcase all of the work that Sundre’s administrative staff has done to ensure compliance as a top priority, the mayor said.
Coun. Todd Dalke moved to accept Nelson’s report for information, which council carried.
Foothills Lodge update
The provincial government has made a commitment to sell the former Foothills Lodge, with proceeds to go to Mountain View Seniors’ Housing for reinvesting in Sundre, council heard.
Bruce Beattie, MVSH chair, addressed council accompanied by Sam Smalldon, the non-profit organization’s chief administrative officer, to discuss plans to review the group’s funding and governance model. Click here for that story.
During that conversation, Beattie, who is also the Mountain View County reeve, said MVSH had been trying to deal with the Foothills Lodge since before the new Sundre Seniors’ Supportive Living centre was opened.
The province owns the former lodge, and has committed to assessing the building to determine its value before starting the process to sell the property, he said, adding progress has taken a long time.
“But the commitment has been made by the province to sell that property.”
Funds generated from the eventual sale will be turned over to MVSH to be spent in Sundre, he said.
“That’s a positive — it’s just a matter of us continuing to encourage the province to make that happen.”
