Public participation policy approved
Linda Nelson, chief administrative officer, presented for council’s consideration a public participation policy, which under new legislation municipalities were required to have adopted by a deadline of July 23.
“On May 7, council supported administration’s request to form a stakeholder working group to help us write this policy,” said Nelson.
“We’ve had a number of meetings and we had a fantastic working group. We started with a template put out by Alberta Municipal Affairs, and we tweaked it to be tailored to the Town of Sundre.”
Among the policy’s highlights was the inclusion of council’s responsibility to consider input received through public participation in all of the municipality’s decision making as well as to promote and support public engagement, she said.
Members of council have also been assigned a role outlined in the policy to direct residents with concerns towards the citizens' communication form available on the municipal website, to help them fill out the paperwork or to contact administration, she said.
“We’ll fill the form out for them,” she said.
“We added in a section because although it’s important for the municipality to communicate with the public, we also felt that it was important for the public to communicate back with us, which is where the form comes in.”
Helping to create the policy were Bill McGhie, Chris Vardas, Colin McNutt, Les Larson, Mike Beukeboom and Sonya Larson.
Coun. Richard Warnock’s motion to approve the policy as presented, along with an expression of appreciation to those who worked on the document, carried unanimously.
First responder radio system upgrade
The regional chief administrative officers group, in conjunction with regional fire chiefs, the regional emergency management agency, as well as the regional community peace officers and regional public works group, has recommended that every municipality within the regional partnerships support implementing the Alberta First Responder Radio Communication System and phasing out the old system, said Linda Nelson, chief administrative officer.
“Basically what we are looking for is for council to support the preparation of an issuance of request for proposals for the purchase of radios that will be compatible to the common radio network,” she said.
“This will help to facilitate communication with one another and improve the coordination between different agencies.”
Once the results of the request for proposals are back, administration will present options to council for consideration, she added.
Coun. Richard Warnock’s motion to that effect carried unanimously.
Coun. Rob Wolfe wondered whether the cost of the expense would come under the 2018 capital budget.
“It’s going to depend on the cost. Remember also that Mountain View County pays 50 per cent of the cost for the radios,” said Nelson.
The expense will likely be considered an operational expense, she added.
Waste collection agreement amendment
In light of issues balancing its budget, the Mountain View Regional Waste Management Commission recently requested unanimous consent from member municipalities to support amending the existing agreement to allow additional waste to be hauled in from outside outlined boundaries.
“The board is only trying to bring in what was originally budgeted without filling the (Didsbury Regional) Landfill any sooner than planned,” reads correspondence signed by Pat Sliworsky, the commission's chief administrative officer at the time. Sliworsky has since been let go.
“One of the options provided involved bringing in waste from outside the boundaries of Mountain View County to help offset the loss of revenue…the board is requesting that the member municipalities approve an amendment that would allow the commission to accept up to 5,000 tonnes of waste yearly from outside the members’ municipal boundaries. If all 5,000 tonnes of waste were achieved and if this waste were to be hauled by a front load truck that averages seven tonnes per load, this would equate to three extra trucks per day.”
Council unanimously carried two motions as recommended by administration: the first to approve the commission’s request to amend the existing agreement as proposed, and a second to support new and future innovations in waste management as well as to work towards having an independent review of the commission’s operations and financial statements, and to support another of the commission’s options proposing the potential total sale of all assets and liabilities pending the review’s outcome.
Permit fee waived
Council agreed to waive a development permit fee for the Sundre and District Chamber of Commerce to install a fire advisory sign at the Visitor Information Centre.
“Multiple municipalities have these signs,” said Betty Ann Fountain, development officer.
“The chamber of commerce feels it’s time for Sundre to have one,” said Fountain.
Alberta Environment and Alberta Transportation were consulted, and neither department expressed comments or concerns, she said, adding the chamber’s president, Connie Anderson, requested council waive the roughly $80 development fee to place a fire advisory sign at the tourism centre.
Coun. Rob Wolfe made a motion to that effect.
Coun. Cheri Funke said council receives numerous fee waiver requests, and the reason she supported the motion in this particular instance is because “it helps our community as a whole. It’s a good thing when you have trees everywhere in your community, and surrounding it, that you have a sign that tells people if they can have a fire or not.”
Wolfe’s motion carried unanimously.
National Drowning Prevention Week Proclamation
Council was informed about correspondence from the Lifesaving Society of Alberta and Northwest Territories requesting July 15-21 be proclaimed as National Drowning Prevention Week.
Coun. Rob Wolfe motioned to proceed with the proclamation on behalf of Sundre’s citizens.
Coun. Charlene Preston spoke in favour of the motion and said, “This is very proactive for us, not only because we have an indoor pool here, but we have a lot of recreation areas around here that are near water.”
Wolfe’s motion carried with council’s full support.
Researching possibility of recreation board
Coun. Paul Isaac brought forward a notice of motion to “direct administration to research and bring back to council for decision information on recreation board details such as how to form a recreation board, how to run a recreation board, how rec boards are run in other communities, and how the rec board in Sundre was run in the past.”
The purpose of the motion, said Isaac, was for council to decide whether the municipality should form a new rec board and if so how the department would be structured and operated.
Coun. Richard Warnock suggested referring the motion to the Inter-Municipal Cooperation Committee, which is working on the recreation and culture sub-agreement between the Town of Sundre and Mountain View County.
“The explanation for the necessity of this motion is I believe we need to have the input from our funding partner before we go do a lot of work on this recreation board,” said Warnock.
Coun. Cheri Funke, who chaired the meeting in the absence of Mayor Terry Leslie, who nevertheless participated by phone conference, said the matter would for the time being be referred to the committee.
