Public budget consultation extended
Chief administrative officer Linda Nelson asked council to extend by one hour the planned public consultation session about the municipality’s first-ever four-year operational budget and 10-year capital plan.
Originally scheduled for 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11 at the municipal office, Nelson said administration felt the open house should continue until 7 p.m. in case there are still people coming in seeking information or wanting to ask questions, and hoped some members of council would be available to help accommodate that request.
Coun. Paul Isaac made a motion to that effect, which carried unanimously.
Standing in solidarity with women
Coun. Cheri Funke sought her colleagues’ support to stand in solidarity with women by proclaiming Dec. 6 as National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Sundre.
“Violence can come in many forms: physical, physiological, emotional and sexual,” she said.
“To put it into perspective, one in three Canadian women will experience some sort of sexual violence in their lifetime. The white ribbon campaign is the world’s largest movement of men and boys to end violence against women and girls, to promote gender equity, healthy relationships, and a new vision of masculinity.”
Since the campaign’s 1991 launch in Toronto, the initiative has reached more than 60 countries, she said.
“The campaign asks men to wear a white ribbon as a sign of their pledge to never commit, condone, or remain silent about the violence against women and girls,” she said, making a motion for the proclamation.
Before council unanimously carried the motion, Mayor Terry Leslie requested a ribbon. He recalled a presentation by Amanda Lindhout, who during the recent Rural Municipalities of Alberta convention shared her story about being held in captivity for 465 days after being kidnapped in Somalia.
Speaking in support of the motion, the mayor reflected, “How often as men, we are ashamed to be men for some of the things that we see our fellow men doing and committing to women.”
Social media policy
Chief administrative officer Linda Nelson asked council to consider a motion to prepare a draft social media policy that would be examined by the policy and bylaw review committee prior to being officially adopted.
“We have one right now, but it is not enough for what today’s standards are,” said Coun. Cheri Funke, who motioned to direct administration to proceed with compiling a draft policy.
Coun. Paul Isaac said it’s a good idea, but sought additional reasoning for the draft, which will add to administration’s workload.
Mayor Terry Leslie asked when the municipality’s social media policy was last reviewed, and Nelson said it had been a number of years.
“It would just fall in with the policy review that we’re doing now,” she said.
Administration is currently reviewing financial as well as human resources policies. The social media policy would simply be bumped up the list and “come forward sooner rather than later,” she added.
Funke’s motion carried without opposition.
Back lane access
Coun. Paul Isaac broached the issue of keeping the lane behind the town office open.
He said when Main Avenue West was recently being worked on, the back lane behind the municipal office was opened as a temporary detour. He said some business owners had asked him about the possibility of keeping it open permanently.
The councillor said he discussed the request with the operations manager, who was considering alternatives to keep the lane open after construction ended. However, the alley has since been closed off and the councillor said several business owners have again approached him. Isaac said he sought only to make administration aware of the request so potential options could be brought back to council for future discussion to see what could be done to keep the lane open.
Stemming the pine beetle’s spread
Following a written request from Paul Whittaker, president and CEO of the Alberta Forest Products Association, council unanimously carried a motion to write a letter to the minister of Natural Resources Canada, seeking federal funding to help stem the spread of the mountain pine beetle infestation.
“The mountain pine beetle has killed over half of the merchantable pine in British Columbia and populations in Alberta are rapidly expanding. Without immediate intervention, there is a very real risk that the beetle could decimate pine forests coast to coast, increasing the risk of wildfires, damaging watersheds, and leading to lost jobs in the forest sector,” he wrote.
He added that provincial funding to the tune of about $500 million over the last 10 years has been used for survey work as well as control measures such as felling and burning affected trees.
“The Government of Alberta has requested $95 million from the Government of Canada over the next five years. In turn, Alberta would spend $100 million of its own money,” he wrote.
Whittaker added that a precedent was set last year when New Brunswick received $74 million to control the spread of the spruce budworm.
