Good Morning!
Were you at Tuesday’s Council meeting? If not, here is a little list of highlights for you:
I counted 45 people in attendance for the Ron and Donna Costain delegation on their firefighting bill! I love the community support – this is why I am so glad I moved here! 5 or 6 of us stayed right til the very end (I left a little early due to not feeling well!)
Ron Costain Delegation – Mr Costain requested an additional 60 days to prepare to deal with the outrageous bill, and asked that no interest be charged on the invoice amount during that time. Council agreed. He will be seeking more information on the details of the billing, more information on the validity of the bylaw itself. He noted that the bylaw has no appeal process outlined (why?). The room was quite vocal despite being chastised by Reeve Pierce a number of times and it seemed that all or most in attendance believe that firefighting costs should be covered by our municipal taxes.
Doug Olchowy Response – On the Doug Olchowy matter, council agreed to do a cost analysis of returning the 800 meters of his road to the original design, which per Mr Olchowy, was never complete. Although he did not have a delegation at this meeting, he was in attendance and they allowed him to speak to it to, which I appreciated because it gave much more clarity to the situation!
Councillor Remuneration Policy 203 – Council’s remuneration policy is in part decided by comparison every 4 years to what other counties are doing. Previously, this comparison was done to Smoky Lake, Lac St. Anne and Lamont counties. The decision was made to delete these counties from the policy, and instead, use counties that more closely compare (based on an undetermined set of metrics) at the time, to Thorhild County. So there was NO CHANGE to the councillor’s remuneration on this one.
The MNP financial audit revealed that the County has more than $86M in accumulated surplus per 2022 ($6.6M in unrestricted funds).
The current Mill Rate Bylaw 009-2022 was discussed. Changes to the new proposed Mill Rates Bylaw 07-2023 – that were discussed include a 1% decrease to non-residential property, a 0% change to residential property and a 1% increase to farmland. This will be discussed at the next Council meeting.
There were many other items like passing of Bylaw 06-2023 Special Levy for the Maintenance of the Long Lake Community Block Wells, and the direction to purchase up to $20k with of shale for the community ball diamonds in the hope that Minor Ball will return to Thorhild County.
Not every item is included in this post so,
click here for the meeting recording!
click here for the meeting minutes!