Discussion on agenda item 6a), specifically the fire invoices issued under Bylaw 10-2022, and how to deal with them. Councillor Paly was struggling with how to approach this. She was having trouble with cancelling the invoices for certain individuals that she felt were negligent, as she didn’t think that should be on the ratepayer. She asked whether they could pick and choose which invoices to cancel, or if certain individuals could still be fined. Councillor Filipchuk supported these views.
Councillor Dafoe said that these are all great comments but that there was an overwhelming response from ratepayers that they did not want to be invoiced for firefighting. He expressed that hopefully the increase of our fines will help to deter people in the future from not respecting fire bans and such.
Reeve Pierce agreed that there was an overwhelming response, but that they didn’t hear from all the ratepayers, and that this is always the story every time they redo this bylaw. “The Bylaw is only as good as the Council is willing to make it.”
CAO Maier said he would not advise to retroactively charge fines.
Deputy Reeve Zilinski expressed that it was the Bylaw in place when these bills were issued that the ratepayers were not in agreement with, so all these bills should be cancelled. Councillor Paly agreed with this but reiterated that it is imperative that going forward we ensure our fines are in place.
Reeve Pierce expressed that she believes the mutual aid charges should be invoiced to the landowner and thought that under the new bylaw mutual aid charges would still be invoiced. It was confirmed that this was not the case. Reeve Pierce then commented that she still doesn’t quite understand people saying that there shouldn’t be any fire costs. That having zero costs charged makes no sense to her, and it’s like nobody needs to be responsible for their actions going forward because there’s no deterrent not to be. Deputy Reeve Zilinski said the deterrent is in our fines.
A motion was passed to cancel all invoices charged under Bylaw 10-2022 and refund those that already paid their invoice.
-Coffee with Council – November 1, 2023 – Location Newbrook at 7pm. Possibly the meeting room in the Community Hall – Administration will confirm if it is available.
Reeve Pierce suggested that we should consider changing the time to the morning, as some seniors expressed that they would have come if it was in the morning. Councillor Paly said that if they get more comments again at the next one, they can consider that for the one after.
-CAO Budget meetings – November 2 and November 23
Through discussion CAO Maier made a comment that with this schedule budget can probably be presented to Council at the December 12 meeting.
-MDP Review – October 18, 2023, at 9:30 in Council Chambers
-Code of Conduct – Deputy Reeve Zilinski said she read it and believes it’s fine the way it is – some discussion on changing In-Camera to Closed Session. CAO Maier said he wouldn’t bother unless other changes are made. He advised that Council could simply pass a motion that they have reviewed it here and there are no changes so then they have a record.
Councillor Paly would like to compare it to other municipalities. She has no issues with it right now but would like to compare. Councillor Dafoe has no real problem with it either and commented that most of what needs to be in here is dictated by the MGA. He doesn’t think that anything really needs to be updated.
Some spelling errors were identified.
Reeve Pierce also said she thinks just making grammatical corrections is all that is needed. A motion to do this and bring it back for review was made.
-November 28 Council meeting – Reeve Pierce expressed that 3 people are only attending the Annual General Meeting that is on the 29th, so if that is the case why couldn’t we still have the Council meeting on the 28th. Deputy Reeve Zilinski expressed that she attended the whole thing last year and got nothing out of the first two days. Motion for 3.3 was made – as information – don’t cancel meeting.
-Deputy CAO Cornelius went through the financial report, speaking to any changes from the previous report
The Administration Building Exterior Resurface will be underbudget, an contingency was made just in case there was going to be issues when they pulled the siding off, but they didn’t find any issues.
Incident Command Trailer is still in progress, the expected delivery date on that is in November
E-Ticket Program is almost done and there should be about $500 more – well under budget
Ski Hill Tow Rope Motor should be wrapping up soon
Pool Onsite Pay Machine – There is still the cost of installation to come but will still be under budget
Shoulder Pulls / Road Rehabilitation – Not all the work is done yet so there will be more invoices
Discussion on why the Newbrook library was pulled out in the expenses and Deputy CAO Cornelius explained that is just the building – there was some more discussion on the break out of operating expenses vs infrastructure on a few items.
Dafoe asked about the new fire truck and Deputy CAO Cornelius advised it should be arriving this week.
-Councillor Dafoe reported on the RMA Zone meeting that he and Reeve Pierce attended on Monday in Edmonton.
-Presentations included one from the Alberta Ombudsman Office that spoke about what they do and what they can investigate. They can investigate a complaint from an individual, a municipality, or start their own. They look more at process though so if there is a complaint on a Council decision, they would look at the process taken, not whether the decision they made was good or bad. It was good information on how that all works.
-A rep from Brownlee LLP came to discuss how some municipalities are trying to collect taxes from oil companies that abandoned wells. They have made some progress but there are still lots of municipalities that have not been paid.
-Fortis Alberta came to talk about a new rate for EV charging stations and how they are going to do that. It was tough to understand so one may need to contact them directly if they want more information on it.
-They got an update from the RMA president and from AB Munis. They are still in the process of getting the LGFF funding together. It’s been a battle there and it’s quite obvious there just isn’t enough money for either the rural municipalities or urban municipalities.
They also voted on their resolutions regarding STIP funding and they all passed so it goes on to the RMA Convention
-Reeve Pierce reported on the supper with MLAs that Reeves, CAOs, and Mayors were invited to after the RMA Zone meeting. She was able to speak with MLA VanDyken and shared that resolution for STIP funding was approved by the zone and would be going to RMA, and that we would be sharing it with him. It was positive and a good discussion, he understood our concerns. We thanked him for the increase in funding that the province has put into STIP, but that it still hasn’t increased as much as the expiry of bridges has.
It was good to meet with the different MLAs and find out what is going on in the area and have them know we are a united group. It’s a good thing for them to hear what we have to say on a more informal basis.
-Alberta Transportation – respond to letter regarding the RMA Convention and if they want to set up a meeting with the Transportation Minister – Reeve Pierce thinks they should set up a meeting. Three priorities should be listed. They decided on Hwy 28, Hwy 18, and Hwy 827 bridge.
-CAO Report
Deputy Reeve Zilinski asked if the weight restriction was off now on bridge 593 and 224 because the sign is still there. She also asked about how the paradox road stabilization is working – Councillor Paly said she drove it and it’s excellent – CAO Maier says that it has been used by others for quite some time – Deputy Reeve Zilinski asked if it would work on 590
Councillor Paly – comment on summer programs – her children participated in many of them this summer and had an awesome time. She also asked about the Abee potholes – the request is since April and it still hasn’t been done so where are things with that – not in the CAO report
Councillor Filipchuk had a couple calls on low level crossings – one on Hwy 63 18 just come back a mile West on 18 and go ¾ mile North; the other one is on Hwy 18 and 63 go a mile South.
Reeve Pierce had a question on the shoulder pulls – if the ground starts to freeze do they come back in the spring? Is there a drop-dead date? CAO Maier says that it is weather dependent.
-Closed Session – Agenda items were Union Negotiations (Motion was carried to accept as information) and Land (Motion was carried to accept as information)
Councillor Dafoe – same issue with potholes in Newbrook; on the towrope – will there be more costs? CAO Maier says yes; regarding gravel are we still gravelling? CAO Maier says they are done gravelling; culverts – how is that project coming? Guessing it won’t be complete this summer? CAO will still be bringing a report to Council on it; a question on the bus (listen again)
View the meeting minutes here
Listen to the meeting recording here