[0:05] Good afternoon and welcome to our regular council meeting for Monday, June

[0:10] 29th, 2026. I will call the meeting to order at 5:00

[0:14] p.m. First item on the agenda, agenda item

[0:19] 1.1, land acknowledgement. The town of Coaldale acknowledges that we are

[0:23] gathered on the lands of the Blackfoot peoples of the Canadian plains and pays

[0:28] respect to the Blackfoot peoples past, present, and future while recognizing

[0:33] their cultural heritage, beliefs, and relationship to the land.

[0:37] The town of Coaldale is also home to Métis District 1, Foothills.

[0:42] Agenda item 1.2, conflict of interest declaration, pecuniary and

[0:47] non-pecuniary. Are there any in the room this afternoon?

[0:51] None declared, thank you. Moving on to agenda item 2.1, acceptance

[0:57] of the agenda for June 29th, 2026. Are there any additions or deletions to the

[1:02] agenda?

[1:07] Councillor Avery. >> Uh thank you, Mayor. I'm just uh

[1:10] wondering about the letter that I sent out on June 16th that I asked to be

[1:15] part of our agenda package. If that was going to be discussed tonight or next

[1:20] week at Committee of the Whole.

[1:24] » That would be a question for our CAO. And but uh

[1:29] we can discuss it in closed session.

[1:36] Seeing no other additions or deletions from the agenda, can I get someone to

[1:41] make a motion that council adopt the regular council meeting agenda for June

[1:45] 29th, 2026 as presented. Councillor Reese.

[1:50] I'll call for the vote.

[2:05] » And that is carried. Thank you. Moving on to agenda item 4.1, delegation

[2:12] by appointment. This afternoon we have staff sergeant Malcolm Callahoo

[2:17] in attendance. He is going to be presenting on the quarter four

[2:22] statistics. Staff sergeant, whenever you're ready,

[2:26] the floor is yours. >> Thank you, Mayor and councilors. It's a

[2:31] pleasure to see you all once again. And I'll just start.

[2:36] There's been a package that's been sent to all of you. It was sent in May.

[2:42] Basically, it just covers some of the new news that's happening

[2:46] divisionally as well as in the town. This one in particular, I think one of

[2:51] the things that we probably should discuss is the new issuance of

[2:56] a new pet duty pistol that's coming out. That's the Glock 45 MOS 7 duty pistol.

[3:03] This has been part of a long process to get to this point. There is going to be

[3:07] planning that's going to be happening and training that's going to be

[3:10] happening this year and that for the next 3 years throughout the division.

[3:14] I'm not exactly sure when our members are going to be trained yet, but it is a

[3:18] it is a necessary upgrade. The reason why is because the duty

[3:23] pistols that we currently have, while they still work, they don't have any

[3:26] parts anymore for them because they're obsolete. So, the fact is is that moving

[3:31] on to one that does have product supports as well as new technology

[3:35] associated to it is always a good thing. So,

[3:38] just to kind of give you guys a bit of a heads up that that is coming.

[3:43] So, moving on, going to the municipal police report.

[3:49] With regards to the community priorities, and again, this report

[3:52] covers Q4, which is January of 2026 to March of 2026. So,

[3:59] uh on the priorities of traffic safety on the

[4:03] 27th of January of 2026, there was a traffic services check stop that was

[4:08] conducted in Coaldale from uh 8:00 p.m. until

[4:12] 10:00 p.m. There was one IRS fail and one caution charge. So, members are

[4:17] working with the integrated traffic unit in order to enhance public safety and a

[4:22] renewed focus on traffic enforcement will be part of this upcoming strategy

[4:25] for the upcoming reporting period. With regards to our police and community

[4:30] relations, uh the patrol logs indicate a higher level of police engagement and

[4:34] proactive patrolling, which lends well to the visibility and presence in the

[4:38] community. And then in priority three, which is

[4:41] intelligence-led policing, members continue to attend interagency meetings

[4:45] as well as share intelligence with our policing partners such as Lethbridge

[4:50] Police Service. A more specific focus will be conducted

[4:53] in the upcoming year, which we are currently in right now. So,

[4:57] moving on to our community consultations,

[4:59] um there's uh about five of them that are on this one. Uh January 6th, there

[5:04] was class presentation at the Coaldale High School at the uh career and life

[5:09] management class on drug abuse, and that was Constable Garas that attended that.

[5:13] Uh January 12th, there was a Q2 presentation, basically basically what

[5:17] I'm doing right now, but sitting down for the quarter two results.

[5:21] Uh January 26th, was coffee with a cop, and there was four members from the

[5:25] Coaldale/Picture Butte detachment that attended to field questions and engage

[5:29] with citizens. And there was also

[5:33] Operation Cold Start, which happened on February 1st of 2026, and there was

[5:37] handing out the flyers and public interaction with to prevent

[5:41] vehicle thefts. Um this is always a concern during the winter

[5:45] uh with vehicles left running and then being unlocked and of course being taken

[5:49] by our not so not so

[5:52] law-abiding people. And then

[5:55] there's also a provincial hockey tournament on March 26th that was

[5:58] attended in order to keep the peace. So those are the

[6:01] community community connections that were happened

[6:05] for that reporting period. Moving on to our crime statistics,

[6:09] there's a few things that I just like to highlight.

[6:13] One of those being is on the persons category, we had something of about

[6:20] probably about a 5% increase in our assaults. When I looked into it, of

[6:24] those 17 incidents, about five went to charge.

[6:27] Three were domestic-related and the rest were either insufficient evidence or

[6:31] unfounded. Now normally insufficient evidence would mean that

[6:35] they tend to not have the information that we can develop in order to go into

[6:39] a charge. >> So do you have any slides to go along

[6:43] with your >> I did send a package.

[6:50] » Just for our >> No no problem.

[6:52] » viewers at home. >> Yeah, no problem at all. So those are

[6:54] the community priorities that I just presented already.

[6:57] Um and then moving on to the next pages.

[7:06] Yeah, and if I already had those all presented.

[7:11] And that is well. And now we're on to our There we go.

[7:14] That's where I'm at right now. So again, looking at the assault charges 2022, we

[7:19] had 17 incidents and then went down to five in 2023,

[7:23] 10 in 2024, 12 in 2025 and then 17 in this coming this year now. So

[7:30] just to explain those numbers again, we're looking at

[7:35] of those 17, like I said, the five went to charge.

[7:38] Three of those were domestic-related that went to charge. The the rest again

[7:42] were insufficient evidence or unfounded. So,

[7:45] the other one I wanted to point out was with regards to our fraud charges, which

[7:49] are down there uh 10 incidents within that particular quarter.

[7:55] Uh the commonality that we're seeing on

[7:57] this one is uh and I looked into it a little bit harder

[8:01] uh Facebook transactions. So, where people are agreeing to buy a product of

[8:06] some sort, and then they forward money to someone, but then the product

[8:09] obviously isn't there, and then they're defrauded that way.

[8:12] Or the other one that we're seeing a lot of is false representation of a certain

[8:16] company or a bank where uh they're defrauded out of money and

[8:20] send money to a email address or something of that nature. So,

[8:25] um in order to help with this, and this seems to touch on our elderly somewhat,

[8:29] we do also have a uh we have a talk that we're setting up at the at the at the

[8:34] lodge here in town in order to uh help get some preventive measures in place.

[8:39] That's how come we're getting into these next quarters, of course, not this one,

[8:42] but just something that uh was asked of us to do to help out where we can. So,

[8:48] um moving on to the next page.

[8:55] Okay. One thing I did want to touch on was I

[8:58] noticed that we had a drug drug enforcement trafficking. So, when I took

[9:02] a look at that investigation, uh that one there, we were trying to

[9:07] develop information on a on a drug-related house. Unfortunately,

[9:10] before we could get enough information to proceed to warrant, they left the

[9:13] area. So, unfortunately, that one there was kind of a non-starter for us.

[9:18] Uh the only thing I wanted to touch on real briefly is our diminishing traffic

[9:22] that we've seen throughout. And that had a lot to do with that the time our

[9:26] resourcing, but um we are having a renewed focus on our

[9:29] traffic enforcement. And as I've heard from several counselors already, they've

[9:34] noticed a an increase already in our presence within the community, so that's

[9:38] good news to hear. And uh with that, uh that's the end of

[9:42] my presentation. I'm certainly open to any questions you may have.

[9:47] » Thank you. I'll open up to members of the council. Questions, comments?

[9:51] Got Deputy Mayor Beekman and then Councillor Chapman.

[9:56] » Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Staff Sergeant, for your presentation. Uh

[9:59] going back to your uh talk about fraud specifically, like marketplace

[10:03] transactions, um do we have a spot at the local

[10:06] detachment that's like a safe exchange site, like the Lethbridge City Police

[10:10] have set up in front of their detachment?

[10:13] » I don't know if we have a formal one, but that's actually not a bad idea if

[10:16] that's the case. So, yeah, we could look into getting something like that set up

[10:19] as well. Yeah. >> Awesome. Thank you.

[10:21] » Yeah. Let me just write that down here.

[10:25] » Councillor Chapman.

[10:34] » Okay, thank you, Mayor, and uh through to Staff Sergeant Callaghan. Thank you

[10:38] so much again uh for coming tonight, and uh several

[10:42] questions if I may, Mayor. Um your you in your report here, um

[10:49] I'm just wanting to ensure that these uh this data and this these um

[10:55] these report numbers, they're would be internally in Coaldale, would they be,

[10:58] or would they be just including the county area?

[11:03] » No, um these these numbers here are specifically for Coaldale.

[11:06] » Okay, very good. Thank you. Which leads me to my next question. Uh

[11:10] municipal bylaws and traffic and municipal bylaws overall, are they

[11:16] uh are these re- uh is this data initiated by the RCMP itself, or would

[11:22] they be um uh

[11:25] data that's uh handed down from say our community peace

[11:29] officers? >> Uh no, these are exclusively ours. Um so

[11:33] basically, if there's a call for service that

[11:36] results in a contact that's either a municipal bylaw or something of that

[11:39] nature, that's how it's recorded on our system. The ones that come from the town

[11:43] separately are separate stats. >> Very good, thank you.

[11:47] My final question to you, um body worn cameras, are you now

[11:53] all of your your membership or your uh

[11:57] your your constables all now wearing body worn cameras?

[12:02] » Yes, and uh to touch on that briefly, um

[12:06] there was a rollout of of cameras for all of the all of the membership any on

[12:12] general duty. So I'm actually wearing one right now. I'm just seated right

[12:15] now, so you can't really see it. Well, if I back up a little bit there, you can

[12:18] see it. So it's that green flashing thing.

[12:21] Um so basically, that's uh that is an amazing tool.

[12:27] So it's

[12:29] it helps sort out a lot of things for us. So say as an example, we get a

[12:34] concern about uh about a an officer's behavior.

[12:37] So what I can do is I can pull that video and I can take a look and I can

[12:41] see if there's any issues there. Or it can also come down to whether or

[12:46] not um there's some sort of evidentiary value

[12:50] that we need to pull. It's It's an extremely valuable tool and uh I'm a big

[12:55] believer in it. >> Okay, great. Thank you. And

[13:00] did you want to speak to uh speeding on Highway 3 at all? Is that something that

[13:05] you wanted to bring that one up uh regarding

[13:08] the amount of the amount of speeding that's taking place now that we don't

[13:12] have photo radar anymore. I think we're we're using this creep method where

[13:16] we're kind of building our speed through through the community. So is this

[13:21] something that you would probably look at enforcing or

[13:25] kind of focusing on for the next while? >> Yeah, we could. Um

[13:29] one of the things that I had brought up at our policing committee was the was

[13:33] the usage of our Alberta Traffic Safety calendar that we have. Uh

[13:37] and again, not to say we don't look focus on all traffic safety, but there's

[13:40] priorities that we look at. So, in July upcoming, it's going to be impaired

[13:44] driving as a as a as a as a focus, right? So, the thing at this point is

[13:49] that certainly I can bring this to my own operations and and say that this is

[13:54] something that we'd like to see focused on. And then from there, we'll probably

[13:58] see some increase on that as well. >> I Thank you. Thank you, Mayor.

[14:03] » Thank you. Any further questions, comments?

[14:06] And if I could just I've mentioned this before, if you would be able to share

[14:10] this with Citizens on Patrol, too, when they have their monthly meeting. And

[14:13] they'd be very interested in seeing that.

[14:15] » These stats here? >> Yes. What whatever everything that's

[14:17] public. >> Okay. Yeah, absolutely.

[14:20] » Thank you. Thank you for your presentation, Staff

[14:23] Sergeant. Could I get someone to make a motion that Council receive the RCMP

[14:29] Quarter 4 Statistics Report as information. Councilor Pickering makes

[14:34] that motion. I'll call for the vote.

[14:44] And that is carried. And we just have to back up to agenda

[14:47] item 2.1. I was so excited for the Staff Sergeant being here,

[14:51] I didn't bring up the um the minutes from our June 8th, 2026

[14:58] meeting. Was there any errors or omissions in those meeting meeting

[15:01] minutes? Seeing none, would someone care to

[15:04] entertain making a motion that Council approve the June 8th, 2026 regular

[15:09] Council meeting minutes as presented. Councilor Sailor makes that motion. I'll

[15:14] call for the vote.

[15:22] And that is carried. Thank you. Moving on to

[15:29] new business, agenda item 8.1. This afternoon, we have

[15:33] our director of infrastructure, Dustin Yankee, presenting on the Highway 845

[15:39] and 30th Avenue intersection upgrades. Dustin, whenever you're ready.

[15:50] » Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm here to present

[15:54] Highway 845 30th Avenue request for quotation results.

[15:59] I'll read through my report and happy to answer any questions at the end.

[16:04] So, following Alberta Transportation's approval

[16:08] on our design, we posted a procurement package on APC

[16:13] from May 12th to June 4th. We received one submission from Volker Stevin,

[16:18] uh formerly McNally Contractors, accounting for their submitted price and

[16:23] some minimal associated costs. Uh we're estimating the project budget to be

[16:28] $520,000, which would leave a funding shortfall of

[16:31] $50,000 against the $470,000

[16:35] currently allocated that was approved as part of

[16:39] uh budget deliberations in the fall.

[16:43] Uh there's some points I want to touch on.

[16:45] For a project like this, uh being that specialized intersection work along a

[16:50] provincial highway, it wasn't a a large surprise for us the

[16:53] lack of contractor interest. Volker Stevin is the preferred contractor for

[16:57] this type of work, since they do have the maintenance contracts with the

[17:01] province. And it's anticipated that, given their

[17:05] crew types and ability to have resources for uh flagging, etc., that they would

[17:10] be a competitive proponent. Discussions with Volker following their

[17:14] submission, they advised us that they did reach out to other local contractors

[17:19] to team up on the project. So, let's assume that much of the available local

[17:23] capacity is reflected in the pricing. Uh as well as there was

[17:28] some additional interest through the tendering process, increasing the

[17:32] anticipated competitiveness.

[17:36] If we were to retender uh targeting construction next spring,

[17:41] um administration

[17:43] doesn't expect significant or any meaningful savings, but it's ultimately

[17:49] uh can't be guaranteed. Construction pricing is influenced by

[17:52] many variables, uh including material, fuel costs, contract availability, and

[17:57] workload, broader market conditions, and perceived

[18:00] risk on the specific project. Several of these shift between when we

[18:05] prepare an estimate and when pricing's received.

[18:08] Generally speaking, we aim to estimate as close to the eventual tendered price

[18:12] as possible while still allowing for some unknowns, rather than trying to pad

[18:16] our estimates with excessive contingencies to guarantee the project

[18:20] always comes in under budget. Consistently over-allocating ties up

[18:24] funding needed elsewhere and misrepresents true project costs.

[18:29] Whereas coming in under budget on every project would signal systematic

[18:32] over-allocation, which is no more desirable than underestimating.

[18:36] So, for us, estimating the most likely outcome means individual projects land

[18:40] somewhat above or below the estimate, some high like this one has, while

[18:44] others will but across the capital program, we anticipate the variances to

[18:49] maintain us overall on target by being consistent with this strategy.

[18:54] Uh just some other considerations for council. We did correspond with Alberta

[18:59] Transportation regarding the option to defer this project to 2027 should

[19:04] council elect to not allocate additional budget at this time.

[19:09] Uh in which they were willing to let us do that.

[19:14] And then just a note, again, if if it is deferred and re-tendered, there is a

[19:18] possibility that pricing could come down. However, it very likely could also

[19:22] go up. It's essentially nothing that can be guaranteed.

[19:26] And just a, I guess, general point that I wanted to make as well. Um, I didn't

[19:30] have it in the report, but did some number crunching

[19:34] after writing this report and looking back at diesel prices, like over the

[19:39] average of 2025 compared to now, they're about 40 cents higher a liter, so

[19:45] uh, anticipated that that is part of the reason [snorts] that we're seeing higher

[19:49] pricing. Um, and again, it's not solely that we

[19:54] can indicate the only reason, but just playing a factor.

[19:58] Um, and then one other note I wanted to make in terms of workload capacity for

[20:02] the department, uh, it was or is in our current work plan for 2026, so

[20:08] it would be a more natural transition for us to proceed in that manner, but

[20:12] however, if council wants to shift to 2027, we can still

[20:16] uh, make amendments to to let that happen.

[20:20] So, essentially, we're seeking an additional $50,000 of off-site levies,

[20:25] which could be allocated um, from the 16th Avenue project. So, we're still

[20:31] working through the feds, uh, regarding the Build Canadian Strong Fund on that

[20:36] grants announcement we received for $1.8 million.

[20:40] So, once these details are uh, solidified in how much money is going to

[20:44] be allocated that project, we can come back to council with a more clear,

[20:48] uh, budgetary picture on that project and specifically how those funds can be

[20:53] reallocated to this project, as well as other projects. But, in speaking with

[20:57] our CFO, he was confident in saying that the balance of off-site levies could,

[21:03] uh, fund the shortfall. So, that leaves three options for

[21:07] council. Option one being allocate an additional $50,000

[21:12] towards the project to increase the budget from 470 to 520,000.

[21:17] Option two being defer the project and retender it for

[21:21] the 2027 construction season. Or that you table this item pending

[21:26] receipt of more information. And happy to answer any questions

[21:30] council may have.

[21:33] » Thank you. I'll open up to members of council. Counselor Reese.

[21:37] » Thank you, Mayor Van Ryn. Through to Dustin.

[21:40] As far as road and traffic safety, how critical is this investment for the line

[21:45] for the road to line of Cottonwood Road? >> So, this project was initially

[21:52] identified through a transportation impact assessment related to development

[21:58] in the area. So, piece number one being Cottonwood.

[22:02] So, that was part of the triggering ultimately what triggered it,

[22:06] which the province has made it a requirement for is the Canal Crossings

[22:11] development. So, it's a a level of service

[22:15] requirement from the province and then I guess more of a perceived safety

[22:19] benefit in terms of realigning the center line,

[22:23] but ultimately they look at it through the lens of we've reached a certain

[22:27] threshold of traffic volume. So, it has to be designed to their standard.

[22:33] » Thank you.

[22:38] » Counselor Pickering. >> Uh thank you, Mayor Van Ryn. Through to

[22:41] Dustin. Do you have any idea when they will

[22:43] start this project and how long it would take?

[22:48] » The So, the scheduling that they submitted in their tender documents was

[22:53] mid-August uh mid-September. So, we're looking at

[22:57] about 4 weeks total construction. Um obviously we'd have to kind of refine

[23:03] that now that we're a little bit past their tenders

[23:07] since when they submitted their bid documents. So, I would expect that we

[23:10] probably have to work through that with them, but we're looking at about a

[23:12] 4-week construction window. Um, and then we still have to confirm

[23:16] with the province on traffic accommodation plans and everything.

[23:19] » [snorts] >> Making sure there's no high loads. So,

[23:21] we'd have to work through with the province on exact phasing and timing of

[23:25] what that looks like. >> So, then when they close that, they'd be

[23:27] detouring everybody around up I guess over 23rd and then back down 17th for a

[23:33] bit. >> During the So, yeah, we still have to

[23:35] work through exactly what the phasing would look like, but there would be a

[23:39] period where we would anticipate traffic um, that would access 30th and through

[23:44] to be detoured around. Inevitably, it would have to all be closed for a period

[23:49] of time, but we're hoping we can phase parts of it. I think working and

[23:53] chatting with uh, with Volker on that as well, there is

[23:57] opportunities to lessen those impacts, but that's just

[24:02] additional flagging costs. So, we could alternate traffic to a

[24:06] larger extent. So, it's something that we plan to work through them with. So,

[24:10] try to kind of find a a good middle ground on mitigating that impact.

[24:15] » Well, the reason I'm asking is we don't want to have a quarterly with the Coal

[24:20] Doll Lateral on 17th when they decide to do that

[24:24] crossing like the crossing of the canal. So, you're going to have to make sure

[24:27] that one doesn't bump into the other. >> Yes, for sure.

[24:30] » is your only access in there. So, just that was one question I had.

[24:34] » Yeah, that's absolutely a good point.

[24:38] » Councillor Avery. >> Uh, thank you, Mayor. Uh, two questions,

[24:42] Dustin. The offsite levy money, would that be coming from the infill of uh,

[24:48] canal crossing?

[24:51] » Uh, it would come from, I guess, the larger pot of transportation levies. So,

[24:56] instead of saying it's specifically from that project, it would come from the

[25:00] larger pot of transportation levies. >> And then 16th, it was

[25:05] bid quite a bit below budget, correct? >> Correct, yeah.

[25:09] » Thank you.

[25:13] » Thank you. Any further questions, comments from council?

[25:17] Would any member of council care to sponsor one of those three options

[25:21] before you? Councillor Avery.

[25:25] » I'll thank you, Marles. I'll sponsor option one that council

[25:28] allocate an additional 50,000 towards Highway 845 and 30,000 intersection

[25:33] upgrade project to increase the allocated budget from 470 to 520.

[25:39] » Thank you. Any further discussion?

[25:42] Seeing none, I'll call for the vote.

[25:51] And that is carried. Thank you. Moving down to information items, we

[25:56] have meeting minutes from pause from May 12th, 2026.

[26:01] Any errors or omissions in those minutes or questions?

[26:06] Same for agenda item 12.2, the Citizens on Patrol meeting minutes from May 13th.

[26:14] 12.3, the Coal and Public Library meeting minutes from May 19th, 2026.

[26:22] 12.4, the Barons Eureka Warner FCSS meeting minutes from February 4th, 2026.

[26:31] Agenda item 12.5, the Barons Eureka Warner FCSS meeting minutes from March

[26:36] 4th. 12.6, again the FCSS meeting minutes

[26:41] from April 1st. And finally, 12.7, the Barons Eureka

[26:46] Warner FCSS meeting minutes from May 6th, 2026.

[26:52] Councillor Chapman has a question or comment?

[26:55] » Thank you, Mayor. Just a quick comment from FCSS. Uh

[26:59] Uh the board uh uh received the report from the

[27:03] University of Lethbridge uh Prentice Institute on uh

[27:07] on a uh study that they did, a 2-year study

[27:11] on homelessness in the region and uh encompass 16 municipalities. And so, um

[27:18] it is on their website. And of course, if you want to read 1,500 pages of the

[27:23] report, you're more than welcome to. But anyway, I just wanted to add that into

[27:27] into those just for information minutes. And I'll

[27:30] I'll move to all the minutes as as uh circulated.

[27:34] » Thank you. There's a motion on the floor by Councilor Chapman that Council

[27:37] receive items 12.1 to 12.7 for informational. Call for the vote.

[27:48] And that is carried. Thank you.

[27:52] That concludes the open portion of this afternoon's meeting. I will require a

[27:57] motion at uh 5:28 p.m. that Council move into

[28:03] closed session in accordance with section 197-4-B

[28:07] of the Municipal Government Act to discuss matters exempt from disclosure

[28:12] for items 13.1 and 13.2

[28:16] subject to section 29 advice from officials

[28:20] item 13.1 subject to section 21 disclosure harmful to individual or

[28:26] public safety and finally

[28:29] item 13.2 subject to section 28 local public body confidences. Who cares to

[28:36] make that motion? Councilor Deputy Mayor Beekman

[28:40] I'll call for the vote.

[28:49] » And that is carried. We'll take a 5-minute break.

Regular Council Meeting - 29 Jun 2026

Transcript