Good afternoon and welcome to our regular council meeting for Monday, June
29th, 2026. I will call the meeting to order at 5:00
p.m. First item on the agenda, agenda item
1.1, land acknowledgement. The town of Coaldale acknowledges that we are
gathered on the lands of the Blackfoot peoples of the Canadian plains and pays
respect to the Blackfoot peoples past, present, and future while recognizing
their cultural heritage, beliefs, and relationship to the land.
The town of Coaldale is also home to Métis District 1, Foothills.
Agenda item 1.2, conflict of interest declaration, pecuniary and
non-pecuniary. Are there any in the room this afternoon?
None declared, thank you. Moving on to agenda item 2.1, acceptance
of the agenda for June 29th, 2026. Are there any additions or deletions to the
agenda?
Councillor Avery. >> Uh thank you, Mayor. I'm just uh
wondering about the letter that I sent out on June 16th that I asked to be
part of our agenda package. If that was going to be discussed tonight or next
week at Committee of the Whole.
» That would be a question for our CAO. And but uh
we can discuss it in closed session.
Seeing no other additions or deletions from the agenda, can I get someone to
make a motion that council adopt the regular council meeting agenda for June
29th, 2026 as presented. Councillor Reese.
I'll call for the vote.
» And that is carried. Thank you. Moving on to agenda item 4.1, delegation
by appointment. This afternoon we have staff sergeant Malcolm Callahoo
in attendance. He is going to be presenting on the quarter four
statistics. Staff sergeant, whenever you're ready,
the floor is yours. >> Thank you, Mayor and councilors. It's a
pleasure to see you all once again. And I'll just start.
There's been a package that's been sent to all of you. It was sent in May.
Basically, it just covers some of the new news that's happening
divisionally as well as in the town. This one in particular, I think one of
the things that we probably should discuss is the new issuance of
a new pet duty pistol that's coming out. That's the Glock 45 MOS 7 duty pistol.
This has been part of a long process to get to this point. There is going to be
planning that's going to be happening and training that's going to be
happening this year and that for the next 3 years throughout the division.
I'm not exactly sure when our members are going to be trained yet, but it is a
it is a necessary upgrade. The reason why is because the duty
pistols that we currently have, while they still work, they don't have any
parts anymore for them because they're obsolete. So, the fact is is that moving
on to one that does have product supports as well as new technology
associated to it is always a good thing. So,
just to kind of give you guys a bit of a heads up that that is coming.
So, moving on, going to the municipal police report.
With regards to the community priorities, and again, this report
covers Q4, which is January of 2026 to March of 2026. So,
uh on the priorities of traffic safety on the
27th of January of 2026, there was a traffic services check stop that was
conducted in Coaldale from uh 8:00 p.m. until
10:00 p.m. There was one IRS fail and one caution charge. So, members are
working with the integrated traffic unit in order to enhance public safety and a
renewed focus on traffic enforcement will be part of this upcoming strategy
for the upcoming reporting period. With regards to our police and community
relations, uh the patrol logs indicate a higher level of police engagement and
proactive patrolling, which lends well to the visibility and presence in the
community. And then in priority three, which is
intelligence-led policing, members continue to attend interagency meetings
as well as share intelligence with our policing partners such as Lethbridge
Police Service. A more specific focus will be conducted
in the upcoming year, which we are currently in right now. So,
moving on to our community consultations,
um there's uh about five of them that are on this one. Uh January 6th, there
was class presentation at the Coaldale High School at the uh career and life
management class on drug abuse, and that was Constable Garas that attended that.
Uh January 12th, there was a Q2 presentation, basically basically what
I'm doing right now, but sitting down for the quarter two results.
Uh January 26th, was coffee with a cop, and there was four members from the
Coaldale/Picture Butte detachment that attended to field questions and engage
with citizens. And there was also
Operation Cold Start, which happened on February 1st of 2026, and there was
handing out the flyers and public interaction with to prevent
vehicle thefts. Um this is always a concern during the winter
uh with vehicles left running and then being unlocked and of course being taken
by our not so not so
law-abiding people. And then
there's also a provincial hockey tournament on March 26th that was
attended in order to keep the peace. So those are the
community community connections that were happened
for that reporting period. Moving on to our crime statistics,
there's a few things that I just like to highlight.
One of those being is on the persons category, we had something of about
probably about a 5% increase in our assaults. When I looked into it, of
those 17 incidents, about five went to charge.
Three were domestic-related and the rest were either insufficient evidence or
unfounded. Now normally insufficient evidence would mean that
they tend to not have the information that we can develop in order to go into
a charge. >> So do you have any slides to go along
with your >> I did send a package.
» Just for our >> No no problem.
» viewers at home. >> Yeah, no problem at all. So those are
the community priorities that I just presented already.
Um and then moving on to the next pages.
Yeah, and if I already had those all presented.
And that is well. And now we're on to our There we go.
That's where I'm at right now. So again, looking at the assault charges 2022, we
had 17 incidents and then went down to five in 2023,
10 in 2024, 12 in 2025 and then 17 in this coming this year now. So
just to explain those numbers again, we're looking at
of those 17, like I said, the five went to charge.
Three of those were domestic-related that went to charge. The the rest again
were insufficient evidence or unfounded. So,
the other one I wanted to point out was with regards to our fraud charges, which
are down there uh 10 incidents within that particular quarter.
Uh the commonality that we're seeing on
this one is uh and I looked into it a little bit harder
uh Facebook transactions. So, where people are agreeing to buy a product of
some sort, and then they forward money to someone, but then the product
obviously isn't there, and then they're defrauded that way.
Or the other one that we're seeing a lot of is false representation of a certain
company or a bank where uh they're defrauded out of money and
send money to a email address or something of that nature. So,
um in order to help with this, and this seems to touch on our elderly somewhat,
we do also have a uh we have a talk that we're setting up at the at the at the
lodge here in town in order to uh help get some preventive measures in place.
That's how come we're getting into these next quarters, of course, not this one,
but just something that uh was asked of us to do to help out where we can. So,
um moving on to the next page.
Okay. One thing I did want to touch on was I
noticed that we had a drug drug enforcement trafficking. So, when I took
a look at that investigation, uh that one there, we were trying to
develop information on a on a drug-related house. Unfortunately,
before we could get enough information to proceed to warrant, they left the
area. So, unfortunately, that one there was kind of a non-starter for us.
Uh the only thing I wanted to touch on real briefly is our diminishing traffic
that we've seen throughout. And that had a lot to do with that the time our
resourcing, but um we are having a renewed focus on our
traffic enforcement. And as I've heard from several counselors already, they've
noticed a an increase already in our presence within the community, so that's
good news to hear. And uh with that, uh that's the end of
my presentation. I'm certainly open to any questions you may have.
» Thank you. I'll open up to members of the council. Questions, comments?
Got Deputy Mayor Beekman and then Councillor Chapman.
» Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Staff Sergeant, for your presentation. Uh
going back to your uh talk about fraud specifically, like marketplace
transactions, um do we have a spot at the local
detachment that's like a safe exchange site, like the Lethbridge City Police
have set up in front of their detachment?
» I don't know if we have a formal one, but that's actually not a bad idea if
that's the case. So, yeah, we could look into getting something like that set up
as well. Yeah. >> Awesome. Thank you.
» Yeah. Let me just write that down here.
» Councillor Chapman.
» Okay, thank you, Mayor, and uh through to Staff Sergeant Callaghan. Thank you
so much again uh for coming tonight, and uh several
questions if I may, Mayor. Um your you in your report here, um
I'm just wanting to ensure that these uh this data and this these um
these report numbers, they're would be internally in Coaldale, would they be,
or would they be just including the county area?
» No, um these these numbers here are specifically for Coaldale.
» Okay, very good. Thank you. Which leads me to my next question. Uh
municipal bylaws and traffic and municipal bylaws overall, are they
uh are these re- uh is this data initiated by the RCMP itself, or would
they be um uh
data that's uh handed down from say our community peace
officers? >> Uh no, these are exclusively ours. Um so
basically, if there's a call for service that
results in a contact that's either a municipal bylaw or something of that
nature, that's how it's recorded on our system. The ones that come from the town
separately are separate stats. >> Very good, thank you.
My final question to you, um body worn cameras, are you now
all of your your membership or your uh
your your constables all now wearing body worn cameras?
» Yes, and uh to touch on that briefly, um
there was a rollout of of cameras for all of the all of the membership any on
general duty. So I'm actually wearing one right now. I'm just seated right
now, so you can't really see it. Well, if I back up a little bit there, you can
see it. So it's that green flashing thing.
Um so basically, that's uh that is an amazing tool.
So it's
it helps sort out a lot of things for us. So say as an example, we get a
concern about uh about a an officer's behavior.
So what I can do is I can pull that video and I can take a look and I can
see if there's any issues there. Or it can also come down to whether or
not um there's some sort of evidentiary value
that we need to pull. It's It's an extremely valuable tool and uh I'm a big
believer in it. >> Okay, great. Thank you. And
did you want to speak to uh speeding on Highway 3 at all? Is that something that
you wanted to bring that one up uh regarding
the amount of the amount of speeding that's taking place now that we don't
have photo radar anymore. I think we're we're using this creep method where
we're kind of building our speed through through the community. So is this
something that you would probably look at enforcing or
kind of focusing on for the next while? >> Yeah, we could. Um
one of the things that I had brought up at our policing committee was the was
the usage of our Alberta Traffic Safety calendar that we have. Uh
and again, not to say we don't look focus on all traffic safety, but there's
priorities that we look at. So, in July upcoming, it's going to be impaired
driving as a as a as a as a focus, right? So, the thing at this point is
that certainly I can bring this to my own operations and and say that this is
something that we'd like to see focused on. And then from there, we'll probably
see some increase on that as well. >> I Thank you. Thank you, Mayor.
» Thank you. Any further questions, comments?
And if I could just I've mentioned this before, if you would be able to share
this with Citizens on Patrol, too, when they have their monthly meeting. And
they'd be very interested in seeing that.
» These stats here? >> Yes. What whatever everything that's
public. >> Okay. Yeah, absolutely.
» Thank you. Thank you for your presentation, Staff
Sergeant. Could I get someone to make a motion that Council receive the RCMP
Quarter 4 Statistics Report as information. Councilor Pickering makes
that motion. I'll call for the vote.
And that is carried. And we just have to back up to agenda
item 2.1. I was so excited for the Staff Sergeant being here,
I didn't bring up the um the minutes from our June 8th, 2026
meeting. Was there any errors or omissions in those meeting meeting
minutes? Seeing none, would someone care to
entertain making a motion that Council approve the June 8th, 2026 regular
Council meeting minutes as presented. Councilor Sailor makes that motion. I'll
call for the vote.
And that is carried. Thank you. Moving on to
new business, agenda item 8.1. This afternoon, we have
our director of infrastructure, Dustin Yankee, presenting on the Highway 845
and 30th Avenue intersection upgrades. Dustin, whenever you're ready.
» Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm here to present
Highway 845 30th Avenue request for quotation results.
I'll read through my report and happy to answer any questions at the end.
So, following Alberta Transportation's approval
on our design, we posted a procurement package on APC
from May 12th to June 4th. We received one submission from Volker Stevin,
uh formerly McNally Contractors, accounting for their submitted price and
some minimal associated costs. Uh we're estimating the project budget to be
$520,000, which would leave a funding shortfall of
$50,000 against the $470,000
currently allocated that was approved as part of
uh budget deliberations in the fall.
Uh there's some points I want to touch on.
For a project like this, uh being that specialized intersection work along a
provincial highway, it wasn't a a large surprise for us the
lack of contractor interest. Volker Stevin is the preferred contractor for
this type of work, since they do have the maintenance contracts with the
province. And it's anticipated that, given their
crew types and ability to have resources for uh flagging, etc., that they would
be a competitive proponent. Discussions with Volker following their
submission, they advised us that they did reach out to other local contractors
to team up on the project. So, let's assume that much of the available local
capacity is reflected in the pricing. Uh as well as there was
some additional interest through the tendering process, increasing the
anticipated competitiveness.
If we were to retender uh targeting construction next spring,
um administration
doesn't expect significant or any meaningful savings, but it's ultimately
uh can't be guaranteed. Construction pricing is influenced by
many variables, uh including material, fuel costs, contract availability, and
workload, broader market conditions, and perceived
risk on the specific project. Several of these shift between when we
prepare an estimate and when pricing's received.
Generally speaking, we aim to estimate as close to the eventual tendered price
as possible while still allowing for some unknowns, rather than trying to pad
our estimates with excessive contingencies to guarantee the project
always comes in under budget. Consistently over-allocating ties up
funding needed elsewhere and misrepresents true project costs.
Whereas coming in under budget on every project would signal systematic
over-allocation, which is no more desirable than underestimating.
So, for us, estimating the most likely outcome means individual projects land
somewhat above or below the estimate, some high like this one has, while
others will but across the capital program, we anticipate the variances to
maintain us overall on target by being consistent with this strategy.
Uh just some other considerations for council. We did correspond with Alberta
Transportation regarding the option to defer this project to 2027 should
council elect to not allocate additional budget at this time.
Uh in which they were willing to let us do that.
And then just a note, again, if if it is deferred and re-tendered, there is a
possibility that pricing could come down. However, it very likely could also
go up. It's essentially nothing that can be guaranteed.
And just a, I guess, general point that I wanted to make as well. Um, I didn't
have it in the report, but did some number crunching
after writing this report and looking back at diesel prices, like over the
average of 2025 compared to now, they're about 40 cents higher a liter, so
uh, anticipated that that is part of the reason [snorts] that we're seeing higher
pricing. Um, and again, it's not solely that we
can indicate the only reason, but just playing a factor.
Um, and then one other note I wanted to make in terms of workload capacity for
the department, uh, it was or is in our current work plan for 2026, so
it would be a more natural transition for us to proceed in that manner, but
however, if council wants to shift to 2027, we can still
uh, make amendments to to let that happen.
So, essentially, we're seeking an additional $50,000 of off-site levies,
which could be allocated um, from the 16th Avenue project. So, we're still
working through the feds, uh, regarding the Build Canadian Strong Fund on that
grants announcement we received for $1.8 million.
So, once these details are uh, solidified in how much money is going to
be allocated that project, we can come back to council with a more clear,
uh, budgetary picture on that project and specifically how those funds can be
reallocated to this project, as well as other projects. But, in speaking with
our CFO, he was confident in saying that the balance of off-site levies could,
uh, fund the shortfall. So, that leaves three options for
council. Option one being allocate an additional $50,000
towards the project to increase the budget from 470 to 520,000.
Option two being defer the project and retender it for
the 2027 construction season. Or that you table this item pending
receipt of more information. And happy to answer any questions
council may have.
» Thank you. I'll open up to members of council. Counselor Reese.
» Thank you, Mayor Van Ryn. Through to Dustin.
As far as road and traffic safety, how critical is this investment for the line
for the road to line of Cottonwood Road? >> So, this project was initially
identified through a transportation impact assessment related to development
in the area. So, piece number one being Cottonwood.
So, that was part of the triggering ultimately what triggered it,
which the province has made it a requirement for is the Canal Crossings
development. So, it's a a level of service
requirement from the province and then I guess more of a perceived safety
benefit in terms of realigning the center line,
but ultimately they look at it through the lens of we've reached a certain
threshold of traffic volume. So, it has to be designed to their standard.
» Thank you.
» Counselor Pickering. >> Uh thank you, Mayor Van Ryn. Through to
Dustin. Do you have any idea when they will
start this project and how long it would take?
» The So, the scheduling that they submitted in their tender documents was
mid-August uh mid-September. So, we're looking at
about 4 weeks total construction. Um obviously we'd have to kind of refine
that now that we're a little bit past their tenders
since when they submitted their bid documents. So, I would expect that we
probably have to work through that with them, but we're looking at about a
4-week construction window. Um, and then we still have to confirm
with the province on traffic accommodation plans and everything.
» [snorts] >> Making sure there's no high loads. So,
we'd have to work through with the province on exact phasing and timing of
what that looks like. >> So, then when they close that, they'd be
detouring everybody around up I guess over 23rd and then back down 17th for a
bit. >> During the So, yeah, we still have to
work through exactly what the phasing would look like, but there would be a
period where we would anticipate traffic um, that would access 30th and through
to be detoured around. Inevitably, it would have to all be closed for a period
of time, but we're hoping we can phase parts of it. I think working and
chatting with uh, with Volker on that as well, there is
opportunities to lessen those impacts, but that's just
additional flagging costs. So, we could alternate traffic to a
larger extent. So, it's something that we plan to work through them with. So,
try to kind of find a a good middle ground on mitigating that impact.
» Well, the reason I'm asking is we don't want to have a quarterly with the Coal
Doll Lateral on 17th when they decide to do that
crossing like the crossing of the canal. So, you're going to have to make sure
that one doesn't bump into the other. >> Yes, for sure.
» is your only access in there. So, just that was one question I had.
» Yeah, that's absolutely a good point.
» Councillor Avery. >> Uh, thank you, Mayor. Uh, two questions,
Dustin. The offsite levy money, would that be coming from the infill of uh,
canal crossing?
» Uh, it would come from, I guess, the larger pot of transportation levies. So,
instead of saying it's specifically from that project, it would come from the
larger pot of transportation levies. >> And then 16th, it was
bid quite a bit below budget, correct? >> Correct, yeah.
» Thank you.
» Thank you. Any further questions, comments from council?
Would any member of council care to sponsor one of those three options
before you? Councillor Avery.
» I'll thank you, Marles. I'll sponsor option one that council
allocate an additional 50,000 towards Highway 845 and 30,000 intersection
upgrade project to increase the allocated budget from 470 to 520.
» Thank you. Any further discussion?
Seeing none, I'll call for the vote.
And that is carried. Thank you. Moving down to information items, we
have meeting minutes from pause from May 12th, 2026.
Any errors or omissions in those minutes or questions?
Same for agenda item 12.2, the Citizens on Patrol meeting minutes from May 13th.
12.3, the Coal and Public Library meeting minutes from May 19th, 2026.
12.4, the Barons Eureka Warner FCSS meeting minutes from February 4th, 2026.
Agenda item 12.5, the Barons Eureka Warner FCSS meeting minutes from March
4th. 12.6, again the FCSS meeting minutes
from April 1st. And finally, 12.7, the Barons Eureka
Warner FCSS meeting minutes from May 6th, 2026.
Councillor Chapman has a question or comment?
» Thank you, Mayor. Just a quick comment from FCSS. Uh
Uh the board uh uh received the report from the
University of Lethbridge uh Prentice Institute on uh
on a uh study that they did, a 2-year study
on homelessness in the region and uh encompass 16 municipalities. And so, um
it is on their website. And of course, if you want to read 1,500 pages of the
report, you're more than welcome to. But anyway, I just wanted to add that into
into those just for information minutes. And I'll
I'll move to all the minutes as as uh circulated.
» Thank you. There's a motion on the floor by Councilor Chapman that Council
receive items 12.1 to 12.7 for informational. Call for the vote.
And that is carried. Thank you.
That concludes the open portion of this afternoon's meeting. I will require a
motion at uh 5:28 p.m. that Council move into
closed session in accordance with section 197-4-B
of the Municipal Government Act to discuss matters exempt from disclosure
for items 13.1 and 13.2
subject to section 29 advice from officials
item 13.1 subject to section 21 disclosure harmful to individual or
public safety and finally
item 13.2 subject to section 28 local public body confidences. Who cares to
make that motion? Councilor Deputy Mayor Beekman
I'll call for the vote.
» And that is carried. We'll take a 5-minute break.