[0:12] Good evening. I'd like to call the
second regular meeting of council of the
[0:15] town of Mapa Creek to order at 6:31 p.m.
Present is Mayor Michelle McKenzie,
[0:21] counselors Abbott, Beretta, Barkman,
Chlora, and
[0:25] Wartz. Absent is councelor Creswell.
Staff present is CEO Barry Elliot and
[0:31] executive assistant Danielle
[0:40] Willie. Can I have a motion that council
hereby approves the agenda of the second
[0:44] regular meeting of council of the town
of Maple Creek held on January
[0:48] 2nd, 2025 as amended to include items
number 15.8 suma proposed
[0:55] resolution. Thank you councelor Abbott.
Second, council Betta. All in favor?
[1:02] Carried. We have the strategic map. Is
anything coming from any of the
[1:10] updates? Does anybody Go ahead, Council
Clara. I'm just wondering what it
[1:18] Go ahead, Madam Mayor. In actual fact,
there was nothing updated from the last
[1:22] one. I'm just trying to keep the current
information as current as I can.
[1:28] Okay. Okay. Anybody declaring a conflict
of
[1:33] interest. So it takes us to
[1:42] 6.1. Can I have a motion that council
hereby approves the minutes from the
[1:46] first regular meeting of council held on
January 8th, 2025 as presented? Thank
[1:50] you, councelor Burkeman. Seconder,
Councelor Wartz. All in favor?
[1:56] carried. So we have no proclamations,
presentation, delegations takes us down
[2:02] to number 10, communications for
information only takes us down to
[2:09] 10.1. The CPKC Transport Canada
Protection direction. Does anybody have
[2:14] any conversation or anything on that? Go
ahead, Council Barkman. I I just wanted
[2:19] to and I know that this was in a while
back that we actually had a I'm not sure
[2:23] if it was CPKC at that time, but we had
a a representative here from them that
[2:28] was actually was very very helpful in
explaining a lot of things. And I know
[2:31] we had talked about possibly having
somebody come to um inform the public
[2:37] about some things so that they would
know more about like even we've been
[2:40] talking about the train whistle to
actually have them give some some things
[2:44] as to how they see it and how that would
actually work. So I I don't know whether
[2:48] that's something we because I think it
would be beneficial for them to to
[2:51] actually hear from them as opposed to
from us to what the regulations actually
[2:56] are with trains coming through town
because I I have I have residents asking
[2:59] me all the time about okay what's you
know how how come they're doing this and
[3:02] that and I think it would be beneficial
it would be educational for them if we
[3:06] did because I know we did talk about
possibly bringing somebody in from
[3:09] there. So great. So, um, do you want him
as a de delegation at a council meeting
[3:15] or do you think because, you know, we
usually have a town hall meeting and I'm
[3:19] hoping we're moving forward with that
after we we do the budget and do is that
[3:24] something that we have them come as a
speaker during the presentation when we
[3:29] delivered the budget or the town hall
meeting? I I think that would probably
[3:33] be because I think it would be better to
do that as far as because I think
[3:36] there'd be interest out there for that
if they knew that we've got a
[3:38] representative here to have it at a town
hall meeting. I think would be very
[3:41] beneficial. Great. Thank you, Council
Betta. Will that the meeting you're
[3:47] the meeting that you're talking about,
will that be live streamed? No, it's
[3:51] usually at the Armories and we hope it's
kind of like an open house. Everybody
[3:55] comes and Yeah. I'm just wondering if
more people would view these meeting,
[3:59] the council meetings rather than come in
person,
[4:02] have somebody come speak here. There's
quite a few people that watch this.
[4:06] There is. Yes. Go ahead, councelor Kora.
Um, is this something that we requested
[4:13] of them for information or do they
provide it regularly or semi-regularly?
[4:19] Thank you, Madame Mayor. They do provide
it on an annual basis. It's up to the
[4:23] emergency
uh coordinator whe whether it gets
[4:27] released or not. And of course, as a
council's made it very clear, you want
[4:31] to be as as informative to the public as
you can. So, thus it's included on your
[4:36] agenda.
Any other conversation? uh thoughts
[4:40] about in person or live streamed?
Go ahead, councelor Abbott. I I like the
[4:47] idea of a of a town hall and I think if
we were to compile it as um perhaps a
[4:53] safety town hall where we have them,
we've been we've talked about doing
[4:57] stuff with the RCMP, maybe have someone
from EMS um and and doing something
[5:02] that's that's going to u
I guess catch a few more people's
[5:07] attention. Okay. Um it would be nice to
focus it that way. Okay. Perfect. All
[5:13] right. Any other
conversation?
[5:17] Okay. Seeing
none takes us to 10.2. Can I have a
[5:23] motion that council that the
communications recorded as items number
[5:28] 10.1 be filed and received. Thank you
councelor Barkman. Second by council
[5:33] kora. All in favor? Carried.
takes us down to uh 11.1, payments of
[5:41] accounts. Can I have a motion that
council hereby approves the payments of
[5:44] totaling
$2,196.34 cents for checks numbers 1968
[5:50] to 1973 as listed on schedule A,
[5:55] $17,56545 for checks numbers 1974 to
1976 as listed on schedule B,
[6:03] $291,585.60 60 cents for checks numbers
1977 to 20ou 206 as listed on schedule C
[6:11] attached to informing part of these
minutes. Thank you council seconder.
[6:15] Thank you council words. Does anybody
have any questions within their
[6:19] accounts? Go ahead council parkman. just
was was looking at the um again I've
[6:24] been looking at the power bill at some
of the lagoon there and the blower
[6:28] building and it's actually is is up a
little this month and and the amount is
[6:32] for this I mean it's been since December
till now the month and it was
[6:38] $4,766 and so I just did a I mean a
rough calculation of that if that's what
[6:42] it is every month you know we're looking
at just the blower building itself for
[6:47] power is
$57,000 So I mean 57,000 a month. No,
[6:53] for the whole year. Oh, okay. And does
that include the the PST, GST, and the
[6:58] carbon tax? No, it didn't include that.
Okay.
[7:01] Go ahead, Councelor Betta. Um, I just
didn't understand what
[7:07] the why there's a customer service.
[7:18] Madam Mayor, I will I will have to take
a look at that one. I I know that uh um
[7:23] I've seen these in the past when we've
requested that they uh they get a survey
[7:27] done as as part of a either a
reasonzoning or a property purchase or
[7:31] the like, but I don't know the specifics
on this one. I'll have to find it. I'll
[7:35] I'll report back. Thank you. And
councelor Burkman, I know we've we've
[7:38] been discussing this for a matter of a
couple years of the power at the lagoon
[7:44] and I really really would really like
administration to have some um do some
[7:49] investigation on what we can do with
solar or something else to to bring that
[7:53] down because we did ask for that too.
Yeah. Yeah.
[7:59] Okay. Go ahead, councelor Abbott. I just
have my It's a small report on the uh
[8:05] the carbon tax is just $73.38.
Not bad. Go ahead, pass Cora. Um forgive
[8:12] my ignorance. I'm just wondering
Sorry. I'm wondering what is a blower
[8:17] building? So when you go out No. So when
you go out, so our new um Sager system
[8:23] is a three-part system at our lagoon. So
we have one, two, and three, which the
[8:27] sacred system once it goes through all
the filtration and comes out, you should
[8:30] be able to drink that water from our leg
system. Yes, that's how it's supposed to
[8:36] be able to clean and you should be able
to drink it. So the the building is what
[8:39] contains all the mechanical and
everything else that needs the power to
[8:43] run those three cells. Actually, there's
four cuz there's the dirty one, one,
[8:48] two, and three in the sager that comes
and discharges into the creek. And we
[8:51] had to actually to be compliant because
in the past you used to be able to take
[8:58] an average of 12 months to be compliant
and for the ministry they changed that
[9:02] to be compliant a month. So of course we
were over our our recommended numbers to
[9:08] be compliant. So then that's why we had
to look at having a new upgraded to our
[9:13] lagoon system and so we then went into
the segre system. So again, lots of
[9:18] lessons learned with the Segre system
because the unexpected cost of the power
[9:23] wasn't calculated into that, right? It's
more efficient. We're able to discharge
[9:27] into the creek because we continuously
discharge. However, we have some
[9:33] additional costes that that is quite
high as $57,000 for the year. So the
[9:38] building is Yes. to be able to run
it. Yeah. Go ahead, Council Abbit.
[9:46] So is is it possible um and perhaps
administration can help us with that to
[9:52] to talk to someone another municipality
that has the same system to see what
[9:56] their bills are to see if ours are in
line with that and and if not then maybe
[10:01] there's something else somewhere else to
look
[10:04] absolutely anything else I'll go ahead
council words I was just going to ask
[10:09] maybe there's something like one of
those inline heaters or anything like
[10:13] that boosting the cost of hour during
the winter or no it's again maybe
[10:18] something to look into. It it is there's
there's numerous things that can be
[10:23] looked at. So that's why we're given
direction to because this is this has
[10:28] been concerning for the last two years
actually. Yeah. So okay. Anything else?
[10:34] All in favor?
[10:37] Carried. Okay. 11.2. Can I have a motion
that council hereby accepts the bank
[10:43] reconciliation and the statement of
financial activity for the month of
[10:46] December 2024 as
presented? Thank you, Council Barkman.
[10:50] Seconder. Thank you, Council Warts. Does
anybody have any
[10:57] questions? Seeing none, all in favor?
Carried. Okay. Takes us down to number
[11:05] 12. 12.1. Can I have a motion that
council hereby accepts the report of the
[11:10] chief administrative officer date of
January 22nd, 2025 as
[11:14] presented? Thank you, Council Beretta.
Seconder. Thank you, Council Klora. Uh
[11:19] would you like to speak on your report?
[11:23] Thank you, Madame Mayor.
[11:28] I um I won't expand on what I've written
unless there's any questions of council
[11:32] on that. But I do have a few uh a few
updates for council's uh information for
[11:36] the community's information. Uh firstly,
I just wanted to inform everyone that
[11:41] the swimming pool supervisor position
posting closes on Friday of this week at
[11:47] 4:00. Uh thus far we only have one
application that we've received. So I'm
[11:54] hopeful that we'll see more activity
between now and then. And I would note
[11:58] that if in fact uh the posting closes
and we are not successful in
[12:05] attracting suitable applicants, I will
be moving ahead then at the earliest
[12:10] opportunity intending next week on the
posting of a contract position for the
[12:16] uh for the role. And I'll I'll I'm also
going to reach out to some of our local
[12:21] resources
uh regarding any any potential staffing
[12:25] options they may be aware of that I am
not presently aware of. So I'll be
[12:30] looking to do that. Uh tomorrow Jillian
and I are meeting with core geomatics to
[12:35] discuss the contents of the draft zoning
bylaw. I know that uh there's been
[12:39] conversations about that. We want to
fine-tune it a bit before it's presented
[12:43] to
council. On Tuesday, January 28th at 6
[12:49] o'clock, there will be a special council
meeting held to begin the budget
[12:53] process. So, uh the public notice on
that meeting has has now been uh been
[12:57] released and so the people will have
information on that. And I'm a little
[13:02] ahead of the game on this last item, but
I just wanted to note that uh we have
[13:05] also booked on the 2nd of April, the uh
Saskatchewan Common Ground Alliance has
[13:11] booked a free digafe breakfast at the
Armory. It is intended for contractors
[13:18] and uh vendors, people that are involved
in the construction industry, in the
[13:22] digging industry essentially. The last
time this event was held in in Maple
[13:27] Creek was in 2019. And just a bit little
bit of information about the
[13:31] organization. They bring together
resources
[13:34] uh that uh that uh are all relevant to
this industry. It's a nonprofit
[13:39] organization. It's dedicated to
promoting uh safety and uh effective uh
[13:44] prevention practices in in anything
excavation related. So the town of
[13:49] course has uh we are doing that on an
ongoing basis. So we are active
[13:54] participants with that association and
they also maintain a very close assoc
[13:58] association with Sask first call. So
we're looking forward to seeing them
[14:01] back in town. Madame Mayor, thank you.
Any questions on the report? Go ahead,
[14:05] Council Sparkman. Just u in regards to
the pool and I know we had talked about
[14:09] this a while back, but I I think we had
heard that Adrian did have some kind of
[14:14] a time lapse video of something of when
it had started. And I'm I'm wondering I
[14:20] guess I'm just trying to think of of
getting people actually excited about
[14:24] where we're at and as far as where we've
been where we've come from like as far
[14:27] as when it started to the digging to
actually where we are now because I
[14:30] think if I remember correctly somebody
said he did have a time lapse of that.
[14:34] So I'm wondering if that'd be something
that we could post on our on media for
[14:38] people to be able to view that because I
think that would be might might people
[14:42] get more excited about it even to say
hey we want to be part of that. Madam
[14:46] Mayor, I absolutely I can reach out to
uh to Blue Hills Construction and uh see
[14:51] what they can provide. I understand that
they're continuing to do this and they
[14:54] will into the spring when the uh
Paradise Pools is back to complete the
[14:58] work. We'll see even more. But to this
point in time, it's it's really an
[15:02] interesting interesting uh uh little
video. So, uh I'll have that
[15:07] conversation with Adrian.
Perfect. Any other questions? All in
[15:11] favor? Carried.
Okay, takes us down to 13.1 or 13 is
[15:20] committee reports. 13.1 is the Maple
Creek Community Fire Department
[15:24] committee meeting minutes. Anybody have
any questions or concerns with
[15:32] that? So then again is
13.2. This is the safety and
[15:38] government's committee minutes.
And did I I don't have a resolution for
[15:45] that.
You don't need one, madam. That's been
[15:48] approved by the committee. It's just
here for the public's information. Okay.
[15:52] Does anybody have anything coming out of
those governance and safety committee
[15:56] media?
So then it takes us down. No unfinished
[16:00] business takes us down to new business.
So 15.1. Can I have a motion that
[16:05] council hereby authorizes the renewal of
a three-year commitment with a donation
[16:09] of $500 per year from 2025 to 2027 to
the Great Plains College Entrance
[16:14] Scholarship Fund as recommended in a
report dated January 16th, 2025 by
[16:19] Carrie Shabbo, deputy CEO. Thank you,
Council Barkman. Second, Council Warts.
[16:23] Any conversation? Go ahead, Council
Sparkman. I I can't say enough about
[16:27] Great Plains College and that we have
that that opportunity here. I mean, I
[16:31] know numerous students that are actually
going there and what they have saved,
[16:35] even having gone somewhere else as far
as money-wise for being able to do it
[16:39] here locally and live at home. Um, I I
think this is it is just so worthwhile
[16:44] for us to have this in the community.
Like I said, I I I really appreciate
[16:48] what they do there. Great Plains.
Perfect. Thank you, Cons. Um, I was just
[16:52] wondering like with prices going up
everywhere, is 500 a year substantial or
[16:57] would 600 a year be better or I just
figured I'd bring that to the table.
[17:03] Absolutely. It's it's a good
conversation. I know that um this this
[17:08] money here that we provide is matching
grants. So, $1,000 and it stays within
[17:14] our community. So, anybody of our
students that are taking any anything
[17:19] through Great Plains College is able to
um access this scholarship. So, it's a
[17:26] good point. Does anybody want to change
the price from 500 to six or where
[17:31] you're thinking?
Go ahead, Council Abbott. I was thinking
[17:36] along the same lines and I'm wondering
it says it's um renew three-year
[17:41] commitment and so it's $500 a year. Mhm.
And so how long has it been $500 a year?
[17:46] It's been $500 a year since before I
came the mayor. It's time to increase
[17:51] it. Okay.
Go ahead. Madame Mayor, uh if the mover
[17:56] and secondary would like that as a
friendly amendment.
[17:59] Okay.
Okay. We're good for 600.
[18:04] All in favor?
[18:12] Carried. Okay. Can I have a motion that
council hereby approves the request for
[18:17] an extension of time to complete the
exterior finishes on the dwelling
[18:20] located at 44 Murraydale Crescent until
May 31st, 2025 as recommended by the
[18:26] governance and safety committee from its
meeting held on January 16th, 2025.
[18:31] Thank you, councelor Abbott. Second,
council chlora. Any
[18:35] conversation? All in favor?
Carried. Okay.
[18:42] 15.3. Can I have a motion that council
hereby agrees to wave the armory rental
[18:46] fee of $250 for the 2025 digsafe
breakfast, which is scheduled to be held
[18:51] on April 2nd, 2025, as requested by the
Saskatchewan Common Ground Alliance in
[18:56] its correspondence of January 16, 2025.
[19:01] Thank you, Council Warts.
Seconder. Thank you, Council Burkeman.
[19:05] Any conversation? Go ahead, Council
Abbott.
[19:09] I uh I've been to these before,
obviously, for a while. I And they were
[19:14] at the Legion, and the only thing I
would raise is are we are we taking
[19:19] something away from the Legion? I know.
I like I just I don't know how it's came
[19:24] to be a request for us. Um and I just I
don't want to see us as competing.
[19:30] revenue with them because I know all the
years I went it was at the Legion. Yes.
[19:35] Um do you know if there is a booking
that is conflict of that because usually
[19:39] they do do that. Yeah. Madame Mayor I
don't know the history of their their
[19:44] efforts to get one. I can certainly
reach out to them and inquire about why
[19:48] they've chosen the armory. Okay. I'll
make a point of doing that.
[19:53] Would you like to table this? Yes,
please.
[19:58] Okay.
[20:05] Okay, moving on to 15.4. Can I have a
motion that council hereby approves the
[20:10] live stream of council meetings policy
number
[20:14] G012025 as recommended by the governance
and safety committee from its meeting
[20:17] held on January 16th,
2025. Thank you, council Betta.
[20:22] Seconder, council chlora. Any
conversation? Go ahead, council words. I
[20:28] was just kind of wondering is this
coming in because people didn't know
[20:31] that it was being streamed live when
they came here or something of that
[20:35] effect or is it just
No, one of the things that we do as a
[20:40] governing body is to make sure that we
have policy to follow. So if there was
[20:44] something that was to come out of out of
live streaming or anything that comes
[20:48] through there, that's our policy. So
then we're we can amend or to do. It's
[20:52] just good operating procedure. Did you
have something to say? Thank you, Madam
[20:56] Mayor. There are certainly obligations
within uh within legislation for
[21:02] informing people when things of this
nature are happening so that they're
[21:05] aware. So this is just an an opportunity
now as the mayor indicated to create
[21:10] policy that's uh that's going to be
fluid as the regulations and
[21:14] circumstances change. We would be
bringing forward revisions to this
[21:17] policy if needed. But it's it's good to
have that foundation for how it's being
[21:21] done and being done properly.
Okay. All in favor? carried. So
[21:28] 15.5 can I have a motion and council
hereby authorizes on a without prejudice
[21:32] basis the town of Maple Creek staff to
replace the sewer line service the
[21:36] residence located at 512 Cypress Street
under the following conditions. The
[21:42] sewer line is to be replaced shall be
the portion of the line between the
[21:46] sewer main and the house foundation. And
the sewer line shall be replaced by the
[21:50] town of Maple Creek at the earliest
opportunity following the 2025 spring
[21:54] thaw. And all costs for this replacement
shall be reimbursed to the town of Maple
[21:59] Creek by the property owner. and a
reasonable payment schedule not to
[22:03] exceed one year may be entered into
between the parties. And the property
[22:06] owner must agree in writing to wave the
right and the right of future owners of
[22:10] this property to hold the town of Maple
Creek liable for any damages incurred as
[22:14] a result of the failure now or in the
perpenduity of this of the sewer line as
[22:21] recommended by the governance and safety
committee from this meeting held on
[22:25] January 16,
2025. Thank you councel Barkman. Second
[22:30] to councelor Beretta. Any
conversation? Go ahead. Council Chlora.
[22:36] I think when we had talked about this at
our committee meeting, we were talking
[22:39] about getting some additional
information on the house portion of the
[22:44] line. Do you know if that was done? Yes.
I had spoke with the the homeowners and
[22:49] they were going to do that that at their
earliest convenience and they're going
[22:52] to get us that
report. Any other conversation?
[22:59] All in favor?
Carried. Okay. At 20. So 15.6. Can I
[23:06] have a motion council hereby accepts the
offer made by SAMA in correspondence
[23:09] dated January 15, 2025 to meet with
council to explain the 2025 assessment
[23:15] and that administration be directed to
coordinate this meeting at its earliest
[23:20] opportunity. Thank you councelor Abbott.
Second council Petta. Any
[23:25] conversation? Go ahead. Council Abbott.
So I'm still not clear. Have we got
[23:31] because I see somewhere there's a PDF
um format detailed property report are
[23:37] included in a PDF format. Do we have
access to that here at this office yet?
[23:44] Go ahead. Thank you, Madame Mayor. U
counselor. I will uh I will need to
[23:48] follow up with with Miss Shipo. Um I I
would assume it's available. They've
[23:54] indicated it is. So, uh, with that, I'll
make sure that it gets distributed to
[23:59] council and that it gets, uh, it gets
perhaps put onto your next agenda so
[24:03] that the public have access as well.
Great. Go ahead, council. Uh, I was just
[24:08] going to ask the same thing. It sounds
like they may have some statistical data
[24:13] on how many properties maybe increased
and how many decreased, and I'd be
[24:18] interested in seeing that if there's
anything available. Great. Councelor
[24:21] Woods, I was just kind of gonna bring up
that where if somebody's disputing what
[24:26] their taxes went up, then they can still
do that. That's what I was being asked.
[24:31] Yes. Once the the council the role has
been opened and the assessments has been
[24:36] out, then they'll have because it's a
re-evaluation year, they'll have 60 days
[24:40] to appeal their
assessment. Any other conversation?
[24:45] So, we will set that up um probably
middle of March, end of February, middle
[24:50] of March. I know there's lots coming in
in in February with the the spring break
[24:54] and all the stuff that's going through
there. So, if they can come in. Any
[24:59] other conversation? All in favor?
Carried. Okay. So, 15.7. Can I have a
[25:07] motion council hereby authorize the
following individuals to attend the 2025
[25:10] waste reform conference being held at
Regina May 28th to May 30th with all
[25:15] expenses paid in accurrence with the
town current town of Maple Creek
[25:20] policy
is I'm just before before I make that is
[25:25] there anybody everybody's had the chance
to look at that is there anybody any
[25:29] council members that are able to attend
or want to attend
[25:33] I'm sure okay
Okay. Anybody
[25:39] else? So then we'll have uh councelor
Barkman, then me, a manager of
[25:44] environmental services. All in just the
two. The two just the two. Yep. Um so I
[25:52] have councelor Wartz making the motion.
Seconder. Thank you councelor Betta. All
[25:58] in favor?
Carried. 15.8. I would love to go, but I
[26:03] think I'll be at FCM that week. So, uh,
can I have a motion that council hereby
[26:09] authorizes the SUMA resolution redirect
municipal municipal PST for construction
[26:14] labor pay to infrastructure grant
program to be submitted to SUMA for
[26:19] consideration in its upcoming 2025
convention and that administration be
[26:24] directed to include the necessary
background information to support this
[26:28] resolution. Thank you, councelor
Beretta. Secer
[26:33] Thank you, council warts. Any
[26:37] conversation seeing none, all in favor?
Carried. Okay, it takes us down to mayor
[26:43] and counselor's
forum. Okay, let's start off with
[26:48] councelor Kurara. What do we
[26:53] have? So, I attended the Saskatchewan
provincial disaster assistance program
[26:59] known as PETAP. um in Swift Current on
the 15th and it was very informational.
[27:07] It was definitely from an administrative
perspective. So there wasn't a lot of
[27:13] hands-on this is how we deal with it.
It's like this is the paperwork that you
[27:18] file. So it was um it's very interesting
for what an administrator would have to
[27:23] go through. Um but it was less practical
for myself as a counselor. Did they have
[27:31] a chance to be able to have any feedback
on that like for what would happen or
[27:37] what stuff would be in line with that a
counselor would need to do or do you
[27:42] feel that it's just completely directed
for administration? I feel like it was
[27:46] more I mean maybe the two of you could
speak to that as well but it was
[27:50] definitely more on the administrative
side
[27:52] um because we are not the ones filling
out the paperwork and a lot of the
[27:57] administration has to come from the CEO.
I felt like it's not a lot for us. It's
[28:03] it was sort of geared toward this is
what the CEO does and this is how he
[28:07] would get the information out to our
people to uh file a claim. So that was
[28:14] basically what what it was about. I felt
there was a little more here and there
[28:20] but sure. Yeah, that was the bulk of it.
And then I also attended the um
[28:25] governance and safety committee meeting
on the 16th. So thank you
[28:30] councelor Burkeman.
Right. I had my first opportunity to uh
[28:35] attend the green arena board on the 13th
of January and I Yes. Thank you. Okay,
[28:45] we'll get used to this. Yes, we're good.
[28:49] Okay, I was able to attend the arena
board on January 13th and I do have to
[28:54] say first of all is that we have a good
board in place there and uh I I was
[29:00] really pleased to be there and we had a
great meeting together and I guess u
[29:06] there was one thing that came out of
that that I'm basically just going to
[29:09] report about and that was that and I
think we've talked about it here too is
[29:12] that the insurance on the arena requires
that the building be looked at twice a
[29:19] week. Uh and um during the this time of
the year, it's not a problem for them to
[29:24] do that, but it's during the summertime
that they don't there's not always
[29:28] somebody around. So, they were just
requesting to see whether that would be
[29:32] something that the town might be able to
look after to help them with as far as
[29:35] uh to be able to to do that inspection
that happens twice a week. So they were
[29:40] just asking to to bring that here and
just to see whether that would be uh be
[29:45] something that um we'd be interested in
uh or we could help them with. So So
[29:49] again, there was there's a lot happening
there. There's a a lot of people
[29:53] involved there and they do a lot of
stuff and so uh it's just really I was
[29:57] glad to kind of there's a lot of wheels
turning there and I'm glad to hear how
[30:02] they're keeping that going for us as a
town and I'm just really really thankful
[30:06] that that they are doing that.
Um, I was also able to attend the uh
[30:12] rural municipality uh the or the Maple
Creek Maple Creek the municipality the
[30:18] committee meeting for the fire
department and uh we uh again as those
[30:23] of you that were there last night the
new fire truck is here which I think we
[30:27] are all excited about and it's a
tremendous uh accomplishment that I
[30:31] think the town has made and I uh as I
was there last night I couldn't help but
[30:37] think of because I've been I've been a
volunteer firefighter for I was at for a
[30:41] number of years and I have to say that
we have an absolutely topnotch as far as
[30:48] not only do we have top-notch
firefighters but we have some absolutely
[30:53] top-notch equipment that we have
especially adding this to our fleet it
[30:56] is it is absolutely phenomenal. So, I am
I'm glad for our firefighters that they
[31:02] have equipment like this that they can
actually do that for us and they can
[31:05] actually protect our community. And I
think um even some of them they just
[31:09] they came and they said to me yesterday,
they said, "Thank you very much." So, I
[31:12] mean, but it's a joint effort. It's a
community thing. And so, I'm I'm glad
[31:16] I'm glad to see that. One of the things
that we discussed at our um at our
[31:20] meeting uh was uh we actually had a
delegation there from BigStick and uh
[31:26] BigStick is looking to set up a service
agreement with us. Now a service
[31:31] agreement is different than a mutual aid
agreement. Mutual aid, we have mutual
[31:35] aid agreements with numerous different
communities that if they call on us, we
[31:39] go. But a service agreement is actually
they're part of us. And so there's some
[31:45] discussion that's was had around the
table as to what that all would involve,
[31:49] what that would look like. And uh
they're in the process of kind of
[31:52] drawing some things out and I'm showing
it to them and say, "What does that look
[31:56] like to you?" So um I I think it's it's
good. I mean, one of the things that we
[32:00] did look at is if you if you think of
how far to the north here it is, it's
[32:04] actually closer to the edge of Big Stick
uh going north than it is to the the
[32:09] southern part of our municipality. So it
it does make sense that we have some
[32:15] type an agreement with them and they're
they're
[32:18] very they're very willing to want to
want to do that and so I we're glad to
[32:23] see that. Uh and I think that it's
something that's feasible for us to do.
[32:26] So I think u coming up we'll be looking
at a service agreement with that and
[32:32] what that actually is all going to look
like. So I really can't even say what
[32:35] that's necessarily going to be. Anyway,
just so that you know that they are
[32:38] doing that and I'm glad to see that
other municipalities around us, they are
[32:43] looking to us for that because of what
we have and what we have to offer,
[32:47] right? And so I think that's that's key.
That's really good. So again, I'm I'm
[32:52] just so thankful for a great uh fire
department that we have here that that
[32:58] basically protects our community and a
large a large community all around us.
[33:03] And so I think that's it. All right.
Thank you,
[33:12] Vera.
Okay. Um, well, I attended the committee
[33:18] meeting on January 16th and yesterday
got to see the firet truck. Um, and I I
[33:25] agree with councelor Barkman. It's I've
been to some communities and the the
[33:28] fire hall, the equipment, the vehicles,
they're kind of run down and old and um
[33:35] we have quite a few firefighters. I
didn't realize we had so many. So, that
[33:38] was really nice to see.
Um I got a phone call from um Pastor
[33:45] Hans Martins and he wanted to let me
know that
[33:49] um he so on June 8th um the high school
is going to be putting on a cultural
[33:56] event and they would like the town to be
involved in some way. I know that's a
[34:01] long ways away, but um he said that they
envision separate uh different
[34:07] classrooms being kind of assigned to
different cultural groups like um
[34:12] Hutterites in one and First Nations in
another and different, you know, whoever
[34:17] I they have like six in mind. Um and
they're thinking about having food and
[34:21] people visiting each classroom and
asking questions. Um so yeah, he does
[34:26] they don't exactly know how they would
like the town to be involved, but
[34:30] some
way. Um, so I I guess if a request like
[34:36] that comes to you personally, the best
response is to do is great on reporting
[34:41] that, but ask them to then send in a
request that comes towards council so
[34:46] then we can put that committee meeting
and have that conversation. I did I told
[34:49] him that it would have to come more
formally. Um, but I said I'll pass it on
[34:54] that you you're interested and we are,
you know, always more we're more more
[34:59] than happy to be involved in in things
in the community, but we'll need more
[35:03] information, more details and things
like that. So, that should come. Maybe
[35:07] it will. I don't know. We'll see. Um,
and I had somebody ask me, um, I've been
[35:12] sort of advocating for the Voyant app,
and someone had said to me, you know, I
[35:19] liked that app until I started getting
alerts on there that weren't emergency
[35:23] alerts, like a change in the parade
route. And I said, oh, I didn't I didn't
[35:29] even realize that had gone up. So, um,
just wondering if maybe we should keep
[35:34] it strictly emergency alerts because
they were saying they want to get rid of
[35:39] it because it was becoming
annoying with with information like
[35:43] that.
Um well that's too bad because again
[35:47] that is a great way that is just within
our community to get communication out
[35:52] because again that might be just one
person's view of that which is
[35:57] unfortunate that they would want to get
rid of an app because they're getting
[36:00] informed of what is happening within
their community. Um I however feel that
[36:06] that is one thing that we know we can
reach everybody at and how those things
[36:10] are but I get maybe a parade route isn't
the number one priority that could go on
[36:14] voyant but it is another way of
communicating that everybody gets it
[36:18] that is signed up that is interested in
communication with the town. Yeah I I
[36:22] see that but I actually agreed with her.
I thought, you know what? It's not it's
[36:25] not a just a social it's not a social
media newspaper program the way I
[36:31] thought. I thought it was for for alerts
for something that's serious, something
[36:36] that Yeah, that's what I thought. I
mean, where do you draw the line? Well,
[36:40] you would draw the line communications,
communications, open communication,
[36:45] transparency. So then job ads are going
to go out on that and No.
[36:49] I that's where I think there needs to be
some clear policy. Yeah. Okay. Fair
[36:55] enough. Any
um that is all for now. Thank you. Okay.
[37:01] Uh council ws what do you have?
Um I was at the uh what they call it PDP
[37:08] the per uh provincial disaster
assistance program there. Um, I guess it
[37:14] was mostly for administrative, but it
did have some things where if a disaster
[37:19] happens, what do you do? What's the role
of the mayor and or deputy mayor? How do
[37:24] you arrange counsel? Um, it pretty much
is something that if a natural disaster
[37:29] comes about and insurance doesn't cover
it, they will come in. It's not
[37:34] everything they'll cover. Um, they will
do training programs as well. Like I
[37:39] think her name is Jen. She said that
they'd come to town here and do
[37:43] something for maybe the town workers or
whatnot if they're interested. Um just
[37:48] something to help out a little bit. They
do come help uh with like clean up and
[37:52] stuff like that. Um I did attend the
fireh hall yesterday as well. Um some of
[38:00] the people were excited about it saying
that the one truck actually replaces two
[38:05] of the older trucks. So that's a good
thing.
[38:08] Um I also attended a um mental health
and addictions group through uh SUMA and
[38:15] they pretty much talked about different
things like homelessness which we don't
[38:20] really have here I don't think. Um but
different little programs to support
[38:24] people around. Um they're talking about
a community-based organization to um for
[38:31] housing since housing prices are through
the roof and there's hard hard to find
[38:36] rentals here in town as well. Um little
um help groups to help people that are
[38:42] having mental health or addictions
problems and stuff like that. So, I just
[38:47] thought it was kind of an interesting
thing to be a part of and that's about
[38:50] it for me. All right. Thank you, Council
Abbott.
[38:54] Uh, so I I attended the um hub steering
committee meeting and uh they're working
[38:59] on um getting incorporation done. Still
working on that. Still working on the
[39:02] website and branding. Um they will have
the the uh soft launch I guess of the
[39:09] website going pretty quickly. And they
are uh looking for pictures. I think
[39:13] they've they've got some from from us. I
think Julian did get some to them. Um,
[39:18] and preparing for getting open as early
as they can in the spring. Um, they did
[39:24] have a few um, little I I got the email
today a few little items that they would
[39:30] like us to look at um, before opening.
They weren't they weren't huge um, a
[39:36] huge list of things that they would like
us to look at before they they get open.
[39:41] And then uh applications are available
um for the pop-up stores. And so Maple
[39:46] Creek has room for three pop-up stores.
And so um if anyone's interested, it
[39:52] still does go to an adjudication kind of
program as to um how they're going to
[39:58] where would they find that information
or who did they send? Well, I I did get
[40:01] a copy of it. I think I forwarded it to
Jillian, but I'd have to check. If not,
[40:05] they can contact the the um supervisor
out there and and and get them or I mean
[40:11] there's even message through the So, do
you feel that we should put that on our
[40:14] Facebook and also our electronic sign? I
Well, maybe electronic sign. I I thought
[40:18] that I had forwarded it to Jillian, but
maybe not in a in a way that she could
[40:22] put it on the Facebook page. I'm not
sure. I will check on that. I I just
[40:26] thought of it today that I I maybe
didn't send it in the right format for
[40:29] her. Um so, I will check on that. And
then um I also attended the PDAP meeting
[40:36] and I I did take a few things away um
that were more for council. Um and it it
[40:42] would have pertained I guess a bit more
in the RM than than we might see here.
[40:48] Um but I can think of a few scenarios
that that it might influence a town as
[40:52] well. It doesn't have to be um declare
an
[40:57] emergency like you don't have to de
declare a full emergency for someone to
[41:02] get PEP assistance. For instance, if a
tornado only hit one farmyard,
[41:09] um they could get help through PETAP by
the the um the RER in that case
[41:15] declaring that that's it does still have
to come through the municipality, but it
[41:19] doesn't have to, you know, it can be
just kind of a one-off situation. So, I
[41:23] I was just thinking, so if we had
a a fire that took out a block, we would
[41:30] be able to just declare the state for
the block. Yeah, that's what I
[41:34] understood. So there there were some
things and I mean having been through
[41:37] the 2010 flood um you know I I did see
um you know some things that that um you
[41:45] know that of course the municipality did
at the time. um it was geared quite a
[41:50] bit through administration, but there's
some preparedness things like they they
[41:53] had one of the same fellas that was here
for our emergency preparedness um
[41:57] workshop was there. And so I think um
their their main thing was being
[42:05] prepared, you know, and if you're
prepared kind of ahead of time, know
[42:09] what to do. So that 72-hour disaster kit
or just Yeah, there's there's that.
[42:15] Yeah, they were just encouraging being
prepared for something, knowing what to
[42:19] do when something hits and who who does
what. And of course anyone that took
[42:24] that was it 200 100 200 um course that
they they were here to do um you know we
[42:32] kind of got that you know you're in
charge until someone of the chain of
[42:37] command the chain of command and and
they they briefly talked on that but you
[42:41] know often we're first you know and so
when to what to do so it was a little
[42:47] bit about that and then of course the
afternoon was geared to administration
[42:50] but it was I'm I'm I'm happy I went. It
was good. Um and then I attended the
[42:56] fire heat meeting for for Tina on the
16th and then the the photo op um with
[43:02] the the truck last night. Um and then I
have one thing I just I would like to
[43:06] just comment. I I read the letter to the
editor in the paper and it was talk
[43:10] about taxes which is always you know nah
but um I just like to say for anyone
[43:16] that is wondering you know our budget
meetings are coming up and you can sit
[43:20] in on them if you want you know we're
it's very transparent um you know the
[43:25] letter was was encouraging us to be
fiscally responsible which I believe we
[43:28] have been we've been working really hard
on that and the other thing was was tax
[43:32] fairness and that's something that we're
we're certainly working on by by having
[43:36] um you know some of the numbers given to
us so that we can look at maybe
[43:41] adjusting our base tax to help offset
that to to look at fairness. I mean it
[43:48] they're never under any of the
structures that we see in taxation
[43:52] throughout the world. Nothing's fair but
to try to work on that. Um so if
[43:56] anyone's curious we're having meetings
so uh you're welcome to attend. I I
[44:03] agree with you and I like that because
this this the previous council on this
[44:07] council um we are dedicated into looking
at the fairness. We talked differently
[44:12] about closing that gap between
residential and commercial when one of
[44:16] the things that we did ask
administration to do is also look at
[44:20] that base tax and what the services is
and what that provides so that we're
[44:25] understanding it and then also the the
public is understanding it too because I
[44:29] think they just think we put on a base
tax because it's another tax. Well, it
[44:33] is. There's some of the services there
are six things that we are we're in
[44:36] charge of and those things need to be
covered and and how do we do it? if
[44:39] anybody's looking is taxes, fees, and
levies. And so, we've been very very
[44:43] prudent over the last almost three years
of looking at what we're doing to make
[44:47] sure that the taxes are fair and and uh
we're not spending outrageous amounts.
[44:52] We're trying to make it feasible and be
responsible for our the money that is
[44:57] being spent. Um, thank you for that. So,
myself, well, I'm always busy, but I'm
[45:03] going to keep this short. Absolutely,
you can. So this is sort of um to us and
[45:08] and possibly to to lend. So um he spoke
about the arena board and and having um
[45:13] you know no one checking around the
summer is our agreement with them year
[45:17] round. Yes. Would they be able to sublet
it to someone that wanted to do a summer
[45:22] something there? Yes. So that might be
something to take to them and see if
[45:26] someone's interested in, you know, even
if it was something so simple as
[45:30] rollerblading or whatever that would
just offset and be that person checking
[45:35] in on the building once in a while if
they were able to sublet it.
[45:39] Absolutely. Thank you. Um, since our
last m meeting, what have I done?
[45:46] Okay. So, on the 13th, uh, we did a
little bit of, of course, we as council
[45:52] had met and went over the official
community plan and what that looked
[45:56] like. So, Barry and I met with Mauricio
and we went through page by page of all
[46:01] the stuff that we needed. One of the
conversations, I know Mauricio was a
[46:05] little taken back, but again, I just put
it point blank. This is how council was
[46:08] feeling that again, our administration
and our staff are having to do a lot of
[46:12] it. council and the hours that they had
to put into this has has done a lot of
[46:17] hours and trying to do something that
we've paid somebody else to do. So, I
[46:21] think they got the picture um that they
did. They're are going to work on that.
[46:25] They're going to put it into the
formatted position. And what we see is
[46:28] is what we see. We like they know we
want to see that the punctuation and all
[46:32] the pictures and all the rest of the
stuff is coming to us in a in a format
[46:36] that we are able to accept the final
draft.
[46:41] Um, oh my goodness. Of course, I
attended the the committee meeting also.
[46:47] Also did do uh the stuff at the fire
hall yesterday. I would like to just say
[46:53] thank you to both committees because you
know when we started this venture way
[46:58] back way back when you know there it was
it was a struggle and um over the last
[47:06] little bit we've come together and we've
come to see the value of working
[47:09] together as two communities and one of
the things that we've changed in our in
[47:14] our language and how we speak is the
town and the RM the town and the RM you
[47:18] don't very very much hear around this
council table, the town or the RM, it's
[47:23] a community. So, and that's what this
project has done. That fire hall has
[47:28] made us the community. So, when we're
looking at these things, it was great to
[47:32] see a a fire truck. It's like, you know,
for the amount of it, I'm like, it's
[47:36] just a fire truck. But, you know, like,
you know, when you're looking at it,
[47:39] it's just a fire truck. But the thing
that it's going to do is is that
[47:43] firetruck is going is now increased the
value of our fleet. We know that has
[47:48] increased our lifespan of that fleet.
and how the new regulations are coming
[47:52] down. So again, we've got a little bit
of breathing room, but we still need to
[47:55] be looking at our next what we need to
to replace. We know we've got a pumper
[48:00] truck and we need the rest of the stuff
that does because um our I think it was
[48:07] 14 or 15 years old was the newest
vehicle that we had. We have one that is
[48:13] an 89 and one is
1990. and we're putting people out there
[48:17] to save lives and communities and
buildings. And so I'm I'm actually very
[48:22] happy of of the job that they've done.
And that's not just that. You know,
[48:26] there's agreements that are being done.
There's the changing over of uh just one
[48:31] municipality of funding something.
They're now being self-sufficient. And
[48:35] that comes from the the hard work
between two communities. And so I'm very
[48:39] happy for that.
[Music]
[48:43] Um I think I there's some other um
meetings that were held within Barry and
[48:49] I that I'll talk about with council.
There isn't anything urgent or anything
[48:54] that's coming through. There's just some
information.
[48:58] Um I know we have uh a meeting coming up
on the 28th and I think that is that is
[49:05] a closed meeting that is going to be
through the budget because that's just
[49:08] from the last is it closed or open? I
think it's open. It is open. Okay. So on
[49:12] the 28th at 6:00 to 9 is is our next um
meeting that's coming through just a
[49:16] budget review and the budget review
isn't going forward in 2025. There will
[49:20] be some things with the capital, but
most of it is where we ended up in 2024
[49:24] to bring us up to information on how we
did and where we landed at and so we can
[49:28] make some decisions in 2025. I'll be
away from um the tw the 29th 30 31st for
[49:38] SUMA meeting in Reginaina and yeah I
think that's all I have. So with that
[49:50] Perfect. I think I