[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

2025 2nd Meeting of Council January 22

Transcript