[0:02] Good afternoon and welcome to the June
9th regular council meeting of the
[0:06] Oldstown Council. I call the meeting to
order at 1
[0:10] PM. We'll move down to the added items
portion of the agenda and I'll ask
[0:16] council if they have any added items
today. Seeing none, um I will then move
[0:24] down to item B, adoption of the agenda,
please.
[0:30] and a motion to adopt the agenda or are
we going to go consensus? We're going to
[0:34] stay with consensus. That's a good one.
We're all good. All right. So, deem
[0:38] excuse me, consensus to adopt the agenda
as presented. And moving down to page
[0:44] two of your agenda, the regular council
meeting minutes of May 26, 2025. Does
[0:49] council have questions, additions,
deletions?
[0:54] Seeing none, I believe we have consensus
then also for the regular council
[0:59] meeting minutes of May 26,
[1:04] 2025. Very good. We will now move down
to the public hearing portion of our
[1:08] agenda on page five of your agenda.
[1:17] And before I declare it uh the public
hearing
[1:23] open, I will read the pecuniary interest
for the municipal counselors. Section
[1:29] 1672 of the MGA says that you may not
take part in the discussion and decision
[1:34] making of any matter in which you have a
pecuniary interest. Legislation attempts
[1:39] to ensure that you are not
discriminated. If you are if you have a
[1:43] pecuniary
interest, you are to disclose that you
[1:48] have an interest and its nature. You are
to abstain from any discussion of the
[1:54] matter and from voting. You are to leave
the room until the matter has been dealt
[1:58] with and you should make sure that you
abstain. Your abstension is recorded in
[2:03] the minutes and you are not to be
discriminated in any way.
[2:09] I now declare the public hearing for
bylaw
[2:13] 202511 open at
102. Thank you. And I will direct this
[2:20] now to our municipal planner, Mr. Kyle
Sloan.
[2:28] Thank you, Mayor and Council. Um, bylaw
2025-11
[2:35] uh proposes to accomplish two things.
The first is to reszone uh two parcels
[2:40] of land um located at 6102 and
640248th Avenue
[2:47] um from DC7 direct control district uh
that's specific to uh cannabis
[2:53] production to I1 which is our uh general
light industrial district. Um the second
[3:00] thing uh that's proposed in this bylaw
is to introduce a new definition uh that
[3:06] is not currently in the bylaw and that's
for um a data center. Um the proposed
[3:12] meaning would be that that is a building
used to store computer systems and
[3:15] associated components for the storage or
processing of data and may require
[3:20] constant climate control.
Um the uh that uh definition would then
[3:28] be added as a permitted use to the I1
district. Uh not specific to this parcel
[3:33] at all. Um but throughout town, we have
had a number of inquiries recently about
[3:38] this and our bylaw being from a time
when data centers didn't exist does not
[3:43] have this defined. So we're just uh
adding that as a listed use. Thank you.
[3:50] Thank you very
[3:53] much. Before I move forward with this,
I'm just scanning through um the gallery
[4:00] and I'm one do not see anybody here that
is speaking for or against this
[4:07] bylaw. Very good. And we have no one
online. Very good. So then I will move
[4:12] right down and ask my council if they
have any comments.
[4:22] Keeping in mind, of course, I do
understand there was no written
[4:25] correspondence received at all for this
proposed bylaw as well. Is that correct,
[4:29] Mr. Sloan? That's correct. Very good. I
will Do you have any closing comments
[4:36] you'd like to share? Very good. Then I
declare the public hearing closed at
[4:41] 10:04 p.m. and ask you to refer back to
page 5, please for the bylaw and ask for
[4:47] second reading. Councelor Wilson.
Thank you, Mayor Doll. I make the motion
[4:52] that bylaw
2025-11 be given second reading as
[4:56] presented. Very good. Thank you,
Councelor Wilson. Those in
[5:02] favor? That is carry. Third and final
reading, please. Councelor Blatz. Deputy
[5:08] Mayor Blatz. Thank you, Mayor Doll. I
move that bylaw 2025-11 be given third
[5:13] reading as
presented. Very good. Uh, Deputy Mayor,
[5:17] those in favor, that is carried. And
thank you, Mr. Sloan, for your time
[5:22] today. We will move forward
now down to
[5:28] page nine, which is 4A of your agenda.
And this is our RCMP quarterly report.
[5:36] and I'll have uh our CEO introduce our
our RCMP member.
[5:42] Thank you, Mayor D. Today I'm standing
in for acting staff sergeant Jamie Day
[5:46] is uh Mr. Life Spencson. So, life,
welcome. Thank you, CEO Williams. Uh
[5:53] good afternoon, Mayor D counselors. Um
as uh mentioned, uh Staff Sergeant or
[5:58] acting staff, Sergeant Jamie Day sends
his regards uh here in his place. My
[6:01] apologies for not being in uniform. I
tweaked uh a part of my body playing
[6:05] hockey a couple weeks ago, so I'm on
modified duties for the week, but um I'm
[6:08] here nonetheless. Uh I did send the uh
the report the the stats to uh Director
[6:15] Andrew in May. I'm obviously obviously
it must have made it way to you for
[6:20] review. Um I'll just ask if there's any
comments or questions with respect to
[6:25] any of the uh information that you see
in front of you.
[6:32] We'll start with councelor Ryan.
Uh thank you Mayor Doll and through you
[6:37] to uh was it constible officer sergeant
uh corporal corporal. Thank you. I
[6:43] didn't hear what uh what your title was.
Thank you. Uh Corporal Spencer, I don't
[6:47] know if you can answer this question I
have or not, but it was on page uh two
[6:51] of your report with regards to on page
uh 11 in the agenda package on the crime
[6:58] stats. Um just had a quick question on
the
[7:03] um other provincial stats which is under
the um total I guess total four the
[7:10] provincial stats we have um there's
number 58 there and it's quite a bit of
[7:15] an increase and I'm just wondering if
you had any idea of what these
[7:20] particular stats include and what if you
had any idea of trends or anything for
[7:26] the reason for the jump. I'm not sure if
you can answer that question. Uh I can't
[7:32] I can't answer it specifically. Um three
of the major ones if you see above
[7:36] Licorac cannons act mental health act.
Those are three of the uh major
[7:40] provincial statutes that we deal with.
Uh noncriminal in nature. Um it's it's a
[7:45] wide variety of items. uh they're all
proincially based though uh based on
[7:49] statutes and laws that um it could be uh
I mean as you see everything's tied in
[7:54] municipal bylaws in terms of traffic um
tickets um different offenses under the
[8:00] say traffic safety act rules of the road
regulations things like that so um it's
[8:05] it's they're not criminal in nature
they're not in my opinion uh in my
[8:09] experience not as significant as what
you see in the rest of the document
[8:12] especially on page one so I I have no
specific information based on that
[8:15] because the the wide variety of uh
events that occur within that um
[8:21] particular portion of the document. So
thank you very uh so this would just
[8:25] basically deal with the the traffic
safety component pro probably with
[8:30] regards to any kind of enforcement
traffic stops uh going through stop
[8:34] signs and things like that. Is that
right? Yeah, it's very possible. Um the
[8:40] numbers as you see total provincial
traffic uh in the third shaded or the
[8:45] first shaded uh row uh near the uh the
bottom of the document
[8:50] 262. Um again that's everything traffic
related and other provincial statistics
[8:58] uh could very well fall within that as
well.
[9:02] Yeah. I have a couple questions myself.
Um for for your report with regards to
[9:08] mischief mischief other um the stats
have really jumped here to 22 from last
[9:14] year of 10. Is there a common area that
you're seeing the trend for the stats?
[9:20] It's on page 10 in the agenda. Yes, I I
see that. I noticed that as well during
[9:24] my review of the stats. So mischief
again is a uh a very broad offense
[9:30] within the criminal code. Mischief. I
mean, there's a definition within, I
[9:34] believe, the dictionary. I mean,
probably up to no good, if you will. Uh,
[9:37] but mischief, um, it can include noise
complaints. It can inuh include u
[9:43] neighbors disturbing other neighbors for
a variety of reasons. It's a very, uh,
[9:47] lowrisk, um, component of what we do in
the criminal code. Uh, again, a wide
[9:53] variety of occurrences can be reported
within that mischief uh, complaint or
[9:57] event type. I have no concern with it at
all based on my knowledge of the code
[10:02] and um the things that I've reviewed
over my time in OS here and everywhere
[10:07] else I've been. And the other one I had
was to do with the common police
[10:13] activities for false alarms and I'm
thinking it might have something to do
[10:17] also with the fire department. So either
yourself or director Andrew could answer
[10:21] that. I can speak to it first off. Um
typically it was a significant increase
[10:26] uh over the last uh quarter of the last
fiscal year. I mean it is 10 more
[10:31] occurrences uh up from 16 to 26. Uh a
lot of this is uh to do with equipment
[10:38] malfunction, employee error when they're
say keying in their uh code at the uh
[10:43] workplace when they first come to work
or if they uh arm it or say attempt to
[10:48] arm it when they leave and they don't do
it properly. then we get a call to go to
[10:53] uh say a bank or another workplace. Uh I
hope that answers your question.
[10:59] Certainly it does. Are there any other
questions? Councelor Cummings and then
[11:03] uh Councelor Wilson. Uh thank you Madame
Mayor. If I can draw your attention to
[11:08] page I think it's the second page of the
stats anyways where offensive weapons
[11:12] are
listed. Um we're up to three in the
[11:16] first quarter of this year. Um, and I
know that most recently there was an
[11:20] announcement by the RCMP that another
weapons weapon was seized during a drug
[11:25] raid in
ins. It seems that those numbers are
[11:29] always increasing. We hear about a lot
in the news. We see it a lot in our
[11:32] local detachment getting these weapons
off the street. So, I'm kind of happy
[11:36] that we're getting weapons off the
street. Kind of sad that there's that
[11:40] many weapons on the street in Olds that
are involved, I'm assuming, involved in
[11:44] other crimes. And I'm going to talk
about two I think that aren't even
[11:48] included in this three. The one that was
just recently announced where the
[11:51] gentleman had a firearm in his RV and
then the drug raid that was done in
[11:55] north the north end of town that also
yielded a firearm. In your experience,
[12:00] are you is it normal for us to have this
because the stats don't seem to be it
[12:04] out this many firearm related offenses
or this many firearms seized during
[12:10] other raids? And is it something that
the community should be very worried
[12:15] about or not? I I don't think it's
something the community should be
[12:19] worried about at all. If you look at the
overall percentage, this is 200% jump
[12:23] from the previous quarter. Um most
definitely looks significant, but the
[12:28] actual numbers three versus one from the
prior. So we have two more occurrences.
[12:32] um the uh information that you uh
mentioned here, the details you
[12:36] mentioned regarding the previous search
warrants that's not included in this
[12:39] quarter of course seeing as the fiscal
year ended in March 31st. However, um
[12:44] these things do happen. Uh I I can speak
of one from this quarter I believe was
[12:49] an individual who had a collapsible
baton in his in his custody or his care
[12:53] when he was taken into custody for
another matter. Um it was for uh his
[12:57] words personal protection. Um, it's not
a prohibited device to own a class of
[13:01] baton, such as what I carry when I'm on
duty in my uniform. Um, we we take these
[13:06] weapons from individuals when there's
offenses, say related to uh why they're
[13:10] in custody. If um they consent to them
being uh relinquished, then we'll take
[13:15] them off their hands as well, obviously,
for public safety reasons. But um based
[13:19] on the number over three months, uh
offensive weapons, I mean it's it it
[13:24] appears to be quite serious the way it's
described offensive weapons, but it
[13:29] could be a pocketk knife. It could be a
baton as I mentioned um in the most
[13:33] recent search uh with um our crime uh
reduction unit that uh supported um the
[13:41] investigation that you referred to
earlier. Uh firearms are very rarely
[13:45] seized here. Uh uh a year and a half
ago, we did have a a public safety
[13:51] search warrant for firearms in the
community. Um no charges were laid as a
[13:56] result of public safety warrant. That's
a weapon as a mechanism to get them off
[13:59] the street. Um in that case though, uh
we did see a number of uh
[14:04] non-restrictive firearms, hunting
rifles, shotguns, and such. But um but
[14:09] this type of occurrence, as you can see
from the numbers, it's not happening
[14:13] very often at all. Well, three and a
quarter isn't significant to me. I've
[14:17] worked in places that uh where many more
weapons were seized um even on a a
[14:23] weekly basis. So, uh it's all relative
to the community and place that I've
[14:28] worked in Olds is in my opinion very
safe place to be and I I I don't think
[14:32] that that number and that percentage
should cause any concern to the citizens
[14:35] of the community in my opinion.
Thank you for answering that. And we'll
[14:40] go to councelor Wilson.
Thank you, Mayor Doll. and through you
[14:44] to the corporal. Just um a question. I'm
going to take us down a little slightly
[14:47] little different path around traffic
enforcement tied in maybe perhaps a
[14:51] little bit page 11 around um alcohol
suppression and um and so on. But so
[14:57] we're into the summer season now.
Traffic patterns are changing. We got
[15:01] more activity on the roads, events,
hydration becomes an issue. Can you talk
[15:06] a little bit about traffic enforcement
within the town, less so around
[15:11] speeding? Speeding always is a hot
button topic for our citizens. Um, not
[15:15] so much. When we had our our recent
coffee with council session, there were
[15:19] one or two inquiries, but could you talk
a little bit about just general traffic
[15:23] enforcement in town to the extent you
can without giving away any secrets, how
[15:27] that looks, what does that look like
through the summer, and how do we blend
[15:32] in w with mandatory alcohol screening,
which came in many years ago, 2018.
[15:38] What's the process there relative to
policies within the detachment within
[15:43] guidelines within individual officer
discretion and your spidey senses? How
[15:48] does that m uh mandatory alcohol
screening work in a lawful traffic stop?
[15:54] Thanks. No problem. Uh that's a good
question, a good couple questions. I'll
[15:57] speak to the mandatory alcohol screening
first uh if you don't mind. So mandatory
[16:01] alcohol screening, as you just
mentioned, has been in place. It's been
[16:04] a law in Canada since 2018. Um,
basically it gives any peace officer or
[16:10] police officer the uh authorization to
uh demand a breast sample from any
[16:15] operator of any motor vehicle regardless
of the circumstances. There doesn't have
[16:18] to be suspicion uh or um any belief that
the operator of the vehicle or motor
[16:24] vehicle has been is impaired or has been
consuming alcohol. So it's uses a
[16:28] preventative measure to deter impaired
driving. Basically, if people know that
[16:32] they're going to be uh blowing into
approved screening device, an ASD as we
[16:36] call it, uh every time they're pulled
over, then hopefully people will realize
[16:41] that you don't have to just have uh 10
drinks with a tremendous uh amount of
[16:47] liquor on your breath or um all the
other symptoms, you know, uh glossy
[16:51] eyes, um flushed cheeks, slurred speech
and whatnot to be uh I guess issued a
[16:58] breath demand. So, it's to be proactive
rather than reactive. Back in the day
[17:03] before 2018, we were discouraged from
using ASDs, approved screening devices
[17:07] to test for alcohol or liquor on board
when a person's pulled over because we
[17:12] were told to use our uh I guess our
investigative abilities to determine if
[17:16] a driver is impaired. For example,
driving behavior um against third
[17:21] speech, their appearance. If I ask for a
motor vehicle, a driver to give me their
[17:26] driver's license, registration,
insurance card, their their behavior,
[17:29] their fumbling, say, of their wallet,
and then if we're absolutely uh not 100%
[17:34] sure that they've been consuming alcohol
and that their ability to operate a
[17:37] vehicle is impaired, then we would use
the SD. Now, it's the first thing we'll
[17:42] do. We'll advise them as to why the
person stopped. It has to be a lawful
[17:46] detention, of course, a uh failed to
signal or blown stop sign. Then they'll
[17:50] present the approved screening device,
explain the mandatory alcohol screen
[17:55] demand to the driver of the vehicle, and
then usually the person uh driving the
[18:00] vehicle will comply and blow because the
punishment for failing or refusing to
[18:04] provide a sample is the same as being
impaired if you're over 08. So, um it's
[18:11] it's regular practice. It doesn't matter
time of day, the uh the uh the driving
[18:17] behavior, the uh I mean we're not
discriminatory when it comes to who we
[18:23] stop, why we stop them, and then why we
asked them to blow. It's law. So, uh
[18:27] it's the members um option to again
administer the the mandatory alcohol
[18:33] screen demand and then to administer the
ASD device to the driver. There's no um
[18:39] I mean a lot of drivers ask us, why am I
doing this? It's 10:30 in the morning.
[18:43] I'm with my kids. I'm going to the mall.
I haven't been drinking. It doesn't
[18:47] matter. And we explain it on scene. And
this is bigger than the town of Olds. I
[18:50] mean, it's uh it's law within the
country of Canada. And then obviously
[18:55] the government of Alberta has its own
provisions when it comes to meter
[18:57] roadside sanctions and the punishment
associated to drive impaired. So I don't
[19:01] know if that answers your question with
respect to mandatory alcohol. Thanks.
[19:05] Yeah, no problem. And and now to answer
the question with respect to traffic
[19:08] enforcement, you're absolutely right.
more vehicles on the road, people with
[19:12] their campers going to say campgrounds
or Crownland, um people cruising their
[19:17] convertible, uh say if the sun's out and
the tops down. Um we had can road safety
[19:22] week a couple weeks ago. We set up uh
deliberate check stops at um particular
[19:27] intersections and locations to obviously
pull people over and let them know why
[19:31] we're doing it. um if we're looking for
impaireds or seat belts for example just
[19:36] to educate people first of all because I
know I was I participate in a few of
[19:39] those and I found no infraction this is
a good thing um but we are going to be
[19:44] stepping up traffic enforcement here and
there um time of day weekend say uh
[19:49] school zones but what we really want
though are people to come forward and to
[19:53] uh bring up concerns say uh in a school
zone if they're dropping their children
[19:58] off in a school zone hey I see or I
believe people are speeding through this
[20:01] area when I'm dropping my kids off, I
have a concern for the safety of the
[20:04] children and everybody else in the in
the location and we will go and we'll
[20:08] conduct traffic enforcement in that
area. If it's a a a problem location
[20:12] according to the citizens in the
community, right? But um I mean uh our
[20:17] our members are out and about. They'll
pull people over as they see fit based
[20:21] on driving behavior. Um it might be time
of day if say bar out at the uh bulldogs
[20:27] is on and we see someone who needs to be
pulled over based on uh their behaviors
[20:31] or their driving behavior or their
pattern then we'll do it. Uh it always
[20:35] increases in the summertime based on
volume um and what not the obvious
[20:39] factors Christmas time you know with uh
check stops because of the season but um
[20:44] summertime we will be increasing traffic
enforcement and we have a number of
[20:48] members who are really eager to do so
just to keep the roads safe in our
[20:51] community for our citizens for the
obvious reasons.
[20:56] Thank you very much. That was very
thorough and well explained and I like
[21:01] the eager to do so
part. Uh looks like we have no further
[21:06] questions at this time. So uh once
again, thank you for coming to our
[21:11] council today, Corpal Swinson. And have
a good rest of the day. Thank you, Mayor
[21:17] Doll. Uh thank you to everyone in the
room. All right. Have a wonderful day.
[21:20] So yes, take care. I'd entertain a
motion,
[21:24] please. Councilor Ryan. Thank you, Mayor
Doll. I move the council accepts the
[21:28] Royal Canadian Mounted Police Quarterly
Report as presented.
[21:33] Very good. Thank you. I will now call
for the vote. Those in
[21:37] favor? That is carried. Moving down to
page 22, please now for in in 4B
[21:45] infrastructure services quarterly
report CAO Williams.
[21:51] Thank you, Mayor Dal. And Dr. Pedro's
with us here to walk us through his
[21:54] report. Adrian.
[22:02] Good afternoon, council. I'd be happy to
guide us through the Q2 report for
[22:07] infrastructure
services. Moving on
[22:11] to
Okay, our first page here, we are just
[22:18] uh reporting on the utilities key
performance indicators. So what we've
[22:22] done in both utilities and public works
as part of our business plan uh draft we
[22:27] have established what our high level
KPIs are going to be. Um these are those
[22:33] four
utilities and as you can see we have
[22:36] been quite busy. On a quick glance I do
notice that pressure testing there
[22:41] should be 396 in Q2. So we've been quite
busy with that investigation this year.
[22:51] Moving on to the utilities work order
summary. So through citywide our work
[22:55] order platform we are able to break down
the type of work that the crews are
[23:00] doing. Um so in utilities you can see
primarily lab work and sampling have by
[23:06] far the most work orders. However, I
would note that something like leak
[23:10] detection in the bottom left of that pie
chart um there's only 23 work orders for
[23:18] that. However, it does often take the
most time. So the the pie chart is not
[23:24] necessarily representative of time, just
the amount that we're
[23:29] doing. Moving on to water loss and INI.
Um this this is just a quick sum summary
[23:35] on what we've done in Q2. So we have
repaired seven service leaks on the
[23:40] water side. We do have a number of
outstanding locations that we are aware
[23:44] of. Um it's just we're having issues
trying to find them. So unfortunately
[23:50] this year um leaks have been quite
elusive. So we're having to spend a lot
[23:53] more time trying to find where they are
and employing different technology to
[23:58] try and do so. And on the wastewater
side we have been busy finding
[24:03] infiltration. So May was quite helpful
with all of the precipitation that we
[24:07] did see to try and track down certain
locations.
[24:11] A couple of those locations are the
Cornerstone Village, which we are
[24:15] dealing with the developer on that, and
then Smitty's Plaza is also a a recent
[24:21] one that we discovered. And at both
locations, essentially what we're seeing
[24:25] is that um grading adjacent to sanitary
manholes is tying any sort of storm
[24:33] water into those manholes. So, it is a
quite a problem in town. And these are
[24:38] only two of the few locations that we
found so far. And we have um received
[24:44] quite a bit of the thorough footage for
the sanitary
[24:48] sewer. And in the southwest quadrant
north is how we break down the sections.
[24:53] We do have 12 areas of infiltration
found. And so that's requiring us to go
[24:58] out and do investigation to find where
that water is coming from. And that
[25:01] could be anything from groundwater to an
actual water leak. So whether it's on a
[25:06] service or water mane itself so that is
keeping us quite
[25:13] busy and getting into the percentages.
Um I I kid you not this is my least
[25:19] favorite time of the month when I get
these
[25:21] percentages. Um but what we are seeing
is there was an uptick in April. Um it's
[25:27] rather unfortunate. However, when we do
compare the 2024 averages
[25:33] percentage-wise, we are lower, which I
think is a good sign. In a few slides
[25:39] here, I will um explain where I think a
lot of the discrepancy and the
[25:43] percentages is coming from. So, I'm
happy to answer any questions on that
[25:51] shortly. Annual water distribution
volumes. So tying into the last slide,
[25:57] what I'd like to show council is that
we're comparing the
[26:02] distribution i.e. the outflow from the
reservoirs
[26:06] year-over-year. And so what we are
seeing in 2025, there is a notable
[26:12] decrease. And a lot of that would be
attributable to a lot of the repairs
[26:16] that we're doing. And so you can even
see in May is a great example of this.
[26:21] So back in 2022, it's quite high. Um and
then it's decrease in
[26:26] 2023, further decrease in 2024, and then
a notable decrease in
[26:32] 2025. So I think it just speaks to all
of the repairs that we are doing are
[26:37] having an effect. They're not
necessarily being reflected in the
[26:40] percentages. However, um there there is
a reason for that in our
[26:46] estimation. So I think overall in the
water distribution volumes, this is a
[26:50] good sign as well.
[26:55] and breaking down a little bit more
detail on the wastewater volume side. So
[26:59] these are the volumes that get sent to
the SRD lift
[27:03] station. What's interesting about this
data comparing it the last four years is
[27:08] that what we are seeing that the effect
of precipitation each month is becoming
[27:14] less and less. So I'll jump back to May
as my example here. You can see that the
[27:20] 2024 rainfall volume was quite high. I
believe numerically this was
[27:25] around 127
millimeters and that resulted in quite a
[27:31] high SRD volume. Um I think it was
144,000 to be exact cubic meters. And
[27:38] then in May, what we're seeing is that
even though this red line here denotes,
[27:44] uh, this was 98 millimeters of rainfall
this May. Uh, we did have a
[27:48] substantially less volume that went to
the SRD lift station. So what this tells
[27:54] me and previous months show similar
trend. What this tells me is that the
[27:59] repairs and work that we are doing is
again having results. So, we all know
[28:05] historically that rain rainfall is an
issue in town and it does get into the
[28:10] system and so I think we're making
progress in that regard as
[28:17] well. And moving on to our water meters.
So, we are proceeding with phase one and
[28:23] if council recalls phase one was 640
meters that were being replaced with
[28:28] campstrip meters. Uh these numbers are
slightly outdated. Um, however, they are
[28:34] from last week. However, we are making
progress on getting those installations
[28:38] completed. There are a number of
outstanding locations. Um, we're working
[28:43] through those with the contractor. Um,
anything ranging from, you know,
[28:47] residents not getting back to them or
having certain issues with the program
[28:51] itself. So, we'll work with the
residents to move that
[28:57] those do hope to get this wrapped up by
this summer.
[29:02] And I think we're fairly confident we
can get there. And for reference, the
[29:07] 640 locations are highlighted in yellow
on the map. So, we did decide to focus
[29:13] on the southwest quadrant of town as
it's historically been giving us a lot
[29:17] of issues for water leaks on surfaces
[29:24] specifically. And moving on to water
meters phase two.
[29:29] So this is sort of a a big pivot for us
this year. Um so when I'm considering
[29:36] the percentages that we see on the table
a few slides ago, um what we're quite
[29:43] confident with at this point is that
we're suffering from a very high
[29:48] percentage of apparent loss. So what
that means is that we're not we're
[29:52] underregistering on our water meters
currently. So, the issue is that of our
[29:58] 4,000 meters, 3,000 of those meters
approximately are 15 years or older. The
[30:05] problem with mechanical meters is that
once they reach that 15-year mark, they
[30:09] degrade quite substantially and so
you're not getting an accurate read on
[30:13] those meters. So, essentially, we're
under billing is what we're figuring
[30:17] out. Now the the data from the Camstrip
pilot program that we did uh starting in
[30:24] 2023 is showing us that of those 94
locations there's a net increase of 223
[30:32] cubic meters per month for those 94
locations. So in doing a fairly
[30:38] straightforward calculation on what that
net increase would look like over the
[30:42] remaining inventory
um you can see here that it would equate
[30:47] to about 9500 cubic meters a month which
when you calculate that into a
[30:53] percentage loss that reduces our
percentage water loss by about about 10%
[30:59] over the
month. So this this is one of those
[31:04] things that we want to
attack quite quickly here which is why
[31:08] we're proposing to expand the
replacement program this year by about 7
[31:12] to 800 meters and we now the issue with
doing that is it is going to take away
[31:19] from doing other initiatives. So for
example on the sanitary main reling side
[31:24] we're are already identifying that that
program may not get the attention that
[31:28] we initially thought it was this year.
Um, however, when you look at the data,
[31:33] this is of a higher urgency at this
point. So, any questions on that before
[31:40] I move forward? Yes. Deputy Mayor Blaz.
Uh, thank you, Mayor Doll, and through
[31:44] you to Director Pedro. Um, I know for a
fact having firsthand experience with a
[31:50] company that's coming to do meters,
they're very
[31:54] um, compatible and that they're very
helpful with you in trying to set up a
[31:59] time that works. And I found that I had
three phone calls back to to try and set
[32:05] up a time and they were very reasonable
and and I think that maybe if if some of
[32:10] our residents realize that the program
is a benefit to them to have people come
[32:15] into their home that this is a very
legitimate company and uh I believe that
[32:22] you know maybe we could do a little bit
more promoting of them so that people
[32:27] are reassured because I've had a couple
of questions from well, why are we doing
[32:30] this and you know, can these guys come
into my home sort of situation. So, I
[32:36] think that um our experience has been
very favorable and I think that that
[32:40] type of information needs to be shared
with residents that might increase some
[32:43] of the uptake and response from those
that haven't responded. Thank you. Thank
[32:49] you, Councelor Daly. And then councelor
Cummings. Thank you, Mayor Doll through
[32:53] you to uh director of operations. um
with phase 2 roll out uh mentioning the
[33:00] 15-year kind of being the benchmark that
you want to um start replacing or making
[33:07] sure that we got those meters out of our
system with phase 2 roll out. Will that
[33:12] capture that those meters of 15 years
and above or are we looking further down
[33:17] the road even uh yet to because this is
substantial. This is this is huge,
[33:23] right? So, thanks Aiden.
Yeah, great question. So, phase two
[33:29] would look at continuing on on the
progress of our approximately 4,000
[33:35] meters in our inventory. I believe the
number is
[33:38] 3,048 are 15 years or older. So, we
would have to continue this year over
[33:43] year to address that deficiency.
Thank you, Councelor Cummings. Thank
[33:51] you, Madam Mayor. Um, I'm not too sure
how it's the questioning has been coming
[33:55] from the citizenry about our meter
replacement. I know I've got fielded a
[33:59] number of questions about smart meter
technology and a lot of misinformation
[34:04] that's out there on the internet about
smart
[34:06] meters. Correct me if I'm mistaken. I
remember replacing water meters when I
[34:11] used to work in utilities department.
There's smart meters already installed
[34:15] in people's houses and that they
transmit all the time. We just don't
[34:18] pick them up all the
time. and we're just replacing them with
[34:22] smarter smart
meters. Are we getting any feedback uh
[34:27] at the administrative level that I'm
seeing on the political level for the
[34:31] whole smart meter concept?
[34:37] Um couple points. Um you're correct in
the sense that a lot of the existing
[34:42] meters are technically smart. They have
readers called MXUs attached to them
[34:47] which is how we pick up our signal
during our monthly reads.
[34:51] Um some of the issues that people are
concerned with for the smart meters is
[34:57] just um you know we've heard some
radiation
[35:00] concerns. However, we do have data to
educate people on that. Um we are
[35:06] hearing that people don't want to
necessarily be tracked. Um but I I think
[35:10] you hit the nail on the head. we do
already track their consumption for
[35:13] billing purposes. So this is really no
different. Uh one of the messages we are
[35:18] trying to get to those who are more
concerned about the meters in general is
[35:23] that this would actually help them. Um
it's going to be a bit more accurate on
[35:29] their end as evidenced with the pilot
program and then it will also let us
[35:35] know if there's any issue in their
internal plumbing. So, a recurring issue
[35:38] that people don't often see because it's
from a minor leak in their house,
[35:43] whether it's from a faucet, toilet,
those types of plumbing. Um, quite
[35:48] common. They won't necessarily see that
leak. But these meters, because they're
[35:53] monitoring all the time, will actually
assess what the trends are. So, they
[35:57] will identify that, for example, there's
a spike overnight and this suggests that
[36:02] there is a leak internally. So at the
end of the day, we would that would get
[36:07] flagged in the system and then we would
contact that land owner to give them
[36:10] that information. So there are benefits
to to their side as well.
[36:16] Yep. Thank you for sharing that,
Councelor Ryan.
[36:19] Thank you very much, Mayor Dol through
you to director Pedro. Um with regard
[36:23] just a clarification for me then you
you're asking to um to increase the
[36:30] number of meters or proposing to
increase the number of meters that we're
[36:33] putting in uh this year. Um and you
mentioned about the sanitary sewer
[36:40] relining program. Are you looking at
doing one or the other or does it just
[36:45] mean that the senator soon relinigning
would be done
[36:50] um later on or what what's your what's
your
[36:53] actual because I'm not quite clear what
you were asking or saying?
[36:58] Yeah, for for sure. Uh happy to clarify.
So, because we are working with a set uh
[37:04] budget, we preemptively at the beginning
of the year allocated certain amounts
[37:09] towards each initiative. Um, we did
allocate quite a bit to sanitary main
[37:14] rellining. So, we would essentially
internally reallocate to doing phase two
[37:18] of the meters. And so, sanitary main
relining likely wouldn't be completed
[37:24] until next year at the earliest. Now,
that being said, we're making that
[37:29] decision based on the fact that we're
not quite comfortable making a decision
[37:33] on which sanitary means to do at this
time. So, a lot of that is based on the
[37:38] investigation from the camera work that
we're
[37:41] doing. Excuse me. And because we don't
have all those all of that data and all
[37:45] that footage, I don't think it'd be a
com we wouldn't be comfortable making a
[37:51] decision on which sanitary means to do
at this point.
[37:59] Okay. Supplemental then and perhaps
through to the CEO.
[38:03] Um what what would be the problem in
coming forward with uh you know budget
[38:09] adjustment if we decide to do both
things if you know we pin down our
[38:14] priorities later in the summertime with
regards to the relining and then
[38:18] continue on to add on to these
additional meters that uh director Pedro
[38:23] was suggesting. would we be looking at a
budget adjustment and what kind of um
[38:28] you know is the 700 800 meters the same
amount as the sanitary seing because I
[38:34] don't have the budget in front of me
obviously.
[38:39] Yeah. Um Adrian can comment on the exact
specifics or differentials in in the
[38:43] cost but I imagine will just be
replacing what's available in the
[38:46] relining budget with and adding that to
the meter budget. It's totally possible
[38:51] to do a budget amendment in the realm of
um what would this be? $400,000ish.
[38:57] Uh this would be about 650 650. It's
just our reserves can't handle it.
[39:02] That's what where the money would be
coming from. So I of course council can
[39:06] tell me to do what they wish, but um I
wouldn't be comfortable bringing that
[39:09] forward based on our current already
currently budgeted draw from reserves.
[39:14] So it's I would say it's one or the
other. Okay, fair enough. Uh yeah, I
[39:18] wasn't exactly sure what kind of money
we're talking about. So if we're talking
[39:20] about a $650,000 hit to the budget, that
is ouch factor to me. Um so thank you.
[39:28] Uh certainly, you know, I'll leave it in
your capable hands to decide which which
[39:33] way is to go and u if you do see a
priority of of a sewer lining that is
[39:40] really like it totally needs to be done
now, um I would imagine that you'll
[39:45] balance that all out. So thank you.
[39:52] Perfect. Go ahead. Thank
you.
[39:57] So now jumping over to our public works
group. Uh so similar to our utilities
[40:02] department, we are breaking out the key
performance indicators as per our
[40:07] business
plan. Um it is quite detailed for public
[40:12] works. Um but we are working on all of
these initiatives currently.
[40:21] and a similar work order summary. Um, as
you can see, there's a lot tied into
[40:27] other work orders or
miscellaneous. That is a general catch
[40:31] all category. We are looking to break
that down better in the future. Um, but
[40:35] they have been quite active so far in
Q2.
[40:43] Moving on to planning and
infrastructure. So a number of
[40:46] initiatives going going on currently. Um
asset
[40:50] management Lynn and the team has been
working quite diligently on this
[40:54] initiative. Um unfortunately there's a
lot of data to go through so it takes
[40:59] quite a bit of time but the team as a
whole is working well together. So we
[41:04] are going to get there. Um the nice
thing about asset management is we are
[41:08] starting to do field data collection. So
we do have the engineering summer
[41:12] student um assisting with a lot of that.
So it's nice to see that get started so
[41:17] we can feed that back into the asset
management
[41:20] system. E-mitting is progressing quite
well. Um we are on schedule to have this
[41:28] live to the public later this year. Uh
we are going to go live internally in
[41:33] June, later this June. uh for us to
start using on our own and then once we
[41:38] work out all the kinks, we'll roll that
out to the public later this year. On
[41:42] the engineering side, we are quite busy.
Uh there's a few larger developments
[41:47] that are taking up some time to review,
but however, it's good progress for the
[41:51] town.
Director Pedro, we have a question.
[41:54] Councelor Dailyy,
thank you. Mayor Doll through you to uh
[41:58] Director Pedro. Going back to your pie
chart, could you give us a bit of a
[42:02] definition of what other and
miscellaneous is and what it consists
[42:05] of? It uh seems to be quite general
there. So,
[42:10] yeah. So, the system right now will
report on the work order types that
[42:15] we've broken down. So, if there's
anything that falls outside of that, it
[42:18] would automatically kick itself to the
other or the miscellaneous. Um
[42:23] miscellaneous could be something as
simple as
[42:27] um you know they're starting to track
ordering supplies for example that would
[42:32] be under miscellaneous. Um so there it's
not any significant work orders I guess
[42:40] is the best way to describe it but we do
honestly it's it's a good point. We do
[42:45] want to get away from those
miscellaneous categories. So that's
[42:48] going to result in us creating more work
order types to better report on that
[42:53] data. But
[42:57] other is similar. So if it the system is
a little strange at this point, if it
[43:02] doesn't fit under miscellaneous, it'll
just kick it automatically to other. So
[43:05] we do need to clean that up as well.
[43:10] Councelor Wilson. Thank you. M through
to the director. Just a quick question.
[43:13] Page 32 when you talk about the ashalt
repairs. I see some zeros there. I know
[43:17] we have I believe we have some bright
new shiny equipment. This is just timing
[43:22] or are there other factors that up until
June we hadn't been able to get to any
[43:26] of those repairs and when I expect to
see then July, August, September like
[43:30] things taking off like a rocket ship or
like you?
[43:34] Uh great question and absolutely. So in
May we were sidetracked with a few other
[43:41] initiatives um and the rain didn't
necessarily help. So what the team's
[43:45] been focused on essentially up until
this point is trying to deal with
[43:50] alleys. So they've been obviously as
council have seen um lots of reporter
[43:55] problems on that. So trying to address
those issues and then we have uh part of
[44:00] the team occupied with essentially doing
some expansion to the parking lot at the
[44:05] operation center. Um now that being
said, we do expect uh actually later
[44:10] this week to start on the Asheva
repairs. So, we're going to mark those
[44:14] out, dig those out, and start doing
those internally. As far as the
[44:19] contracted ashall repairs, we are
finalizing those locations currently,
[44:24] and we plan to get those to the
contractor by the end of the week, and
[44:28] then at that point, it's based on their
schedule. However, we do have a a
[44:32] deadline for them by September 30th, I
believe. So, yeah, I I no concerns with
[44:39] it actually being completed.
[44:45] Perfect. Okay, moving
[44:49] on. Getting into our planning and
development approval timelines. Um, as
[44:54] council will see valuation wise, we are
um a lot higher than last year. There's
[45:01] some larger projects that are factoring
into that. Uh from a processing approval
[45:07] timeline, I think we're looking fairly
good at five and three days
[45:12] respectively. Nothing has come to
council in Q2 and hence the
[45:20] zero. And getting into building permit
statistics, so we are on track to have a
[45:27] higher valuation in 2025 than 2024.
Um housing starts are are also if
[45:34] mathematically slightly down than 2024.
However, I expect that this will be
[45:40] higher by towards the end of the
[45:46] year. And development permits uh similar
commentary. So we did have one large or
[45:53] sorry two large permits that have
increased the DP values there. So it is
[45:58] quite a high number compared to
2024. Um however I think both from a
[46:04] building per perspective and development
per perspective it is a good sign that
[46:08] there is growth in the community and
we're seeing the effects of
[46:15] that. And just giving council an update
on the spring cleanup initiatives. So we
[46:20] did have our popup transfer station and
branch
[46:24] dump and grass clippings for the month
of May. Um, the interesting thing we're
[46:28] seeing for the pop-up transfer station
is that there was less use this year.
[46:33] Um, so we don't have the tonnages yet
for the household waste or the hazardous
[46:40] waste yet. Um, but numerically it was
down quite a bit. So 119 last year
[46:47] versus 88 this year. Um, so what I think
we'll do later this year is we'll really
[46:52] assess the effectiveness of the program
and if there's changes and if it does
[46:56] make sense for us to continue in this
capacity. But all in all, the people
[47:01] that did use it, I think we're quite
appreciative of
[47:08] it. And on the health and safety side,
we've only had two incidents in Q2. Uh,
[47:15] both were relatively minor.
[47:20] looking forward. So, we are going to be
continuing a lot of what we're already
[47:25] doing. Um, public works, as councelor
Wilson alluded to, ashvalt and concrete
[47:30] repair programs are going to be ongoing
and internal hot mix repairs will also
[47:36] be on starting soon. On the planning and
infrastructure side, we are going to
[47:42] continue with our root patrol. So that's
what I mentioned earlier that we're
[47:45] using on the asset management side to go
out identify infrastructure and identify
[47:50] deficiencies on that infrastructure. So
excited
[47:55] there and we I'm at the end. Happy to
take any questions. Yes, you are at the
[48:00] end. You're we're looking
ahead. No further questions from
[48:05] council. I see. Yes, councelor Wilson.
Thank you, Mol. And perhaps through you
[48:09] to the CEO. One of the things I'm
passionate about is uh third party
[48:13] utility rate analysis. We know amongst a
few things these days uh water water
[48:19] rates are a hot button topic with our
residents. Um I've made the reference
[48:24] going back a couple years when I was on
the water commission that water is fast
[48:28] becoming like gold. We know those rates
are just going to go up. You have an
[48:31] aging plant in Inisville,
etc., etc.
[48:35] We've got some good information here,
uh, balanced with some information that
[48:39] says we still have a little bit more
work to do, i.e. with meter replacement
[48:42] and everything else. Essentially, my
question is, are we close? At what point
[48:46] does the CEO think we'll be in a
position to do a excuse me,
[48:52] comprehensive third party uh, utility
rate analysis, which I think would be
[48:57] very beneficial for our residents, help
answer maybe some questions, and
[49:00] probably help us going forward with our
budgets. Thanks.
[49:06] Good question. It's something that Dr.
Pedro and I have spoken of fairly
[49:10] recently. So perhaps Adrian, I'll let
you take a stab at this and I if it's a
[49:14] really good idea, I'll agree with you
and then uh not we'll we'll move on. For
[49:20] sure. Um I think in in principle uh rate
reviews are a good idea. Uh typically we
[49:27] would like to see them done every 3 to 5
years and as I'm I'm sure you're aware
[49:32] they're quite involved. So we do look at
everything from you know fixed rate
[49:36] versus variable rates. What are what are
our costs? Um we do try and fund
[49:43] utilities to utility rates to pay for
the utility costs themselves as well as
[49:48] maintaining those utilities. Um and I
don't believe one has a comprehensive
[49:53] review has been done in the town
recently. So I think it's likely due.
[49:58] Um, however, it is a bit of a it's a
timeconsuming undertaking. So, depending
[50:04] on timing, I suppose we could start it
at some point this year. Um, it does
[50:09] take some time. That being said, I I
would be curious to determine what what
[50:15] the goal is, I guess, based on kind of
your your comment earlier. So, are we
[50:20] looking to see whether we're too low or
too high or just some feedback there?
[50:27] I I think yeah, as to whether we're too
low or too high, I'm not sure. I do know
[50:33] a lot of questions from
residents around our rates. And so I
[50:37] guess to that point, maybe that is the
answer. Residents feel our rates are
[50:40] high. Um and yeah, it'd be interesting
to see like you referenced the fixed
[50:46] versus variable analysis and split
there. I think it would just go a long
[50:50] way to helping our residents u
understand the rates that we have. um
[50:56] perhaps justify them um and maybe we
find that there's dare I say our rates
[51:03] should be higher. I don't know. Don't
put that in the paper. But
[51:07] um you know it would be a justification
I think and a good analysis around a v
[51:11] variety of areas to help uh satisfy
residents around where are our rates are
[51:18] we comparable and why are they set at
the rate they are.
[51:25] you. We have uh Deputy Mayor Blatz and
then Councelor Cummings. Uh thank you,
[51:31] Mayor Dolan, through you to either Se
Williams or Director Pedro. Going a
[51:36] little further along with what councelor
Wilson has has asked for during this
[51:40] analysis or during this third party
review, would they be able to to
[51:44] determine whether all other utility
companies are 100% cost recovery as we
[51:50] are or would it determine if some of
those other
[51:54] um towns or municipalities are
supplementing with the tax with their
[51:59] taxes? So would that study incorporate
that or is that a question we can ask of
[52:06] the the study?
Yep, absolutely. That could be included
[52:11] in in the scope. Normally they would
look at comparators on a high level, but
[52:15] to get into that detail is certainly
pertinent. Well, I think that would be
[52:19] more valuable because I know it's very
hard for us to justify because we're
[52:23] 100% cost recovery whereas I can't tell
you whether or not Inisville or you know
[52:29] Bowden or or Lome supplement the utility
use with their taxes.
[52:36] Absolutely. Yeah. And I'll I'll add to
that as well. Um, not not that I have
[52:43] done one personally, but the ones I've
read, I've never seen a rate reduction
[52:47] recommended. Whether it's the city of
Calgary last summer and the water main
[52:51] break that was um, Shawn there or what
we're dealing with here or anywhere I
[52:57] think in Canada, dare you say, local
governments are dealing with decades of
[53:01] infrastructure deficits pushed to the
current day where you have critical
[53:05] systems failing. So even cost recovery,
I believe we're we're close to cost
[53:08] recovery on the operating of a utility
system. We are woefully underfunding the
[53:13] capital replacement. So
um when you ask a consultant, the
[53:18] consultant will do what you want the
consultant to do in such a report. If
[53:21] council wants to recommendation on let's
say cost recovery in terms of capital
[53:27] renewal expenses, that is a precipitous
increase in in rates. But for the
[53:33] operating, I think that's a very
valuable exercise just to ensure that
[53:37] our own budget matches with our own rate
model in terms of operating the system
[53:42] and council can decide based on your
larger conversation around a reserve
[53:46] strategy and taxation and other revenue
uh what the comfort level is. So,
[53:53] councelor Cummings.
Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just a couple of
[53:58] questions on the development permit
building permit process because I'm
[54:01] often
interested more in the timeline of how
[54:05] that process works. If we look at the
2024 development stats, there's a large
[54:11] dwelling, multiple unit dwelling that
was approved in May, which I believe is
[54:15] the apartment building that's going
behind A&W. And then we look almost a
[54:19] year later at the building permits. Um,
sorry, later that year in August,
[54:24] another large building permit was
issued, which I can only assume was that
[54:30] building. And correct me if I'm not
mistaken, building permits have a
[54:34] one-year expiry rate. So when we issue a
building permit, they have one year to
[54:39] complete or is it one year to start? I'm
not too sure how that works. And how
[54:45] there obviously if it was issued in
August of last year and hasn't started
[54:49] construction yet, it's not going to get
done by August of this year. how hard or
[54:55] how difficult it would it be for the
developers to get extensions on those
[54:58] timelines to ensure that there's no real
delay in the process of constructing the
[55:02] building once it's started.
Yeah. Uh fair question.
[55:08] Um so for the development permit and
building permit there's a year. So
[55:13] there's a timeline attached to both.
That being said, we do issue extensions
[55:17] all the time. So it's not hard.
Generally you try to limit the amount of
[55:22] extensions. Um, but it is common
practice.
[55:29] Thank you very
much. Oh, is it supplemental? Go ahead.
[55:34] We'll go with council companies and then
back to councelor Wilson. I'm learning
[55:38] supplementaries from councelor Wilson.
So, uh, can you just explain what a
[55:43] negative one building permit means
because I've never seen a negative in
[55:46] the building permits before and that
kind of threw me for a loop.
[55:55] That's a great question. I was hoping
someone would catch that. Um, so
[55:59] essentially what happened, there's one
property that went from a dup being a
[56:02] duplex to a single family home. So,
hence the negative one.
[56:10] Ahead, councelor Wilson. Thank you,
Mayor Don. Threw you to the CEO. Just a
[56:13] short snap question here. Uh,
supplemental to the utility rate
[56:17] analysis. Just want to make sure I
understand. So um one of the things I
[56:22] was conscious of relative to a rate
analysis we want to achieve some level
[56:25] of stability in our operation and and we
are having progress uh which is great
[56:31] but so I just want to make sure I
understand. So there there would be
[56:34] nothing to stop us from proceeding with
the utility rate analysis perhaps in the
[56:39] second half of this year other than
maybe some budgeted funds to which I
[56:44] could initiate a GoFundMe page I guess
to try and pay for that.
[56:50] I have a 20 actually I I'll be the first
one. Um technically you're correct but
[56:56] as we discussed on this topic before um
our
[56:59] current utility rates they do factor in
the water loss and INI costs which I
[57:05] have ballparked in the past between 20
and 25% of the overall rates we charge.
[57:10] Um it's I just see that as as skewing
whatever analysis is done until that's
[57:16] more under control. But if council's
comfortable, let's I would say budget
[57:20] 2026 is the is the best time instead of
right now um with the progress being
[57:26] achieved then sure I would I would
totally support that. The other thing
[57:31] that adds to it um olds is one of the
you know growing list but still not in
[57:37] the majority. We're on service
commissions at both end of water and
[57:41] wastewater. Both of those commissions
have some substantial challenges. um
[57:46] water with the water commission with
obviously uh decaying infrastructure and
[57:50] the the significant rate increases we've
seen the last at least in this year and
[57:55] SRD the wastewater commission with you
know what has been in the paper and
[57:59] they're trying to figure out their $250
million capital liability. Um so we
[58:07] don't have a clear picture of anything
outside of our fence. So that that's
[58:11] another thing council to be aware of
that though we're very we're at the
[58:13] whims of those the health of those
commissions unlike you know missalis to
[58:19] our immediate south that have lagoon
systems where I ini is not that big of
[58:23] an issue for them because they discharge
into a pond whereas we send ours to
[58:27] redear it's and their capital
obligations are very different than
[58:31] ours. So, probably a bit longwinded, but
what
[58:36] is up to
council to determine when to pull that
[58:40] trigger and I think we're getting close
to that point. Sure.
[58:46] Councelor Ryan.
Thank you, Mal through you to uh
[58:51] director Peter. Um I was just wondering
uh this is just a comment, not a
[58:55] question really, but on the water loss
at Ali, you've got 2025. I was wondering
[59:01] could we um could we get that stat done
for 2024 as a comparison because that
[59:07] would really show us you know I know
you're showing the charts later on but
[59:11] not the dollar value. So, it'd be really
interesting to see if you have the stats
[59:15] available to see a 2024 comparison for
January, February, March, April, because
[59:20] then you would really get a really clear
picture of how we're doing and all the
[59:25] processes that we're what what we're
doing in our utilities area um and in
[59:31] addressing this issue because it is a
costly issue for our community and it
[59:36] would be really interested to see the
the stats in comparison if that's
[59:40] possible. Just a comment. Yeah. Uh for
for sure we do track all of that
[59:45] information. Uh just for clarity, so are
we seeing on this chart to provide 2024
[59:54] and
2025 for cubic meters and percentage and
[59:58] dollar value? Well, I'd like to see all
three things that you're tracking here.
[1:00:02] Your your meters squared and your
percentage and or it's not squared, but
[1:00:06] three uh and your dollar value. if all
of that can be duplicated to show the
[1:00:11] 2024 what we had in those months, you
know, so that your next report would
[1:00:16] include your May, June, July, maybe
August, depending on when you're doing
[1:00:19] your report. We would be able to see in
comparison to
[1:00:24] 2024, what was it in those areas?
Because that way we would get a true
[1:00:29] picture of how our what we're doing is
mitigating this uh this issue.
[1:00:37] For sure. Yeah, we can show it that way.
That's a good suggestion. Yeah. Any
[1:00:42] mayor?
No, he director Pedro basically answered
[1:00:47] what I was going to suggest that if even
if we didn't do it month by month, if we
[1:00:52] had the entire year that showed each
month on the bottom, such as we do with
[1:00:56] the bu the development and the building
permits, that might be useful to
[1:00:59] council, too, if you can't break it out
month by month.
[1:01:05] Sorry. whatever way is is workable. I
mean, I don't know what your stats are
[1:01:09] available if you could just pull them up
or not, but it would be really good
[1:01:13] compar to see a comparison.
Very good. I think everyone's had their
[1:01:19] round of questions with you. Did you
have a closing comment at all, Director
[1:01:24] Pedo Prager? Very good. Thank you very
much for your time and I'd entertain a
[1:01:28] motion. Councelor Dailyaly. Thank you,
Mayor D. I move that council accepts the
[1:01:33] infrastructure services quarterly report
as presented for information.
[1:01:39] Thank you. I will then call for the
vote. Those in favor? That is
[1:01:44] carried. Once again,
thanks. We'll move right along now to
[1:01:51] item 5A, please. Page 41 of your agenda,
Mountain View Seniors Housing
[1:01:55] Sponsorship Request. It's in your
package. You've read it. And so I will
[1:02:01] go straight to the
motion. Yes, I'll go with Deputy Mayor.
[1:02:06] Thank you, Mayor Doll. I move that
council approve a one-time sponsorship
[1:02:09] in the amount of $2,000 for the 2025
15th annual Golf Classic in support of
[1:02:14] Mountain View Seniors
[1:02:18] Housing. Thank you, Deputy Mayor Blat.
Does council have any questions with
[1:02:22] regards to the
[1:02:26] motion? Seeing none, then I'll call the
vote. Those in favor that is
[1:02:34] carried. The information sharing was
wonderful. So, and it's a good cause.
[1:02:39] And we're moving down to page 52 now of
the
[1:02:43] agenda. 6A correspondence and
information. We have one correspondence
[1:02:50] and we information. This is the Canadian
Association of M Municipal
[1:02:55] Administrators and our very own CEO, Mr.
Brent Williams, got a long service
[1:03:03] recognition award and I would ask if all
council could meet and we are going to
[1:03:08] get a photo with CO Williams and I
believe Shila's asked
[1:03:15] for communications to come in. So, if we
could just where would you like us to
[1:03:19] stand? In front of the flags or at the
back? Madame Mayor, would it be better
[1:03:25] to do that at the end of the meeting? We
can just plow through the last couple of
[1:03:28] items and then do the photo together
after the meeting. Thank we can
[1:03:32] certainly do that. All right. Does
anybody have any questions then to the
[1:03:38] correspondence? I'd like a motion,
please. Councelor Wilson. Thank you,
[1:03:44] Mayor Doll. I make the motion that the
correspondence and information report
[1:03:47] ending June 9th, 2025 be received for
information.
[1:03:52] Thank you. I will now call for the
motion or for the votes. Sorry. Those in
[1:03:58] favor? That's carried. We'll move down
to page
[1:04:05] 54. And this is our CEO Williams chief
administrative officer report.
[1:04:13] Thank you, Mayor Dal. Two items in the
report and just one brief verbal update.
[1:04:18] So, report a problem data from the last
30 days is highlighted here. Um, as you
[1:04:27] can see, parks has become the highest
one largely due to the naturalization
[1:04:33] concerns shown by residents. And to
parse that out a bit more, we went
[1:04:37] through the um well 39 total parks
complaints. I believe um 207 or 28 of
[1:04:45] those were naturalization related from
21
[1:04:50] individuals concerned about
naturalization and then what you heard
[1:04:53] from people at your coffee with council
session last week. Outside of that, back
[1:04:58] alleys are also um coming up there. this
time of year we have um we have a
[1:05:04] deficiency there in terms of a lot of
the drainage concerns and certainly
[1:05:08] gravel cover. So our grading crew which
consists of a grader and a loader are
[1:05:13] working on that the last few weeks and
even so
[1:05:17] today. Um outside of that general road
issues and sidewalk issues which
[1:05:21] hopefully be helped be mitigated with
the 2025 respective programs. On the
[1:05:26] action items list the only two items on
there are the outstanding notice of
[1:05:29] motions. the one for the animal shelter
due at the end of this month and then
[1:05:33] the policy on ASP and ARP reviews which
will should be due July community the
[1:05:39] whole no issues forthcoming there and
just a brief verbal update regarding the
[1:05:44] olds fire department. You may have seen
on Facebook or from the updates I sent
[1:05:47] you that we have been a part of
now three deployments. The most recent
[1:05:52] one happening over the weekend where we
sent one of our um chiefs up to the
[1:05:57] Grand Prairie area. And kudos to the
fire department for always helping out
[1:06:02] in these times of need across the
province. But to tie it back into
[1:06:06] council advocacy perhaps
um fire in
[1:06:11] general, I think it's been almost 10
years, nine years since the Fort
[1:06:15] McMurray wildfire, which kicked off, I
think, nine consecutive years of
[1:06:19] significant wildfire issues in Alberta.
The province is still relying heavily on
[1:06:23] municipalities to provide these
services, oftentimes very far from their
[1:06:29] home municipality, stretching their own
coverage. Um, and obviously we're happy
[1:06:34] to help, but the lack of investment in
wildfire and firefighting capacity of
[1:06:39] the province is is somewhat concerning
that uh it's stretching municipal
[1:06:43] resources or relying so heavily on
there. At the same time, the province is
[1:06:49] cutting our capital funding, which we
use to buy things like firet trucks and
[1:06:53] fire suppression equipment. At the same
time is asking us to do more. And at the
[1:06:58] same time, they actually reduced the the
reimbursement rate they pay for fire
[1:07:02] trucks about three years ago to go help
from uh what we call the Alberta
[1:07:06] transportation rate. They established a
new uh wildfire uh mutual aid or
[1:07:12] deployment rate, which is roughly 50% of
what it once was.
[1:07:16] Um then the secondary issue which is not
related to that is the ongoing EMS
[1:07:22] ambulance issues where our fire
department is responding to fortunately
[1:07:26] not a significant increase but a growing
consistent increase in medical responses
[1:07:31] again something that they're trained to
do and we're happy to do it but it's not
[1:07:35] municipality's job to deliver health
care services and that's becoming more
[1:07:39] and more commonplace in old and
certainly across the province.
[1:07:45] without any reimbursement whatsoever. So
that's on property tax dollars because
[1:07:50] of ambulance shortages. So it's
something to for council to be aware of
[1:07:53] and perhaps should you see fit to
discuss how it fits into advocacy
[1:07:58] priorities with the upcoming uh
corporate plan review and what have you.
[1:08:02] And with that my report is complete.
Thank you. Deputy mayor question. Yes.
[1:08:07] It's sort of a question comment
combined. Um, going back to our reporter
[1:08:11] problem and with the naturalization, I
was wondering if it would be um with
[1:08:16] council's approval perhaps that this
naturalization comes back to our June
[1:08:21] 23rd council meeting for a full
discussion on it that the public can be
[1:08:25] aware of the decisions and how and how
they were how they came about. You all
[1:08:30] know my feelings on naturalization as
I'm one of the areas affected, but I do
[1:08:35] believe that we should have had a
better, more wholesome discussion with
[1:08:39] our residents and in hindsight 50/50 and
council that that aligns with council's
[1:08:44] strategic plan where we promise to
communicate and engage with our citizens
[1:08:49] and I believe we could have done a much
better job as council. So therefore, I
[1:08:53] ask that maybe council would agree to
having this come back to our June 23rd
[1:08:59] meeting.
Deputy mayor, I'll open the floor for
[1:09:04] any comments from
council. Councelor Wilson. Thank you,
[1:09:09] Mayor D. Yeah, I just I certainly
support the initiative. I think we owe
[1:09:13] it to our residents. We certainly heard
loud and clear at the June 5th um coffee
[1:09:18] with council. It was one of the better
attended sessions we've had and a very
[1:09:23] passionate topic. So I think we owe it
to our residents um if in fact we do
[1:09:28] have a discussion towards the end of
June some get something out to the
[1:09:33] residents uh as to the plan going
forward staying the course if it's going
[1:09:38] to change what does that change look
like? So I certainly support the u the
[1:09:42] request for a meeting sooner than later.
Excuse me.
[1:09:48] Thank you, councelor Daly.
Thank you, Mayor Doll. And I I agree
[1:09:52] that um we should have a more wholesome
discussion on the naturalization, but I
[1:09:57] I also am wondering when and where would
we do like an openhouse information
[1:10:03] session with the public because I heard
that loud and clear the other night as
[1:10:07] well is that they they want this
information and they would like to have
[1:10:12] their input on this information as well.
So, I'm just thinking aloud here where
[1:10:17] where, how, and why all this is going to
fit together.
[1:10:21] Well, I believe councelor Daly that if
we had this discussion on June 23rd,
[1:10:25] then we could determine that and that
would give administration time to bring
[1:10:29] this back to us with some information
and then therefore we can put it out and
[1:10:34] determine from there because I know we
are going to discuss it again at our
[1:10:37] July service level review. I think that
we need to get something out sooner than
[1:10:41] later to our residents, particularly
those that are affected directly by the
[1:10:46] naturalization and to make other
residents aware of of what the plan is
[1:10:51] and how we are going to roll this plan
out.
[1:10:55] Well, yeah, and I agree 100% with you,
but also what I heard at the coffee with
[1:11:00] council was they want input. And so I
don't think that us discussing this
[1:11:06] without their input first is going to
resolve the problem. I think we need to
[1:11:12] um you know build a plan with their
input as well. No, I understand what
[1:11:17] you're saying, but I'm saying we could
get the information to come back to us.
[1:11:21] Hopefully the media could pick up on
some of this as well. Make it aware that
[1:11:26] we have listened to our residents that
we are cons hearing their concerns and
[1:11:30] comments and that we are going to plan
something for them to be involved with
[1:11:35] is what I want you to be the initial
step.
[1:11:38] Thank you councelor Cummies. Thank you.
Thank you madame mayor. Uh, I'd be happy
[1:11:43] to have a conversation about all of this
as well because it it makes sense coming
[1:11:48] up to a service level review to adjust
our service levels as necessary because
[1:11:53] when we talk service levels, we also
talk cost. And what I've responded to a
[1:11:57] lot of citizens who complain about the
dandelions is very simple. Because we've
[1:12:01] neglected other things for decades,
we're now neglecting dandelions to fix
[1:12:06] our water and sewer and other more
important things than dandelions. And if
[1:12:11] we have a wholesome discussion about
this like everybody's asking the
[1:12:14] realities have to be placed out as well
as how many percentage points of
[1:12:19] increase in tax rate will have to occur
to challenge the dandelion infestation
[1:12:25] in our community and this natural
nationalization thing. A process has to
[1:12:31] be developed first though before we
could just do one thing or the other.
[1:12:35] That's when administration comes back at
the next regular council meeting with a
[1:12:38] proposal on what process they would
recommend for us to follow to get
[1:12:42] everybody's input that's needed so we
can have a correct conversation during
[1:12:47] service level and we can make budget
adjustments as necessary. Unfortunately,
[1:12:51] we can't increase our tax rate until
next year, right? So the where's the
[1:12:56] money going to come from has to be a
major topic at any sort of discussions
[1:13:00] we have and what other programs we're
going to stop spending money on in order
[1:13:05] to tackle the
dandelions. That that that is the
[1:13:09] reality of a discussion like that.
That's why we made that decision in the
[1:13:12] first place to do naturalization because
we had that discussion at this council
[1:13:17] table and we agreed in the budget to
change the service level to include
[1:13:22] naturalization because of the budget
constraints that we're having and the
[1:13:26] conversation I heard around this table
is we can't raise a tax rate any higher
[1:13:30] than we did. So we had to cut services
and dandelions were one of those
[1:13:34] services. So just a reminder to
everybody, we've had this conversation.
[1:13:38] Regardless of how many people complain
about that conversation, they have to
[1:13:42] fully understand the opposite side of
the conversation. And again, I don't
[1:13:46] want to start stark a debate here. I
just want to make sure administration
[1:13:50] knows all of the topics that will have
to come back at the next meeting so that
[1:13:53] we can have the proper discussion moving
forward. I don't want to have a debate
[1:13:57] here. This back and forth, I've had my
say.
[1:14:02] Thank you.
Well, I feel
[1:14:06] um I enjoy the conversations we just had
around the con the table. We're all a
[1:14:10] well um other than yourself that was at
uh on vacation in a way physically and
[1:14:17] verbally live what everybody had to
say at the uh at the I'm going to say
[1:14:25] table, however we were standing up and
and having a good engagement. Um, so I I
[1:14:32] see and hear what you're saying,
councelor Cummings, about the idea of
[1:14:38] handing this to to our CEO and having
them come up with something for the next
[1:14:42] meeting. But I do understand that um
what uh Deputy Mayor Blatz is saying. Um
[1:14:49] we all received information. I am sure
because typically I don't really receive
[1:14:56] a lot of information and feedback um
from a lot of these types of issues.
[1:15:01] However, I received several and some
pretty deep ones where people actually
[1:15:07] did mathematical figures on the use of
dandelines and um I shared it with our
[1:15:14] CEO and we have incoming information
coming all the time. So I really feel
[1:15:20] that if we're if we're asking everybody
to forward it to report a problem as our
[1:15:27] CEO just shared with us that he's got so
many reports that I've received already.
[1:15:32] I've added probably about three more
today. Um and if we continue that our
[1:15:38] CEO will have something to work with for
us to talk about at at a meeting in
[1:15:43] June. Um that's just my thoughts. Um
it's ongoing. It seems to be everywhere.
[1:15:48] If you're riding your bike or walking,
we're still getting it. And then we'll
[1:15:52] be well prepared. I believe it was
councelor Ryan and then back to
[1:15:56] councelor Wilson. Oh, thank you very
much, Mayor Dolan. I uh I I do find that
[1:16:01] there's a need for this to come back
certainly for further discussion.
[1:16:06] Um, you know, some of the questions that
I had received at Coffee with Council
[1:16:12] included comments about dandelions,
noxious weeds, um, u mosquitoes, believe
[1:16:18] it or not,
uh, being being more in the in the
[1:16:22] taller taller grasses. Um, I think more
a clearer picture of the process of how
[1:16:30] uh naturalization occurs is probably
what the community really needs. Um,
[1:16:36] certainly when you take a look at um
I've I've been doing a lot of reading on
[1:16:41] this lately. I I before coffee with
council I was I was obviously in in
[1:16:46] Ottawa and I missed a lot of Facebook
postings and didn't get any phone calls
[1:16:50] about it. But um I did do a lot of
reading about this so far and it does
[1:16:55] take a year or two for naturalization to
actually take a hold and actually look
[1:17:00] good. And they do say the first couple
years it's going to not look good. And
[1:17:05] certainly uh director Le Point when he
presented this uh also said to us that
[1:17:10] that very thing. So sometimes a lot of
this will have to be you know
[1:17:15] communication with our public. I I think
really what we what we lacked was the
[1:17:20] was going out and saying, you know, what
the process is going to be and certainly
[1:17:25] telling our public that yeah, it's not
going to look nice in the first couple
[1:17:29] years, but it's going to look great
later on. And um that's how I feel like
[1:17:34] one from what I've read that's that's
what I've learned. Um and maybe we
[1:17:39] jumped in this really quickly uh with
too many properties. uh may have should
[1:17:44] have been a smaller pilot project um to
begin with, but I mean it's certainly
[1:17:49] something we can debate and and have a
conversation with um in June 23rd at our
[1:17:54] next meeting. So, I'm in favor of
bringing this back.
[1:17:58] Yes, Councelor Wilson. Thank you, M.
Yeah, just my brief comments I and I
[1:18:01] agree with Councelor Cummings. I don't
think this is the time and the place for
[1:18:04] the debate other than state some
opinions. And my last words before we
[1:18:09] get into the uh the debate and
discussion down the road is one I think
[1:18:15] we owe it to ourselves and our certainly
our citizens to take their feedback. Uh
[1:18:20] CEO referenced I'm not sure 27 or 28
raps on naturalization from 21
[1:18:26] individuals. Clearly the people are
speaking. Um there's a passion there's
[1:18:29] an emotion out there. We owe it to them
to give them to acknowledge that
[1:18:33] feedback. And what are we going to do?
Whether it's as councelor Cummings said,
[1:18:37] we all had this discussion and we stay
the course or are we going to adjust?
[1:18:42] There's nothing wrong with taking the
feedback and adjusting the plan and its
[1:18:46] execution. And uh again, I'm not going
to debate it, but I always hear well,
[1:18:51] you know, if we're going to respond to
it, there's more tax increase. Well,
[1:18:54] there is another discussion. We all know
uh we're up against the wall physically,
[1:19:00] and I use the, you know, physically as
an Fiscal Ly. uh as far as our
[1:19:04] resources, but what can we trade off? Is
that even an option? So before we start
[1:19:10] talking about incremental tax, let's
also talk about what the trade-offs and
[1:19:13] the rep prioritizations are knowing that
there isn't much wiggle room that we
[1:19:18] have. So,
and also there's the passionate side of
[1:19:21] the people and there were some very very
passionate people at the coffee with
[1:19:26] council session at the farmers market
and and I do understand
[1:19:33] um the biggest question that the most
passionate people had is how did you
[1:19:39] determine the sites and that is
something that I really couldn't answer.
[1:19:45] So, it is it does need a further
discussion. And I'll take one more
[1:19:48] question. Councelor Ryan,
I have a comment um that is not related
[1:19:53] to that um with regards to the CEO's
um verbal report on the firefighters uh
[1:20:01] situation. So um but before we move on,
I was going to ask Deputy Mayor Blast if
[1:20:07] she wanted to make a motion for that to
come back to the council meeting for
[1:20:10] June 23rd as a separate motion. Would
you? Um so we can put that a park that
[1:20:17] aside but um I just have a comment with
regards to the wildfires if that's okay.
[1:20:22] Um this is a this is a I agree totally
with what uh what C Williams had
[1:20:28] mentioned with regards to uh the lack of
investment um in the wildfires and I
[1:20:35] think the province is moving towards uh
looking at this because there has been a
[1:20:40] report from RMA did a report uh in
conjunction with the Alberta
[1:20:45] municipalities and they had a lot of
input there's been um a group of but it
[1:20:51] was established has been established
with firefighters uh from different
[1:20:56] communities uh to to to further
investigate the wildfire situation and
[1:21:01] create a man sort of a management board
of some kind. Um so I'm not sure whether
[1:21:06] or not that and I've read that report
but I it was a couple of months ago and
[1:21:11] uh it certainly came to our
infrastructure committee at the Alberta
[1:21:15] Muny's um
um level I suppose you want to say. Um,
[1:21:20] so I think that there is some movement
towards that. But I I do agree with what
[1:21:25] you've said there, um, CEO Williams,
with regards to, you know, the the
[1:21:29] cutting back, the reducing of the
capital funding to our communities at a
[1:21:34] time when we are fighting wildfires. Um,
and we do need equipment. Uh, this is
[1:21:39] the time to invest in our communities as
opposed to cutting back. And certainly,
[1:21:43] I also agree with you with regards to
the EMS responses as well. And I think
[1:21:49] um both of those have had resolutions
that have gone at Alberta Munis and
[1:21:53] certainly um you know if we those are
always things that I can bring back to
[1:21:58] the Alberta municipalities
infrastructure committee at our next
[1:22:01] meeting to uh we we follow and we track
all the resolutions that have been made
[1:22:06] and um those and we look at what our
outcomes have been. So it's a it's
[1:22:11] really well tracked and so something
that I can also bring up at our next
[1:22:16] board meeting. Thanks.
You're welcome. Uh, Deputy Mayor Blatz.
[1:22:21] Thank you, Mayor Dolan. My comment is
also relates to um sending our
[1:22:25] firefighters to remote areas. I think
one thing that many of our residents
[1:22:29] don't understand or realize that when
these individuals volunteer to go ahead,
[1:22:33] they're usually taking their own time or
vacation time from their job. And I
[1:22:37] think that that is um something that our
residents need to be aware and realize
[1:22:42] that you know they make a big commitment
not only to our own fire department but
[1:22:47] to another community. And I think that
uh you know thanks to those individuals
[1:22:51] who have gone so far um this year and
we'll probably be going more and more
[1:22:56] often.
[1:23:00] Yes. And to councelor Ryan's comment,
the um RMA did release the wildfire
[1:23:05] working group report in January of this
year. It was an RMA led initiative. It
[1:23:10] did have some input from provincial
representatives and um largely a lot of
[1:23:16] the key recommendations came down to you
know funding more providing more
[1:23:19] resources for training for personnel and
for equipment and uh I think the
[1:23:24] certainly did a great job of framing the
issue. It's just whether the province
[1:23:27] acts on it because obviously
when when 360 municipalities are there
[1:23:34] or a percentage of that is able to
provide a backs stop it it's probably a
[1:23:37] cheaper option but we're feeling the
crunch with the cost of our fire
[1:23:41] apparatus which have doubled in the last
5 years and running a fire department
[1:23:46] without even responding to a call is a
very expensive proposition that I think
[1:23:51] the province took a holistic view of how
we fund fire services and these
[1:23:55] deployments it would help everyone out.
[1:24:00] Okay. Is there any further questions to
this uh item we're speaking to?
[1:24:08] Councelor Wilson. Thank you, Mal. I I
have a question, but not specific to
[1:24:12] naturalization or anything. So, if I
allow a little bit of latitude and at
[1:24:15] the appropriate time, I would like to
ask a question of the CEO. This is the
[1:24:18] CEO report. Please do.
Thank you. So, as I said, it doesn't
[1:24:23] relate directly to the CRO report, but I
would like to based on some feedback
[1:24:27] I've received in the community, not
related to naturalization. The CEO could
[1:24:31] just comment. So, I think in May we went
down a path of enforcing the temporary
[1:24:35] sign bylaw. Um, which is fine. We have
the bylaw, we enforce it. Um, I'm just
[1:24:42] wondering kind of two questions. Was
there anything in particular that drove
[1:24:47] that enforcement, that decision to to
enforce the bylaw that's there? And
[1:24:52] equally, if not more important, what can
businesses, individuals in town do?
[1:24:57] What's the best way to convey their um
their thoughts, their feelings, the
[1:25:00] impact this would have on their business
with the temporary sign bylaw? Is that
[1:25:06] the LUB engagement that land use bylaw
engagement that's going to be coming up
[1:25:09] or something else? Thank you.
Right. Uh, so some background if you're
[1:25:15] unsure what council Wilson speaking of,
some letters were issued earlier this
[1:25:18] spring to um businesses mainly along um
highway 27 that had temporary signs in
[1:25:25] place. If you're aware of schedule D of
the land use bylaw deals with temporary
[1:25:30] signage and it's I believe there's a
period of let's say 90 days if I had to
[1:25:34] pick something that you may have a
temporary sign erected a commercial
[1:25:38] property. So, what drove that outside of
us just enforcing council's bylaw, the
[1:25:42] rules you give us, we tend to enforce
them as best we can. Um, when people
[1:25:47] apply for temporary signage, uh, we've
been, um, temporary beyond the 90 days.
[1:25:53] We've been denying them that because
they were applied more for permanent
[1:25:57] signage, which goes against council's
um, land use bylaw. But then they
[1:26:01] brought up correctly. So, well, why does
so and so business and this business and
[1:26:05] that business have these signs here that
have been there for, you know, many
[1:26:07] years? And we said, "Good point." So we
started investigating and found that,
[1:26:12] you know, a lot of these signs that are
movable in nature, temporary billboards
[1:26:17] are the best example, in fact went
against council's land use bylaw. But
[1:26:21] there was so there has been um a lot of
feedback given. What we have decided to
[1:26:27] do administratively is to hold off on
enforcement actions until December 1st
[1:26:32] is our current tentative date in this
which case bylaw review which is going
[1:26:37] to kick off officially with council on
June 23rd and then um initially in early
[1:26:44] July in time for your your second coffee
with council session on July 10th and
[1:26:49] throughout the summer led by the
consultant. Um that will be an
[1:26:53] opportunity for the entire land use
bylaw to be engaged upon of which
[1:26:58] schedule D temporary signage is part of
that to review. Um so is there anything
[1:27:04] um and so those those people those
complaintants have been told December
[1:27:07] 1st is is now kind of our our date until
we push things after the review. um and
[1:27:13] council can decide at at the time when
the land use bylaw is coming to you for
[1:27:17] um first, second, and finally third
reading whether that schedule meets its
[1:27:22] intent. And I'm assuming it's a balance
act. You don't want Highway 27 that look
[1:27:25] like a cheap Las Vegas um billboard
club, but also you want to make sure
[1:27:30] businesses are, you know, we we're
understanding that a lot of businesses
[1:27:34] that are financial strain and can't
afford maybe um expensive signs or
[1:27:37] permanent signage and what that balance
looks like. But right now, we are
[1:27:41] enforcing the rules that council has in
the bylaw, but the bylaw is 25 years old
[1:27:45] and hasn't been reviewed since that
time. So, I think it's opportunity if
[1:27:49] nothing else.
Go ahead, councelor Wilson. Thank you.
[1:27:53] I'll be very brief. I I thank
administration for that concession, that
[1:27:57] pause, because I did I haven't had a lot
of businesses, but I have had three
[1:28:00] businesses in the last month talk to me
about the implications of enforcing that
[1:28:04] bylaw and what it does to them because
the existing temporary sign is very
[1:28:08] coste effective for the businesses to
advertise. So, I I appreciate the
[1:28:12] leniency there and for sure we'll look
forward to the le discussion. Thanks.
[1:28:18] Very good. Is there any more questions
towards the CAO report?
[1:28:24] I'd ask for a motion,
please. Deputy Mayor
[1:28:29] Blatz. Thank you, Mayor Doll. I move
that the seat chief administrative
[1:28:33] officer report be accepted for
information. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. I
[1:28:39] will now call for the vote. Those in
favor that is
[1:28:44] carried. We have Deputy Mayor Blast
would, I believe, like to make another
[1:28:50] motion here. Thank you, Mayor Doll. I
would like to move that council direct
[1:28:55] our our CEO to bring back to the June
23rd, 2025 council meeting a discussion
[1:29:03] on the naturalization processes and how
we will move forward tentatively in the
[1:29:09] future with this process.
[1:29:14] Thank you. Can you please provide that
motion to the recording clerk? Yes, I
[1:29:19] will. Thank you. Are there any questions
towards the
[1:29:23] motion? I will call for the vote. Those
in
[1:29:26] favor that is carried. Thank you. And
Shila, she'll prov uh deputy mayor will
[1:29:32] provide you that motion. Very good.
And our last item of the day, page
[1:29:40] 57, is a notice of motion from councelor
Cummings on a proposed bylaw regulating
[1:29:46] the affixing of signs to town property.
We do not need a motion for this.
[1:29:52] However, I would give the opportunity to
councelor Cummings if he wishes to speak
[1:29:56] to this.
Well, thank you, Madam Mayor. I don't
[1:29:59] think I need to speak on it. It's the
document I provided in the agenda does
[1:30:03] cover the gist of everything. I do have
a presentation prepared for next agend
[1:30:07] or next council meeting that this will
be presented at hopefully uh that goes
[1:30:11] into more details and even has some
sample signage that has been located
[1:30:15] throughout town over the last few
months.
[1:30:19] Very good. Thank you, Councelor
Cummings. Does anyone have
[1:30:23] questions? Yes, Deputy Mayor Blatz.
Thank you, Mayor Dolan. Through you,
[1:30:28] too, CO Williams, would this be
incorporated already with the land use
[1:30:31] bylaw review that we're doing?
[1:30:35] Uh short answer is yes. Schedule D does
touch on all temporary signage. Um but I
[1:30:43] believe as part of um some information
and I'll talk to councelor Cummings
[1:30:48] later this week. Uh we'll prepare kind
of what um exists already and perhaps a
[1:30:56] little response on on how to word it if
the proposed bylaw or motion should
[1:31:01] council go to proceed. Long answer,
shorter. Yes. We believe the lenses
[1:31:07] bylaw already deals with this matter in
some form.
[1:31:12] Go ahead. Go ahead, Deputy Mayor Blast.
Well, this is not really supplemental,
[1:31:16] so maybe I will open it up to other
council first if someone else has a
[1:31:20] comment, but if I could be put in the
queue. Thanks. Okay, we'll move over to
[1:31:24] councelor Wilson. Thank you, Mayor Doll.
Yeah. And just very briefly, I think
[1:31:28] councelor Cummings alluded to he has
some evidence pictures I guess because
[1:31:33] that was the one question I had. Are we
trying to
[1:31:37] um solve a problem that doesn't exist or
are we being proactive um in terms of
[1:31:43] addressing point of order? Yes. Thanks.
So I understand this is a notice of
[1:31:48] motion and is not debatable. So the
conversation like you're having right
[1:31:52] now would be at the next meeting where
we'd have this sort of conversation
[1:31:56] about the motion and stuff like that.
But a notice of motion is not something
[1:32:00] that can be debated or discussed just
presented and then next meeting it's on
[1:32:06] the agenda. That's when conversations
are but we're not allowed to debate or
[1:32:10] discuss this at this time. For catching
that I was just going to note that
[1:32:14] unfortunately that he is correct. Um the
full debate will be done at the next
[1:32:19] regular council meeting. All right.
Thank you for your um comment. And did
[1:32:24] you have something Deputy Mayor Blatz?
You said you would want to be Well, I
[1:32:29] was going to ask one Well, I was going
to ask one more question of CA Williams,
[1:32:32] but no, I I'll take note of of Councelor
Cummings remarks and I'll wait till if
[1:32:38] this gets passed till the next debate.
Correct. There's no motion and no debate
[1:32:42] on a notice of motion. So, hearing that,
I'd like to remind council to please
[1:32:47] stay back and we will have a photo. And
I want to thank everybody in the gallery
[1:32:51] and all our viewers for spending time
with us this afternoon. I adjourn the
[1:32:57] meeting at 2:33