[0:00] All right. Thank you everyone for coming to the 2026

[0:04] MD of Taber annual general meeting. My name is Tamara Miyanaga. I'm the

[0:08] counselor for division 4 and the current Reeve for the MD. So, um before we get

[0:14] started, just wanted to make sure if you didn't hear the prior announcement,

[0:18] washrooms are out that door down the hallway. And if there was an emergency,

[0:22] then out in the far end of the parking lot would be where we would muster.

[0:28] Hopefully, no emergencies. So, on behalf of the MD, we'd like to

[0:32] thank you for taking the time to come. Many of you have been very involved in

[0:37] providing feedback to the MD over the last few years.

[0:42] And we just really appreciate your input. So, before we get going, I'm

[0:46] going to just introduce everyone. So, we'll start with the residing counselor.

[0:51] For those who aren't aware, we have moved um our annual general meeting to

[0:56] different locations throughout the MD so that it's easier for people in that

[1:00] area. And to complement our annual general meeting, we also do coffee with

[1:05] council once a quarter. So, it works out quite nicely that we end up Grassy Lake,

[1:10] Enchant, Vauxhall, Hays, and we go back to the operations building for those um

[1:16] divisions that are close to Taber. But, we're happy to be in Grassy Lake, and

[1:21] counselor David Tory is the counselor. So, would you like to just give a wave

[1:27] or you can say something?

[1:31] So, and next to him is division 1 deputy Reeve Lane Johnson.

[1:37] Beside him is division 2 counselor John Turcato.

[1:42] Beside him is division 5 counselor Ernie Peters.

[1:47] And division 6 counselor Murray Reynolds.

[1:50] Uh unfortunately, counselor from division 7, Mr. Condor, couldn't join us

[1:55] tonight. And I'd also just like to acknowledge that in the crowd we have

[1:59] past division 5 counselor John DeGroat here with us. So, thank you for coming

[2:04] with us. And I'm just going to introduce our staff before we get going. The

[2:08] format for tonight is going to be individual presentations by the staff.

[2:16] And at the end of those presentations, we'll set aside time for questions.

[2:22] We can take a question during, but it would probably be best to wait till the

[2:26] very end. This meeting is being recorded, so you can watch it on YouTube

[2:31] later. And so, when you do ask a question,

[2:35] one of our staff will bring you the microphone

[2:38] so that you can ask it, it can be heard, and recorded so that those watching

[2:43] after. We recognize it's a busy time in the municipality, so we understand not

[2:48] everybody could be here. So, before we get going, I'm just going to introduce

[2:52] our staff team who's with us tonight. So, at this end on this table is Mr.

[2:58] Bryce Serina, director of community services.

[3:01] Beside him, Mr. Corey Green, director of municipal operations.

[3:06] Mr. Mike Passy, director of corporate services.

[3:10] Beside, on the front row, is Carly Grant, our communications manager, and

[3:16] she has um definitely elevated our communications

[3:20] game on our social media and on our website. So, if you have things that you

[3:25] are interested in and need to have communicated, let one

[3:28] of your counselors know and they can work with um

[3:32] Carly to get that on. And we also have Dean. He is the IT

[3:37] manager. So, he makes things run at the MD that is um very important to us. At

[3:43] the back, we have manager of lands, planning, and development, Brian Peers.

[3:48] Can give a wave back there. And we have Lace Lutz, legislative and corporate

[3:54] affairs officer. She's in the back. And then we also you just walked in a minute

[4:00] late, but uh past division 3 counselor Brian Hildebrand. I acknowledge the

[4:05] other counselors who are here. And I'd also like to introduce Taber police

[4:09] chief Graham Abella and constable Henry Classen, who serves

[4:15] with the town of Taber police. We have contracted services with them for our

[4:20] community standards office. So, if you are ready, we will have our

[4:27] staff begin all the presentations. The MD of Taber has been undergoing lots

[4:32] of public consultation in this last few years, whether it's land use bylaw,

[4:37] lands, we've done recreation studies, we've done road

[4:42] studies. So, we're at that point now where things

[4:45] need to be implemented and get things going. So, this council's been working

[4:49] hard. We've just established a new strategic plan that will be discussed at

[4:53] the following council meeting um upcoming on Tuesday. So, there'll be

[4:57] some new things that this council's going to

[5:01] try to strive for as we've sort of set these policies into place. So, tonight,

[5:05] as you listen to the presentations, just keep your questions, and then either

[5:09] staff or any member of council can answer your question at the end. All

[5:14] right. We're going to start with Bryce Serina. He's going to give an update

[5:19] from the RCMP, and then we'll go directly to Corey Green on

[5:22] infrastructure projects.

[5:29] Thanks uh Reeve Miyanaga. Uh So, I'll just start with um we'll try to

[5:34] follow the the list of the agenda here, and I will uh

[5:37] I'll just touch on the priorities for 2026 that have been established by

[5:41] council uh through the RCMP. And so, uh Sergeant Stu Gimmel

[5:46] uh with the Taber detachment uh sends his

[5:49] regrets. Uh he did share he did share some information with us, and and uh I

[5:53] am going to just speak on behalf of these standards.

[5:56] Uh sorry, uh on behalf of these three priorities.

[5:59] Uh so, the first priority, as you can see, is traffic safety. And so, traffic

[6:03] safety, and again through education and through enforcement, have been

[6:07] identified that is uh the priority, one of the first priorities. Second priority

[6:11] is community relations. And so, that is through visibility, participation uh at

[6:16] community events and such uh throughout the municipality. And then the third

[6:20] priority that's been established is crime reduction. And uh so, a focus on

[6:25] uh property crime uh has been identified as well. So,

[6:28] again, those are the three priorities that have been established for 2026, and

[6:32] those were established through interactions with council as part of uh

[6:35] the process that they go through in trying to establish those on an annual

[6:38] basis. So, I will um

[6:41] I will proceed, and the next uh topic we're going to move into is the 2026

[6:46] infrastructure projects. And I'll just ask Corey uh Green, director of uh

[6:50] municipal operations, to come up.

[6:57] Hi everyone. Uh thanks for coming. So,

[7:02] I'm going to talk about 2026, what we're doing for infrastructure projects. Um

[7:07] so, the first one we got up there is the Hamlet truck parking study.

[7:12] Uh what we heard from the Hamlet residents is um

[7:16] they want to see better truck parking areas in those hamlets.

[7:19] So, we did hire a consultant. They're they're looking at each each three each

[7:24] of the hamlets, and uh going to advise to us where the proper

[7:28] location would be, and and if it's in the proper location, what upgrades are

[7:33] needed. So, that's that project. Um the Enchant

[7:37] wastewater lagoon upgrades. So, we did a we did a capacity study in

[7:43] Enchant, um and we found that uh the current lagoon is at its capacity.

[7:49] So, to um

[7:53] Sorry. To to not limit um the growth of Enchant, we need to

[7:58] upgrade the lagoon in uh in Enchant. So, we've applied for some grant funding for

[8:03] that project. We're just waiting to see if that's been awarded to us.

[8:09] The next project, um Hays wastewater replacement. So,

[8:19] main that runs from the hamlet uh down to the lagoons.

[8:23] We found that um it's deteriorating more than we

[8:27] expected. So, we have hired a consultant to design

[8:31] that project as well. Uh we're hoping to go to construction late this fall

[8:36] uh to replace I I believe it was about 700 m of of main line for that that

[8:42] pipe. Uh the next project is Township 12 range

[8:47] 14 road development. Um so, this this is a a new road. Um it

[8:53] will see five

[8:56] uh 4 miles of new road being built um on undeveloped road allowance. Um

[9:02] this road will service the expansion acres uh south of Scope Reservoir.

[9:08] That's currently being designed, and we hope to uh go to construction late this

[9:13] year. Uh it'll depend on um

[9:17] our application for environmental approval. So,

[9:21] Range Road 180 and 182 gravel road upgrades. So,

[9:25] um this project is waiting for grant

[9:31] funding as well. We've applied for the grants. Um

[9:34] we're just waiting for that approval, but this will see 5 miles of road

[9:38] upgrade um in the Enchant area. It's um

[9:43] directly affected by the confined feeding

[9:46] operations in that area. Uh the roads in that area were not built

[9:51] to handle that amount of traffic. So, um

[9:54] once we once we get this project done, hopefully uh

[9:58] it will. Hard surfaces rehabilitation. So, this

[10:02] is a yearly project. Um we set aside some funds to

[10:07] um do patching on our hard surfaces all throughout the MD.

[10:12] Um it's it's more than more bigger patches that our internal staff

[10:17] can handle. Um so, something that a paver needs to be

[10:21] brought out for. >> [snorts]

[10:25] » And then we got some carryover projects. So,

[10:28] we have um two carryover projects. So, the Enchant

[10:33] fire hall um and greater shed expansion. That was um

[10:40] a project that was slated for 2025, but the the parcel land that we had decided

[10:46] to put the building on um

[10:50] needed more work than we we were comfortable with. So, we did acquire a

[10:54] new parcel land this this spring or earlier this year.

[10:58] And uh the design for that building is ongoing. We're hoping to get

[11:02] construction started late this year on that.

[11:05] Um and the last one is the Enchant landfill expansion. So,

[11:10] that one we have had designed, but um we're just waiting for environmental

[11:14] approvals on a the liner type for that um that cell

[11:20] expansion. But, as soon as we get that approval, we will

[11:24] tackle that project with our our in-house crews.

[11:29] And then the last few slides here, we've got some maps.

[11:33] Um so, the first map is our graveling program.

[11:38] All the the brown lines are where you'll see all of our our gravel haulers

[11:43] distribute gravel on those roads. We're we're aiming for 716 km this year.

[11:49] That's probably the most we've had. So, we'll

[11:53] we'll see what we can get done this year.

[11:57] The next next map is two of our road maintenance uh crews.

[12:03] So, a lot of you are probably familiar with the shoulder pull crew. Um

[12:07] that crew disturbs all the way down to ditch

[12:10] bottom and pulls the shoulder onto the road and and kind of rebuilds the road.

[12:15] Uh we're planning for 35 km this year of that. And then the gravel recovery, the

[12:20] blue lines. That's a that's a new program that we

[12:23] brought on about 2 years ago. Um

[12:27] it's kind of a uh heavier maintenance. It really just gets

[12:30] rid of that ridge on the shoulder. And what we're finding is is that sheds

[12:35] the water um the way the road was designed for. So, we're getting a lot of

[12:39] success with with that program. And as you can see, we can get a lot more miles

[12:43] done with that that equipment as well. And the last map is our drainage

[12:50] project. So, we have a drainage crew. Uh their primary focus is culverts and

[12:55] ditch, anything to do with drainage. Um as you can see, they span all throughout

[13:00] the MD. And those are the 54 sites that we're planning

[13:05] to do this year. So, and I will

[13:09] pass it back to Bryce.

[13:14] Thanks, Corey. >> [clears throat]

[13:16] » Um I just wanted to step uh back to uh

[14:36] the future as well.

[14:41] We we continue to include the why now because of the just purely based on the

[14:45] fact that uh we wanted to introduce the uh the time there's a timing element to

[14:50] uh our lease policy development. Um so, we have 82,000 just approximately 82,000

[14:55] acres of land that the MD manages um that they the MD owns and manages.

[15:00] Uh the aim is to uh develop the policy and strategy ahead of the expiry. So, we

[15:05] have had some expiring leases just currently. Uh we have expiring leases

[15:08] again in 20 uh 2026 2027. And so, this is the the policy development is

[15:13] intended to try to um try to uh reach that target of trying

[15:18] to have some of that policy in place uh to support that that land base that that

[15:23] owned land base for the MD of Taber.

[15:27] Uh our current state. So, this is this is just a representation of the lands.

[15:31] Uh again, I do apologize some of these slides are uh repetitive. You've seen

[15:34] these before if you've uh been to any of our land management project meetings or

[15:38] our public consultations. Um our current state. So, this represents uh what we

[15:42] have currently. Um the expiring leases, the grazing MD grazing leases, MD

[15:48] cultivation leases, and uh MD tax recov- or sorry, tax recovery grazing leases.

[15:53] Uh so, you can just you can see the uh uh the number of acres and the number of

[15:57] lease holders that are being represented as part of our current state for MD of

[16:01] Taber owned lands.

[16:05] Uh so, for specific to our cultivation lease uh our cultivation leases. So, uh

[16:10] you can see that uh they're uh up here as February 24th, 2026. Uh we had a

[16:15] recent policy adopted uh the most recent policy version adopted. And that is

[16:21] going to be effective March 1st of 2027. Uh we just wanted to and then just as

[16:25] part of the presentation here just uh list a few of the key the key terms in

[16:29] the lease. Uh this is a again very specific to cultivation leases.

[16:33] Um just that all cultivation land tenders

[16:36] uh after the 2026 crop year, uh so they'll be 5-year terms. Uh

[16:41] one first-time right of uh first Sorry. Right of first refusal for current lease

[16:46] holders. And that's for the initial term.

[16:49] Uh assignment to immediate uh immediate family is permitted.

[16:53] Standardized lease terms across all of the cultivated lands. And lease holders

[16:57] uh may initiate potential land purchase. Now, that is that is going to be

[17:01] dependent upon uh and I'll get to that in the next

[17:04] couple slides just related to uh a sale of MDT lands policy that's being

[17:08] considered uh by council currently.

[17:14] Uh grazing lease policy. Uh so, grazing lease policy changes. Again, this is

[17:18] this is a very current some very very recent adoptions.

[17:21] Uh just recently on April 15th, uh grazing lease policy uh has been

[17:26] adopted. Um so, this just to go through um some of the the main the more uh

[17:32] upper uh tier uh categories, I guess, would be the types

[17:36] of leases. So, when you look at uh the tax recovery leases and traditional MD

[17:40] grazing leases will be consolidated into transitional grazing leases.

[17:45] Uh leases awarded uh through an open tender will continue to be administered

[17:49] that way. So, they would be administered under a tender grazing lease.

[17:52] And lease uh lands that are leased through the five community pastures

[17:56] within the MD of Taber will fall under what was considered to be a community a

[18:00] community pasture grazing lease. So, that has been identified as part of the

[18:04] new policy that's been adopted and uh and associated leases. So, each one of

[18:08] those categories will have its own lease associated with it.

[18:11] Uh and distinct terms and conditions that apply to each of them.

[18:18] Okay. So, the grazing lease policy we wanted to share uh just in chart

[18:25] format. It's just a little bit easier to represent. Uh you can see uh

[18:29] for each of the different types of grazing lease uh grazing lease types,

[18:32] the transitional, the tendered, and the community pasture,

[18:35] um the lease rent, the length of term, the assignment to family, and the

[18:39] ability to sell lease. So, we we broke it down in a chart form just uh just to

[18:43] make it simpler to see uh or easier to see in comparison of the different

[18:46] types. Um

[18:48] I can go through each one of them. So, the lease rent uh for the traditional is

[18:51] $30 per AUM. Uh tendered is established through the

[18:55] tender. Uh $30 in AUM is for community pastures as well. And that is the lease

[19:01] rent. Uh the length of the term. So, for

[19:03] traditional grazing leases, the length of term will be a 10-year with a 10-year

[19:08] first right of refusal option. Uh tendered is under a five has a 5-year

[19:12] length of the term. And community pastures have a 10-year with a 10-year

[19:17] first right of first refusal option as well.

[19:21] Uh assignment to family members. So, that is permitted for traditional or

[19:24] sorry, a transitional grazing lease. Uh it is not permitted for the tendered

[19:29] and is not permitted for community pastures.

[19:31] Okay? The ability to sell lease uh lease

[19:34] rights. So, that is permitted for under the transitional.

[19:37] Uh it is not permitted under the tendered or under the community pasture

[19:41] leases.

[19:44] The option to purchase. And so, again, this is dependent on some of the some of

[19:47] the policy that's being considered by council currently.

[19:49] Um based on the leases and uh leases and policies that are in place for grazing,

[19:54] it would be permitted under all three categories and uh of lease types. Under

[19:59] the uh grazing lease uh under the grazing leases themselves.

[20:03] And uh finally, the oil and gas payments for lease holders uh

[20:08] for traditional or sorry, transitional, tendered, and community pastures, um you

[20:12] can see I won't I won't read them all through, but hopefully you can see them

[20:15] clearly here. Um basically, there's a there's a three I guess tiered for lack

[20:20] of another term, uh 300 a well uh over $1,000, 200 a well that is at between

[20:26] 500 and 1,000, and then $0 uh per well for rent that is under 5 under 500. So,

[20:33] that's been established for oil and gas payments to lease holders for the three

[20:37] different types of grazing leases.

[20:41] Okay, and I'll go on to uh a again, as I mentioned a couple times, uh we have yet

[20:46] to yet to finalize approvals on any of the MDT proposed MDT uh sale of lands

[20:53] policy. Uh couple of things just to note on

[20:55] that. Uh land sales may be initiated by the under the proposed policy, land

[21:00] sales may be initiated by the MD or the lease holder, and so the tenant.

[21:05] Uh the MD may declare the land surplus uh

[21:09] uh to municipal needs. Uh

[21:12] the sales may proceed uh by tender, RFP, just to list a number of the different

[21:17] methods that can be utilized in the sale of lands.

[21:21] Uh reserve sale price is based on the average of two appraisals, and again,

[21:24] this is all proposed. Um this is uh that's that would set

[21:28] what's considered to be the reserves the reserve bid price or the reserve the

[21:32] market price on lands. And the lease holder purchase request

[21:37] may be approved at no less than market value, and that is determined by the

[21:41] averaging of the two appraisals under the current and proposed policy.

[21:49] Uh and finally, uh uh

[21:52] what we've determined here is just listed out a couple of next steps just

[21:55] as a way of communicating where we're headed with the with these strategy.

[21:59] Uh the next steps implementing the cultivation lease. Uh of course, it's

[22:02] it's been adopted now, and so that'll be implemented for the 2027 crop year.

[22:06] Implementing the grazing lease policy, so that has been recently adopted, and

[22:11] the land policy uh presenting that to council uh further consideration of that

[22:15] policy by council on April 28th is the next uh is the next

[22:21] uh uh next significant step in our in our strategy development. So,

[22:24] uh lastly, just to complete a comprehensive review, and that would be

[22:28] something that's going to be brought forward to council, a comprehensive

[22:30] review of our policy, uh just to ensure that we don't have any conflicting

[22:34] policy, and that uh we have a comprehensive uh review of all

[22:38] of the policy that applies to our lands as we complete our strategy.

[22:47] Okay. So, I will um and and certainly the

[22:51] certainly at the end, we can certainly take questions uh on any of the

[22:54] different topics, and so I'll just proceed forward. We'll just keep going

[22:57] through the uh next steps. Uh the next presentation we have here is on the

[23:00] Grassy Lake North subdivision development.

[23:03] And um we've got a [clears throat] a map up

[23:06] here. So, this does show a representation of the lots that are

[23:09] going to be available in the northeast northeast portion of the Hamlet of

[23:12] Grassy Lake. Um there is uh >> [sighs]

[23:16] » there is uh 48. Yes, I was just want to make sure I

[23:21] got that right. 48 lots. So, there'll be 48 lots available.

[23:25] Um you can see the naming the road naming strategy. So, 4th Street North,

[23:28] Griggs Avenue Northeast, so you can see the the general location and how it ties

[23:32] into the community. If you just proceed to the next slide,

[23:35] we have uh the land use zoning is residential for all of the lots. There's

[23:40] 48 serviced and they're serviced underground serviced lots, so that is uh

[23:44] that's important to note. Um survey plan and block numbers, and that these are

[23:50] these are going to be available quite soon. Uh we are hoping uh for a sale of

[23:55] the lots in uh May May June of 2026 coming up real real soon here. And these

[24:01] will be the only residential lots that we have available in the Hamlet

[24:04] currently. So, um those will be available. We're again,

[24:07] we are hoping, so stay tuned, but for May or June of this of 2026.

[24:12] Uh some project costing summaries. So, we wanted to share some information with

[24:16] regards to the the actual project in the development. So, the project itself um

[24:21] the project cost was $6,541,440.

[24:26] That included phase one uh number of a number of common infrastructure

[24:30] components that apply to phases one, two, and three.

[24:33] And uh the total project cost uh for phase for this particular phase

[24:39] uh was four uh sorry, $5,341,849

[24:44] or $859, pardon me. And the uh the revenue that we propose

[24:51] based on the prices that we're going to show you some ranges of prices here,

[24:54] um but based on the revenue that we planned uh for the lot sales and the

[24:58] prices, uh we planned it to recover $5,440,000,

[25:03] okay? And the uh out of that, there'll be some some revenue will be reserved

[25:09] for ongoing maintenance of the lots. Uh we can uh sell lots over a period of

[25:13] time, whether it be a number of years, and so the municipality then has costs

[25:16] associated with maintaining those lots and marketing those lots. So, there'll

[25:20] be some some of the revenue will be associated with that, uh $98,141.

[25:28] Uh I did want to uh go over just a number of uh

[25:31] a number of uh components, contributing factors for the lots. So,

[25:36] lot pricing is broken is is made up of uh design and engineering costs,

[25:42] uh shallow utilities, so underground uh lot servicing, and that is very

[25:45] specific. This is this servicing of uh this subdivision is is essentially

[25:50] underground. And I If you have any questions around what the definition of

[25:53] that is, uh you know, uh Corey Green is here, too, and he could take some

[25:56] questions on that at the end. Uh that is unique to the subdivision where it is

[26:00] all underground. Uh deep utilities, Atco, Fortis, uh

[26:03] legal survey documentation, land acquisitions, uh and com and I mentioned

[26:08] common infrastructure uh for phases two and three are included. So, uh parts of

[26:14] parts of two and three are included in our in our costs to date.

[26:20] The sales and marketing of our lots, um so this has been approved the uh the lot

[26:25] uh lot pricing has been approved as the first step towards the sale of the lots.

[26:30] Uh on an average, the lots approximately 113,333

[26:35] is the the average number that came out, and so that is the average lot price for

[26:39] those uh the particular lots. Um lot prices do range from 9 90,000 to

[26:45] 165,000. Uh they are based on the size of the

[26:50] lot. That is the the primary factor. And um

[26:54] and I did mention on here that the uh marketing promotion will be available on

[26:58] individual lots. So, we just wanted to share with you a little bit more about

[27:00] how we're going to go about that. So, we will have signage out in the community.

[27:04] Uh there'll be a large sign in the actual subdivision. There'll be signage

[27:07] on each of the individual individual lots, pardon me.

[27:10] Uh that will help to just really show, you know, as people are interested in

[27:14] lots, what those prices are individually, uh just to make sure

[27:17] that's really clear. They'll also be available information on

[27:20] our website, and uh and we hope to uh market uh put it out on all of our

[27:26] social media, website, newspaper, just so that that information is readily

[27:29] available. Uh

[27:32] it will be based in in our lot sales policy that the MDT has. We do have a

[27:37] current policy, but we are looking at some proposed uh lot sales lot sales,

[27:41] not not land lot sales policy, and very specifically uh I'm just trying to make

[27:46] it more efficient um just the process as much as we can for both council, for

[27:50] administration, and just to support the sales of our lots better. And just to

[27:55] improve on some of the learnings we've had over a number of years and number of

[27:58] subdivisions. So, that is yet to come, and that is being proposed, so that has

[28:02] not been adopted as of yet. Uh we did we do have a current lot sales

[28:06] policy again, just like I mentioned, but we have some proposed policy that is

[28:09] coming uh to be considered by council soon.

[28:14] Uh so, the uh again, I did mention May June, so

[28:17] uh I think that that does bring our lots to a summary, and uh we'll move forward

[28:22] into our next topic. Um So, policing alternatives uh monetary

[28:27] impacts. So, uh what we wanted to do here, this is primarily information that

[28:32] uh the municipality has received over a number of years

[28:35] uh as we as we take a look at the cost of policing uh for the municipality. Uh

[28:40] just some of the information uh this isn't all of the information. This is

[28:44] just it's a summary of the information that applies that we can start to share

[28:48] the what what we're learning as we go forward with the province of Alberta and

[28:51] with the municipality taking on the cost of policing our portion of the cost of

[28:55] policing. And so, the policing the provincial police service agreement that

[28:59] exists for Alberta, uh we do fall under that agreement. The the agreement is

[29:03] broken down in 70% provincial costing, 30% federal costing at at the agreement

[29:08] level. And then, when you get into the actual

[29:11] the provincial costing, that 70% is then broken down under a a police funding

[29:16] model. Uh PFM PFM is the acronym we use quite regularly. And so, that breakdown

[29:22] essentially takes that 70% and and uh applies a portion of it to the

[29:26] municipality and a portion of it to the province.

[29:29] Um I will uh just go through a few of the objectives of the police funding

[29:32] model, and that includes uh covering those front line costs that are shared

[29:36] again between the province of Alberta and the municipality.

[29:39] Um municipal contributions, uh the the goal uh from the province is to by 2031

[29:46] to share that cost at 30% to the municipality.

[29:49] And they've shared a 5-year plan with us that essentially has a 2% increase over

[29:55] the next 5 years. And so, again, just information that the municipality has to

[29:59] work with with our budgeting and with our next our steps as we move through

[30:03] the next years on the cost of policing. So,

[30:06] further cost share formulas will be released here in 2028, 2030

[30:12] as they revise some of those formulas on how to share those costs as per their

[30:16] provincial regulations. So, um

[30:21] Just some information on budgeting. So, in the 2025 year, we our actual cost for

[30:27] policing that we that we that we paid at the end of the year paid

[30:31] was $577,599. [clears throat]

[30:35] We are planning in 2026 a proposed budget of $600,000.

[30:41] And these are numbers that that we do get we get a regular updates from the

[30:45] province. So, as we as we get them, we can adjust some of these these figures

[30:48] and some of these projections. And then the numbers that are being

[30:52] shared for 2030, again, these are estimates, but these are based on

[30:55] estimates that we've we've been given to to help us start planning.

[30:59] 1,353, and that would be it for 2031.

[31:04] And that is again just a prediction, it's an estimate, it's just to share

[31:07] just the the experience of looking at this cost sharing over time.

[31:12] You can see a number of contributing factors that we listed

[31:16] that go into the formula and the actual cost of breakdown that they've that's

[31:19] been shared with the municipality. Number of population, density changes,

[31:23] equalize assessment changes, occurrence statistics,

[31:27] vacancies in in hiring and employment, annual inflationary increases play a

[31:32] factor.

[31:35] Um We listed this just just to share that

[31:39] there are policing act changes that are also going on that are that are part of

[31:42] this this whole process that through the province of Alberta that

[31:46] that now add a number of different contributing factors to the options that

[31:49] are available. We don't There's a lot of information

[31:52] still yet to come. So, we just wanted to share this just that that we do have

[31:56] some work ahead of us as far as looking at it new options as they become

[32:00] available just to just for consideration as a municipality and council

[32:04] consideration. And and again, those those are those are being presented here

[32:09] as, you know, regional collaborative combinations

[32:13] naming different factors even in our current state where we work closely with

[32:17] the RCMP and the Taber Police Services in our regional community standards is

[32:21] an is an example of some of that

[32:23] collaboration that that we're referring to.

[32:27] Ongoing rural and urban municipal advocacy efforts are ongoing.

[32:31] This is our two the two associations that represent municipalities that are

[32:34] doing doing work in this area to try to provide more information and just try to

[32:39] provide the municipalities more information as we move forward so

[32:42] that we can, you know, have the whole picture and

[32:45] consideration so that we can put that in front of council and they can have

[32:49] have consideration or ask questions and comments related to next steps in this

[32:54] in this area.

[32:58] Okay. So, the future Sorry, and now I'll pass the mic

[33:03] off. This is where I end and Mike begins. So, thanks.

[33:14] As as we mean mentioned at the beginning,

[33:17] within the the updated strategic priorities that

[33:20] are coming forward to council at this next council meeting,

[33:23] council is identifying property taxes and revenue as an

[33:27] important area to investigate and to focus on.

[33:32] So, some of the areas that we'll be considering are

[33:35] where revenue is generated in this, you know, the idea of whether it's property

[33:38] taxes, user fees, licenses, or or leases, different areas where revenue is

[33:43] is is being earned currently and what opportunities might be available later

[33:47] or in the future. Alternatives to general property taxation

[33:51] is to explore what other options are. We are governed by the Municipal

[33:56] Government Act and and we can only act within within

[34:00] the realms of that of that legislation. And so, the opportunity now is to

[34:04] explore within that legislation to see what opportunities lie before us to um

[34:10] to find what might be available for for for revenue generation.

[34:13] How property taxes are generated. So, looking at what the balance of the levy

[34:19] breakdown is between assessment classes and and what opportunities might lie

[34:23] there for for providing that. And then in what opportunities exist

[34:27] within the legislative framework. This is similar to the alternatives area

[34:30] where looking at what those options might be

[34:33] and and and what opportunities exist. What is the what what is permissible.

[34:39] I know we hear lots of great ideas from the community, but not all of them are

[34:44] are allowed by by the the provincial government. And so, this is a as this is

[34:50] a forthcoming priority,

[34:54] administration has not delved into these areas deeply at all

[34:58] or not delved in deeply, but we are aware

[35:00] of some some options. But so, to help shape this conversation,

[35:05] I encourage you to speak with your elected officials and and to help

[35:09] provide your input to to find out what those opportunities might be in the

[35:12] future and moving forward. It's a, you know, the the last item on the on the

[35:19] presentation talked about policing costs downloaded from the province being

[35:23] a significant increase in costs. And so, there's having to find that balance of

[35:27] of how do we fund these costs that are passed down from the province is a real

[35:33] a real problem-solving opportunity to look at.

[35:37] Um And yeah, if if you have any questions

[35:40] about this area or want to provide your input,

[35:43] speak with your elected officials.

[35:50] Thank you, Mike. Thank you to our directors for providing an update. So,

[35:54] I'm just going to talk about a couple of different things and then we'll open it

[35:58] up for questions. So, most notably, this is volunteer week.

[36:03] So, this hall that you're sitting in is run by volunteers. Mr. Turnbull and Mrs.

[36:08] Torcius, they are the main drivers in Grassy Lake and they have a board, but

[36:14] they are the ones who have kept the lights on, kept this amazing facility.

[36:20] And that happens throughout the MD and all of our hamlets. All of the

[36:24] recreation services, they're provided by volunteers. And another aspect that

[36:29] you're probably well aware of, but we have 85 firefighters throughout the MD

[36:33] of Taber, they are all volunteers. In the last year, we moved to a what's

[36:38] called a paid on-call service. So, before they used to get $1,500 a year

[36:43] for training every week, training on weekends, and coming out to calls. But

[36:49] we have changed that to make it more appealing because they give up work

[36:53] time, family time that they'll still get a base rate if they happen to be from a

[36:58] hall that doesn't have a number of um firefighters. But these men and women

[37:03] now, if they go out on a call, they get paid an amount for on-call.

[37:09] And they've also added emergency first response. Now, we formalized that with

[37:15] the province of Alberta because often times our ambulances are busy or they're

[37:20] away and it takes time. But if you're having

[37:24] a heart attack, you want someone to come who knows CPR or can do

[37:29] first aid action that would help save your life. So, our firefighters now

[37:34] throughout all of our halls are equipped as emergency first response, and we're

[37:39] very grateful for them for taking that on. That's much more than worrying about

[37:44] a traffic accident or taking down a fire. They're now coming on people's

[37:50] worst days. So, those men and women are volunteers, and we'd like to at this

[37:54] time also acknowledge their employers. Their employers have agreed to let them

[38:00] go when those calls come in, and it's never at 4:30, it's at 11:00 when

[38:05] they're busy or it's at a time where they're actually um

[38:09] in need, but their employers recognize that someone's worst day of their life

[38:13] is happening on that tone, so they get to come out for that. So, we're very

[38:17] grateful and especially to their families. You know, emergencies happen

[38:22] on Christmas, on birthdays, and these firefighters still continue to come out.

[38:26] So, we're very grateful to all the volunteers that have provided safety and

[38:31] recreation throughout our municipality as well as museums, senior centers, the

[38:36] list is endless. So, I'm very thankful for that and all

[38:40] members of council. We prioritize that in our budget.

[38:44] I also want to talk about um you heard that there's lots available now in

[38:47] Grassy Lake. There's new subdivision in Enchant as well. There is no lots

[38:53] available in Hays. All of our residential lots are sold, but each of

[38:58] these hamlets also have some industrial lots. That information is all available

[39:03] on the website. And just outside of Vauxhall, which we have a truck rest

[39:09] stop, right beside those, there's two lots that could be developed for

[39:13] industrial commercial. So, if you have interest or you hear of someone who

[39:17] might want to develop something, please let them know. Again, all available on

[39:21] the website. Another area that I'd like to share with you today is

[39:27] we provide, similar to what the Department of Highways does with 4-H or

[39:31] other service clubs, the MD has roadside cleanup. So, if you're with a

[39:37] service club or a group that's trying to raise money, there's an application that

[39:41] needs to be filled out and then we will offset the cost for that club cleaning

[39:48] up and to help keep our municipality looking good. It's a win-win situation

[39:52] for everyone. I also wanted to just reference, you've

[39:56] heard a little bit about the lands policy. We've also worked with that.

[40:02] We're developing a project with the Bow River Irrigation District, Scope

[40:06] Reservoir. And they are

[40:10] looking at going to tender in June. So there's information available on our

[40:14] website and on our the Bow River Irrigation District. They'll be looking

[40:19] at it. They'll be 23 developed irrigated quarters. And I'm not going to go into

[40:24] those details, but that's available or if you want to talk to one of your

[40:27] counselors, that's we can help you with that or put you on

[40:31] to the right staff person. We talked a bit about what's happening

[40:36] for our municipal projects. We all know that the graders can't be

[40:40] everywhere. So if you run into a concern that we haven't had a grader down a road

[40:45] or there's been an incident that um someone's done donuts and now there's

[40:50] dangerous ruts. So we have what's called our service tracker. So if you have a

[40:55] concern, you can put that in as a road concern or call your counselor, they'll

[41:00] put it in or you can call the office and it'll get submitted.

[41:04] Even though you might find that the questions or the process is a little bit

[41:08] onerous, it helps us identify where the bigger problems are in the municipality

[41:12] and it also allows our um directors to determine if work needs to be done. So

[41:17] not just on roads, but if you have a concern with a development, a concern

[41:21] with a sidewalk in a hamlet, snow removal, any of those things. If it's a

[41:25] safety concern, you also have the ability you can call if it's an

[41:30] emergency 911 for the RCMP, but if it's something like someone's pivot is

[41:36] repeatedly watering the road or someone's not dealing with their

[41:41] properly, then service tracker or you can call Taber police and they'll assign

[41:45] it the community standards officer. So service tracker is available on our

[41:51] website, but we also have an MD app that you can sign up for. It's right on

[41:57] your phone and then you also can sign up for a weekly newsletter. At the back

[42:02] table, our regular newsletter that gets mailed to everyone is there, but every

[42:06] week we provide an update for those people who may be not on social media or

[42:10] checking our website. It's a very good system and we've also sort of tailored

[42:15] it to help our

[42:19] volunteer groups, our libraries, our seniors clubs, any of those things that

[42:23] are happening. The other area I wanted to just touch

[42:27] base on, let me just make sure. So we recently passed our budget.

[42:35] So I know there's been some discussion in the community.

[42:38] So the budget's been passed. We've had first reading of the tax bylaw.

[42:44] And some people are quite concerned and so I just want to put it out there. So

[42:48] if people have questions, they have a bit of the information.

[42:52] There has been a 55.52% increase on farmland.

[42:58] So that's a huge number. No one wants to have a 2% increase.

[43:03] But this council looked at the budget,

[43:06] evaluated [clears throat] what the breakdown of

[43:10] rates of return on taxation and who was carrying the tax burden in our

[43:14] municipality. And we have a sheet um that is available

[43:19] for you to look at. But residential homes in the MD of Taber, so acreages,

[43:26] houses that are in the hamlets have carried the burden

[43:31] in our municipality to the tune of 19%. So with this increase, that will have

[43:37] farmland having a carrying the burden of 17%.

[43:42] So for those who are on irrigated land, that equates to about $3 a acre, so

[43:48] about $150 a quarter. So it is significant. There's no doubt about it.

[43:52] We we don't take that lightly, but at some point we had to make the

[43:56] adjustment. Our non-residential rates are um

[44:04] pipelines, oil wells, our factories, they still carry 52%

[44:10] of the burden for the MD of Taber. So we're very fortunate that we have that,

[44:14] but without making an adjustment on farmland, we

[44:19] weren't going to be able to operate in the same capacity.

[44:23] And farmland assessment hasn't changed since the '80s. Whereas businesses

[44:30] and houses their assessment continues to go up. There's a formula that's

[44:35] implemented every year and if you're ever if you're buying a house right now,

[44:39] you know everything is on the incline. Someone said, "Well, my

[44:44] I don't want to pay that. My assessment's too high." And my reverse

[44:47] question to them is what would you sell your acreage for?

[44:51] What would you sell your house in Grassy Lake for? And they'll chuckle and say,

[44:55] "Well, way more than that." So assessment and appraisal are different

[44:59] and there is a formula and if you have a concern with your assessment, you get

[45:04] your sheet on the back of it or you call the MD to make sure you understand what

[45:08] your assessment is and you can call Benchmark and you can find out how they

[45:12] valued your home or your acreage. But on your farmland, that won't have changed.

[45:17] It will have stayed the same for the last 25 well, last 35 years. So

[45:23] it is a big increase. We'll be prepared to answer questions on it, but I just

[45:28] wanted you to be aware. We've only had first reading of the mill rate bylaw, so

[45:33] there still could be dis- discussion and change.

[45:37] But it wasn't come upon lately. There were

[45:41] lots of debate and discussion on how we arrived at these numbers.

[45:46] So I think that's more or less all the things I just wanted to bring forward.

[45:51] Council's available to answer any of your questions. Well, we'll do it

[45:55] through the mic and then you can also ask staff questions. And then we will

[46:02] also be around to visit informally, but just know that then your answer isn't

[46:07] recorded or your question isn't recorded. Okay?

[46:11] So once again, just one moment.

[46:20] I talk lots, but this wind has just been drying me out.

[46:24] Um we really thank you for taking the time

[46:27] to come. The seven of us who ran for council, we

[46:31] very much care about the municipality in its entirety.

[46:35] We have a great staff >> [cough]

[46:39] » who work day in and day out to provide services. That is our main goal at the

[46:44] MD. That's what we're chat um asked by the province is to provide services for

[46:50] people, clean water, sewer, roads that are safe to travel. And so that should

[46:56] be our main goal, our main objective so that we continue to live in a great

[47:01] area. There's many who are envious of our MD

[47:05] of Taber and the rates that we pay here. And so the council and the staff will

[47:10] continue to work hard to make it affordable, to make it a good place.

[47:15] Do we think there can be improvements? 100%. Every one of us do. Every one of

[47:19] us have unique ideas that we'd like to bring to the forefront, which is why we

[47:23] ran for council. But we're very interested in your ideas as well. We've

[47:28] We're a very open council and our staff is very available. So if you have a

[47:32] concern or a complaint, and I know many people call me, so I know you're not

[47:36] hesitant to let me know your opinion. We appreciate that because many times the

[47:41] ideas come from residents that we haven't explored. So tonight, I really

[47:46] appreciate you taking the time. But don't let that stop here. We have coffee

[47:51] with council and our numbers are published and available on the website

[47:54] and if you don't have time to phone us, shoot us a text or an email and anyone

[47:59] of us will be happy to respond. So thank you and we'll now move into the question

[48:04] and answer portion.

[48:40] So I I I I get your proposal with regards to your your tax increases that

[48:46] are happening and got a few questions with regards to

[48:50] what's happening with the whole lease agreements and how that's coming

[48:54] forward and we understand that might be a little bit

[48:58] on hold a bit due to some commission requests or how does that How is that

[49:04] working? Because I I just seem to be It seems like this

[49:08] as presented here today that the leases are going to be going

[49:12] forward as they were proposed. And Tamara, if I look at what

[49:17] if I was here a year ago and there's been a lot of changes in the

[49:21] in the lease proposals that uh

[49:25] seem to Could you kind of reflect on or can you

[49:28] tell us where we're at with that and how does that look going forward?

[49:34] I can speak to that. So um, as the director Serena spoke to, the cultivated

[49:41] lease policy has been approved and the grazing lease has been approved. What

[49:46] hasn't been approved is the sale of how of how those sale of lands will happen.

[49:52] So, council has been working on this for 2 years. There was some decisions made

[49:59] and then there was a new council and then there was some different decisions

[50:02] made. So, right at this point, we have approved those two lease policies and

[50:09] now we're waiting on sales policies. So, I think what you're referring to and

[50:13] it's been not a secret. There was a motion made to Municipal Affairs to do

[50:19] an inspection just to clear the air on that. It was approved by council same as

[50:25] how the leases were approved. Now it is in the hands of the minister. They've

[50:30] asked to meet with council. They will determine whether an inspection should

[50:34] happen or not. And it isn't just based on any one thing, but there's nothing in

[50:39] the act that stops the business of the municipality from

[50:45] carrying on and we are carrying on. So, if the commission votes the other or

[50:50] if the commission for municipalities, if they vote the other way on that

[50:54] or determine that there is a conflict of interest with with council

[50:59] what is the feedback to us as members of this of the MD

[51:04] with regards to agreements that are in place for 10 years?

[51:09] Well, it was a a vote made by council that was the majority and those policies

[51:15] have passed. Municipal Affairs is definitely watching what's going on and

[51:19] at this point they're they don't have a level of urgency other than they've

[51:23] asked to meet with council.

[51:29] Yeah, I got a question too. I I see >> I should have asked people to say their

[51:33] name. So, it was David Beckering was first. I'm sorry, Art Bondus. But, um, I

[51:38] have a question too. On these oil leases, what I understand, maybe if I'm

[51:42] wrong, just correct me like some of the money goes to the lease holders. Why is

[51:46] the MD giving that money away? Like they already have a

[51:50] heck of a deal on the lease. What why why do they need to get

[51:53] subsidized, you know? And I I see that the taxes go up and I have no problem

[51:57] with well nobody likes it, but you know

[52:00] everybody has more cost and so does the MD. So, I see that the taxes have to go

[52:04] up. I totally see that. But, you know, why are we giving that oil money away?

[52:08] That's just community money. Are we giving it to 35 lease holders?

[52:13] So, the on the leases, there's an a a clause in

[52:17] there that they're going to receive some of that lease money for the disturbance,

[52:23] the inconvenience, and the potential risk that they face while oil um

[52:28] companies or pipeline companies are on their land.

[52:40] Allison Davey, what is that costing the MD by giving up those payments?

[52:57] Give me 1 second, Allison. I figured that question would come, so I have it

[53:03] with me.

[53:30] You need to understand

[53:34] Oh, yeah. So, approximately $150,000.

[53:46] But, now with the new uh lease agreement, is there a recon up? Like is

[53:50] there is there is the MD getting more revenue out of it?

[53:54] So, yes, the MD's going to get some increased revenue.

[54:01] The new rate that's been established is two times the provincial rate and unless

[54:08] it's less than $30 unless $30 or two times the provincial rate. It won't go

[54:14] below $30. So, it is a significant increase.

[54:21] What's the value of that increase to the MD as a total dollar value?

[54:33] So, the amount of revenue that we'll be receiving

[54:38] in 2026 compare So, 2026 approved

[54:46] is 900 um 900 and

[54:51] 937,040.

[54:58] And is the Scope Lake uh developing a part of that number of the 940,000?

[55:03] » No, that amount was that Scope development that has been removed from

[55:07] the lease holder and it's a separate standalone.

[55:13] All right, thank and then one other question, if if the last year's proposal

[55:18] would have gone through is there any estimates of what we as MD

[55:22] stakeholders are losing because of the agreement that was passed by this

[55:26] council? So, I don't have that number right with

[55:29] me, but the number is actually more because of

[55:35] the change in rate. But, we had removed all the oil revenue.

[55:41] So, it's not the the rate still puts us in the positive.

[55:47] But, maybe not as positive as it could have been. Is that a fair statement? So,

[55:52] the council of the day evaluated what the

[55:56] best benefit for the MD would be and we landed on this decision.

[56:17] Uh also, just uh Brian here was able to just uh dig up a little like Remi and

[56:21] Aggie mentioned it was approximate uh it was it's 140,000. Just just to be a

[56:25] little more accurate with that number that we represented for the payouts to

[56:28] the lease holders. Thank you, Brian.

[56:37] Hi, uh Chris Siemens. Just just for perspective, what uh surface lease

[56:42] revenue does the MD retain from the total? So, 140,000 goes to

[56:47] lease holder, what does the MD retain?

[56:54] We'll just invite Brian up to have a

[57:03] I think the total uh revenue received from oil and gas surface revenue is

[57:07] about 1.4 million a year.

[57:19] Daryl Johnson. I'm wondering how much um revenue you guys expect to generate from

[57:25] the Scope uh irrigation project? Um as that land was removed from the lease

[57:30] holders, but how much will that benefit the MD?

[57:33] So, I don't have that with me. Um I should have brought that. I was more

[57:37] focused on what the leases I thought people would be after that. But, um we

[57:42] do have a projected dollar amount. Is that Do we have that budget? I have my

[57:48] laptop, we could look it up, but um right now, we have a base idea of what

[57:55] we hope that the leases go for and then we'll be

[57:59] evaluating. We know that the debenture that we're looking at taking out is

[58:04] Mike.

[58:08] Uh

[58:11] Yeah, we thought

[58:14] Right. So, what Mike said is we have an authorization of a debenture of 10

[58:19] million, but what we we don't anticipate using that. We are hoping more to be

[58:24] around the 9 million dollar mark and it's a 50/50 project with BRID.

[58:29] Initially, they had wanted us to do all the roads, but we said that wouldn't be

[58:34] agreeable to us. Everything had to be 50/50 with the returns also at 50/50.

[58:44] So, the we just just doing the at the minimum bid. So, set at 400 an acre is

[58:51] the minimum bid and we calculate that out to be approximately and again, it'll

[58:56] vary depending on what the bids are. 800,000 dollars would be the would be

[59:01] the be shared revenue.

[59:06] And one other question to go to go with that. What what's the strategy for the

[59:11] payback then? Are you guys looking to draw some revenue every year or to be

[59:16] more aggressive and pay back the the loan or is has council determined that?

[59:20] So, it has not been finalized. So, we have a few policies that are coming down

[59:25] the pipe right now and one is on the Scope revenue and then the other once we

[59:30] figure out what we're going to do with land sales, then we have to establish a

[59:34] policy on how we're going to deal with any land. Now, our Hamlet lot sales has

[59:40] a policy. Those lots go for a cost and we return that money to pay the

[59:44] debenture, so it's an in and out minus a little bit for marketing.

[59:49] Otherwise, um but on land sale or scope, that has not been finalized and this

[59:55] council will be working on that in like right away.

[1:00:19] Anyone else?

[1:00:22] Couns- uh

[1:00:26] Yeah, Brian.

[1:00:29] Just No, if you could use the mic, so it's recorded for the live stream and

[1:00:33] just your name, please, too. Uh Brian Hildebrand.

[1:00:36] Um so, there's a lot of expenditures that need

[1:00:40] to happen with the MD. Um

[1:00:42] Clearview Lodge, uh $4.5 million over the next little bit

[1:00:47] for the renovation project. Uh the master tra- master transportation plan

[1:00:52] uh identifies $80 million just to maintain the hard service roads

[1:00:57] that we have in the MD over the next 5 years. As we just saw,

[1:01:01] uh the policing funding uh going up from $600,000 up to $1.3 million yearly.

[1:01:08] Yearly, um Taber recreation is going to need additional funding.

[1:01:12] This year's budget, um what, $5 million was pulled out of

[1:01:17] reserves and taxes were up $1 million.

[1:01:23] Where is the path to sustainability here?

[1:01:26] Where is the money going to come from? My credit card is getting close to the

[1:01:30] limit.

[1:01:36] I appreciate your question and um

[1:01:40] this budget, like the last eight, haven't been easy for council.

[1:01:45] Um we we made some changes. We reduced some things. Clearview Lodge, for those

[1:01:53] who aren't aware, they're going They've been approved for a $9 million

[1:01:58] Alberta um funding injection to renovate and redo the lodge.

[1:02:04] If you're at the lodge, most of the rooms don't have showers in

[1:02:09] them. So, you have to use a communal shower, a

[1:02:13] communal bathroom. So, the upgrade will increase the size of the rooms, plus

[1:02:18] make sure everyone has a shower and a toilet.

[1:02:23] If we don't honor our old people, and I know this is a bit of a heartstring

[1:02:27] answer, Brian, so you won't necessarily like this, but

[1:02:31] there are forefathers who went before us who took some risks to make advances

[1:02:36] and taking care of our seniors, to me, is one of them.

[1:02:41] The hard road surface, it is a disaster. We're very worried about that. All of

[1:02:46] our hard surfaces, and that's whether it's paved or chip seal or um compressed

[1:02:52] concrete, all those surfaces are coming of age, 30 to 40 years old. They're

[1:02:58] breaking apart. They were never intended for this amount of traffic and this

[1:03:03] heavy road. So, we can blame past councils, like I hear what's happening

[1:03:07] in Calgary, blame them for not fixing things, or we

[1:03:10] can start fixing them now. And so, figuring out how we're going to manage

[1:03:14] this budget and figure out do we have to turn hard surface roads to gravel, might

[1:03:19] be one of the options. We're doing We've asked our administration to do a cost

[1:03:24] analysis on this. We've turned some roads to gravel. People are wildly mad.

[1:03:29] They hate it. But, to pave a mile of uh road, it's a

[1:03:35] million dollars. So, we definitely don't have that.

[1:03:39] Police funding, we've asked our staff to give us some options, but more so, we've

[1:03:45] asked the province give us some indication of what we're going to deal

[1:03:47] with. And they they aren't clear on that. They don't give us a a clear path

[1:03:53] of what we can do, so we haven't left that alone.

[1:03:56] Taber recreation, whether it's Vauxhall recreation, Barnwell, Grassy Haze or

[1:04:01] Enchant, we know if people don't have things to do, they'll leave. Their kids

[1:04:05] won't stay. They'll go on to Lethbridge. They'll move to Coaldale. So, recreation

[1:04:11] does matter and will most likely, I don't know for sure, will make an

[1:04:15] investment in Taber's recreation, like we made an investment in Vauxhall's. And

[1:04:21] thank heavens we did. We gave $700,000 to the Vauxhall arena

[1:04:26] and curling rink. When Taber's arenas blew up, it gave our athletes, our

[1:04:32] users, the opportunity to go to Vauxhall and they welcomed them with open arms,

[1:04:36] no different than Bow Island and Coaldale, but Vauxhall we see as one of

[1:04:41] our regional hubs, no different than we do Taber or Barnwell. So, yeah, there is

[1:04:46] a lot of money and whether we can find a way to continue, we're looking at

[1:04:50] alternate sources. Um Director Passy talked about that. We're

[1:04:55] We're trying to find different things. And some of it becomes taxation, some of

[1:05:00] it becomes special fees. But, this council isn't looking at these

[1:05:05] numbers lately. We're We get the same tax bill each one of you do.

[1:05:10] And so, we are aware of how expensive it is and what's left at the end of the

[1:05:14] month to buy bread and milk. And we want young families here. We have

[1:05:18] the youngest population in the province in the MD of Taber.

[1:05:23] And those young families want to have houses, have acreages, and make a way.

[1:05:26] So, we don't want to out-tax them, but we want them to have a road to drive on

[1:05:30] or a rink to skate in or a ball diamond in

[1:05:34] Enchant or in Haze or Grassy Lake. You know, this hall, it's an amazing

[1:05:39] hall, been well kept by volunteers, but it's old. And I mean, we're

[1:05:44] thankful, but at some point, this council is going to have to look at

[1:05:48] that. And the difference of the MD of Taber compared to the town of Taber

[1:05:53] is it's volunteers who clean this floor and hang these tiles. It's not MD staff.

[1:05:59] So, if we start to change that kind of recreation, it will be a drastic

[1:06:03] difference either in service level or in what we have to pay. So, do I hear what

[1:06:09] you're saying, Brian? Absolutely. We know that the costs are out there.

[1:06:14] We're trying to figure out alternative solutions and we hope some of it will

[1:06:18] come through alternative ideas, like scope project, looking at perhaps

[1:06:24] um some different taxation on feed lots or road user agreements that we haven't

[1:06:29] had to have in Taber, because we've been very fortunate.

[1:06:33] But, if we're going to keep having heavy trucks and heavy loads, maybe it's time

[1:06:37] then we have to charge people. And you know, there's a general sense of

[1:06:42] what we need to do to take care of each other and our job as a council is to

[1:06:46] provide those services in the most cost-effective way we can.

[1:07:04] Raising

[1:07:08] Raising land taxes, how much of an increase?

[1:07:11] So, through on irrigated land, it's about $3 an acre. What's the total that

[1:07:17] you >> Oh, the total amount? Let me get that.

[1:07:22] Oh, sorry. You've been called out. You need to say

[1:07:26] your name. John Edward Krass. Thank you. I heard you were the mayor of Haze.

[1:07:32] M.O.H., mayor of Haze. Okay. Thank you.

[1:07:36] So, yeah, it's about a million dollars. So, in 2025, farmland raised 2.286

[1:07:44] million and in 2026, it'll be 3.5 million.

[1:07:50] Thank you. Yeah. And if you're really interested and have

[1:07:54] time, like I know some of you do, you can go on to our agenda meeting packages

[1:08:00] and all of our budget discussions were there. And we have an analysis that's

[1:08:05] open to the public and it takes properties right from a house to a

[1:08:10] business to a CNRL battery to an acreage to a large farm and it shows you what

[1:08:17] the costs are going to be with these current tax rates. And it includes what

[1:08:22] we're going to be requisition from the province for school and for policing and

[1:08:26] for housing and for the MD. And you could look at it to see

[1:08:31] what 2025 was to 2026. So, on our very last agenda, which what

[1:08:37] date was that? April

[1:08:40] 14th, that is where our bylaw um mill rate bylaw is. In that agenda,

[1:08:48] all of these analysis are there. So, you can see what numbers we're working with

[1:08:53] and looking at just as much as each of us do.

[1:08:58] Okay, I got a

[1:09:01] some paper to read here. Okay. I'm here to express concern regarding

[1:09:06] the conduct displayed beginning of December

[1:09:11] Johnny Turcato and Billy, which I found inappropriate for an

[1:09:15] elected government official representing

[1:09:18] taxpayers. While the counselor issued an apology

[1:09:22] to council, no apology was extended to Billy.

[1:09:27] none of you counselors

[1:09:30] reached out and apologized for Johnny's behavior.

[1:09:36] I'm also concerned that the Hey.

[1:09:41] I'm also concerned that the actions of certain council members are contributing

[1:09:46] to division within the community, creating tension

[1:09:49] amongst families, friends, and neighbors.

[1:09:52] As Reeve, I would appreciate clarification on your

[1:09:57] role in influencing council discussions prior to formal deliberation and voting.

[1:10:04] These matters raise concerns about accountability and the handling of

[1:10:07] public trust. I would appro- I would [snorts] appreciate your response.

[1:10:14] Can you read me the last sentence where it calls out me?

[1:10:19] The last sentence?

[1:10:23] Oh.

[1:10:26] I would appreciate clarification on your role in influencing council discussion

[1:10:31] prior to formal deliberation and voting. And I don't know if

[1:10:35] you should do that or should not. I'm And that's a question to you.

[1:10:39] Yeah, so those who know me know that I'm pretty strong in what my

[1:10:44] opinions are.

[1:10:47] And we've had some good conversations as council.

[1:10:50] But whether I'm having pre-meetings or sidebar meetings with

[1:10:56] my council or with other user groups, then you would know that that's wrong.

[1:11:01] Have I had a discussion with counselors? Sure, I I do all the time. I've had

[1:11:06] discussions with John De Groot. He's what helped me understand what community

[1:11:11] pastures were and helped me make a decision to ensure that they would be

[1:11:15] stable. There's no pre-voting that I'm aware of.

[1:11:19] It concerns me because I mean, there's definitely people who are influencing

[1:11:24] council, but that's part of government. These are your elected officials. They

[1:11:28] have to listen to their ratepayers. So that that occurs all the time, whether

[1:11:33] it's by phone call, whether it's by a meeting, whether it's by a comment on my

[1:11:38] social media, or someone's mother phoning me and screaming at me for 40

[1:11:42] minutes, calling me a devil.

[1:11:45] You know, sometimes as a counselor, we have to navigate the chair we sit in.

[1:11:53] And making hard decisions is one of them.

[1:11:59] This leasehold stuff hasn't been easy. What should have been harder was having

[1:12:04] to set the farm mill rate. But that wasn't as divisive cuz we

[1:12:09] worked together to find a way for everybody in the municipality to take

[1:12:13] care of it. The leaseholds became a very divisive

[1:12:18] subject because there were some changes. But

[1:12:22] that's elections. That's government and that's what happens.

[1:12:26] So myself as Reeve, do I try to corral these guys? Do you know any of them? Not

[1:12:32] one of them is going to take my opinion very well.

[1:12:35] They're all strong, independent people, and I would feel the same way for them

[1:12:40] if they wanted to do that to me. Do we share our ideas and our

[1:12:45] suggestions? 100%. I text them all today to remind them about the meeting. I send

[1:12:51] them information on how they could do their job better or have access to

[1:12:56] information. But I can get the same from someone else. Someone will send me

[1:13:01] information from a meeting they went to on an opportunity for funding. So do we

[1:13:06] work together outside of council? 100%. These men and I serve on 61 different

[1:13:12] committees in the community. We spend hours and hours of time trying

[1:13:17] to figure it out. So as far as our conduct, there's an election every 4

[1:13:22] years, so that could be debated. But we've worked darn hard to find a

[1:13:28] compromise, to find in a solution. Has it been divisive? 100%. Have some

[1:13:33] members of the community helped make it divisive? 100%.

[1:13:37] They've gone behind people's backs. They've said things, but that's part of

[1:13:41] politics. So if you heard tonight when the question was asked on leases, this

[1:13:46] council came to a consensus, and we have a decision, so we're moving forward.

[1:13:52] We care about the community, but things are going to divide, and farming,

[1:13:58] it's one of those. Ranching, another one. It It is a difficult thing to deal

[1:14:03] with, and water's going to be worse when we have water shortages or water

[1:14:07] concerns. We're very fortunate where we live.

[1:14:10] We're not worried about whether we have a house or a road to drive on.

[1:14:14] So when I hear critical comments of this council, I get very defensive because I

[1:14:21] do know that these men and I serve this municipality the best

[1:14:26] we can. Is there things we should do better? You

[1:14:29] brought up one incident. 100% we all can do better.

[1:14:34] Should I have reached out and apologized on behalf of council?

[1:14:39] That's not my role. And plus, if you knew background for me

[1:14:43] on that situation, it would be very difficult for me to even have a

[1:14:49] conversation. But know that tonight or this week, I sent a text message out to

[1:14:55] most everyone whose number I have. I sent it out to Billy and Joe. They would

[1:15:00] have been welcome to come tonight, too. And

[1:15:04] whether council gets in disagreements with people,

[1:15:08] again, I'm not their mom. They're going to have behaviors that,

[1:15:12] you know, we can all do better. Right now, there's no code of conduct.

[1:15:16] There's going to be a code of con- similar thing come into play if this

[1:15:20] bill 20- eight gets passed, the omnibus bill,

[1:15:25] that also includes banning books from libraries, changing the time. Like

[1:15:30] there's all kinds of things in that bill. And that will help

[1:15:34] deal with counselors. But for those of you who know,

[1:15:37] in my second year, a code of conduct was placed on me for discussing how I could

[1:15:42] have a better relationship with the CEO. So code of conduct,

[1:15:47] I have mixed feelings. So I know I've talked a long time, Johnny, but

[1:15:51] we all should do better, and I think this council is working hard to do

[1:15:55] better. We've come to some solutions. Now we need to move forward. Thank you.

[1:16:01] Hi, John De Groot. I I just was pretty involved

[1:16:05] with the lands discussions the last 2 years of my

[1:16:09] on council. And it And And it was divisive. But our

[1:16:13] council came up with some pretty hard decisions. And uh

[1:16:19] And I didn't agree with all of them, but that's that's council. I respect the

[1:16:23] decision this council has made. But one thing we have to understand in

[1:16:28] agriculture here, and I've heard the word subsidy, and it's uh free to the

[1:16:34] grazing operations. When I started my farming career, land was 100,000 bucks a

[1:16:40] quarter. What's land worth now?

[1:16:45] What was an intensive agricultural operation? Cuz I I get pissed off when

[1:16:50] people start picking on feedlots or or picking on one

[1:16:55] the potato growers, whatever. An intensive agricultural operation in

[1:17:01] 1980 was what? You know, what's a big What was a big

[1:17:06] potato storage? Doesn't matter. Just think about it. What was a big feedlot

[1:17:09] back in 1980? 3,500 head. Where are we now? So stop

[1:17:16] throwing the word subsidy around because if if you think it's a subsidy to the

[1:17:21] grazing association or the individual leaseholders, pull

[1:17:26] your head out your backside because irrigation is a subsidy.

[1:17:32] By how many millions of dollars do we get canals and Chin expansion and

[1:17:39] Horsefly spillway? So figure out

[1:17:42] how we can work together. And I am proud that you guys went up on

[1:17:47] land. When land's going for between three and five million dollars a

[1:17:53] quarter, and we're

[1:17:55] running our visa drive over three bucks, give your head a shake.

[1:18:06] I just wanted to say Is it on? You can hear me? Um that

[1:18:10] Tamara and I have probably voted against each other more than we voted together.

[1:18:14] But I respect this lady a lot. We don't have to agree

[1:18:19] to be friends. Um she's been amazing. And even on

[1:18:24] little things in the background, if one of us is sick

[1:18:28] or on the phone or any She She watches out for everybody on this council. If

[1:18:33] somebody can't hear what's being said, she makes sure that we speak up so that

[1:18:36] the people that are hard of hearing can hear. Um And so like I say, we don't

[1:18:40] have to agree to to care about each other and to actually love each other.

[1:18:45] And she She gets a lot of abuse as the as the Reeve, and I'm just honored to be

[1:18:51] able to work with her. And so thank you.

[1:18:57] And it goes for all of council. And we're very fortunate to have a

[1:19:00] supportive staff, too, who check in on council and make sure we're not going

[1:19:06] sideways, either. We try to do our very best, and we'll always have to do

[1:19:10] better, but that's being human. One question here. Yeah, go ahead, Bert.

[1:19:16] Hey, uh you know, I just came to the meeting. I

[1:19:18] thought, you know, you had raised the rate by 55% was it?

[1:19:23] No one really complains. You raised mine by 55, I'd be

[1:19:27] complaining pretty hard right now. So, I'm just sitting here going, "Hm, I

[1:19:31] see the farmers around here, but no one's saying anything, so must be

[1:19:36] must be good or easy still."

[1:19:40] I think it's reasonable. I think that's more so what it is and because

[1:19:45] we didn't raise it to make money. We made it raised it to make our budget

[1:19:49] balance and so that we didn't have to continue having residential and business

[1:19:55] carry the load when we know egg is a a stick is the main stable contributor to

[1:20:01] our municipality. It needed to have a level of equity. Yeah, just to readjust

[1:20:07] things to get more things in line a little bit.

[1:20:09] Okay, yeah, good job.

[1:20:26] Uh Tamara, I think you know, we all like to you know, we all like to thank this

[1:20:28] council being I know we ask some tough questions sometimes of you guys, but

[1:20:34] you know, the increase of $3 an acre, you're right.

[1:20:37] When you really think about it, I mean, when I first started dealing

[1:20:40] with the the now SMRID or TID, I think our rate was

[1:20:45] $8 an acre for for irrigation. And what are we paying now?

[1:20:50] 33, right? So, I So, So, we're we've seen a see seen an $8 to

[1:20:56] 30-some plus number come from the irrigation side of it, but yet the

[1:21:01] as a uh for our rate paying for our taxes,

[1:21:05] we've seen three bucks. You know, I mean,

[1:21:09] the question is is like we talk about certain industries like maybe feedlots

[1:21:14] or potato farmers or high use environments paying more.

[1:21:19] You know, who's really paying a lot is the is these people that are in the

[1:21:22] acreages and stuff like that. I have a house in the acreage and my

[1:21:26] brother has a house in the acreage and we pay for taxes relative to how much

[1:21:30] services we get is considerably higher than what the farmland, like you say,

[1:21:34] it's gone from $100,000 to $35,000 I think an acre almost. I

[1:21:41] mean, when we bought land even in the '90s, I think we paid $800 an acre for

[1:21:44] irrigation. $800 an acre.

[1:21:48] And at that time, we were charged a tax rate of based on that $800 an acre,

[1:21:52] which was the 25 years ago, right? So,

[1:21:55] I think the direction that I'm trying to tell

[1:21:58] council is is that you everybody's got to pay their fair share,

[1:22:03] right? Everybody has to pay their fair share, whether it's what's the

[1:22:06] agricultural side of it or it's the leaseholder side of it or we all have to

[1:22:11] pay somewhat of fair share. And I think that

[1:22:14] cuz if we don't, like you say, the infrastructure

[1:22:17] is falling apart. We've got some highways and blacktops and the MD of

[1:22:21] Taber that I think Mexico might have better

[1:22:24] roads. So, I mean, we have to we have to think

[1:22:28] about that, right? For a bit, right? Well, no, I've been to Mexico. There's

[1:22:30] some of the roads are better there. So, I mean, I grew up in Saskatchewan.

[1:22:34] You should go drive some of theirs. >> [laughter]

[1:22:37] » Yeah, that's true. That's true, but that is Mexico, so.

[1:22:42] So, anyway, that's all I have to say about it, so.

[1:22:53] Okay, council, do you have any Does anyone want to speak?

[1:22:57] You're welcome to if you want. Oh, we'll take some more questions.

[1:23:04] Yeah, I'm Peter Donns. Uh I'm I'm in on, [clears throat] you

[1:23:09] know, like uh uh lived here uh almost 50 years in this

[1:23:14] country and uh

[1:23:17] the massive opportunities there were for us.

[1:23:21] Mentioned subsidy, irrigation, livestock.

[1:23:25] You know, I've been kind of in all of it.

[1:23:28] But you know, the the responsibility as a counselor

[1:23:32] and and what you guys have to fix what was not

[1:23:38] was locked behind 20 years ago and not taking action and

[1:23:44] taken for granted. You know, and now we have to play catch

[1:23:47] up. And some of them get angry.

[1:23:52] You know, shame on them. We have to live with

[1:23:55] reality. You know, and $150

[1:24:00] I gladly pay. You know, uh

[1:24:05] the school system, the school buses. If you if you look everything, it is

[1:24:10] just massive. An MD like this,

[1:24:14] um you know, a little bit of a pity it's it's

[1:24:18] um questions asked and and what has been put

[1:24:23] onto the council and we've uh

[1:24:27] you know, I would like to ask every counselor

[1:24:30] and and do a little spiel on their own thoughts

[1:24:34] and where they stand for. Thank you.

[1:24:41] That was Jerry Zeinstra. So, uh I'll give council the mic, so you just want

[1:24:46] their opinion on the taxation or on the state of the MD?

[1:24:51] Sure. I will let them come one at a time. You've heard enough from me.

[1:25:03] Okay, we're back. Um I'm um that first rate meeting

[1:25:10] um when you've never been on council was a

[1:25:12] bit shocking to realize that we had to move

[1:25:16] farm tax rates by 55% to get $1 million.

[1:25:21] And the road, the Purple Springs Road is going to cost $12 million to rebuild.

[1:25:25] One road that's completely dissolving. And so,

[1:25:30] I don't think we're going to solve all this by doing taxation. We've got to do

[1:25:33] some investment in the future of this MD and we're looking at everything like

[1:25:38] data centers, wind, solar, what and we don't know what's the right answers.

[1:25:42] We've We've got to get a lot of data together. We've got to study this out.

[1:25:47] One of the things that was really a shock to me that I had no idea, um just

[1:25:51] being naive, but that we have 150 bridges in the MD of Taber and they're

[1:25:56] almost all of them are bridges for irrigation. They're for all of our

[1:26:00] canals. And um I didn't realize that that was a

[1:26:05] liability that the the MD has to fix. Now, it'll be shared with the province

[1:26:09] and the feds, but we have to pay a portion of that. And it wasn't very many

[1:26:13] years ago that that was actually SMRID's responsibility, but the legislation got

[1:26:18] changed and now it's government's responsibility. And so, it's a huge

[1:26:22] liability, but it could be a huge opportunity. What if we figure out how

[1:26:27] to make box culverts, I'm in precast concrete, so I wouldn't be doing it.

[1:26:32] That would be a major conflict. Or if we figure out how to train one of our crews

[1:26:37] to fix these bridges because there's a whole bunch of them in the county of 40

[1:26:40] Mile and there's a whole bunch of them in the county of Lethbridge. We don't

[1:26:43] know what the answers are, but something in the future's got to change, not just

[1:26:46] taxation. We've got to bring And if we keep taxing the businesses at too high

[1:26:51] of a rate, they won't come to our MD. Like we want like more processing

[1:26:56] plants. We want food processing. We want things to happen here that actually

[1:27:00] makes it better for everybody. We're in a like I agree, an amazing place of

[1:27:04] opportunity, but we've got to keep looking. Like John's going to Toronto

[1:27:09] next week for a a few days

[1:27:12] to a big, you know, economic development

[1:27:14] type convention and some of the staff is going with him. They're looking for

[1:27:18] things to bring to this MD that are going to make it a better place to be.

[1:27:22] And so, um and we're going to keep doing those

[1:27:25] things and we are going to start more businesses and

[1:27:29] in 10 years, we're going to look back and see that

[1:27:32] um even though this land policy has been very, very contentious, we've been

[1:27:36] pulling in millions of dollars from the oil leases off of that land.

[1:27:41] And now we're going to sell a bunch of it and we're building the irrigation

[1:27:44] project. It's going to be our seed money to do

[1:27:48] different things. It's not all going to get solved by this land policy, but we

[1:27:52] are going to move on to to new things and it's going to take a lot of debate

[1:27:55] and we're not going to agree on everything that we but we are going to

[1:27:58] try to put this money into a place where it will bring some security for our So,

[1:28:03] I'm very positive about the future and I am sorry for the lack of knowledge that

[1:28:08] I have on a lot of things. I'm trying to to get up to speed and I really

[1:28:12] appreciate the patience of council working with me.

[1:28:21] So, I'm a new member of council and it's been an interesting experience to say

[1:28:25] the least for me stepping into this situation.

[1:28:29] Uh first of all, before I say anything, I want to echo

[1:28:33] uh David's comments about working with Tamara.

[1:28:37] She does a great job. As a council, we put her in difficult situations

[1:28:44] and she manages it and manages it well. And I appreciate her role and what she

[1:28:50] has been doing in leading us together through this process that we have gone

[1:28:54] through. As I reflect on

[1:28:58] the role of community, I think the most important asset we have

[1:29:04] in the community is relationships. And it's relationships

[1:29:09] with one another. It's relationships with different groups.

[1:29:13] And if there's anything that is going to be more

[1:29:18] um difficult to manage going forward, it's going to be division.

[1:29:24] And we have got to recognize that there is going to be differences of opinion

[1:29:30] and come through that process of making decisions and still have respect for one

[1:29:35] another. Um

[1:29:38] being able to work together in pursuit of difficult

[1:29:44] decisions that we have been dealing with and have yet to deal with in the future

[1:29:51] is one of the things that we all need to invest time and effort into and I hope

[1:29:58] that that's something that as a community

[1:30:01] we're prepared to work on together. Cuz as we've talked about tonight, there

[1:30:07] has been difficult things that we have been through already.

[1:30:12] But I'm sure that there's going to be even more difficult decisions ahead.

[1:30:16] Um Brian Hildebrand raised the question. There's all kinds

[1:30:21] of needs that are out there and where's the money going to come from? And that's

[1:30:25] going to be an ongoing conversation that we're going

[1:30:29] to have to work through together. I appreciate you coming out tonight. The

[1:30:33] fact that you're here tells us there's interest in what's

[1:30:37] happening. That's great to see. I appreciate the comments that you've

[1:30:41] shared.

[1:30:48] Thanks for making me come up here, Jerry.

[1:30:51] » [laughter] >> I appreciate that. So, when I uh first

[1:30:54] put my name forward to be on council, it was

[1:30:57] it was because I thought that the roads could use more help and more work. I

[1:31:01] thought that uh we could do a better job.

[1:31:04] And one of the things that disappointed me the most is over the last 8 years

[1:31:08] the most the least amount of time we spend on decision-making is about roads

[1:31:13] and road infrastructure. When that is what affects every one of

[1:31:16] us in this room. And so, that that disappoints me a little bit, but there's

[1:31:20] so many other things that we have to deal with and some of them are quite

[1:31:24] challenging. And I would encourage anybody if if there's something I've

[1:31:28] done I I encourage you to reach out to me personally. Um calling me out in open

[1:31:33] meeting isn't really the right way to do it, but if that's how you choose to do

[1:31:37] it, that's fine, too. Uh I can take it. And uh this this

[1:31:40] council, just like the last two I've been on

[1:31:43] uh there's differences of opinion and that's a good thing. We can't all agree

[1:31:47] all the time and we shouldn't. Thank you.

[1:31:58] Well, talk about being put on the spot. Anyways, what do I think?

[1:32:04] Well, I'm going to start off with a bit of history. I've been on boards for 30

[1:32:08] years. Um

[1:32:10] this has been the toughest experience on a board that I've had

[1:32:15] trying to make wise decisions

[1:32:18] and you realize, too, that you don't know

[1:32:21] what you need to know sometimes and that gets a bit frustrating and

[1:32:25] it's a learning experience, for sure. Uh one thing I did want to mention

[1:32:30] tonight is um you know, a couple weeks ago

[1:32:34] we went on a tour of the Horsefly Spillway.

[1:32:37] And people have talked about subsidy and and uh

[1:32:43] and subsidizing the grazing associations. And I looked at the

[1:32:46] Horsefly Spillway and I said, I don't know how much money the MD spent on

[1:32:49] that, but I don't think there's too many

[1:32:51] leaseholders that getting any benefit out of that spillway.

[1:32:56] So, there are a group of people that have

[1:32:59] subsidized that spillway that helps a lot of people in a

[1:33:03] different area of the MD. And I think

[1:33:06] it's the fact that

[1:33:10] we're never going to get everything 100% right,

[1:33:13] but we can try and average things out the

[1:33:18] best we can.

[1:33:28] Yeah, I'm usually the one that uh has the most to say at the meeting. Very

[1:33:32] quiet. But uh when I this my I'm a third term

[1:33:36] now and when I got on, I just wanted to try and make the MD a better place than

[1:33:40] what it was and hope to win.

[1:33:44] I I believe that it's better yet, but uh roads is a big thing.

[1:33:50] I don't know why out in the country and how it come about years ago, why there's

[1:33:54] a little paved section for 4 miles here and then

[1:33:57] you go to another area, it's another 4 miles there.

[1:34:01] And a number of the same roads that we're talking about now that are

[1:34:03] breaking up, they were more or less made for

[1:34:06] half ton cars and maybe 3 ton trucks or tandems and now it's

[1:34:10] big trucks. That's why they're falling apart, so

[1:34:14] what do we do? Spend millions of dollars fixing them up

[1:34:17] or turn them back to gravel or I guess anybody that's got any good

[1:34:22] ideas for me, let us know cuz uh it's a lot of money to spend in one

[1:34:26] area. And with the expansion of that

[1:34:29] irrigation, it's sure to take time to pay for it, but I think there'll be

[1:34:33] revenue gained from that and it'll help everybody out with

[1:34:37] recreation and everything else in the community, so

[1:34:42] that's what all I have.

[1:34:50] Okay, thanks, council. So, um last call for questions.

[1:34:56] I heard Lace tested every donut, so they're all good.

[1:35:00] Don't look underneath them.

[1:35:08] It for those who don't know, Lace is the person who keeps our council organized,

[1:35:13] moving forward, ensuring that we show up at the right places, have the right

[1:35:18] documents and then with the support of our staff. Um you may notice tonight our

[1:35:23] CAO is not here, Mr. Arlis Crop. He is um taking his dad to a nephew's wedding

[1:35:30] and that's probably more than I should share, but I want you to know that this

[1:35:34] council and the last two councils I served on prioritize family and that is

[1:35:41] very important to us and work-life balance.

[1:35:45] I would say most farmers don't have a clue about that. I live with one.

[1:35:49] And um but at the MD of Taber, we do think it's important to have work-life

[1:35:54] balance and plus many of our staff, all I would say all of them contribute back

[1:35:59] to our community and I'll just call Lace out. She is the president of the Taber

[1:36:04] Curling Club and helps her kids' sports teams. So,

[1:36:08] we do strive for work-life balance and when I hear people say, "Well, they

[1:36:12] shouldn't be shut down at at uh 5:00. They should be working till 9:00." Well,

[1:36:17] maybe we all could learn a little bit and but that's not how farming works.

[1:36:21] So, we have a strong team. We as a council support our staff and we're

[1:36:26] thankful for the work that they're doing, right from our summer students to

[1:36:30] our directors to our CAO. And um if we don't have those folks, there's not one

[1:36:35] of these guys you want grading your road. So, it's uh important that we have

[1:36:40] this strong team. It wasn't that bad of joke, Bryce.

[1:36:45] Okay, any other last questions before we have a coffee?

[1:36:54] All right, thank you for coming tonight. We appreciate your community

[1:36:57] involvement.

The Municipal District of Taber 2026 Annual General Meeting

Transcript