[0:00] council to order at 3 p.m. for Monday, August

[0:04] 10th. Sharon,

[0:11] please note council chil meetings are steamed streamed lived and recorded on

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[0:36] legislative and advisory services team for the town of High River by sending an

[0:40] email to atiphy high.ca. That's at ppphriver.ca. CA.

[0:48] » Thanks, Sharon. Uh, first item is the adoption of today's agenda. So, I'll ask

[0:54] for a motion from councelor Barton that council adopt the agenda for the regular

[0:57] council meeting August 10th as presented.

[1:00] » Yeah, [clears throat] my motion, Mayor. >> Thank you. All in favor?

[1:05] Okay.

[1:11] Uh, previous meeting minutes acceptance. Ask for a motion from councelor

[1:15] Brookwell that council adopt the July 13, 2026 regular council meeting minutes

[1:19] as presented. >> You have my motion, mayor.

[1:22] » Thank you. All in favor? Carried.

[1:28] Uh, one delegation today from KFM Investments and I understand Ken is here

[1:32] to speak to that. Yeah, just up front at the middle computer here. again.

[1:45] Yeah. Well,

[1:54] » okay. Uh, thank you, Mayor Snodgrass and, uh, council for, uh, uh, allowing

[2:01] us to come and speak today. Um, my name is Ken Fzen. I'm the owner of the

[2:07] building located at 720 11th Avenue Southeast which has Fountain Tire as the

[2:14] tenant. Uh Fountain Tire's franchise owner owner manager Nathan Oakley uh

[2:22] regrets he couldn't make it here today, but I do have Jared Jameson and Curtis

[2:27] Sigalo who own the building next to mine at 710 11th Avenue Southeast. They have

[2:34] man cave powers sports, aces of speed, and concept building systems as major

[2:39] tenants. We are here today to have funding

[2:42] approved for the construction of the Burm naturalization and drainage project

[2:48] behind our buildings. Whenever it rains or there's a heavy

[2:53] snow melt, water runs off of this burm behind our buildings and floods our

[2:58] buildings so that you can uh see and hear the water literally rushing through

[3:03] the floor vents uh especially at Fountain Tire. Our pictures one and one,

[3:10] two, and three uh show that uh the water is cracking the concrete

[3:17] which is damaging the building floors and who knows what's happening to the

[3:21] building's piping and sewage system. Fountain tires floor vents have rust in

[3:26] them due to the burm water that sits in them after it rains and when there is

[3:30] snow melt. That's on picture four. Uh does council get to see these

[3:36] pictures? Do you Oh, you've got them there.

[3:41] Okay. Uh due to the lack of proper drainage from the burn, there is

[3:46] standing water in the buildings and yards. That is an Al Alberta

[3:50] Occupational Health and Safety Code Hazard. And we have a whole bunch of

[3:55] pictures 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 and 12. Uh Nathan, the manager there, has equipment

[4:03] that's valued well over $50,000 that could have an electrical short due to

[4:07] water hazard, not to mention the slip and trip hazards to customers and staff.

[4:13] If ONS were to see the water rushing through floor vents and the standing

[4:17] water in the buildings, they would shut these work sites down.

[4:23] Nathan has been in contact with town staff regarding ongoing flooding issues

[4:28] since he started with Fountain Tire in 2020.

[4:32] Mr. Oakley has tried to mitigate the issue by spending over $30,000.

[4:38] He dug up a portion of the yard uh and and and filled it with rocks in order to

[4:44] try and hold the water. Uh that's in picture 13. The va volume of water is so

[4:51] much that there is no visual improvement to the water coming into the building or

[4:56] the yard. We received notification from ISL

[5:00] Engineering and Landscaping dated September 23rd, 2024

[5:06] that they would be performing, and I quote,

[5:10] a site topographic survey as part of the Burm Naturalization and Drainage Project

[5:17] to resolve drainage issues related to the existing BRM along the back lane

[5:23] between 10th Avenue and 11th Avenue Southeast. East. The scope of the design

[5:29] includes redirecting the drainage from the town burm away from private

[5:34] property. Pictures 14 and 15. Mr. Oakley's correspondence with Andrea

[5:42] Kak and Diana Daly Beckford from the town's engineering department, which was

[5:48] dated November 21st, 2025. Picture uh 16 acknowledges that the town

[5:56] has completed the design for the Burm naturalization and drainage project and

[6:01] the next step was to take the project to council for construction approval.

[6:06] Council denied the construction of the project in the fall of 2025.

[6:13] I feel we've been extremely patient regarding this ongoing matter, but our

[6:18] patience is running out. Mr. Oakley has been dealing with this not only with the

[6:23] town but as a productivity and safety issue. The problem has been ongoing for

[6:29] so long, over six years that we're aware of that we are now concerned about

[6:34] damages to our buildings, piping, sewage systems, and who knows what else the

[6:39] water damage is doing to our buildings. Um, I will add in here that uh also uh

[6:46] Curtis and uh and Jared that are here today uh they have spent well in excess

[6:52] of $30,000 of their money trying to divert this water and uh their yard when

[6:57] it gets a heavy rain or snow is just it's just a lake back there. It's just

[7:02] it's unbelievable. So, um I feel we've been extremely

[7:07] patient regarding this ongoing matter, but our patience is running out. Mr.

[7:12] Oakley has been dealing with this uh with the town as a productivity and

[7:17] safety issue. The problem has been ongo Oh, so I'm sorry I'm repeating myself

[7:22] there. We are here today to request that council approves the burm construction

[7:27] as soon as possible and a firm construction date start and timeline.

[7:33] Thank you for your time today. We look forward to council's approval of the

[7:36] Burm construction project with the urgency we believe this project

[7:40] deserves. I thank you for your time today.

[7:44] » Thanks, Ken. Um, so regarding construction and cost and everything

[7:48] else, nothing will take place prior to budget this fall. Has to be. That's just

[7:54] the way things go in municipal government.

[7:57] » I understand. >> Um,

[8:00] who can Where's Where's my staff members? I'm looking for um Diana, is

[8:06] she here? Can somebody remind me what was the what was the quoted cost of of

[8:13] the project as it was designed to do from from ISL

[8:19] that was declined by council?

[8:23] » Yep.

[8:30] So actually the actual >> there you go.

[8:34] » Good afternoon everyone. Um the actual cost to complete the project was around

[8:39] 500,000 but then the problem was the utilities to be removed and placed

[8:46] underground in order to complete the the design and

[8:50] have proper drainage. And that was over $750,000.

[8:56] [snorts]

[9:00] » That's the power lines, etc. Right. >> That's right.

[9:03] » Um, how long has this BM been there? Long as

[9:08] I can remember, but that's not very >> I understand it was in the 80s. I'm not

[9:13] quite sure of the exact date. So, can help me understand why has this

[9:19] only been an issue for the last six years if it's

[9:23] » Well, this thing's been there. >> We purchased this building in uh n I

[9:26] believe it was in 2019, >> right?

[9:29] » And so, that's the only timeline you have. Uh I know the issue has been there

[9:34] before, right? the the building that Curtis and uh and his partner uh uh

[9:40] Jared own, they purchased that building some

[9:44] » You guys have only had it for three years, four years.

[9:47] » Uh >> yeah.

[9:49] » So, you know, we're we're just the ones that are dealing with it at

[9:53] » Okay, I appreciate that. That's what I needed to know. Um,

[9:59] outside of $1 and a4 million dollars

[10:04] » Yeah. >> to fix this, are there other options

[10:09] being a swale down the south side of the burm or anything to redirect this water

[10:14] off of it? >> No, it's based on existing drainage and

[10:18] how we have to redirect the water right now. Um, but the major major problem is

[10:22] really just the >> water line. We got to get you got to get

[10:26] tight. That mic is really quiet, Diana. >> Yeah, please.

[10:30] » So, based on how the drain the existing drainage is right now, we looked at

[10:35] various different options to um one of the option was to remove the burm in its

[10:41] entirety. Um and the second option was to do proper landscaping to have

[10:47] drainage in the area. But part of the problem is there's an existing structure

[10:52] that's just just right on the property line and it's hindering um putting a

[10:57] proper swale behind the burm. So that's why the

[11:02] design had to change from that. There is an existing structure on the fountain

[11:07] entire property that's causing the issue.

[11:10] » That's that sprung structure. >> Yes,

[11:12] » the right one. Mike. Okay, [snorts] >> councelor Kui. Uh thanks very much and

[11:18] thanks very much for being here today and and for stepping in as well. Um

[11:23] question just to clarify the dollars and cents here. We've talked about um the

[11:28] 500,000 but the utilities is the utilities additional 750 or is that the

[11:33] total project cost? >> It's additional

[11:36] » additional 750,000. Perfect. Thank you. I just want a clarification on that.

[11:46] [cough and clears throat] >> Council member

[12:01] um what was the original purpose of the sperm? I went out and had a look at it

[12:06] this morning and it's significantly higher right behind the fountain tire

[12:12] building. It it kind of slopes a bit. Um, and it's been really dry. You still

[12:18] have a lot of water there. So, what was the initial purpose of the burm? And is

[12:23] it is it still working for what it was supposed

[12:28] to do?

[12:33] I couldn't speak much about the history but typically BMS are normally built for

[12:37] sound attenuation. Um what I will say is that um

[12:43] the the existing burm right now I'm not sure if it's actually still serving the

[12:47] same purpose because most of the trees in the on top of the burm is dying based

[12:52] on talking to um uh the parks department. So the plan was to remove a

[12:58] couple of those trees and then cut the burm down in order for it to actually

[13:04] function with a different purpose.

[13:12] Is is that an option? Is that a cheaper option?

[13:16] It is an option um that we're actually planning. Actually, that is the option

[13:21] right now because we cannot put a swale between the existing property and where

[13:27] the swale is. So, we're planning on cutting the swale down and have so that

[13:31] we can have proper drainage into the alley and connect to the um to the

[13:36] infrastructure >> and that's the

[13:40] one and a4 million. the quarter one and a4 million

[13:46] » is $750,000 to remove the um forest poles existing

[13:53] right now. Right? Because there are higher power lines. Um port forest

[13:57] requests that the power lines be placed underground right now. they're above

[14:02] ground and they want if we're planning on doing any work to um impact their um

[14:10] utility pose, they want the the lines to be underground and that was the

[14:13] direction we received.

[14:17] » Are they the final word on this? >> That's that's what my question was. Do

[14:21] they get to just tell us to spend that money or we can say thanks for the

[14:26] request but no we can't afford it in this project and your power lines go

[14:30] overhead. >> We've tried the engineering and I have

[14:34] spoken to them and that's their request. the the reason for having the water the

[14:39] poles underground. We were planning on creating domes around each pole um

[14:45] because of if we were to put the swale in, we would need to protect the poles

[14:50] to put their infrastructure. They do not want us to do that.

[14:55] So the request is if you're planning on doing any work to impact our poles, you

[14:59] have to put the water line, sorry, not water line, the electrical work

[15:03] underground.

[15:09] » [clears throat]

[15:12] » Can I make a comment on this? >> Yeah, go ahead. Um, you know, uh, is

[15:18] there any, you know, the thought of putting some type of drain basins in

[15:22] behind our buildings that that, you know, ran a pipe instead of taking the

[15:25] burm out if there was drain basins that could collect that water with a little

[15:29] bit of direction there and then having that water piped out out of that area.

[15:34] It was just a, you know, I'm I'm not an engineer or anything like that, but it

[15:37] was just kind of common sense thing that might work. If I we can do that, but it

[15:43] means you would have to move your building.

[15:47] [snorts] >> That's where the that's where that

[15:49] sprung the white sprung structure comes into play is problematic with it being

[15:53] that as close to that BM as it is. Um okay, so

[16:00] 2027 budget. Sorry, Councelor Barton, let me go through and get the list done

[16:05] here first.

[16:09] I was just [clears throat] going to mention something like Ken had mentioned

[16:13] is that there was an option but I didn't know about the struct the sprung

[16:16] structure. So that was it.

[16:22] Um for the 2027 budget like doing nothing

[16:27] is is not an option. >> No,

[16:29] » something's got to be rectified here. um on some level whether it's a cost share

[16:37] or some I don't know but um [clears throat]

[16:43] this has to come back to 2027 budget and I'd like options outside of what was

[16:48] brought um last year's budget.

[16:54] I also want more information on how much Foris can handcuff us.

[17:03] Probably quite a bit, but I'd like to see the rules on that. [snorts] Um cuz

[17:09] that's a significant cost to this whole thing is is if we've got to go

[17:13] underground with that power. Um [clears throat] but yeah, I think we

[17:20] got to get something sorted out here because

[17:24] Councelor Nicha, >> sorry, Mayor. Uh, along with your

[17:29] information request that you just had, can we get some history on if we can

[17:34] back to when that BM was built, when the adjacent properties had development,

[17:39] construction? Uh, kind of the full background for that property along

[17:44] there, and that timeline if we can. Thank you.

[17:49] » Perfect.

[17:53] I'm >> good.

[17:54] » Okay, that's it. >> Okay, we'll work through it here, Ken.

[17:58] » Yeah, just uh if one more comment on that if I may. Um you asked about uh

[18:04] when things were built and stuff. I that's a good the good question. I know

[18:08] that both of these buildings have been there for a long time. So, it's like,

[18:12] you know, were the buildings there before the BM and then the BM went in or

[18:15] or did we build buildings there? But if we built buildings there when there was

[18:18] a burn there, why would the city have allowed us to build at that height? So,

[18:23] it it's kind of a >> Oh, don't take me down that route.

[18:26] [laughter] >> Okay.

[18:27] » Okay. Well, he was asking the question about the date. So,

[18:30] » I appreciate it. >> So, uh thank you. And

[18:33] » we're going we're going back to Kenmar. That's how far back we're going on this

[18:37] one. So, [snorts]

[18:41] » okay. >> Okay. So, we'll hear back from

[18:45] » Yeah, we'll we'll bring it back to It'll be in budget discussions this fall.

[18:49] » Okay. And thank you everyone for your time, too.

[18:51] » You're welcome. Thanks, Ken. Um, okay. Next piece, we'll move into uh

[18:59] public comments regarding uh anything on uh today's budget or agenda items.

[19:06] Please, there's anything I think Donna Larson was scheduled to to speak to

[19:12] something. Please, Donna.

[19:16] Yeah. Just to the middle microphone, please.

[19:27] Mayor and counselors, thank you for having me today and allowing me to

[19:30] speak. Um, I did notice that my correspondence to counselors is being

[19:35] brought up later. Uh, I've been doing some reading regarding the High Country

[19:41] Drive corridor and honestly I read the whole report. There's a wealth of

[19:46] information there and I want to thank um High Country or High Country sorry um

[19:54] High River Council for for hiring the group that they did to do such an

[20:00] indepth study on the corridor. Um, I think that

[20:06] what has happened with High Country Drive is you can't turn back time. And

[20:12] the facts are that we've got two playground zones, a rather large school,

[20:18] uh, a bike park, a splash park, um, several pedestrian crossings

[20:26] along that corridor along with the golf cart crossing. And who knew it was going

[20:31] to turn into the mess that it's become now. Um the straightaways are being

[20:37] treated like what they call them the quarter mile test back when I was in

[20:43] high school where people would go from a full stop and just you know see how

[20:50] quickly they could get to 100 kilometers per hour and it's it's just an ongoing

[20:56] ongoing problem. A lot of people who are discussing the High Country Drive um

[21:03] situation are focused on the golf course crossing, which I think is quite unfair

[21:08] because it's bringing a bad name to the golf course and the golfers who have not

[21:14] really had a lot to do with everything that's been done to date. And people

[21:19] don't realize that, you know, if they sat down and read the study and all of

[21:25] the information in it along with all of the financial information, which a lot

[21:30] of people are demanding information on um that everything is there, the reasons

[21:37] are there why things has to be done. um the reasons regarding unsafe driving

[21:45] practices, the scooters, the ebikes, the people using the pathway system, and uh

[21:52] I know there's been a larger police presence, and I thank you all for that.

[21:56] But as soon as they're gone, the unsafe driving practices come back into play.

[22:02] The sign was put out, you know, drive safely.

[22:06] This is a 50 km zone. And once people were used to that, well, the unsafe

[22:11] driving practices came back. Um, there is a portion of High Country Drive that

[22:17] is a part of the happy happy trail pathway. It is a very busy part of High

[22:24] Country Drive and also a straight uh a very straight part where the

[22:31] acceleration by cars is is very evident and very noisy and very unsafe.

[22:39] So, um I think that I notice that I'm coming up later in correspondence. I

[22:45] don't know if I'll be able to be here or not, but um

[22:49] I think that what I would like to reiterate is that I do think that area

[22:56] which I believe I read is going to be reduced to 40 should actually be reduced

[23:01] to 30. It's very close to the school. It is a part of the happy trails system. It

[23:07] is a very busy um busy what would I what is the word I'm

[23:14] looking for you know user pathway users um area and um the other thing that I

[23:23] came across was I was I sat down I was looking at all of the future planning

[23:27] development of High River and was noticing what's going to happen with

[23:33] Long View Trail and it's very confusing. We have Long View Trail there and it's

[23:40] open to be used. There are no houses facing it. Future planning can be done

[23:46] so that houses won't face it. If you stand at the very east end of

[23:53] Long View Trail, the very east end of Long View Trail and

[23:57] look east, you can see Center Street, and you can see that these roads can be

[24:02] attached, which would alleviate pressure off of High Country Drive. So, I guess

[24:09] that I'm just here saying I've read options 1, 2, and three. I do believe

[24:16] that as counselors you have a chance to make the right choice um and to consider

[24:24] these other ideas that I put forward about the 30 kmter extending the 30 km

[24:29] right all the way through to the end of the

[24:33] um I guess it'd be the school/playground zone and also considering doing

[24:40] construction to create a new corridor which would be Long View Trail. Um, and

[24:48] I just hope that you take these things seriously. I

[24:52] did read options 1, 2, and three. And after looking very carefully at all of

[24:59] the information that was included in the study and feeling quite um humbled by

[25:07] all of the information in that study, I honestly think option three is the right

[25:14] way to go. It's like do it right the first time or you're just going to end

[25:18] up with more problems down the road. And that's I think all I really want to

[25:24] say. >> Appreciate it. Thanks, Donna.

[25:26] » Okay. Thank you for your time. >> And you're right, like the amount of

[25:30] traffic that is on High Country Drive right now is absolutely enormous. Um,

[25:35] unfortunately, 15 years ago. I'm looking right at you,

[25:42] King Horn. Help me go back that far. >> Yeah. Um there was a proposal that the

[25:48] traffic would come straight off of center and go and go straight to Long

[25:52] View Trail, which would have alleviated a ton of that.

[25:55] » Yeah. >> Um for a certain reason, council chose

[25:58] not to do that at that time and routed everything through the middle of High

[26:02] Country Drive, which is >> um

[26:05] » That's interesting. >> Which has

[26:08] yeah, significantly increased the traffic count on High Country Drive. And

[26:14] um you know the reasons what you're talking about is the reasons why we were

[26:19] dealing with that golf cart crossing was priority one at that time.

[26:24] » Um obviously everybody knows the history of us going through that and that's why

[26:28] that conversation was so difficult for a lot of years

[26:33] » um what area to pull the trigger on first on on High Country Drive to start

[26:38] to deal with some of these problems. And it's not easy. And you know, thankfully

[26:43] we do have a four-way stop there now that stops traffic and slows people

[26:47] down. But >> I'll be honest, when Chris and I went

[26:50] out there the last just before the the permanence

[26:55] were poured and we stood there for what 10 15 minutes discussing that the

[27:00] driving habits going through that were absolutely ridiculous.

[27:04] » Yeah. You can't change the spots of a leopard, right?

[27:07] » It was. And even still, I >> was out there and our bylaw guys were

[27:13] monitoring the intersection and [clears throat] what was going on

[27:16] through that intersection while I was talking with him.

[27:19] » Yeah. >> Was just

[27:20] » And so, you know, I get people don't like change in their driving habits and

[27:27] putting a four-way stop and another stop sign in town is just completely

[27:32] detrimental to some people's lives. Like it it's sorry it's mindboggling to me

[27:38] but it does not give you the right to just be pissed off

[27:43] » and just floor the thing coming out of that intersection. It's still a stop

[27:48] sign just like the other 4500 of them in High River that you have to obey.

[27:53] » Well >> and you got to be safe.

[27:55] » Sorry. Last week I witnessed um a guy yelling at golfers.

[27:59] » Yeah. >> Who were going across and it's like you

[28:01] know people are just taking their anger out. The entitlement behind a wheel of a

[28:06] vehicle that can kill people >> is unbelievable. Trust me, I've been

[28:10] dealing with it for 13 years now and it's been probably one of the most

[28:13] mind-boggling things. >> Yeah.

[28:15] » Learning things that I've that I've had. So, I could go on and on and on about

[28:19] that. But, um, High Country Drive, it's and the corridor study

[28:26] um that's coming back up, but it's it was very well done. There's a lot of

[28:30] information on there and there's a lot of projects to be taken under

[28:34] consideration. But the Long View Trail thing is a big one, but it also

[28:39] a lot of Long View Trail revolves around the speed at which the Spitzy Crossing

[28:45] development happens, which is a long long way out. So, what can we do in the

[28:50] meantime is what needs to be looked at and considered by council.

[28:53] » Option three. >> You got her. [snorts]

[28:55] » Yeah. >> Yeah.

[28:56] » Yeah. >> So, thank you.

[28:57] » I appreciate that. >> Yeah. Likewise.

[28:59] » Okay. Okay. Thank you everybody. >> Anyone else for public comments section

[29:05] there? I Yeah, come forward please.

[29:11] Thanks for your words Jared and Curtis was very well said.

[29:17] My name is Roland Richardson. Thank you ladies and gentlemen for your time. Um,

[29:22] I agree with probably everything she said, and I read the reports, too. Uh,

[29:28] one part that didn't get mentioned during this is Riverside Drive and the,

[29:34] uh, what happened to High Country Drive, uh, boiled over into Riverside Drive,

[29:39] which made yet this more of a speedway because people avoid the school zone.

[29:44] They avoid the ziggy zaggy street as it goes west and goes narrow. So now high

[29:50] country our or riverside drive I think is even worse than high country drive.

[29:56] Um [clears throat] the the subject of Longave Trail, I

[30:01] actually did a drawing years ago and submitted it to uh the town before the

[30:05] uh uh the road got put in by um uh Tim Hortons on the premise of

[30:14] utilizing uh Long View Trail because at the time I I forget what year it was,

[30:19] the town annexed that property which I think they were going to call Spitzy

[30:24] Crossing and I thought what an opportunity to get a a traffic artery

[30:29] that can branch out both ways to get people out to the west or southwest or

[30:33] so or south northwest. But of course that didn't get done. And um I think I'm

[30:40] said pretty much everything I want to say, but I'd like people to remember

[30:44] Riverside Drive is a nightmare more so than High Country Drive.

[30:49] Okay. Thank you for your time. >> Yeah. And it's um I've seen that as

[30:54] well. It's being used as a bypass road to go [snorts] around some of the the uh

[31:00] playground areas to try to zip around there faster, but unfortunately in order

[31:05] to make it faster, you got to go faster. But you see it all the time. And

[31:09] Riverside Drive is another one that was just [snorts]

[31:12] poor traffic design. But anyone else, Mr. Wley?

[31:33] » [clears throat]

[31:37] » Thank you, Mayor Snas. Thank you, council,

[31:43] for listening to me today. I have a concern not only about High

[31:50] Country Drive, but also about Long View Trail.

[31:56] When you [clears throat] go west on Long View Trail from Center Street, [snorts]

[32:01] you run into on the right north side of the road a gravel

[32:08] road which [clears throat] is maintained, I understand, by the town.

[32:12] Um, and I see now that there have been some

[32:17] slight improvements made to it. Um, and I sit back and wonder who is running

[32:26] this town. Is it the council

[32:31] or is it the administration? And as I can see, it must be the the

[32:38] administration because council refuses to do anything

[32:42] with that road at all. The road I'm talking about is the gravel

[32:47] road running [snorts] uh south to north over to 498.

[32:56] That road now has been bandated. And I didn't realize that council

[33:03] approved band mandating products or information or doing things in the town

[33:09] of High River. I have been here 55 years. I paid my taxes every year and I

[33:16] expect that certain things happen in this town, [snorts] but unfortunately I

[33:20] see now that they're not. Um,

[33:25] there was a gentleman by the name of Craig [snorts] that came

[33:31] into the town office raised supreme, excuse me, hell

[33:37] because of the conditions of the road that he could not sit on the back of his

[33:42] deck and enjoy

[33:47] the west looking area because of the the dust, The dust was

[33:53] incredible. And he was raising hell about that. That

[33:57] he was going to have to move out of High River. He was going to have to eliminate

[34:04] paying taxes in this town. And he was very, very disjointed about what was

[34:08] happening. And I assumed that the administration

[34:13] had found out about this. And they then proceeded to oil or a

[34:22] special word that they used waxing something on that gravel

[34:27] and they only did about 200 m of it. They did not complete the job. So you go

[34:34] around that road and it's fine. They put that oil on there, but you go down past

[34:41] the 200 m mark and the road is all gravel again. and not only gravel, but

[34:47] it's washboarding. >> Now,

[34:51] I was told by the mayor some months ago

[34:56] that that road was not in the in their jurisdiction and they would not be using

[35:03] it. He also suggested >> direct statement, Ken, 100%. I have the

[35:08] floor. >> If you're going to talk, make sure it's

[35:10] truthful. Do not start to say stuff as much as BS. Don't do it.

[35:15] » And you told me that you were going to sue me if I didn't stop talking about

[35:20] that situation. >> Pardon [laughter] me.

[35:24] » What are you talking about? You can say what you like to say, but

[35:29] I'm telling you what you said to me. that I was going that I was going to sue

[35:34] » the town or you would sue me if I didn't stop desisting

[35:39] using the

[35:43] pave road that should have been there by a developer.

[35:46] » No, you and I both know what that what that conversation I'm going to get into.

[35:51] I'm not going to argue just so the public know what's going to

[35:54] happen >> when if it's a town council thing or is

[35:58] it an administration thing that's putting that oil onto the road? Yeah,

[36:01] let's stick with the issue, Ken. >> I'm telling you the issue.

[36:08] I'm all in. >> I know you are.

[36:13] Anyway, >> but I won't but I you know Ken I tried

[36:17] for three years now and I'll give you another second.

[36:20] » Hey, can I answer can I answer your question regarding the

[36:23] » when I'm finished talking you can >> well but but you're you're so far off

[36:26] topic now Ken that you're trying to make these personal accusations that are not

[36:31] I'm not going to stand for it. I'm sorry.

[36:33] » Okay, I'm going to shut your mic off so that I can answer your question. So,

[36:37] regarding uh what is known as 64th out in the northwest and yes, it's a

[36:45] maintained oiled graveled road. Um in committee of the whole meeting

[36:51] just an hour or two ago, uh we were discussing the three roads that are the

[36:56] three priority roads as to what to do with them. Um being 112th Street in the

[37:01] northeast, 64th in the northwest, and Long View Trail in the northwest. Now,

[37:06] these are all on a list of priorities and how much money council wants to

[37:11] spend on refurbishing, repairing, maintaining these roads. And it's 100% a

[37:17] council choice. It's a um what we discussed this morning or

[37:24] this early this afternoon was 112th Street um because it is a badly beat up

[37:32] road that's in worse shape than 64th um and what to do with that

[37:39] project out on 112th which is approximately the same length as 64th

[37:44] but it's going with engineering and everything and the estimate for

[37:48] construction that I got this morning uh was $1.3 million to rebuild that road

[37:54] and pave it. $1.3 million. These are not cheap projects that you just go and do.

[38:01] [snorts] It's just not a thing you do on Wednesday.

[38:04] So, all of these things are constantly coming back into council's um project

[38:11] list every year for budget and we're trying to figure out what level of um

[38:18] repair that we want to do to these roads. So, yes, 112th is on the list,

[38:22] 64th is on the list, and Long View Trail, all of them are on the list as

[38:27] we're constantly you're constantly every municipality is constantly chasing road

[38:31] conditions always. There's proposal on on the docket for 64th to just be closed

[38:38] and removed because part of the problem with 64th, Ken, is that when Spitzy

[38:44] Crossing goes in, 64th doesn't exist. So, how much money do we spend on a road

[38:49] that won't exist when Spitzy Crossing goes? So, these are the things that

[38:54] aren't being um you know, we talk about them in council, they're not being

[38:58] talked about in the in the coffee shops, right? So it yes, you can say that we're

[39:03] all neglectful and everything else, but it's completely untrue. It's what we're

[39:06] trying to figure out is what the priorities are and where we need to

[39:09] spend the best money for our taxpayers, period. [snorts] So thanks very much for

[39:15] your comments. >> Obviously, you didn't know that the

[39:18] money was being spent to put the oil on the road.

[39:22] » Of course, I knew that we do. We're doing

[39:25] » Well, yeah, it's we're maintaining. >> Oh, yeah. Ken, yes, I know about the

[39:31] money being spent on the maintenance of the road. I'm not going to fight with

[39:34] you here. I can do that out in the hallway.

[39:37] More than happy to. Okay. Thanks very much. Councelor

[39:43] McGonagal.

[39:48] » Could we not oil the rest of the road? That doesn't require engineers, I don't

[39:54] think. >> Riley, can you speak to the maintenance

[39:56] of 64th, please?

[40:10] Um so earlier I guess a couple weeks ago we applied oil to sorry not oil the wax

[40:16] product. So the same product we use on 112th to approximately 300 m of 64th. uh

[40:24] given the concerns we've had with dust as well as with uh some of the ruting

[40:29] and moving of the gravel around that intersection. So, we did apply that. I

[40:35] think it was around 10,000. We could apply it to the balance if council so

[40:39] wished. Um [clears throat] I don't know how the long the road is off the top of

[40:43] my head, but we could multiply that out and definitely do that.

[40:49] » Okay.

[40:53] [snorts] Any other public comments then allocated the time to it but okay

[40:58] we'll move on uh janitorial contract award for BSRC Alex

[41:14] » Good afternoon mayor and council members of the public Mullet uh manager of

[41:18] recreation uh so before you is the request for a

[41:21] decision for the general janitorial contract award for the Bob Snrass

[41:27] Recreation Complex. Uh just some background on that. Historically,

[41:30] janitorial services at the complex have been done inhouse by the facility

[41:35] operators as part of their broader responsibilities. The aquatic expansion

[41:40] um has added new change rooms, new play space areas, and a mechanical system

[41:46] that requires much more maintenance uh preventive maintenance attention. um as

[41:52] well as just upkeep of that space when it does open. Um this is also

[41:58] um has the potential to increase the cleaning workload and technical

[42:02] responsibilities for those facility operators like I mentioned including

[42:06] water monitoring, samples, troubleshooting, different things like

[42:09] that. um administration identified the continuing con uh the continuing to

[42:14] complete all janitorial work in house would place additional pressure on this

[42:18] staff capacity um not just on the aquatic side but we have seen increase

[42:23] in the ice maintenance our ice operations as well with higher ice

[42:27] demand this past season and coming into this season we anticipate the same um

[42:32] along with those measures we have included additional ice maintenance and

[42:36] an additional ice maintenance plan for this season to upkeep with that

[42:39] maintenance Part of the things we want to do um with

[42:43] our services in the facility is upkeeping these services, ensuring that

[42:46] the public uh user groups, members coming in are accessing the most

[42:51] adequate consistent service, not just on the pool side when that opens, but also

[42:56] when it comes to ice surfaces, fieldhouse, studio, walking track,

[43:01] curling club, you know, a lot of those spaces require a lot of uh facility

[43:04] attention. Um, so like I mentioned, contract, this RFP focuses on

[43:12] contracting nightly janitorial work in the areas of all the dressing rooms for

[43:16] the fieldhouse, small arena, and large arena, as well as our highest traffic

[43:21] public washrooms that include the fieldhouse and the existing lobby ones.

[43:25] In addition, we will be covering the offices and the new uh change rooms in

[43:30] the aquatic side as well. In addition to this nightly cleaning that was c

[43:33] captured in this RFP, we also have night our weekly deep cleaning happening um

[43:38] which is paramount on the aquatic side in terms of us doing our due diligence

[43:43] and our service that we need to not just for when that facility opens but in

[43:46] terms of AHS standards and everything like that when come when it comes to

[43:50] aquatics cleanliness. Um I'll just break down the financials real quick. Um, like

[43:55] I mentioned, when we originally estimated last year going into budget,

[43:58] we annually estimated 70,000. Um, we reduc we amended that budget to 35,000

[44:04] with the delayed aquatics opening. Um, of the proponents we had, we had 21

[44:09] proponents. Service master cleaning um came in at yearly cost of 59,841.

[44:16] Um, if we sign the agreement here in September for the remainder of 2026,

[44:22] that cost will be 19,947, the total cost of the three-year

[44:26] contract, 179,523.

[44:31] Um, and I will just preface like I said of those 21 proponents.

[44:37] Um, bear with me here. We had

[44:41] we had two three that we had put in as preferred. As you see with deep clean

[44:48] building maintenance, they did come in at 41,400.

[44:51] The key difference in going with the middle bit on this one is in terms of

[44:56] capacity uh the technical capacity um the support that comes with service

[45:02] master cleaning in addition to the level of of diversity of experience they've

[45:07] had they have they're a business of 30 years experience not only just doing

[45:12] government services such as AHS but commercial side that includes Amazon

[45:16] Chevron Shell uh commercial pro commercial residential properties

[45:20] including Jamon, Simco um and also their QA system, their quality assurance

[45:26] system and their incident reporting system was beyond of what we expected.

[45:30] Um and in this case when we go into a an RFP and a contract agreement like this,

[45:36] we want to ensure that we're getting a service that we're get consistent upkept

[45:41] and also one that we know that we're confidently going to get servicing on.

[45:45] And that's what we felt in evaluating with service master cleaning. Um, so

[45:50] that is the reason why we've recommended them. Like I mentioned, council has a

[45:54] list of decisions on on the table here in terms of this council may support the

[45:58] proposed recommendation and authorize administration to enter the three-year

[46:01] contract. Um, service uh number two, like I mentioned, council may defeat

[46:07] proposed recommendation. Routine janitorial work would continue to be

[46:10] managed in house and administration would reassess service levels and staff

[46:14] capacity. Um, council may refer the matter to a future committee as a whole

[46:19] meeting with specific direction for additional information. The issue with

[46:22] this one, this does put staff constraints if we delay it beyond

[46:26] September 1st with um, ice season opening up here in September. Um, well,

[46:32] I mean the full ice season. We do have part of ice season going as well as our

[46:35] fall user groups coming in. We have high facility usage in terms of fieldhouse,

[46:39] ice surfaces, and registered programs. Um, so that's a summary of the um the

[46:45] RFD. I'd be happy to answer any questions council uh may have.

[46:51] » Thanks, Alex. Questions from council? >> Council McGonagle.

[46:58] » Um, Alex, I'm just uh interested in the 2026

[47:03] um from September to the end of December. What areas do you expect to be

[47:08] open? And if there's any change to that, does that are they guaranteed the 19,000

[47:14] or are we paying a rate? Um, if those if we have changes in our opening schedule,

[47:21] does this cost get reduced? >> No, that's a fair qu question, Councelor

[47:28] McDonald. Um, like I said, if we go ahead with this, um, I'd like to sit

[47:33] down, um, with the contractor and see what options we do have to look at at,

[47:38] whether it might be, um, for what I foresee, maybe a credit,

[47:43] maybe they cover other areas of the building in addition until that spot

[47:47] opens. Um because like I said, we do have the other areas that are currently

[47:51] open as the existing common ways, whether it's the hallways, um parts of

[47:56] the lobby that are still open, um you know, do we look at the curling club

[48:00] aspect? So, I'm sure there's some value we can offset in the meantime where

[48:04] we're still getting that full dollar value. Um and and and work with the

[48:08] contractor in that piece, whether it's servicing other areas or do we look at a

[48:13] credit >> so the money stays the same. is

[48:17] » that that would be the goal. Correct. We would not want to go over the 19,947.

[48:22] » I'm thinking going under the 19,000. If if they're not required to do the work,

[48:27] do we still have to pay them? That doesn't make sense to me.

[48:35] » May contribute. This is a maximum spend forecast. The rates will be corrected

[48:39] based on scope of contract. So if the scope of cleaning does not match the

[48:47] full operational that will be corrected in negotiations.

[48:51] » Chris might need you to come to the mic just because of live streaming and

[48:56] audio issues in this joint.

[49:02] » Thank you. I'll repeat that. So this does have a defined scope within the

[49:08] agreement. So that will be negotiated in upon entrance into contract. So the

[49:13] rates will be reflective of the determined number of cleanings and the

[49:17] area of cleaning. So that is the maximum forecast uh pursuant of our current

[49:23] operational opening of the facility and that'll be negotiated down if they don't

[49:29] require the service. Okay. So less work, less money, right? Thank you.

[49:35] » Correct. >> Thank you. Councelor

[49:40] Nitro.

[49:43] » Thanks, Mr. Uh, thanks for bringing this forward. Um, I guess Chris kind of

[49:50] touched on it there in the defined scope. Um, I'm assuming there might be

[49:56] more than was presented to us in terms of what the defined scope is. um within

[50:02] something that you mentioned, Alex, there were um uh government, if you want

[50:07] to call it, requirements, directions, regulations that state how we would

[50:11] clean the pool area and whatnot. Um I assume in the contractual piece that's

[50:16] going to be between us and potentially service master those things are very

[50:20] clearly outlined cuz what we got here in terms of and I'm looking at the general

[50:25] neutral pool change rooms clean all wash bowls and plumbing fixtures with

[50:29] germicide clean and disinfect disinfect urinals. I can list off the other four

[50:33] or five things that are there but they're very broad in stroke. um it

[50:37] doesn't tell me a lot um in terms of exactly what they're going

[50:42] to be doing and I don't know um contractors need to be told very

[50:48] specifically what they need to do otherwise it gets very difficult to hold

[50:52] them to task and for me some of that is missing in what we have here as as

[50:56] information presented to us. So, um, to councelor McGonagical's point about

[51:02] paying for time served, um, are we breaking that down into the the

[51:09] daily or the weekly deep clean and time that they will be on site or is it based

[51:15] around the requirements of cleaning that they need? So, I guess what I'm asking

[51:19] really is, is there an hourly rate that this kind of breaks down to at what are

[51:23] we 60k annually? And that means, you know, Monday, Monday to Friday, they're

[51:28] there from well, it's during closing period, so you know, 12 midnight till

[51:32] 5:00 in the morning or something. And what those parameters are, and I'm just

[51:36] looking for more of what the expectation is. Um cuz here I I I didn't quite see

[51:41] enough detail from me if I was sitting down to negotiate a contract like this.

[51:46] » No, absolutely. And thank you for that one, Councelor Nitra. Um, one of the

[51:50] reasons why we did go with Servicemaster was um, the detailed scope they did

[51:55] provide. So, when it came to their daily cleaning, it was more detailed than the

[52:01] RFP itself in terms of what was getting wiped down, where and when. And then

[52:05] also, not just the nightly, but the detailed piece was in there as well. Um

[52:09] aquatics was also looped in on part of this review um of the proposal and there

[52:15] was satisfaction from their end in terms of uh accomplishing what we need to on

[52:20] the aquatic side to ensure that yes it is broad in the RFP but they did break

[52:25] down in terms of their scope of work detail of what was getting done and when

[52:31] gave administration the confidence to go with them. Um I can't remember offhand

[52:36] uh what the numbers were in that RFP in terms of hourly but they they did their

[52:41] scope of work was detailed enough that we felt confident not only just with

[52:45] this price but also the expectations in the work as well and that goes back to

[52:49] their quality assurance program which really stood out to us from above above

[52:53] and beyond the 21 RFPs uh because of the their attention to detail ensuring that

[53:00] they're hitting all the expectations not only through the documentation process

[53:04] they have in this quality assurance program but just the regular uh meeting

[53:08] and and the submissions of those reports after cleaning services happen. So the

[53:13] detail that this company puts in every service they do is tracked through their

[53:18] software and also allows us to manage and see the the expectations dayto-day

[53:24] that they are doing ensuring that we're hitting that that they're hitting what

[53:26] they need to and that way not putting um you know public health at risk or

[53:31] anything like that especially when it comes to the pool side because we do

[53:34] know about the stringent regulations that come with that.

[53:39] Thanks. Please take it the right way. I wasn't a lack of confidence in what you

[53:43] guys are doing in your jobs. It's just this was pretty broad in stroke and for

[53:46] us as council to hear it and for the public to hear it that there's there's

[53:50] much more behind the scenes that you guys are working with and things you

[53:53] look at and focus on. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

[53:55] » No, absolutely. Thank you.

[54:00] » Your name's back up. No. Okay. All good.

[54:07] Okay, I'll ask for a motion from councelor Jones. The council authorized

[54:11] administration to enter into a three-year agreement with Service Master

[54:14] Clean for janitorial services at the BSRC in the maximum annual amount of

[54:20] $59,841 commencing September 1st, 2026.

[54:26] » I'll give you that motion, Mayor Snodgrass.

[54:28] » Yep. All in favor? Carried. Thanks, Alex. Thank you.

[54:36] Uh, Heritage Hot air balloon festival location,

[54:40] Heather.

[54:48] » Yeah, you're getting up here too, Kangor.

[54:51] » I'm scared.

[54:58] » Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. The Heritage and International Hot Air

[55:01] Balloon Festival has operated its primary launch location on private

[55:05] property west of High River for several years. On July 22nd, 2026, the mayor and

[55:11] administration were advised that permission to use the existing launch

[55:14] property would not be granted for the 2026 festival.

[55:17] » [snorts] >> The loss of the festival's traditional

[55:19] launch location required administration and the event organizers to identify a

[55:24] replacement location that meets operational requirements of the event as

[55:28] well as maintaining public safety. The new proposed location west of

[55:32] Wallisville and the current balloon location site provides the most suitable

[55:36] location and we reviewed several traffic management options including temporarily

[55:40] closing Center Street during the launch periods and implementing a reduced speed

[55:45] limit. It was agreed that a temporary 30 km an hour speed limit together with

[55:49] designated pedestrian crossing staffed by two flaggers provides an appropriate

[55:54] balance between pedestrian safety and maintaining traffic flow. The Friday

[55:58] evening Belinglo will continue to operate under existing traffic control

[56:02] and safety measures where Center Street is closed from approximately 3:00 p.m.

[56:05] until 10 p.m. [gasps] Full details are in the report, but the revised launch

[56:10] launch location is expected to result in approximately $800 in direct event

[56:15] support costs excluding operational staff labor from the installation and

[56:19] removal of the temporary traffic signage. Should the location change be

[56:23] approved for 2026, the municipality will absorb these additional costs for future

[56:29] years. Discussions with the event organizers will be required to determine

[56:32] the appropriate allocation of the ongoing operational expenses.

[56:36] administration is recommending that we move forward with the new launch

[56:39] location west of Wallisville, the current site of the balloon glow on

[56:43] Friday night as the 2026 launch site with a reduced speed of 30 km an hour on

[56:48] Center Street during the duration of the festival from September 23rd to

[56:52] September 27th, 2026. Do you have any questions?

[57:02] » Thanks, Heather. Uh, councelor Nituk.

[57:08] » Thanks, Mayor Snodgrass. Um, where to start? Unfortunate that we have to move

[57:15] from the location we're at. Um, I understand we don't have

[57:20] a lot of choices to make this happen elsewhere. Um, this makes sense in terms

[57:26] of this is where we've had the balloon go. We all know how popular that is. We

[57:30] all know what this event brings to the community. Um,

[57:34] my biggest concern is that major artery >> for that period of time and what that

[57:41] does from a vehicle perspective or a pedestrian perspective. So, um, I guess

[57:47] I'll I'll come across with my concerns. 30 km is great. Um, I'm still uneasy

[57:54] about that because people are going to drive through that area when balloons

[57:57] are there and they're going to do this. They're

[58:01] » It's like a It's like a car wreck, right? Most people can't pass a car

[58:05] accident and not look at it. And that inevitably leads to another car accident

[58:10] cuz people rear end each other. So, that's a big concern. Um,

[58:15] one that I think we could alleviate really quickly is pedestrian traffic.

[58:18] And I would like to see pedestrians stay on the east side of the road, not

[58:22] allowed to cross the street. um that we that we barricade it and you watch the

[58:27] balloons take off from the Wallaceville side and we eliminate that pedestrian

[58:32] traffic that could happen going back and forth. Some people will use a crosswalk,

[58:37] [snorts] some people won't. They'll just park

[58:39] their car and they'll cross the street where they want to cross the street. So,

[58:42] if we were to coordinate off, I think that would create a much safer

[58:47] environment. Um, for example, using the balloon port right now as a as an

[58:52] overflow to the the proposed area for parking. Um, I think those people would

[58:57] just cross the street and walk up on the west side of the road, which has

[59:02] concerns from a vehicle um vehicle perspective. So, um,

[59:08] yeah. Yeah, the pedestrians is the big one for me. The cars reducing the speed

[59:11] is is it definitive? I I still think that that um there there might be some

[59:18] cause for concern there, but slowing the traffic down definitely will help. So,

[59:22] um just a couple of points I had in in in seeing this. I'm not opposed to the

[59:26] location, but I just want us to be on top of of making it um uh appropriate

[59:32] for those people that are, you know, going in and out of town during those

[59:35] times. um you know, slowing down isn't that big of an inconvenience, but just

[59:40] to be mindful of that and then be really protective of of the pedestrians, the

[59:44] people that will come to watch it because there are lots of people that

[59:46] come to do it. So anyway, thanks. >> Absolutely. And so we had proposed where

[59:51] the current glow site is um in the Wallisville area as the main

[59:55] predominantly the main parking point, the hot air balloon port would be used

[59:59] as overflow parking. It would be both parking locations would be staffed with

[1:00:04] volunteers to be able to help and assist with the parking side of it. And we're

[1:00:08] hoping that with having the volunteers there, it can they can guide them down

[1:00:11] happy trails to be able to use the actual crosswalk. And then having a

[1:00:14] second crosswalk set up with flaggers to be able to assist if pedestrians were to

[1:00:18] cross. However, we could look at a barricade option to not have them cross

[1:00:22] at all.

[1:00:29] Uh, councelor Jones.

[1:00:33] » Thank you, Mayor Snodgrass. And, um, I agree with uh, councelor Nichuk about

[1:00:39] it's sort of sad that unfortunately it has to change. I can see some validity

[1:00:45] to this area. I'm wondering about timing cuz I'm going to call it uh, you know,

[1:00:51] rush hour. I don't know we have rush hour necessarily in High River but it is

[1:00:56] getting to work in the morning and leaving work or getting to kids

[1:01:00] activities and stuff like that. Um is those launch times Can I just ask the

[1:01:04] reason the launch times are what they are?

[1:01:07] » Do you want to go ahead and answer the launch times?

[1:01:10] » Sure. Um the times we're talking about are in the mornings between 7:30 and

[1:01:16] 8:30. Just a 1 hour period. Um, the guys should be there by 7:30 in the air.

[1:01:21] Generally, be a little quicker, probably gone by 8, but we like to give ourselves

[1:01:25] about an hour to get in and out. In the evenings, it would be 5:00 p.m. to 6:00

[1:01:29] p.m. The reason we use those times in the morning is we want to avoid uh

[1:01:34] thermal buildup. As the sun heats up the ground, it gets thermic, and you you

[1:01:39] simply can't fly a balloon in thermal conditions. And in the evenings we go

[1:01:43] later because again the sun's getting lower in the sky and the thermals are

[1:01:47] dying off. >> So pretty much they're kind of like the

[1:01:50] best times to be doing this. >> That's about the only times we can fly.

[1:01:53] Yeah. >> Okay. No, that's good to know.

[1:01:54] » In the summer in the summer that's pretty much the only times we can fly.

[1:01:57] Winter obviously is different, but >> um and the idea of eliminating people

[1:02:01] from one side of the road might be hard is because there is crosswalk there

[1:02:05] coming from line of makers. I don't know if that's even feasible, especially if

[1:02:09] you're only using volunteers to sort of do that. Um, yeah, [clears throat] there

[1:02:13] is definitely some issues with people crossing streets, especially in the

[1:02:17] middle, like if somebody just bolted across. Um, that is really important.

[1:02:22] The other question I had was about the LED boards. You said you were putting

[1:02:25] one in the south end and the north end of Center Street. Can you tell me

[1:02:28] whereabouts and like would you suggest to them possibly using another route?

[1:02:35] » Yeah, absolutely. So the LED signage that we set up is at High Country Drive

[1:02:39] and Center Street. So just before they have that opportunity to be able to turn

[1:02:45] an opposite direction, then to turn down Center to head south. Um so it' be set

[1:02:50] up there kind of just after the Tim Hortons notifying everybody ahead of

[1:02:55] time that the road is going to be reduced. And then the second signage

[1:03:00] would be set up um on the corner of Mloud and Center Street where kind of

[1:03:05] soies is there to be able to notify drivers of the reduced speed limit.

[1:03:10] So that's good. But if somebody wanted to use an alternate route like wouldn't

[1:03:14] it be like even before they come into town maybe having something there so

[1:03:19] people could maybe go down 498 or >> you know not even have to come into town

[1:03:24] and try and flip around cuz that could cause issues as well. So, we recently

[1:03:28] learned that you can notify Google of any road closures and deviations ahead

[1:03:32] of time for events. And so, I actually tested it out with a couple events over

[1:03:36] the summertime. And it did provide an option. So, what the algorithm if

[1:03:41] somebody's using Google Maps to be able to come into town to see this showing

[1:03:46] the concept was that we would put an actual road closure in as opposed to

[1:03:51] reduce signage into Google. Um, from there it would reroute people um to be

[1:03:56] able to use alternative routes. So if they're trying to come into High River,

[1:03:58] if it's someone that's using Google Maps, um, the algorithm would then

[1:04:02] reroute them to avoid a road closure or it would notify them that there's a road

[1:04:06] closure on their route. The idea was not to deter people, you know, completely.

[1:04:11] It was more of a case of being able to say, "Hey, there's going to be slow down

[1:04:16] traffic here. It's going to be more congested." And as cell phones and

[1:04:20] location service is ping off of the cell phone towers um and Google picks up

[1:04:25] there's a reduced speed that would be popped up as well if someone is using

[1:04:28] that. For locals in town we understand that they're probably not using Google

[1:04:32] Maps to be able to get around cuz they just know where to go. And so in that

[1:04:35] case having that LED signage and then having the additional traffic signage

[1:04:40] posted um would assist with that. Will you have the signage up quite a bit

[1:04:45] previous to the event or only during the event?

[1:04:49] » With the LED signage, we're hoping to have it up at least a week in advance to

[1:04:53] notify everybody um so that they can prepare for that.

[1:04:56] » Perfect. Thank you,

[1:05:01] » Councelor Barton.

[1:05:08] Thanks for the presentation. And yeah, it's too bad we can't have it where it

[1:05:13] was, but times change, I guess. The one comment

[1:05:18] that I was wondering, like I agree with what everybody has said up to this

[1:05:21] point, but what about re-evaluating it after like seeing what's worked, what

[1:05:26] didn't work? Are we going to get a debrief on that kind of thing?

[1:05:30] » Yeah, absolutely. So, after every event, we do a debrief. Um, so with our

[1:05:34] signature events, we sit down with the event organizers, um, both protective

[1:05:39] services, bylaw, fire, um, anybody involved with the event, we'll do a like

[1:05:44] a major debrief of the whole thing and to see how things went. So we can get

[1:05:47] feedback from RCMP, we can get feedback from fire in case there's any concerns

[1:05:51] in that related. Um, so things just outside the event as well is can they

[1:05:55] respond to calls, can they, you know, move forward in doing what they need to

[1:05:59] do as well. Um, so there's always an event debrief afterwards to be able to

[1:06:02] do that. >> Okay, great. Sounds good. Thank you.

[1:06:08] » Um, so yeah, the Adams property is

[1:06:12] unavailable. Um, that land is sold to a developer, so there'll be houses built

[1:06:18] in there now. So that's we were going to have to make this

[1:06:23] change at some point in time here. We didn't weren't going to have access to

[1:06:27] that property forever. So, um I think this is the next best option that uh

[1:06:33] facilitates the ballooning needs as well as the public needs and the spectator

[1:06:38] piece. But the the 30 km an hour piece like I'm not worried about the commute

[1:06:44] in I river for that length of space. Like if you're late because of a 20 km

[1:06:51] swing like you're probably late when you left the house. [laughter]

[1:06:56] So um as well the that 30 km an hour is only going to be for the duration of the

[1:07:04] launches right then it goes back to 50. It's not going to be so it goes back and

[1:07:09] forth. Also it's rare that we have a flight every morning and every afternoon

[1:07:15] during those days. Some days there aren't any. So, it's only if there's

[1:07:20] flights and for a very small amount of time um that there'll be any kind of

[1:07:26] commuter inconvenience. So,

[1:07:30] um Jamie, question for you regarding going back to councelor Nichuk's um

[1:07:37] comments as to where the spectators should be. Would you even want them on

[1:07:42] the other side of Center Street when you guys are setting up your balloons and

[1:07:45] everything? Like it's not like the glow night where you invite everybody in cuz

[1:07:48] the balloons are up and they're safe and everybody's standing there. But um

[1:07:53] during when you guys are trying to launch balloons and you got volunteers

[1:07:57] around, I know from watching pretty much every one of them over at the Adams Land

[1:08:03] that um it's problematic if you get people

[1:08:08] in around those balloons. Transport Canada gives us regulations

[1:08:12] and one of them is that we have to keep uh the general public out of the direct

[1:08:17] launch area. Um what we'd looked about at with this plan and and I appreciate

[1:08:22] councelor Nituk's comments was that we would set the park up um day one similar

[1:08:29] to what we have with the globe. We would run barricades across the I guess it

[1:08:33] would be the west side up and down and to keep people out of the direct launch

[1:08:37] area. Um with respect to crossing center street uh that's why we're bringing in

[1:08:42] traffic if you want to call it traffic guards people it would be start you know

[1:08:48] with little signs stop go that kind of thing. We don't expect massive amounts

[1:08:52] of traffic in the morning especially there we might get 3 400 people if that.

[1:08:57] uh evenings can get a little busier, but again it depends on whether as you

[1:09:01] stated earlier we we could go the whole week with no flights, right? So um we as

[1:09:06] an organization would prefer to set up on the west side and that way we're not

[1:09:11] moving barricades cuz obviously we have to do it again for the glow on the

[1:09:15] Friday night too and it's just wear and tear on our volunteers. Having two or

[1:09:20] three standing there along with some bylaw people I think will help the

[1:09:23] pedestrians get across the road. I I understand your safety concerns and um

[1:09:28] we'll work hard at it. Looking down the road in the future, as Councelor Barton

[1:09:32] said, um we're going to have to find someplace else in High River to do this.

[1:09:38] And uh that piece of property probably is the best one with respect to flight

[1:09:43] paths, what direction we we go when we fly. Uh still giving our sponsors some

[1:09:48] bang for their buck because they're we're being seen over town, that sort of

[1:09:51] thing. And that's why we prefer this site. uh going forward if it doesn't

[1:09:55] work on this year then we'll have to look for something else but I'm

[1:09:59] optimistic that it'll be a very successful and safe event. Thank you.

[1:10:03] Perfect. Any other questions?

[1:10:08] I see none. I'll ask for a motion from councelor Nichuk to council approve the

[1:10:12] existing balloon glow site located west of center street as the primary balloon

[1:10:17] launch site for the heritage in international hot air balloon festival

[1:10:20] from September 23rd to 27th. The council will approve Wallaceville located uh

[1:10:26] east of Center Street, South 1st Avenue. Um I guess this is the old Willows area,

[1:10:32] right? as the primary spectator parking area for the Heritage in International

[1:10:36] Balloon Festival and with the balloon port located north of Wallisville

[1:10:41] available for any overflow parking if required and the council approve a

[1:10:45] temporary 30 kmter speed limit on Center Street during the scheduled morning and

[1:10:50] evening launch periods from September 23rd to 27th, 2026.

[1:10:57] » Happy to give you that motion, Mr. Mayor, as you read.

[1:10:59] » Thank you. All in favor? Gared.

[1:11:04] » Thank you. >> Thank you, Mary. Council,

[1:11:07] Jamie, good luck, Patrick. It's all on your shoulders now.

[1:11:14] » Uh, asset retirement obligations and contaminated sites consulting.

[1:11:20] Budget amendment from Jordan, please.

[1:11:42] Thank you. Mayor and councel administration is requesting approval

[1:11:47] for a 2026 operating budget amendment to complete the town's work under two

[1:11:52] public sector accounting standards PS 3280 asset retirement obligations and PS

[1:11:59] 3260 lowiability for contaminated sites. PS

[1:12:04] 3260 has applied to the town since 2025. It requires municipalities to assess

[1:12:10] contaminated sites and recognize liabilities when contamination exceeds

[1:12:14] an expected uh exceeds an environmental standard.

[1:12:18] The municipal is responsible and future costs are expected and the amount can be

[1:12:22] estimated. And PS 3280 took effect for the town on January 1st, 2023. It

[1:12:29] requires municipalities to identify legal obligations associated with

[1:12:33] retiring tangible capital assets and recognize the related costs when the

[1:12:38] requirements of the standard are met.

[1:12:43] The town's financial statements have now carried the qualification related to

[1:12:47] this work for three reporting years. That's 2023, 24, and 25. In 2025, the

[1:12:53] auditor qualified its opinion because the town had not completed at its

[1:12:57] assessment of potential a potential asset retirement obligations or its

[1:13:02] assessment and supporting documentation for contaminated sites. Put simply, the

[1:13:07] qualification exists because town has not completed the work required to

[1:13:10] determine whether liability should be recorded and to provide the supporting

[1:13:15] evidence to the auditor. It does not mean that the auditor found broad errors

[1:13:19] in the town's financial records or that the town lacks financial capacity. The

[1:13:24] town's original approach was to use the asset management program as a starting

[1:13:28] point for this work with physical testing of assets added where required

[1:13:32] and a le and a review of the assets whether there's a legal obligation

[1:13:36] associated with a retirement of those assets. That approach would have

[1:13:41] addressed the requirements over a longer period as staff developed the asset

[1:13:45] asset record supporting processes and cost estimates. Following the

[1:13:50] continuation of the qualification, concerns raised by the public council

[1:13:54] and direction from council and senior senior leadership financial services was

[1:13:59] directed to identify a way to complete the work for the 2026 financial

[1:14:03] statements. This request is the result of that direction.

[1:14:07] administration is proposing two engagements with 360

[1:14:12] engineering and environmental consulting. The first engagement

[1:14:15] addresses PS 3280 which is the as a retirement obligation qualification. It

[1:14:21] will identify the legal requirements that may create retirement obligations,

[1:14:25] reconcile those requirements to the town's assets, screen buildings for

[1:14:28] potential hazardous materials, apply the recognition requirements, estimate the

[1:14:34] obligations that meet those requirements, and prepare the schedules,

[1:14:37] accounting entries, and audit support. This work has a fixed fee of $12,311.

[1:14:43] The second engagement addresses PS 3260. It will review eight contaminated site

[1:14:50] records, determine whether the town is responsible, and whether each site meets

[1:14:55] the recognition requirements, and estimate a liability only where those

[1:14:59] requirements are met. The work will use existing environmental reports and

[1:15:03] records. It does not include new field testing or remediation. The budget

[1:15:07] allowance for this engagement work is $32,850.

[1:15:12] Administration has confidence in this particular approach because the process

[1:15:16] does not begin by assuming that every asset or site creates a liability. It

[1:15:21] begins by establishing a legal obligation for the town's responsibility

[1:15:25] applies the requirements of the accounting standards and then calculates

[1:15:28] a liability only when those requirements are met. The town's auditors M and P

[1:15:33] were provided with this proposed methodology for review and comment as

[1:15:38] part of the audit process. MNP did not select the consultant and cannot

[1:15:42] guarantee a 2026 audit opinion before reviewing the completed work. However,

[1:15:48] the audit partner has worked with 360 on another municipal engagement that

[1:15:52] received an unmodified audit opinion. The audit partner also received feed

[1:15:57] feedback from work completed for other municipalities and advised that subject

[1:16:01] to the support supporting evidence and methodology. This is a sound approach

[1:16:06] that should support the audit pro process. The combined estimated maximum

[1:16:11] cost is $45,11. Administration is requesting authority

[1:16:16] of up to $46,000 funded from the tax stabilization reserve. This will not

[1:16:21] affect the 2026 tax levy and any unused amount will remain in reserves.

[1:16:28] The work will provide the assessments, estimates, accounting entries,

[1:16:32] disclosures, audit evidence, etc. needed to address the basis for the

[1:16:36] qualification. It will also establish schedules and a process for

[1:16:40] administration uh so they can update it each year. This amendment does not

[1:16:45] authorize does not authorize any remediation work or require the town to

[1:16:49] pay the underlying liabilities in any way. Administration recommends that

[1:16:54] council approve the 2026 operating budget amendment of up to $46,000 so

[1:16:59] this work can be completed for the 2026 year end audit. Thank you.

[1:17:06] » Thanks Jordan. Any questions from councel?

[1:17:10] Councelor Nichuk. >> Thanks, Mayor Sgrass. Thanks, Jordan.

[1:17:16] Um, in terms of where we're funding this from, the tax stabilization reserve,

[1:17:22] I was somewhat under the impression maybe that we had

[1:17:27] liquidated that reserve when we were dealing with the pool. So, um, I might

[1:17:32] be the only one sitting up here at this table that's confused. So, if you can

[1:17:37] tell me that there's funds there and what that amount is, that helped me.

[1:17:41] » For sure. Uh, we there's definitely funds there. We estimate amount of

[1:17:46] $100,000 available in tax stabilization right now. That's before 2025 surplus

[1:17:52] allocations. So once we bring surplus allocations for

[1:17:57] we can refill reserves. So that's before that. And if you want more information

[1:18:02] on that that part about the how you you said transferred reserves from tax

[1:18:10] stabilization into the aquatic center, we can speak to that as well if you'd

[1:18:13] like. >> No, it's just where I thought we had.

[1:18:18] » Gotcha. Okay, understood. >> Councelor McGonagal,

[1:18:24] » just a similar question. um approximately how much is left in this

[1:18:31] tax stabilization reserve after this and and I I'm glad to see this coming

[1:18:38] forward um because it gets us closer to being uh compliant. Um

[1:18:45] how much is left after we spend the 46 or set it aside?

[1:18:52] » Thank you for the question. Okay, >> so right now we estimate $100,000

[1:18:57] minus this $46,000. Um, even though I'm an accountant, I'm

[1:19:01] not great with math inside my head, especially under pressure, but we could

[1:19:04] say it's about $50,000 remaining,

[1:19:08] » but that's before the 2025 surplus from the 2025 year is actually allocated out.

[1:19:14] So that implies that there should be more available if um if council chooses

[1:19:21] to refill that reserve. >> Can you give us an update on that

[1:19:28] in the next little on that reserve fund just in the next little while?

[1:19:32] » Thank you. >> Absolutely.

[1:19:34] » Thank you.

[1:19:44] Okay. I'll ask for a motion from councelor Kuy. The council approve the

[1:19:48] 2026 operating budget amendment of up to $46,000 funded from the tax

[1:19:54] stabilization reserve to complete the town's PS 3280 asset retirement

[1:19:58] obligations and PS 3260 liability for contaminated sites assessments for the

[1:20:04] 2026 year end audit. >> I'll give you that motion. Mayor

[1:20:08] Snagass. >> Thank you. All in favor?

[1:20:13] Carried.

[1:20:17] » Thanks, Michelle. Thanks, Jordan.

[1:20:25] Variance application, Second Street Southeast. Michelle

[1:20:47] » [clears throat]

[1:20:50] » Why isn't it working? Oh, there we go. >> You got you now.

[1:20:53] » Okay. [laughter] Sorry. Uh, good afternoon, Mayor and

[1:20:56] Council. Michelle Dalmare representing Planning and Development, speaking to

[1:21:00] item 6.4 on today's agenda. The subject site is located on the west

[1:21:07] side of Second Street Southeast backing onto Birchwood Park and is zoned

[1:21:12] traditional neighborhood district under the town's land use bylaw. The proposal

[1:21:17] is for a total of two units including a detached dwelling and a detached garage

[1:21:22] suite and includes variances to the principal building setback, accessory

[1:21:27] building setback, and frontage buildout. The application was brought to committee

[1:21:32] the whole on June 22nd and also included a variance to the maximum blank wall

[1:21:38] length. At that time, council had no concerns with the proposed setback or

[1:21:43] frontage buildout variances, but did advise that the application should meet

[1:21:47] the land use by requirements for the blank wall length. The application has

[1:21:53] since been revised to satisfy the blank wall length requirements.

[1:21:58] administration reviewed the application against the town plan and the land use

[1:22:03] bylaw. It was found that the application aligns with the overall policies of the

[1:22:07] goals of the town plan by providing an appropriate form of residential

[1:22:12] intensification within an established neighborhood while maintaining low

[1:22:17] density character of the surrounding area. Although there are three variances

[1:22:22] requested to accommodate the proposed site layout and building configuration,

[1:22:26] the development otherwise complies with the regulations of the traditional

[1:22:30] neighborhood district of the land use bylaw.

[1:22:34] Um the first variance is for the principal building front setback. The

[1:22:39] land use bylaw requires a setback between 2 and 6 m while the applicant is

[1:22:45] proposing approximately 30 m. Administration has no concerns as the

[1:22:49] setback is consistent with the development pattern along this portion

[1:22:52] of the street. The second variance relates to the detached garage suite

[1:22:57] being located in front of the principal dwelling where the land use bylaw

[1:23:01] requires accessory buildings to be located behind principal buildings.

[1:23:05] Administration reviewed the proposed location and does not have concerns as

[1:23:09] it maintains an appropriate relationship with the street and surrounding

[1:23:12] development. The final variance is for the frontage

[1:23:16] buildout. A minimum of 65% is required while the proposed uh sorry the proposal

[1:23:22] achieves approximately 46.7%. Administration considers this to be a

[1:23:27] result of the large lot width and does not believe that will it will negatively

[1:23:32] impact the character of the streetscape. The original application

[1:23:37] sorry can you just scroll down a few slides?

[1:23:41] Keep going. Perfect. That one. Uh, so the original

[1:23:46] application included a variance to the maximum blank wall length on the street

[1:23:50] facing elevation of the garage suite. The land use bylaw permits a maximum

[1:23:54] blank wall length of 2 m, while the proposal originally included 4.8 m. At

[1:24:01] the June 22nd committee, the whole meeting, council advised that the

[1:24:04] applicant should revise the application to include additional design features to

[1:24:09] meet the land use bylaw and align with other garage suite designs along the

[1:24:13] street. The applicant has since revised the street facing elevation to include

[1:24:18] additional trim and windows, enhancing the elevation and bringing the proposal

[1:24:22] into compliance with the land use bylaw. So, administration has no concerns with

[1:24:26] the proposed variances to land use bylaw and requests that council approve

[1:24:30] development permit 1037.26 subject to the subject conditions in the

[1:24:36] notice of decision.

[1:24:40] » Thanks, Michelle. [clears throat] Uh, any questions from council?

[1:24:46] Been through this one. It's coming back. So, I'll ask for a motion from councelor

[1:24:50] Barton. The council approved DP1037.26, a minor development permit application

[1:24:57] for the development of both a new single detached dwelling and detached garage

[1:25:00] suite with the following parameters. I'm not going to read them. They're

[1:25:04] listed in the agenda items. Um, and subject to the conditions notice noted

[1:25:10] in schedule A, notice of decision dated August 10th, 26.

[1:25:16] You have my motion, mayor. Thank you. All in favor?

[1:25:21] Carried. >> Thanks, Michelle.

[1:25:23] » Thank you. >> Thanks, Court. [snorts]

[1:25:25] » Aquatics expansion construction update. Kaylee.

[1:25:42] Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. I am here today to provide an update on our

[1:25:47] aquatics expansion project. Currently, where are we at with phase

[1:25:53] one? We are working through ongoing rification of our tile deficiencies and

[1:25:58] wrapping up the wash accessory installations. Other than that, we have

[1:26:02] begun cleaning phase one in order to get ready for a final walkthrough and

[1:26:08] scheduling of pool filling. Phase two, [gasps]

[1:26:13] we are um you'll notice if you walk into the facility, go through a large arena

[1:26:20] and go up to the concession, you'll notice we have the concession space

[1:26:23] fully open to us now. So, you can almost walk up to the viewing wall. We've got

[1:26:27] our new washrooms that are there. So, it's we're starting to get a little bit

[1:26:31] more space. Um so, that'll give you a really good idea as to what it's going

[1:26:34] to look like in that lobby space with the polished floors, white walls, new

[1:26:38] ceiling, new lights. It's uh quite nice. So, go take a look at that. Um we

[1:26:43] continue to work on further work in the lower lobby space that will have that

[1:26:48] similar look as we tie the renovation of the

[1:26:53] lobby to the fieldhouse. So, that's what we got going on in there. So, we got

[1:26:58] that open just in time for our hockey camps to start this week.

[1:27:03] [clears throat]

[1:27:05] So in phase two, we have finished the sand blasting. We have begun priming the

[1:27:11] ceiling and we will be looking to get that ceiling painted. Once that is done,

[1:27:15] we can finish that work up in that ceiling space, get all the scaffold out

[1:27:19] here in the next few weeks and we can start finishing up the tiling that needs

[1:27:23] to take place within phase 2. Um, a lot of that work within the basin got

[1:27:28] completed up to the point where we need the scaffold out of the pool in order

[1:27:32] for us to finish tying in the remainder of the tiling work.

[1:27:39] With our change orders, we are up to 3.3 million in change for change uh change

[1:27:46] orders. Um, we are still projecting for a October substantion completion.

[1:27:51] However, keep in mind that that means we get staffing in place and we get open to

[1:27:55] the public sometime in November. And that concludes Oh, that does not

[1:28:01] conclude my update. We have also recently been delivered to delay claims

[1:28:06] by Shandos. We have had an initial meeting. We've

[1:28:11] provided our initial comments and we have just recently received Shandos's

[1:28:16] response to this. We will be evaluating these responses with our legal team in

[1:28:22] order to pro uh set up a second meeting to complete negotiations on that delay

[1:28:28] claim. That day delay claim is related to uh change directive

[1:28:36] three the tank the pool tank repairs that we had to get completed. So there

[1:28:41] was a delay associated to that before we could get into the actual tiling and

[1:28:46] finishing of the work in that phase 2 pool. Um and we add we do also expect

[1:28:53] and have been given heads up we will see another delay claim coming at a later

[1:28:58] date for CDO4 which would be the delay that we received on the project as as a

[1:29:02] result of the ceiling paint remediation that took place.

[1:29:08] I will be following up with a further update as I get more information on

[1:29:12] these delay claims. That concludes my update. I'd be more

[1:29:16] than happy to answer any questions.

[1:29:21] » Perfect. Thanks, Kaylee. Uh questions from council

[1:29:25] and great to hear that sent. When did you say the painting was starting or has

[1:29:29] it started? >> It either has just started or it will be

[1:29:33] starting here in the next day or so. >> Okay. Thank you.

[1:29:36] » [snorts] >> Uh, no questions from council. Thanks

[1:29:40] very much.

[1:29:44] High country corridor study the final report. Kaye

[1:29:48] » kind of figured that was me next. Um, so as you are aware, we have we had engaged

[1:29:54] ISL to complete a corridor study back in March of 2024 which included High

[1:30:00] Country Drive from Center Street, also known as Highway 2, all the way to Long

[1:30:04] View Trail. and that included all the access points and intersections along

[1:30:08] the way and there are about 16 intersections.

[1:30:12] The key objective was to engage our public uh public consultation process,

[1:30:20] review safety for all modes of transportation along the corridor um and

[1:30:26] how to maintain any amenities along the corridor.

[1:30:31] And there was also an additional review as well on the corridor speed and

[1:30:35] consistency and compliance. So phase one engagement began in fall of 2024 to

[1:30:41] which we collected feedback from the community as to what they felt the

[1:30:44] issues were along the high country corridor. In phase two, we presented

[1:30:49] ideas to the community for feedback in the summer of 2025.

[1:30:56] Three concept options were developed with each expanding upon the other in

[1:31:01] both scale and capital intensity. The preferred option being option one

[1:31:06] balances safety improvements with coste effective and feasible implementations

[1:31:12] and time-sensitive imple implementations. The key elements

[1:31:16] include targeted traffic calming curb placement to improve crossing visibility

[1:31:21] and manage the speeds. strategic parking pro um prohibition um provisions to

[1:31:28] address sight lines and maintain on street access. So you'll remember there

[1:31:32] are quite a few curves along there and as the intersections come up to those

[1:31:36] curved areas reducing the parking up to the intersection provides a better sight

[1:31:41] line. the proposed speed reduction posted from 50 down to 40 which is also

[1:31:47] supported through the town plan and the intersection improvement at H Highview

[1:31:52] Gate which is already a capital 2026 capital approved project.

[1:31:58] So, next steps. Uh, the report is now available for council's consideration

[1:32:02] for future capital budget and priority planning.

[1:32:06] And I'd be happy to answer any questions.

[1:32:13] Questions from council. Thanks, Kaylee.

[1:32:18] [cough]

[1:32:20] Council meal,

[1:32:24] » I'm just going to say I'm glad to receive this. It's a huge report. Um,

[1:32:29] received it on Friday, so I'm going to need a lot more time to go through it

[1:32:34] and to understand it and um, appreciate the contents, but thank you for

[1:32:39] presenting it.

[1:32:43] » It is massive and there's massive budget implications to anything we do. So,

[1:32:48] we'll all have to come back. So, >> thanks Kaylee.

[1:32:52] » Thank you. >> Appreciate it.

[1:32:57] Uh green elevator status. Uh the apartment building in the north there.

[1:33:02] Shellane.

[1:33:24] Thank you, mayor and councel. A couple introductions. First, my name

[1:33:30] is Shellane Broomfield with the planning and development division. Um, on my left

[1:33:33] hand side here, I have Lane Martin who is acting on behalf of Alan Matthews and

[1:33:38] he's available for questions once I provide a quick update. And I also have

[1:33:42] Harold Wick with the safety codes division provided there's questions

[1:33:46] after my update as well. Providing a little bit of background. Uh

[1:33:50] first in May 2026, the town approved a one-year extension for the grain

[1:33:56] elevator project to complete the multi-unit residential building as the

[1:34:00] applicant could not complete the project within the 24-month deadline. As there

[1:34:06] were major concerns related to the unfinished appearance of the building at

[1:34:10] the north gateway of town, two conditions were agreed upon between the

[1:34:14] town and the developer as part of the last extension. The two conditions were

[1:34:20] that the exterior cladding and the on-site landscaping be completed by

[1:34:26] August 8th, 2026. So, it was a 3-month extension for those two items. It's

[1:34:32] important to note that the town had limited ability to enforce the

[1:34:36] compliance of these two conditions at that time, but worked with the developer

[1:34:40] on a reasonable timeline and was relying heavily on the developer's goodwill to

[1:34:45] complete both items. On July 29th, 2026, Alan Matthews

[1:34:51] submitted a formal rationale and extension letter regarding a time

[1:34:54] extension for the two items, highlighting that the applicant is in

[1:34:58] the process of securing financing and requests that the exterior and the

[1:35:03] landscaping items deadline align with the overall development permit extension

[1:35:09] deadline being May 8th, 2027.

[1:35:14] administration consulted with legal counsel and confirmed that there is

[1:35:17] limited enforcement options available to the town with respect to the siding and

[1:35:22] landscaping at this time. The town's legal council recommends that the town

[1:35:27] work with the developer to determine an extension for these two items and

[1:35:32] clearly state that this is the final extension allotted for the project. At

[1:35:37] this point, it is in the town's best interest to rely on the final May 8th,

[1:35:43] 2027 deadline regarding the landscaping and exterior finishing of the building,

[1:35:49] which is part of the overall extension for the rest of the development permit.

[1:35:54] The town very recently received a notice of sorry, a redemption order with

[1:36:00] respect to this property. This information is not in the council

[1:36:05] report as it was received too recently to incorporate it into the report. The

[1:36:11] redemption order is between ATB Financial as the plaintiff and the

[1:36:15] defendants are the Grain Elevator Residences, Westlock Development

[1:36:20] Corporation, Sitefinders Real Estate Services, Inc. and Allen Matthews. In

[1:36:26] summary, the loan for the project is in default and this matter will appear

[1:36:30] before the Court of King's bench on August 20th, 2026. And this is public

[1:36:35] information. As far as next steps, the new

[1:36:40] information related to the redemption order does not change the direction

[1:36:44] regarding the recommended next steps from administration being that the

[1:36:48] deadline for the entire project, including the exterior and landscaping,

[1:36:52] be May 8th, 2027. It's [snorts] it is preferred that the

[1:36:57] development is complete by uh the May 8th, 2027 deadline. However, if it is

[1:37:03] incomplete, the town has the option to extend the deadline permit or have the

[1:37:08] applicant reapply at that time or can explore options for default.

[1:37:14] Planning is happy to answer any questions and as I mentioned before, we

[1:37:18] have Lane here for any questions as well and also safety codes to provide any

[1:37:22] background on the safety code end.

[1:37:32] » [clears throat] >> Okay. So,

[1:37:36] Cole's notes from the last time that you were here, Lane, nothing has really

[1:37:41] changed, right? [snorts] >> I believe there has been um some updates

[1:37:46] on the building if Lane wants to provide. I know that Tyveck was a big

[1:37:50] issue last time we met. >> Yeah. Still not done. So some Tyveck was

[1:37:54] stapled back on a little bit was but it's still incomplete.

[1:37:59] » Um [clears throat] so now where it's at is

[1:38:05] help me get the wording right. ATB is foreclosing on the project. Is that

[1:38:08] right? >> Correct.

[1:38:09] » Okay. So it's going before the courts. Um curious Lane because you had the four

[1:38:16] lease sign up there. Did anybody put money forward to that

[1:38:21] thing? Like how does that work when it's being foreclosed on now?

[1:38:26] » Well, it should be that >> needs to be taken down,

[1:38:30] » right? Okay. [snorts] Um yeah, I don't know if counselors, other

[1:38:36] counselors got questions. There's not a lot that we can do simply because the

[1:38:41] banks and the um courts are involved in this thing now. Um

[1:38:48] there's still regardless of who ends up taking care over this project or how

[1:38:54] that all works, there's a boatload of work that still needs to be done on it.

[1:39:00] Correct, Harold? >> Um

[1:39:03] can you speak to that a little bit about what's what's still outstanding on the

[1:39:08] on the safety codes end of things? >> Yes. Um, besides the exterior work, um,

[1:39:15] all the, um, >> Charlene, can you or Harold, can you

[1:39:17] just bring that mic as close to you as you can? This system is not

[1:39:22] » hear me now. >> Yeah. Besides the ex exterior work, what

[1:39:26] has to be done? Uh, all the utilities, HVAC, plumbing, electric, all that

[1:39:32] roughening has got to be uh done. Then the drywall, the insulating, drywall,

[1:39:38] and uh, all the finishing. So that's all uh it's a number of different

[1:39:42] contractors and that's going to take some significant time.

[1:39:49] If it's organized properly it they if they working like starting today they

[1:39:54] should be able to achieve the uh 2027 deadline.

[1:40:00] » Okay. the um the foundation issue on the south

[1:40:07] side if I remember right. Has that been rectified?

[1:40:10] » No, not yet. >> Okay. So,

[1:40:13] » we've done sorry the drawing >> then have a have a um set of drawings

[1:40:20] that we've been working with um and showing what our ideas are to repair

[1:40:25] that as soon as possible. >> Apply what the plan is.

[1:40:29] » Yeah. We also tried I also tried to do a set of smaller plans to try to do a

[1:40:35] little bit of the landscaping that wasn't in the there's a triangular part

[1:40:41] and those types of things. >> Okay. [snorts]

[1:40:48] » I'll be honest. I wish Allan was sitting here instead of you. It's unfair that

[1:40:53] you're here. [snorts] Um if you can relay that to Allan. No word.

[1:41:00] Um, it would be preferred that he would come

[1:41:04] in front of council himself with a failed project like he's got out there

[1:41:08] right now. It's an eyes sore and it's a failure and none of us are I don't think

[1:41:13] anybody in High River is happy about it as to what's going on out there. So, if

[1:41:18] you can take that back with you, please, Lane. Um,

[1:41:23] if somehow Mr. Matthews is still in involved in this project. I'd like to

[1:41:28] see him in that seat instead of you. You can be with him, but I'd like to see him

[1:41:33] come and address us as to how he's going to fix this mess cuz it's embarrassing.

[1:41:38] So, um, any other comments from council?

[1:41:43] We're good. Thanks, Lane. Thanks. Thanks, Lane. Appreciate you coming.

[1:41:50] No.

[1:42:01] Alberta municipalities board of directors nominations. Do you want to

[1:42:05] speak to this, Jenny?

[1:42:11] » Uh, yes. Thank you. Um, so I've had the privilege over the past 10 months to um

[1:42:17] be on the I be a director on on the Alberta Municipalities Board. I did um

[1:42:24] after the election at their convention, I I ran for the

[1:42:28] position. It was a replacement position for somebody who didn't um become

[1:42:33] reelected. So, it was sort of short-term, but over those 10 months, I

[1:42:38] have learned an incredible amount on um municipalities, the Alberta government,

[1:42:44] and federal government, and how they work. And I'd like to continue being on

[1:42:48] that board. I do have to run again in this coming September in the convention

[1:42:52] at the convention. Um the position also for vice presidents of town um is

[1:42:58] eligible and I'd like to also put my name forward for that position. However,

[1:43:03] that position does need support from council to do so. Um and so that's what

[1:43:08] I'm coming forward today asking for your guys' support. I don't plan I don't

[1:43:14] assume that this will take away from any of my responsibilities being a counselor

[1:43:18] for the town of High River. I actually feel that it will help support my

[1:43:22] interest in municipal governance and also the advocacy to to the Alberta

[1:43:27] government in in and of itself. So I respect respectfully ask for your

[1:43:32] support and allow me to put my name forward for for this position.

[1:43:38] » Fantastic. Any

[1:43:44] questions from council? Councelor Nichek,

[1:43:49] just want to know, mayor Snodgrass, you'll be attending the convention then

[1:43:52] this fall to support councelor Jones, I assume, right?

[1:43:56] » That has absolutely nothing to do with this request.

[1:44:03] » Your vote would be appreciated. >> Yeah.

[1:44:06] [laughter]

[1:44:10] I'm not a convention guy. So, I am more than happy that councelor Jones wants to

[1:44:15] do this on behalf of and I I honestly I do think it's a massive benefit to our

[1:44:21] council to have um Jenny this involved with with Alberta [snorts]

[1:44:26] municipalities. So, on that note, I'll ask for a motion from councelor

[1:44:30] Brookwell that council support and approve the nomination of councelor

[1:44:33] Jones to the Alberta Municipalities Board of Directors as director of town

[1:44:37] south for a two-year term and vice president of towns for a one-year term.

[1:44:42] » I'll give you that motion, mayor. >> Thank you.

[1:44:47] All in favor, [snorts and clears throat]

[1:44:51] good luck, Jenny. >> Thank you very much. Just do your tour

[1:44:55] with your boxes of donuts and [clears throat]

[1:44:58] get them votes. Okay, councelor board and committee

[1:45:02] reports. That's not bribery, by the way. Councelor Kui.

[1:45:09] » Ah, thanks so much. Just a a quick report. Uh, Shepard Family Park is the

[1:45:14] is my one committee that's still going throughout the summer. Uh, looking for

[1:45:18] some volunteers as always. Anybody that's a gardener and doesn't mind being

[1:45:22] poked by some raspberry bushes, they could use one or two volunteers to help

[1:45:26] with their um raspberry bush coming up in the school year looking for some uh

[1:45:31] volunteers to help with the school tours where they bring in the schools. Uh they

[1:45:35] teach them have a little class right in the the Little Bow School and of course

[1:45:39] learn all about the rest of the things around the um uh around the park. A huge

[1:45:45] shout out to the volunteers around there, including our own G. But all of

[1:45:49] them, the work that they put in and the hours they are putting in that park, and

[1:45:53] it looks amazing, is is astronomical. It's it's it's amazing and uh a lot of

[1:45:59] work. So again, looking for some some people to get involved there as well. Uh

[1:46:03] we got some chickens producing three eggs a day. So you can go and visit the

[1:46:07] chicken coupe. Um along with uh a new initiative uh selling coal. So if you

[1:46:12] have any fairs or any need for coal uh we are selling coal uh for $85 a bag. Is

[1:46:18] that correct?

[1:46:21] » Okay. We're still working on that. But if you're looking for coal, Shepard

[1:46:24] Family Park's the place to go. So uh again, lots going on. A great summer and

[1:46:28] getting it ready now for thrashing days. Thank you.

[1:46:39] » Uh, okay. Couple of pieces for me to share. Um, back on July 27th, um,

[1:46:49] members, some members of council had the opportunity to meet with our municipal

[1:46:53] affairs minister, Dan Williams, um, who was doing a bit of a road show

[1:46:58] going around. We meetings were held here in each municipality. There's Foothills

[1:47:05] County, Okats, Long View, Black or Diamond Valley and High River. We all

[1:47:10] had a 15-minute window to to have a meeting with Minister Williams. Um and

[1:47:17] what we requested um that we've started is that the

[1:47:22] province um start collecting their own education

[1:47:27] tax requisitions. Um, this is something that's put on the

[1:47:32] shoulders of municipalities and I don't know of a single municipality that's

[1:47:36] happy about it, especially with the massive increases in property tax that

[1:47:41] this education tax has been put on to us [clears throat] by the provincial

[1:47:45] government. Um, our biggest thing is is it takes um a lot of [clears throat]

[1:47:50] time from our staff to deal with this as well as um not everybody in High River

[1:47:58] completely understands or any municipality understands what this

[1:48:01] education tax is. And it's not a High River tax. It is a provincial government

[1:48:05] tax. Um and we just believe that the provincial government, if they have this

[1:48:10] tax, they should also collect this tax on their own. Um, we did have a,

[1:48:18] in my mind, it was a fun back and forth on it. The minister had different views

[1:48:23] on what that conversation was like, but um, in that whether this is political in

[1:48:30] nature and it's absolutely 100% political in nature because yes, we take

[1:48:34] it in the teeth from um, from our residents on this. What was what a 19%

[1:48:40] on their end? 19% increase on the province's end. Um, and had a lot of

[1:48:46] people coming at us thinking that this was our tax. So, yes, it's

[1:48:52] political on our end. I also put it back to him that it's 100% political on their

[1:48:56] end that they want us to do this because they can hide from it.

[1:49:01] Um, they don't have if the if the UCP government went out and told everybody

[1:49:08] in every municipality that here's your 19% property tax increase.

[1:49:14] You tell me what that would do to their election chances the next time. It is

[1:49:19] 100% political. Um, regardless, that is still our request is that they um take

[1:49:26] on their own tax collection. Uh later on in that afternoon, I had a scheduled

[1:49:31] meeting with Premier Smith. Um interesting, she knew all about the

[1:49:36] meeting before she walked in the [laughter] door. Guess she got that

[1:49:39] phone call fairly quick. But [snorts] I reiterated the exact same thing to the

[1:49:43] premier that uh it's time for them to um [clears throat] collect their own taxes

[1:49:48] that that they put out there. Um, beyond that, one piece that's kind of come up

[1:49:54] over the last week or so is in regards to the upcoming referendum in October

[1:50:01] [snorts] and how how the uh signage um is being handled

[1:50:09] and can be handled by municipalities. Um, and Chris, I might get you to come

[1:50:15] up here and speak to this a little bit, but [snorts]

[1:50:19] what's happened with our the town previously had election signage bylaw

[1:50:25] and there was only certain areas of town outside of your own public property. You

[1:50:29] can do whatever you want there, but outside of that, there was certain, what

[1:50:33] do we call them? Election signs corral. Um, we had half a dozen around town

[1:50:38] where everybody could put their signs. Um and that was for municipal,

[1:50:43] provincial and federal that you could do that. Last year the provincial

[1:50:47] government took that ability away from us.

[1:50:52] Um so which made our bylaw useless. Um

[1:50:59] which means that the referendum signage what does which does coincide with

[1:51:03] election signage um is [clears throat] a bit of a

[1:51:06] free-for-all on public property. So, I've been getting the odd email on

[1:51:13] certain signs that are on public boulevards and stuff. Um, I thought we

[1:51:18] could deal with it on both sides. This isn't on one side or the other. Um, but

[1:51:23] we can't. So, Chris, can you kind of speak to um what we can and can't

[1:51:30] control on these signs? Cuz the problem is the reason why we ended up with our

[1:51:34] election signage bylaw which we referred to as the Branovich bylaw because uh

[1:51:40] [snorts] former councelor Dragon Branovich I don't know how many signs he

[1:51:43] bought but those of us that remember 2013 there was like 7,98

[1:51:50] just on 12th Avenue. So we called it the Branovich bylaw. It was pretty funny. Um

[1:51:56] so that one's being out. So, and the reason why we did it is because it does

[1:52:01] during these elections, it does just trash up your town and and it does not

[1:52:06] look good at all. Um, [clears throat] so Chris, can you kind of explain what we

[1:52:11] can and can't do anymore? >> Thank you, your worship. Absolutely. So,

[1:52:17] Bill 54 was introduced as an election statutes amendment act in 2025. It

[1:52:23] stripped Alberta municipalities of their power to create or enforce independent

[1:52:27] bylaws regarding election and rent referendum signage.

[1:52:32] So, prior to this, we were permitted to have designated zones as was seen in our

[1:52:38] bylaws. Um, now the minister holds all exclusive authority to establish

[1:52:43] standard provincial rules for election advertisements across all public spaces.

[1:52:49] They do provide highlevel location guidelines. Um on the alberta.ca page,

[1:52:55] it is a lot more broad. It really does restrict uh what we can enforce on

[1:53:02] location of signage. We do have some stipulations that we can look to that is

[1:53:08] total size of the signage. We still have the rights to enforce for safety

[1:53:13] infractions on sighteline triangles at intersections.

[1:53:16] Um, and there is requirements of who is funding the signage and contact

[1:53:22] information on the signage. So, there's some general strokes we can enforce. Um,

[1:53:28] but all of our, I'd say, more concise constraints that were put on by that

[1:53:33] bylaw were upended by uh the statutes amendment. So we are at the

[1:53:43] mercy of the high level regulation that is basically signage sizing and

[1:53:49] sighteline inference for our traffic system.

[1:53:54] Okay, perfect. So, the end of the day, I think the request is out there to both

[1:54:01] sides, whether it's the Forever Canada side or the or the separatism side, um,

[1:54:07] or any other part of this referendum that's coming up, um, [clears throat] is

[1:54:12] that everybody just respects the town that you live in and that not all of us,

[1:54:17] not everybody's going to put a sign out. Not all of us want to see these signs.

[1:54:23] Um, private property of course is a free-for-all. You're seeing some of

[1:54:27] these streets in High River. Everybody's showing their colors, right? It's pretty

[1:54:32] entertaining in my mind, but um but let's just on public property, let's

[1:54:39] just not um

[1:54:43] trash up our town too much with these these signs for for too long. So, um, I

[1:54:48] just wanted to bring that forward because I know there are a lot of people

[1:54:51] that are I've got a few emails regarding it. So, um, and just so that council

[1:54:56] knows how they can respond to the public with this. So, okay. Thanks very much

[1:55:02] for figuring this out over the weekend for me. Chris

[1:55:09] uh board and committee minutes, Museum of the Highwood meeting minutes, the

[1:55:13] Shepard Family Park Society board and the High River Library boarding meeting

[1:55:16] meeting minutes are um included. Municipal Days of Respect and support.

[1:55:23] Uh there's a couple of them here. Uh, one is the uh, and I'll ask for a motion

[1:55:30] from councelor Kui that council proclaim

[1:55:34] October 8th, 2026 as National Depression Screening Day in High River and the

[1:55:38] council authorized the mayor to sign the National Depression Screening Day

[1:55:42] proclamation. >> I'll give you that motion, Mayor

[1:55:44] Snugrass. >> All in favor?

[1:55:47] Carried. Harvard Tennis Club 120th anniversary

[1:55:52] celebration 120 years. Wow. [snorts] Um, I will ask for a motion from councelor

[1:56:00] Jones that mayor and council will notify administration by August 14th, 2026 of

[1:56:04] availability to attend and speak at the High River Tennis Club's 120th

[1:56:08] anniversary celebration August 22nd, 2026.

[1:56:14] » I'll give you that motion. Your worship

[1:56:18] can help. [laughter] >> All in favor?

[1:56:24] carried. [laughter]

[1:56:30] Chris, you not got that memo yet? [laughter]

[1:56:34] All right, I'll send it to you.

[1:56:40] [snorts] Um, okay. Lots of council correspondents

[1:56:43] for information uh regarding the e scooters and ebikes. That's that's on

[1:56:48] council's radar. >> [snorts]

[1:56:50] » uh Hannah Guilt reducing the speed limit on Highway 2A. Highway 2A is not in of

[1:56:57] course in High River jurisdiction, but council can absolutely um consider that

[1:57:03] request at a later date. Uh correspondence regarding High Country

[1:57:06] Drive that Donna brought us to before, 605 Mloud Trail,

[1:57:12] that's there and we um had that presentation. If you didn't see the

[1:57:17] information on 605 Mloud Trail, if you watch the committee of the whole meeting

[1:57:21] that happened at 1:00 today, um part of that meeting was was dealing with this

[1:57:27] development permit application. Uh correspondence regarding a data

[1:57:31] center is in there and then correspondence regarding questions and

[1:57:34] public comments uh that uh Bonnie Murray has presented are in there and have been

[1:57:39] answered to um by administration. Um, and just so that people know on this

[1:57:45] data center, there won't be any data centers within town of High River

[1:57:49] boundaries. Some I had that request and as to whether that was happening and no,

[1:57:53] it's not. It's they're uh they're all poking around in rural areas and yes,

[1:57:58] there's the one across the highway in behind John Deere and stuff that's that

[1:58:03] they're uh poking around on, but talking with uh Foothills County,

[1:58:08] um that one is stalled out and they're not they haven't received any further

[1:58:13] information from that developer on that one in quite some time. Um there is

[1:58:18] another one that's that's being poked around somewhere in Foothills County,

[1:58:21] but every single mun rural municipality is uh is dealing with these things on a

[1:58:29] on a massive scale right now. And of course, Rocky View put a moratorum and

[1:58:34] shut their applications down until they kind of get it figured out. They got so

[1:58:38] many going on out there and there's a there's a big war um going on out in

[1:58:43] Velcon County for one that they're um looking at trying to put beside the

[1:58:48] massive solar farm uh Travers Dam. So, there's a lot going on with data

[1:58:54] centers, but there won't be a data center in High River. We don't have any

[1:58:58] room for it or or uh industrial zoning or anything for something of that of

[1:59:04] that size scope. Uh, on that note, I will ask for a

[1:59:08] motion from Councelor Brookwell that council recess the regular council

[1:59:11] meeting August 10th at 4:59 p.m. and move into a closed meeting.

[1:59:18] » You have that motion. Thank you. All in favor?

[1:59:22] » Carried.

[2:10:41] Michael's got a question. >> Michael's good.

[2:10:46] » Okay,

[2:10:49] » we're live.

[2:10:52] [cough and clears throat]

[2:10:56] Okay, I will two motions coming out of the in camera session. One uh starting

[2:11:02] with the High River Library board appointments. And I'll ask for a motion

[2:11:06] from Councelor Barton that council appoint John Baitman and Melissa Miller

[2:11:10] to the High River Library Board with term start dates of August 11th, 2026

[2:11:14] and term expiry dates of October 31st, 2028. [gasps] and that council direct

[2:11:19] administration to advertise openings for the remaining vacancies on the town of

[2:11:22] High River boards and committees and return to council a future date with

[2:11:25] recommendations. >> You have a motion, mayor.

[2:11:27] » Thank you. All in favor? Carried.

[2:11:36] Uh, next one is assessment review board appointment. And I'll ask for a motion

[2:11:41] from councelor Brookwell that council appoint Shawn McGlenn to the assessment

[2:11:44] review board with a term start date of August 11, 2026 and a term expiry date

[2:11:49] of October 31st and that town administration post remaining vacancies

[2:11:54] to the boards and committees and return to council at a future date with

[2:11:58] recommendations. >> I'll give you that motion.

[2:12:01] » Thank you. All in favor? Carried. Meeting adjourned.

Regular Council - 10 Aug 2026

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