[1:48] Okay, good morning everyone. Um, welcome to the September 22nd committee of the

[1:52] whole meeting.

[1:57] It is 9:00 a.m. and I would like to call this meeting to order and that there's a

[2:02] lot of chatter happening in the gallery today, which is always a good thing

[2:05] because it means our committee is here ready to present in their delegations

[2:10] and are in good moods and so I hope that we are all in good moods. Um, again, I

[2:15] have regrets from Mayor Bronco for today's meeting as well as councelor Hy

[2:22] who's been unable to make it. So, I would like to begin with open mic. And

[2:27] it's my understanding there's nobody in the room for open mic.

[2:33] Nobody's saying Karen, you're wrong this morning. So, great. We will move on to

[2:37] adoption of the the agenda. So, can I please have somebody um move that,

[2:42] please? Councelor Nielson.

[2:47] » Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd actually like to make an an addition to the

[2:51] agenda, please. >> Sure.

[2:52] » In under close session

[2:58] 20, section 20 of ATIa. >> Okay. So, I'll put that as 10. In our in

[3:03] my printed agenda, at least we didn't have something from administration on

[3:08] this on this printed agenda. So we'll have that one first from administration

[3:13] and then yours under section 20 is 10.2. Is there anything else

[3:19] from anybody in the gallery? Seeing none, um I will call the question

[3:26] for >> Excuse me. Somebody put the put the

[3:29] motion forward. >> Did you not Oh yeah, sorry. Thank you.

[3:33] Brushing this morning. All those in favor of the 10.2, to you put the motion

[3:39] forward and then with the addition >> all those in favor of moving the agenda

[3:47] with the addition of 10.2 to as amended carried.

[3:54] I will catch up to my brain. Uh so we will move on now to delegations

[4:02] and the first one I have is the brain conference. So if you'd like um

[4:09] if you would like to come up is will it be both Lori and Colleen?

[4:14] » Yeah.

[4:29] Your microphone is on. Okay. Whenever you're ready.

[4:43] » I have to have my glasses. >> Me, too. But the best part about not

[4:48] having any vision is you just wear them all the time so you can always see

[4:52] something.

[4:55] » Well, good morning everybody. Uh Lori and I are here to um represent the uh

[5:02] the brain conference that is happening. Uh we in Hellkerk uh just south of

[5:08] Camero's ways. And um last year we had the brain conference here in uh in

[5:16] Witasquin and uh it was at the Reynolds Museum and was

[5:22] well presented. There were people that came from basically all over all over

[5:27] Canada and some from the States and and and this time we're even having a person

[5:32] come from uh from Australia uh to to make their presentation uh or that I

[5:37] shouldn't say not their presentation but they have a story in the in the book um

[5:42] of the uh the brain book. So anyway um we'll just sort of carry on and uh

[5:55] I'll read you Lori prepared most of the the the stuff here. So I will just uh um

[6:01] read it and um and both Lori and I were also on the uh on the uh committee for

[6:09] for getting the uh conference running in WTAN last year.

[6:14] Um

[6:20] the range of uh brain brain injuries is larger than most people tend to know.

[6:27] stroke, brain, hemorrhage, injury, accident, migraine, and more are of

[6:32] concern. you would likely know someone who has suffered a brain injury and uh

[6:38] you can read some of their experiences uh uh in the brain book and that's what

[6:44] that's what it looks like and there will be a new edition of the brain book being

[6:49] um worked is being worked on at the present time

[6:54] and uh brain with all its capital letters stands for battle river arts

[7:01] innovation and neuroscience So all those letters together make uh brain which is

[7:09] what it's all about in the in the grand scheme of things. This is the first or

[7:13] the third conference the first being held in Camros and then withas one last

[7:17] year. Uh we are part of a placebased community of economic development, a

[7:24] practical education association partnered with eight Canadian

[7:28] communities across Canada. And more information can be found on the

[7:32] website and and you will have um availability of of information regarding

[7:39] regarding that too. all the information with the addresses that you can get a

[7:45] hold of people if you wish to do so. The uh Battle River extends from the

[7:52] headwaters at Battle Lake to the endaters of the river rivers at uh

[7:56] Battleford. It's a huge area of central Alberta and Saskatchewan. And the

[8:02] conference 2026 will be held at the Circle Square Ranch at Halkerk in the

[8:06] Battle River Badlands of Payer County. A working group of volunteers

[8:11] representing several municipalities from across the Battle River region is led by

[8:16] a competent board um the Brain Foundation.

[8:21] And the conference this year is in October from uh October the 23rd to the

[8:26] 25th with Friday evening and Saturday morning extra events and one is even a a

[8:32] tour of the of the area. The main conference is on Saturday

[8:38] and the uh brain foundation website has more information on uh on that and again

[8:44] those addresses are all on this uh enclosed.

[8:54] » Oh, okay. All right. That's that's the one that's what the brain conference is

[8:57] and the request for funds. That's that's what that is.

[9:02] And uh brain health differs from mental health. Brain health is fundamental for

[9:07] mental health. While there is lots of information about mental health, there

[9:11] is much less attention to brain health. Rural Albertans or any Canadian for that

[9:16] matter uh should not have to travel for treatment to faraway destinations like

[9:21] Florida, Denmark, Australia, even Vancouver or Ottawa and not even

[9:26] Edmonton or Calgary. We are working to bring brain

[9:30] rehabilitation and treatments to uh central Alberta

[9:35] all throughout the uh throughout the um area

[9:41] and sponsorships. the the way that we are putting this all together is uh by

[9:48] sponsorships um the conference to advertise what we're doing and and uh

[9:54] and inform people more of uh of of the different ways to heal brain injuries

[10:02] and the brain book uh gifts all will help uh you can attend the brain

[10:08] conference and hear speakers from across Canada and the US even from from other

[10:12] countries. Leading scientists and doctors offer insights into brain

[10:17] injuries. Artists understand the power of all forms of art in recovery.

[10:24] So you can you can sponsor people to attend the conference or you can

[10:29] contribute stories from your own lived experience or from others you have known

[10:34] because we all have very likely some connection to someone who has had a had

[10:40] a brain injury of of some kind. And you can help us spread the word about our

[10:46] cause, our conferences and other projects.

[10:50] The ultimate goal of this conference is to attract resources and uh raise

[10:56] awareness about the need for a brain education and rehabilitation center in

[11:01] Battle River region, enabling those impacted to recover in familiar

[11:05] surroundings with ongoing support, providing hope for their loved ones. The

[11:11] conference will examine and report on recent breakthroughs and innovations in

[11:16] understanding the brain, neuroscience, and the rehabilitation processes,

[11:21] especially neuroplasticity and therapies through the arts.

[11:27] If you can add your efforts to bring a world-class brain center to rural

[11:31] Alberta, your donations and your input will be much appreciated.

[11:40] And um Lori has a copy there of the of the brain the brain book and it is yeah

[11:47] it is made up of um of uh stories. There are five different sections in the book

[11:54] and they are all written by by people who have had some some

[11:59] connection to uh to brain injury and um and so even the book itself is is

[12:06] education and um you can also there there's

[12:11] something with the new copy that is going to be coming out um there's going

[12:16] to be space available made available for people to advertise their own

[12:22] businesses, you know, for supporting um for supporting the the conference and

[12:26] and and the book. But it's but it is an an actual advertisement for whatever

[12:32] business or whatever um organization you belong to. And the fee for that is um is

[12:40] $1,000. And um

[12:45] and that gives you there'll be pages added to the book that have your

[12:49] information on your on your company or your business or your organization. Does

[12:54] that sound right so far? >> Okay.

[13:00] » Right. The smaller donations you can you can um

[13:06] Right. I should tell you how much it costs for the um for the uh attendance

[13:12] at the conference. The fees are $125 for general admission only or $300 which

[13:20] include accommodation on the ranch uh if needed and then caster and also have

[13:26] hotels and you can register online again at the battle rivers.ca CA. And um

[13:35] we're looking for donations to help with conference expenses such as uh paying

[13:40] for the speakers, many coming from far away. Um, and I know there's people from

[13:46] Chicago um that that that came to last year's conference and uh uh so they are

[13:53] literally from all over the the world that that people have come to to um talk

[14:00] about what they do and how to help others.

[14:04] and um a charitable donation. If you want uh a receipt, uh you make your your

[14:10] check payable to the friends of freedom society. Um if you wish to just donate

[14:15] to the founding organization, the check is to be made payable to association for

[14:21] lifewide living. So everything is all connected um at least

[14:27] and um pretty much does it.

[14:32] » Yeah. Bottom line, we want

[14:38] we need to cover expenses and whatot

[14:58] of the information.

[15:15] So, any questions? >> Yeah, thank you very much. I'll turn it

[15:18] over to council.

[15:23] » So, I'll ask just a couple questions. Um, my first question is your book. I I

[15:30] know that there's the I'm going to I might get the name right the wrong the

[15:33] Battle River Writers >> Battle River Arts Innovation and

[15:37] Neuroscience >> and I know the two of you are um

[15:41] connected to the writing group. So if I'm to if I were to buy the book for

[15:47] example or read the book, am I looking at stories local to the Battle River

[15:52] area to your or is it stories from all over the world as well? They they they

[15:59] literally are stories from all over the world. There's

[16:02] » there's uh I have there's one by me in the at the very end

[16:09] of the book that is that associates the arts with with brain healing and uh um

[16:16] and things like that. >> Beautiful.

[16:25] » One from Saskatchewan.

[16:29] And again, the people that we were talking about that that uh there's a

[16:33] there's a couple of articles in there by people that are from Chicago.

[16:37] » So, it it does cover >> lots of places. And there are some

[16:42] other, you know, like I say, or like Lori says, the more local individuals

[16:47] from from Alberta. >> Beautiful. Um I believe councelor

[16:50] Billingsley has a question. >> I do. Excuse me. Thank you. First of

[16:55] all, thank you. I appreciate um your hard work on and your passion on this

[17:00] issue. Um my question actually is to administration. Um would something like

[17:05] this um be something that this organization could then apply through

[17:10] the community grants um program

[17:16] or at least something that could be investigated through that program?

[17:20] » Uh through the chair to councelor Billingsley. I think it depends on the

[17:22] ask. Okay. um how much it is. Uh if it falls within the parameters of the

[17:27] program, we could direct them that way. Otherwise, um we would need a motion of

[17:30] counsel to consider further support. >> So, my recommendation is to um talk with

[17:36] administration and to see if if um this would fall into um something that

[17:43] we could sponsor through the grants program that we currently offer.

[17:47] » Okay. Thank you. And then following up on that is, am I

[17:54] correct when I saw your presentation that this isn't just an ask of council?

[17:59] Um, part of the benefits of presenting publicly is we

[18:04] know that now that we go um live that we live stream and then tape that

[18:09] afterwards that many community groups and people will watch this council

[18:14] meeting. So, I just want to give you a chance right now for those interested to

[18:19] repeat um how to get in more information.

[18:27] Would it be off your website? Would it? >> Yes, if you if you would go to um

[18:35] the battle riverarts.ca. So, it's https

[18:40] and then the uh semicolon and two backslashes. WW

[18:49] rivers.ca.

[18:52] So, that's b a tt t i v a rts.ca. and that will get you to uh uh to the

[19:03] website that will that will let you know about the conference itself. And um

[19:11] and what else? And I'm reading something here. The

[19:17] www.brainfoundation.ca.

[19:21] » Yes.

[19:24] » Excellent. And then my last question for you, I'm not trying to um make this

[19:30] hard, is if I wanted to purchase the brain book because I'm I am very

[19:37] interested in reading these stories, where would I be able to do that?

[19:41] » Um let you know when they are available.

[19:47] They are $4 each.

[19:57] through a whole bunch of

[20:01] » Okay.

[20:08] » Okay. >> Thank you.

[20:13] » And Lori, I know that sometimes you're at our Wasow Farmers Market at um the

[20:18] egg grounds. Do you sell this book as well when you're there?

[20:22] » I I did last year. Okay. >> Perfect. Yeah. Okay. If that's

[20:30] everything, I'd like to thank you very much for your presentation and good luck

[20:34] with the conference. Maybe I'll see you there this year because I think I'm in

[20:37] town. So >> that's great.

[20:38] » Yeah. >> To contact someone else.

[20:46] If if somebody on council decides to make a motion, we'll do that later today

[20:51] and administration would contact you. >> Okay.

[20:55] Who will I leave this book with today? >> Yeah, you can. If you would like to

[21:00] leave that, I I'll take a folder and then if you wanted to leave an extra

[21:05] couple, I think the legisl desk behind me would be a great place and we can

[21:09] pick it up there. >> And thank you very much.

[21:11] » Thank you. Thank you, Colleen.

[21:19] Thank you very much.

[21:32] All right. So I will move on to 5.2 which is the Q1 2826 27 community rep

[21:40] policing report with Inspector Humpkey. Welcome.

[21:50] » Thank you, sir.

[22:02] » We give you the best. >> Morning.

[22:04] » Good morning.

[22:11] Uh, first I guess uh I'd like to I guess thank everyone and and I

[22:19] officially have been named your detachment commander here now. So um I'm

[22:23] excited to be here and to work with everybody and and see what we can do

[22:27] together. So >> excellent.

[22:29] » Um secondly, I think maybe you've seen around town, but we have police officers

[22:34] now wearing blue shirts. So, the RCMP has now rolled out uh new shirts to

[22:39] update the gray ones and their blue shirts. So, they're pretty much rolled

[22:43] out now. So, that uh was an ad or a campaign that we ran here, I guess,

[22:48] starting in the end of July. And they've got everybody outfitted. So, when you

[22:52] see guys in in blue shirts, guys and girls, that is the new year.

[22:56] » Excellent. >> Um we also have a new vest that'll be

[22:59] coming out here shortly. Um just basically changing the the colors of the

[23:04] uh the police on the front and the back and and putting a little bit more onto

[23:08] them. >> Um we're currently into our pistol

[23:12] conversion. So the firearms that we carry daily right now are from about

[23:17] 1995 and this has been in the works for quite

[23:21] some time and we're started with that. So we have members going here right now

[23:25] and converting over to the new pistol. I guess the big things with our uh

[23:31] organization right now and I'll move to the uh the community report. So this

[23:36] community report encompasses April through the end of June

[23:41] » um of 2026. That's quarter one of the RCMP's quarter.

[23:46] So introduction uh 2025 annual performance plan. Uh there were three

[23:51] items that were uh on there. community engagement, community safety, and

[24:00] trying to remember the other, but I don't remember off top of my head.

[24:02] Sorry. We'll get there. Um, crime trends, crime stats, and crime severity

[24:08] index, which is a win, and then we'll open up for questions.

[24:13] First slide there, community engagement. Uh, community police officers have

[24:17] focused on several initiatives during the first quarter. Uh again, this was to

[24:21] the end of June, so school was still in. Uh the Breakfast Club of Canada, we were

[24:26] active with uh CB McMmero. We did some internet safety presentations. Uh bike

[24:31] rodeo here in Macasin with the city of Gaskman enforcement.

[24:35] Uh participated in the Rawhide Rodeo, National Indigenous People's Day, coffee

[24:40] with a cop every uh first Thursday of every month here at McDonald's that it's

[24:45] hosted. Uh they may start to change up at some locations.

[24:51] Uh engagements with seniors uh the cadet aircadet inspection annual inspection

[24:57] attended the youth conference mappy day and partnership with our UVA and Grant

[25:02] Mchuan where we have students from the criminal justice program uh coming into

[25:07] the detachment working with us. Uh we actually have had two now that have gone

[25:12] on to our CMP depo. uh one graduated, one's coming up graduating and we have

[25:18] one gal that decided she wanted to work as the uh public service and friends and

[25:22] she started in August and we currently have another student right now. So just

[25:27] a quick uh photo there uh Macappy day and national indigenous people's day

[25:34] uh crime reduction. So our crime reduction unit is focused on prolific

[25:39] offenders here during this quarter. So, property crime, drugs, social disorder

[25:42] issues, crime hotspots. Uh, first quarter saw several significant

[25:47] occurrences. Um, so we had total arrests of 26,

[25:52] property charges, 13, drug charges, 13, breach order charges, 19, and other

[25:57] criminal code charges of eight. Um, out of those uh

[26:04] investigations are some of the photos um with it there that they seized. So, some

[26:10] firearms, little uh clear bags of the white powder, that's uh methamphetamine

[26:18] weapons there as well. Good getting those off the street.

[26:25] Community safety uh to enhance community safety visibility. Uh task implemented

[26:30] directive patrols hotspots which are geographical areas of higher calls for

[26:35] service. Uh downtown foot patrols were implemented this quarter. Foot patrols

[26:39] have been very well received uh by the business and community members. So some

[26:44] foot patrols,

[26:48] human resources uh municipal detachment has 27

[26:52] established police officer positions. There's 23 officers during that uh April

[26:57] through June that were currently working. Three of the officers

[27:00] temporarily absent. We had two graduated return to work, so they're working on

[27:04] coming back and one leave without pay. And there was one vacancy during that

[27:09] time uh which is our staff sergeant ops NCO position which is open now and it's

[27:17] closes here the end of the month for promotion

[27:20] uh provincial detachment has 18 established police officers 14 currently

[27:26] working there are four that are temporary absent three again graduated

[27:30] return to work and one leave without pay there are no hard vacancies on our

[27:34] provincial side and then the detachment Support positions now are all full

[27:42] August.

[27:46] Crime trends overall crime trends have increased when compared to last year

[27:50] January to March. I forgot to change that. Uh the increase of B&Es are

[27:55] associated working with commercial. This isn't the right page. I'm sorry.

[28:03] I'm just going to skip right to the next page because it didn't say right.

[28:09] Um on the next page you can see our April to June criminal code offenses. So

[28:14] again uh looking at it there breaking enters were actually down 17% April to

[28:19] June. Uh theft of motor vehicle we had an increase of 16% and theft under was

[28:24] down 22%. Um so our break and enters began to

[28:29] increase in June and then I'll jump ahead into July. Unfortunately, we had a

[28:35] pretty good uh increase in break and enters in the month of July. I know it's

[28:40] not part of these stats here. Um we did have one series where we actually have

[28:45] been able to identify an individual from British Columbia uh who was responsible

[28:50] for smashing out a bunch of windows and going into restaurants. So we had three

[28:54] here in Watasco and one in Millet and then we linked it up with other

[28:58] communities throughout Leuk, Edmonton and I believe Pinoa as well. So

[29:04] a big a big one there and then we've had a couple others since

[29:13] looking at numbers there are uh total persons crimes

[29:23] had it on the other screen if I would have saved it right

[29:27] uh down 29% and our other criminal code

[29:34] showed a slight increase I think up about 38% for this quarter.

[29:42] Uh prisoner counts um again used to gauge the effectiveness of the hope

[29:47] mission while not fully reliable the count can be compared to previous years

[29:52] and judged against previous year strategies. So um year to date the end

[29:56] of June that's January to June 934 which is a decrease of 226 from 2025. So 226

[30:06] less prisoners this year over last year. Our April to June 246 prisoners which

[30:12] again was a decrease of 77 from last year.

[30:18] Calls for service. Um, our top 10 calls for service are

[30:24] disturbing the peace. So, 362 during April to June. Well-being checks again

[30:30] are are high on there. 188 suspicious persons vehicles 154, liquor act 14. Uh,

[30:38] breach piece 103 and moving down. So our total calls for service were 255

[30:45] and that's in the city of Watasquin, 778 in April, May 870 and June 857.

[30:53] Uh the graph on the right there, the chart uh shows kind of the uh top times

[30:59] of the days and uh and hours of the day where our highest calls for service are.

[31:04] So between one and five are typically our our highest calls.

[31:12] And the crime severity index uh 2025 uh crime severity index came out here in

[31:18] July. Let's added this in. So within CSI dropped by.9%

[31:24] again not a a huge decrease but it's the right trend. Um the overall Alberta RCMP

[31:30] jurisdiction is 100.6 and Alberta as a total is 90.6. So went

[31:36] down uh throughout the province.

[31:43] again with our crime severity index. Um, break and enters accounted for 17.4% of

[31:49] our CSI value. Assaults 13.9, uh, drug enforcement 8% and theft under

[31:57] 5,000%.

[32:00] 7.8% sorry. Uh, disturbing the peace 7.6, robbery 6.2, mischief property 5.7,

[32:07] fraud. defensive weapons and sexual assaults to uh top 10 there.

[32:14] Uh the largest driver for the decrease in our CSI from 2024 was a decrease in

[32:19] breaking enters even though we still have a fairly high number there. There

[32:22] were 53 less in 2025 than 2024.

[32:31] » So any questions? >> Uh thank you. Go ahead councelor

[32:36] Nielson. >> Thank you.

[32:39] First off, congratulations on your new position. Welld deserved.

[32:43] » And uh I would echo the community's response to foot patrols. I see them

[32:48] often and uh I believe what they say to the community is that we are here in the

[32:53] community and we're looking after your best interest. So, thank you for that. I

[32:57] do have a number of questions though. Um in in terms of calls for service, um

[33:03] I've got three here that I' I'd like some clarification on. Um what is

[33:09] disturbing the peace? >> Disturbing the peace uh that's enjoying

[33:15] the peace um of the community whether it's by yelling, fighting, swearing,

[33:21] being intoxicated. Um so it has to be out in an area where

[33:27] people are and they're disturbing their activity.

[33:32] » That make sense? >> Yeah. Thank you. uh in a residence or in

[33:35] a uh commercial site. Um it's mischief. So that's an enjoying their or

[33:41] disrupting their enjoyment to property or um

[33:47] their shopping like that type of thing.

[33:50] » Okay. Um what is a well-being check? >> Well-being check that we receive a lot

[33:56] of well-being checks. Uh lots of calls for people to check on their health. um

[34:03] haven't seen them in a long time. Whether it's check on mental health,

[34:06] check on physical health, check on um anything to do with them. They haven't

[34:13] been seen. They were driving from Cameros to a task one and they're late.

[34:17] Um yeah, that's

[34:20] » So, so would some of that be individuals that that are on your radar in terms

[34:25] like you said, you haven't seen them in a while or is this just uh people

[34:28] saying, "Hey, I can't I can't find my kid. I can't I don't know where grandma

[34:32] is or whatever. >> Yeah. Um with kids and with elderly or

[34:37] vulnerable persons, that would be a straight missing person's report, but um

[34:40] a well-being check would be just checking on their well-being.

[34:44] » I would say >> I I can't put a a total number to it,

[34:48] but the number of individuals that get reported to us for a well-being check

[34:52] that we know them, it's probably a 50-50 split,

[34:56] » okay? of people that we know and people we have no idea who they are and aren't

[35:00] um you know regular individuals that we encounter.

[35:04] » Okay. Thank you. Um and there was 74 calls for service having to do with the

[35:09] mental health act. >> Yes.

[35:11] » So what would that consist of? >> That would be mental health crisises.

[35:16] Um, with that, people who are either suicidal, wanting to hurt themselves,

[35:23] others, um, potentially

[35:27] having a crisis where they're just having a really bad day somewhere, uh,

[35:32] at home or in a business or in the street. Um, we do have our ARPAC team

[35:38] here now and they're fully functioning, so that's that's helping, but uh, we

[35:43] still have to respond to the call for service on that. Uh we have had a fairly

[35:48] high call volume in regards to mental health and um people wanting to hurt

[35:55] themselves or others here over the last while. Okay. Thank you.

[35:59] » Um and I'm curious about how your

[36:03] statistics get captured. So, does each number that you've talked about here,

[36:07] number of offenses and so forth, is that does that represent a charge being made,

[36:12] a file being opened, or simply a complaint received?

[36:16] » Uh, every time a complaint is received, a file is open. So, those are one and

[36:20] one. Uh, but this would be every time we have a file or a complaint is what these

[36:25] are. Our stats for what our charges are um isn't on this list. I can request

[36:32] that. Okay. what our clearance rates are.

[36:35] » Yeah. No, I was just curious about differentiating where they come from.

[36:38] And my last question, uh, Brandon, is in relation to, um,

[36:45] they're called crime trends here. Um, one's crime trends and one's crime

[36:49] stats. Mhm. >> Uh, one speaks to family violence.

[36:52] » Mhm. >> An increase of 13 cases.

[36:56] » Um, and the other speaks to spousal abuse, a decrease of 18, uh,

[37:02] representing 14 and 17%. What's the differentiation between a family

[37:07] violence and spousal abuse? >> Uh, sorry, where did you see the spousal

[37:12] abuse at? >> I don't know where I saw it now.

[37:15] » Okay. Um, so I apologize. the the crime trends are actually January to March's

[37:20] crime trends. Those aren't the last ones. So when I saved I saved it wrong.

[37:24] » Okay. >> So those are incorrect. I and I don't

[37:26] have it off my head here what our family violence rate is.

[37:28] » Okay. I'm I'm okay with not knowing the trends. Can you differentiate for me

[37:32] difference between family violence and spousal abuse?

[37:35] » So spousal abuse abuse is just that it's spouse partner. Yeah.

[37:40] » Um >> intimate partner. Actually they've

[37:42] changed the name of it now. Intimate partner violence. Family violence would

[37:46] be amongst a family um member. So grandparent.

[37:51] » Oh, okay. >> Kid, stuff like that.

[37:53] » All right, great. Thank you very much. I'm good.

[37:57] » Uh, councelor White. >> Thank you. And congratulations. Also, I

[38:04] have just a couple questions and some have already been answered. So, thank

[38:07] you, Councelor Nielsen, for your questions. Um I I'd like to echo the

[38:12] positive feedback on the foot patrols. I've seen as well as heard positive

[38:17] feedback on that and I wondered um that I realize this report is looking in the

[38:22] past. Can you tell me a little bit about plans for the future? Will there be

[38:26] continuing foot patrols this fall and winter?

[38:30] » Yes, the foot patrols are going to continue. I mean winter at times with

[38:37] weather and such like that. We did actually put some bike patrols. We did

[38:40] have pilot on bike patrols here uh in July and August. Um that actually was

[38:46] wellreceived as well and planning for you know next year's nice season I

[38:52] guess. Um so we actually have specific training. It's law enforcement uh bike

[38:57] training that you have to take. It's a week long course to ride a bike and

[39:00] learn how to execute your duties while riding a bicycle. So right now I don't

[39:03] have a lot of members that are trained in that. Um, I think I only have four or

[39:08] five. So, looking at doing some more training for next year and uh

[39:13] potentially getting some more bikes and and increasing that. So, that went

[39:18] really well. I'm happy with that and we'll continue with that and as well as

[39:21] the foot patrols um and foot patrols in uniform. So, our crew team quite often

[39:29] works in plane clothes and they do do foot patrols, but you wouldn't know who

[39:34] they were walking down the street, right? Um, so we're actually going to

[39:38] get them to do some more increased high visibility patrols, too, in uniform as

[39:42] well. And we're going to branch that out into other areas of town as well.

[39:46] » Thank you. >> Okay. Look forward to that. And my last

[39:52] uh question is around the um page that said prisoner counts. I I just want to

[39:57] read a sentence and have you tell me more. The first sentence says prisoner

[40:02] counts are one metric used to gauge the effectiveness of enforcement efforts and

[40:08] utilization of hope mission. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

[40:13] » I'll try. Um that was from my predecessor. That was his uh his gauge

[40:18] on it. Um, so I think the the use of the hope mission and bringing our prisoner

[40:24] counts down strictly in relation to our um nuisance

[40:31] intoxicated persons, nobody to care for them is what that's referring to. So

[40:38] trying to bring that number down with the use of the mission. So I wasn't here

[40:44] prior to and I don't know what it was like specifically before that. Um,

[40:50] and then how many people we had to lodge. So,

[40:54] does that kind of make sense? >> So, bringing our numbers down because

[40:59] more people are utilizing the mission, is that easier to make more sense? Um,

[41:05] » is is that what's happening? Do you think that's what's happening or or are

[41:09] you confident that that's >> I

[41:12] » an outcome or >> don't know if that's 100%. So I think

[41:17] our enforcement in regards to putting people

[41:22] in cells has gone down. Um certainly the there is a percentage that

[41:31] the hope mission is um helping and keeping out of that cycle of coming to

[41:37] cells but not everyone. I I can't say for sure

[41:42] that it's 100% success and I can't say that it's not a success either. I don't

[41:48] know what the rate was before. I I see that our

[41:51] numbers go down. Um our numbers went way up in July.

[41:55] » Okay. >> So, um I think my my question wasn't I'm

[42:00] going to steer it a slightly different way. Instead of a comparative question,

[42:04] history to present to future. >> Um can you tell me a little bit more

[42:08] about the interaction of the two services of the RCMP enforcement

[42:14] services and the hope mission services. How are they interacting?

[42:19] » How do we interact? >> How do you interact? How do your people

[42:23] interact with Hope Mission in a way that might be reducing the number of

[42:27] prisoners? >> Is is that a correlation I can bring

[42:31] from that sentence? >> Yep.

[42:32] » Okay. Um, we have a pretty good relationship with the hope mission and

[42:36] we have individuals who if we do pick them up, we can take there. We talked to

[42:42] them and they will take them. Um, they're pretty open to that with

[42:47] majority. Of course, there were a few individuals that they

[42:51] wouldn't that were banned from the shelter or whatever have you. Um, but I

[42:56] would say for the most part, uh, they're pretty receptive to who we bring over

[43:02] there. >> And individuals that are not accept that

[43:07] are picked up by RCMP but are not accepted at home mission, do they maybe

[43:12] turn into this prisoner count? >> Yes, they would.

[43:15] » For sure.

[43:20] » I have a lot of questions, but I can't think how else to ask right now. Thank

[43:24] you. time.

[43:27] » Uh, thank you, Councelor White. Uh, anybody else?

[43:33] » Councelor Nelson, >> following up a little bit

[43:36] » on that. So, if your staff were called to service um with regard to uh a person

[43:44] under the influence creating a problem in the neighborhood or whatever, um

[43:50] do your staff, do your officers actually transport

[43:55] um these individuals say to hospital or is is an ambulance dispersed?

[44:00] » Uh both um at times. So if we need to take somebody for medical treatment or

[44:06] believe they need to meet medical treatment if it's of a severity passed

[44:12] out unresponsive or not responding you know whether it's breathing or not uh

[44:18] 100% that's ambulance. If the person can communicate

[44:24] kind of um and function but they do need medical assistance and we'll transport

[44:30] there if we're able to. But if we're not able to transport, so we do utilize uh

[44:35] EMS and an ambulance, you know, I can't say every day, but uh

[44:40] certain days like five, six times a day, uh maybe more. And they actually call us

[44:45] a lot, too. So, a lot of those calls for service actually come from the ambulance

[44:49] side of it. Uh where they'll get a call of somebody who's unresponsive. There

[44:54] hasn't been a call to us. There's been a call through 911, DMS. They get the

[44:58] call. Um they won't go to the call without us. and then they call us to

[45:02] come. >> And if your officers um were to take an

[45:07] individual to the hospital, um are they required to stay

[45:12] at the hospital until they're actually seen by medical personnel?

[45:16] » Only on mental health uh not on straight medical reasons.

[45:22] » Okay. Thank you. And

[45:29] » once they're released, do you have any responsibility at that point to

[45:33] transport? >> No.

[45:34] » Thank you.

[45:39] I have two um questions that are more if you can just explain a little bit better

[45:45] for others because it took my first question is

[45:50] about talking about your when you talk about human resources and the two

[45:55] different detachments. Can you just >> give me a quick rundown on what that

[45:59] means? because it wasn't really until I was reading these more in depth that I

[46:04] understood totally the municipal and the provincial.

[46:07] » Yes. Uh so ratascoin camel's detachment is a postmod attachments that means that

[46:13] we have resources that are municipally funded, city of watascoin funded and

[46:17] proincially funded. Um so provinially funded is our rural uh some of our

[46:23] positions are actually provinially funded but in the city of Wataswin and

[46:27] that means members respond to calls for service in any of the area. So Watasquin

[46:32] County or city of Watasquin uh regardless of what their position

[46:37] funding is. So it could be a proincially funded member going to a call in town,

[46:42] could be a municipal member going to a call in the county. Um that's how that

[46:47] works. We have cameros on there as well, but cameros again is its own uh kind of

[46:53] side of it there. So that's a proincially funded side as well. And we

[46:56] have members that are uh strictly dedicated to camera rolls.

[47:00] » Perfect. And then you talked about having the ARPAC um team back.

[47:06] » So can you again, we all know what that means, but just clarify what ARPAC is.

[47:12] » Uh it's our mental health team. So, um, the acronym always slips me there.

[47:18] » Yeah, >> I apologize. Um,

[47:22] » so we have a police officer and a mental health nurse that respond to calls and

[47:28] assess. So, the great thing about that is having the the health side with the

[47:33] police officer side. So the police officer allows us to go to the call and

[47:37] and be there and then the mental health side can engage uh the individual and

[47:43] have access to Alberta health records um can fasttrack them into

[47:49] um designated facilities to get them help faster if needed where uh one of

[47:55] the questions asked about us having to be at the hospital. So on a mental

[47:58] health if we don't have our pack here and we take somebody who's in mental

[48:03] health crisis to a designated facility which our closest is Centennial in

[48:07] Pinoa. >> Um I think there's work on here.

[48:10] » Uh we go there we have to wait until they admit the

[48:18] person have their security whatever um CPO is there to take carriage of it. So

[48:24] wait times can be high. um with Centennial right now we can't have

[48:32] anybody who and a lot of times this goes hand in hand is addictions uh substance

[48:37] abuse and mental health if anybody's under the influence of drugs or alcohol

[48:42] we can't take to Centennial uh so then we have to take to Red Deer or Edmonton

[48:47] but typically it's Red Deer um and that's deemed through the health side

[48:53] they tell us what designated facility we can take the individual

[48:57] and we are required to transport them. There will be times that we'll spend

[49:00] eight, nine hours or a police officer will spend an entire shift waiting for

[49:04] the individual uh to be admitted >> and and thank you. And I just I was

[49:11] excited. I guess it's the wrong word, but very happy when I heard the team was

[49:16] back. And it's my belief that if we could do more of this and have more our

[49:22] pack help um we could >> so our team here is a regional team. So

[49:27] it's regional police crisis team. Um, so they do cover an area and I'm sorry I

[49:34] don't know exactly where the border ends, but it's uh all the way down to

[49:38] Stetler and all the way as far west as we can go and then south to I think

[49:45] Masquis and just north to the Leuk County line. So pretty big area but

[49:52] majority of their calls are around around here. Um, and then talking about,

[49:58] sorry I mentioned the wait times of nine hours. With our packact, if they're

[50:01] there to deal with, >> they can take the individual, but with

[50:05] the nurse, >> um, she can actually get them admitted

[50:09] faster and then there isn't those wait times.

[50:11] » Excellent. >> Get all that done.

[50:16] » So, all I wanted to do is again congratulate you. Um, we're very

[50:21] excited. it does not necessarily matter where you come from, but it's nice to

[50:25] have um somebody local and committed to this community with his family. And I I

[50:32] will tell the joke of somebody us being out at the barbecue and somebody you've

[50:36] known for a really long time not recognizing who you were in uniform um

[50:42] cuz it was out of context. And that's the brilliance of um having you here.

[50:47] We're really excited and for you and your team. Thank you always for

[50:50] everything you do and putting our safety first.

[50:55] » Thank you.

[51:15] » Excellent. So, I would like to move on to um the next delegation 5.3, which is

[51:21] Watasin's community safety and well-being strategy update. Welcome

[51:25] Carly and Emily.

[51:46] Perfect. Can you hear me? Okay.

[51:52] Good. Okay. So, good morning council. For uh those who might not know, my name

[51:57] is Emily Thompson and I'm the managing director for Watasquin Family and

[52:00] Community Support Services. And with me, I have Kari Dolan, Wataswin's community

[52:04] safety and well-being coordinator. And just for the purpose of this brief

[52:09] presentation, we will refer to the strategy as its acronym of CSWB.

[52:14] And we're here today just to provide a brief update on the progress that we've

[52:17] made with the strategy since the coordinator position commenced in May.

[52:22] Um, and we're really looking forward to all the amazing work that she's not only

[52:25] done, um, but has, uh, coming up really quickly here. And I also do just want to

[52:31] mention quickly that the position is uh continuing to be supported by the CSWB

[52:35] governing structure which is FCSS city of the RCMP. And with that I will hand

[52:40] it over. >> Thank you. You can hear me? Okay.

[52:46] Lovely. All right. Uh my name is Karly. I've had the pleasure of meeting all of

[52:50] you formally. I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for allowing me to

[52:55] come back and do this work that I am extremely passionate about. I am excited

[53:00] for the opportunities for Watasquin and all of the partners involved. Uh as

[53:05] Emily mentioned, our main three partners are city of Watasquin, Watasquin FCSS,

[53:11] and Watasquin RCMP. So I have had the opportunity to work with all three

[53:16] partnering agencies in differing amounts on a number of different initiatives

[53:21] that we are working towards. There's a lot of work in the strategy. So we are

[53:25] at the very beginning stages of it but have seen some really exciting progress.

[53:30] We are four months in. So again getting things rolling. Have taken a little bit

[53:35] of time to get things moving but we are seeing some exciting outcomes already.

[53:41] And as Emily alluded to, we have some great work coming up. I think I was say

[53:46] I think we have some slides. There we go.

[53:51] Lovely. If you want to just advance to number three, the next one. Awesome.

[53:56] Okay. So, I just wanted to take a couple of minutes and just go over a very brief

[54:01] overview of CSWB. I could literally talk for hours about

[54:05] this and I'm going to spare you that but I just wanted to ensure that everyone

[54:09] had a basic understanding of what this work is and how it works. So we are

[54:15] looking at crime reduction and improving community safety from a number of

[54:21] different avenues particularly focus on some of the social aspects and how we're

[54:25] able to come alongside our law enforcement partners improve community

[54:30] safety. Community safety is not just reliant on enforcement and we are really

[54:35] trying to dive into that and ensure that they have the proper support and our

[54:38] community is equipped to be able to address some of the pertinent issues. Uh

[54:43] so this visual just goes through the fact that there are there's a huge

[54:47] continuent on a number of components that are involved all the way

[54:52] from social development including community education and awareness the

[54:57] prevention aspect risk intervention all the way through to our incident response

[55:02] or or enforcement approaches. So there is a lot of different avenues that this

[55:06] work can be done and I'm happy to say that we've been able to tap into all of

[55:10] them already and can plan to continue to do so as we do this work. Uh next slide

[55:16] please. Okay. So our progress to date um we hit the ground running. I was super

[55:22] grateful to be able to have some background knowledge of the strategy

[55:27] coming in which I think has been extremely beneficial. Uh we have

[55:31] attended a number of community events particularly with our three key partners

[55:36] which I think has been really really helpful in getting the word back out in

[55:40] the community of what CSWB is. We did do the consultative work back in 2023 so

[55:46] there's been a bit of a lull and we're doing some re-education but people seem

[55:51] really excited and open to seeing what the strategy is going to do and

[55:55] supporting the work done in the community. So we have been like I say

[55:58] attended other community events to support and to make awareness of CSWB.

[56:05] We have hosted a few community events as well prioritizing again awareness of the

[56:10] strategy talking about this work and answering questions which people often

[56:15] have and rightly so will continue to do so. I've had the pleasure of doing a

[56:20] couple of community presentations and actually have another one this week and

[56:24] another one lined up next month. If anyone is interested in learning more,

[56:28] by all means, please contact me. I would love to talk about this work, answer any

[56:33] questions, and see if there are collaboration opportunities because we

[56:37] definitely are looking for community involvement in this. It is for the

[56:41] community by the community. This is not intended for myself or even myself and

[56:46] the three governing partners to take on all of this work ourselves.

[56:50] My major role is bringing in the right players and ensuring that we are able to

[56:55] work collaboratively and efficiently in addressing these community issues.

[57:01] So, we're currently actioning seven initiatives. I feel like that's likely I

[57:05] did these slides a few weeks ago, so I think we've started on a couple of more,

[57:08] which is really exciting. Um the recommendations in the strategy are

[57:13] quite robust and there is a lot of work that will take some time before we see

[57:18] tangible outcomes but we do have some that we have been able to see already

[57:23] that we have had movement forward. We're doing some data collection uh if you

[57:28] were upright of programs we did some there. So we have an ongoing data

[57:32] collection campaign just gathering community input on what they see as the

[57:37] most valuable approaches to this work. So, we're still working on compiling

[57:41] that data. We have one more collection piece to do, but I'll be excited to

[57:44] share those results of what the community has told us they value in

[57:48] terms of the approaches to this work coming up. We have a website and a

[57:54] Facebook page that is live and updated as often as I'm able to. I am running by

[58:02] myself, so sometimes it is behind, but it does detail uh the CSWB approach. It

[58:09] has a link to the strategic document which is absolutely lengthy but does

[58:14] have a lot of information in what it is that we're trying to achieve, upcoming

[58:18] events, um upcoming initiatives, and then ways to get in contact with me. So,

[58:23] if anyone does have questions or would like to be involved, they can absolutely

[58:27] hit the website or the Facebook page to get some more information.

[58:32] So education and awareness has been a big piece whether that's through social

[58:36] media, community engagement, formal presentations, and that work is

[58:39] continuing to go on. Uh met with at least 20 local organizations formally

[58:45] and informally, some with one-on- ones, some in group consultations.

[58:50] Really excited to reestablish the relationships that I've had previously

[58:55] and create some new ones in this work. I say we definitely do need the support of

[58:59] our local organizations and so far have had really wonderful uptake and support

[59:04] from our community partners which is really encouraging.

[59:08] One of the major focuses that we have really been diving into is creating

[59:14] robust evaluation and data collection. So this work is sometimes hard to

[59:20] communicate its value and its outcomes. So we are prioritizing having as robust

[59:26] evaluation and data collection as possible. We have been connecting with

[59:31] other communities doing this work to ensure that we're able to learn from

[59:34] what they've done so far. What's been successful in their data collection and

[59:39] in their storytelling of what has worked well maybe what hasn't and then taking

[59:44] those learnings and applying them here which we are really excited to do. And

[59:49] we've also been doing some research and environmental scans. So again, the

[59:52] strategy is a couple of years old. There has been some changes in trends um and

[59:57] in priorities of what we're seeing needs to be addressed. That being said, we are

[1:00:02] ensuring that we are looking at what is currently available in the community if

[1:00:06] we can help foster better utilization or a change in methodology to improve

[1:00:14] outcomes and or fill gaps that exist. And we know that there are lots of

[1:00:19] wonderful organizations doing really great work, but there are still a lot of

[1:00:23] gaps existing. So if we're able to help assist in filling those, that's been one

[1:00:27] of our priorities as well. Okay, if we want to go to the next head.

[1:00:32] Thank you. So connection with other communities, that has also been a major

[1:00:37] priority in the early stages of this work. It is happening in a number of

[1:00:42] communities across Canada and across the world as well.

[1:00:46] We have been very lucky that Canadian Center for Safer Communities, which is

[1:00:51] the organization that assisted us with creating our strategy, we are still

[1:00:55] connected with them and with some of the communities that are working alongside

[1:00:59] them in doing this work. So being able to learn from them, connect with them,

[1:01:04] utilize initiatives that have worked well in those communities is extremely

[1:01:08] beneficial. So I am very grateful that we have been able to connect with a

[1:01:12] number of communities and have discussions on the broader approach of

[1:01:16] this work but then also some of the specific pieces that we have been

[1:01:20] looking into for Watasquin to address our unique needs. There is wonderful

[1:01:25] work happening elsewhere and a lot of the challenges we're seeing are not

[1:01:28] unique just to Watasquin. So we have been able to have some really great

[1:01:32] learning from the other communities of what they're doing and how their work

[1:01:36] has evolved since implementation. So like I said, we've consulted with at

[1:01:41] least 11 communities at this point and we've been able to actually go and visit

[1:01:44] seven of them to actually see firsthand what that work looks like and meet the

[1:01:49] people that are doing it. Okay, next slide, please. Uh so this one obviously

[1:01:54] doesn't have a lot of words on it. It's just some pictures of what we've been

[1:01:57] involved in to date, attending other events in the community, hosting some

[1:02:03] events that we felt were really important. We had a blanket exercise as

[1:02:08] part of welcoming week and were pleased to see that we had a number a larger

[1:02:12] number of people than what was registered show up. Um it was a packed

[1:02:15] house which was really lovely to see and had some really great feedback from

[1:02:19] that. So we were super grateful for that opportunity. Uh we had our overdose

[1:02:24] awareness vigil in August. Um also wanted to thank I see a a few of these

[1:02:29] faces we also saw there and I'm again grateful for your guys' attendance and

[1:02:33] support. Um really great feedback from that as well. And we did host a service

[1:02:38] provider lunch and learn at Reynolds which was better attended than they were

[1:02:43] expecting. Again we were really pleased with the community's involvement and

[1:02:46] engagement in what we've been working on. um and

[1:02:51] basically a boat of support from them to continue this type of work and that

[1:02:54] they're asking to have more done in the future. So that was a really positive

[1:02:58] piece of feedback to get on that work. Uh next slide please. Okay, so on the

[1:03:04] horizon there is a lot of work coming up. I think our big one that we would

[1:03:10] like to highlight is the pop-up navigation center which is coming up on

[1:03:13] November 5th. It is a follow-up to the one that happened in June 2025 that

[1:03:17] garnered a lot of really positive feedback and attention from across the

[1:03:22] province. So, we are making it bigger and better. We have had over 30 partners

[1:03:27] already confirm their attendance and we are looking forward to it being a more

[1:03:32] robust offering of services to the community. So, we're really excited

[1:03:36] about that one. Uh, we have a partnership coming up with Norquest for

[1:03:41] National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which is happening on

[1:03:44] the evening of November 29th. So, if any of you or anyone else watching would

[1:03:49] like to attend, it's from 4 to 6:00 p.m. at Norquest and it is free. Sorry,

[1:03:55] September. Apparently, my coffee hasn't kicked in.

[1:03:58] Uh, we are do also doing some really great work with the youth justice

[1:04:02] committee. I was just in Calgary with our local RCMP representation at a

[1:04:07] provincial symposium. We are in the process of reinstating a youth justice

[1:04:12] committee in Wataswin. We have had some wonderful people come forward being

[1:04:17] willing to sit on it. So we are optimistic that by the end of this

[1:04:22] calendar year it will be fully operational and accepting files which is

[1:04:25] really exciting. Again, wonderful support from our community, which is

[1:04:29] much needed for this to be successful, but really exciting to see it moving

[1:04:32] forward and a fairly quick timeline, which is amazing. Uh, we will have a

[1:04:37] youth leadership council coming out later in the school year. We are

[1:04:42] expanding our community education, awareness, and engagement on CSWB and

[1:04:46] any specific initiatives. New partnerships and collaborations are

[1:04:50] happening all the time, which is really exciting. Whether it's us seeking out

[1:04:54] potential partners or people coming to us and saying, "Hey, I read about this.

[1:04:57] I'd like to learn more. Can we help?" Which is amazing and I'm super grateful

[1:05:02] for that as well. Um, our outcome reporting, as I said, we are working on

[1:05:06] evaluations and data collection and being able to communicate our the work

[1:05:10] that we're doing as well as the work being done in the community that

[1:05:14] supports the strategy in the most effective way possible and ongoing

[1:05:18] research and initiative development. So I am pleased to say that we are also

[1:05:23] working on three specific initiatives. You will see us coming back at PCET

[1:05:29] time. Um but we are also working on two grant applications for provincial

[1:05:33] funding for specific initiatives that will support Wataswin which we are

[1:05:37] really excited about as well. So hopeful that we're going to see some really

[1:05:41] great work rolling out here in the next few months. And I think

[1:05:47] that is it. Um, excellent. Thank you very much. You bet. I will open it up to

[1:05:53] council. >> Councelor Billingsley.

[1:05:57] » Thank you. Um, thank you for the report. Um, it's good to see the the um

[1:06:04] organization out in the community. Obviously, I've um been lucky enough to

[1:06:09] attend some of the things that you've been doing and um the awareness in the

[1:06:13] community is starting to grow. So, thank you very much.

[1:06:16] My question will is to do with going forward um and reporting back to us.

[1:06:22] Have you thought about a timeline of how often we're going to be receiving

[1:06:26] reports back?

[1:06:31] » Hello. So ideally when this came about because the governing structure we do

[1:06:35] meet monthly so we don't want to kind of strap it to

[1:06:41] quarterly or whenever it might be too lengthy of a time that has gone since.

[1:06:44] So when there's like a bulk of momentum that we made within the strategy, then

[1:06:48] we would just like to bring that forth to council if there is a vacancy in the

[1:06:52] agenda to make it uh the information available to you rather than it being

[1:06:55] every four months, which we feel like is too long while also being conscientious

[1:06:59] of the fact that we don't want to take up all of your agendas. So whenever we

[1:07:03] get some momentum, we would just like to be able to bring that forth to you.

[1:07:06] » Thank you,

[1:07:10] » Councelor Nielsen.

[1:07:14] My question goes to administration Sue. So

[1:07:19] these folks come back to us um for budget deliberations is we've we've said

[1:07:24] it's time for their presentation. >> Correct.

[1:07:28] » And so to you two um thank you for the report.

[1:07:34] So you'll be coming back and sort of peeling back the layers a little bit

[1:07:38] more and talking about uh CSWB as it relates to budget as well. Is that

[1:07:47] correct? Is that how you foresee this? >> Yes. So the presentation that we have

[1:07:53] planned next month is for a specific initiative addressing specific issues.

[1:08:00] If you guys would like a more indepth like overall presentation on CSWB, I can

[1:08:05] absolutely do that as well. My understanding is that's not what is

[1:08:08] planned for our next opportunity to come and speak to you. It will be for like I

[1:08:14] say a specific ask addressing specific pieces of this work. Um absolutely it'll

[1:08:20] be more in depth. Like I say today we wanted to just do a quick overview

[1:08:24] because we knew we were strapped on time. Um, but when we come back, like I

[1:08:27] say, there will be more in-depth information pertaining to the specific

[1:08:32] piece that we have an ask related to. If that answers your question,

[1:08:36] » Carly, it does. Okay. You know, I I uh

[1:08:42] » I wanted to make sure that we as a council understand that we'll have I'm

[1:08:47] assuming a presentation by FCSS for for budget, but a CSWB

[1:08:53] budget request as well.

[1:08:57] Yes, I can say that for um I also wanting to make sure that FCSS's

[1:09:02] presentation is separate from CSWB um as we are still just only a third of the um

[1:09:07] governing structure. But the CSWB specific presentation is coming forth

[1:09:12] for a proposal that will action something that will hit the majority of

[1:09:15] all of the um priority areas identified within the strategy. And then given that

[1:09:20] this position was um approved graciously for two years then that is something

[1:09:25] that in the next budget sector we would be looking to uh gauge interest as to

[1:09:31] whether or not um there's been satisfaction from council on the

[1:09:34] progress that the work has made to be able to extend the position to a

[1:09:37] permanent basis. >> Thank you.

[1:09:42] » And I have one other question Carly. um

[1:09:50] in in in your presentation you talked about a lot of work being done on

[1:09:54] evaluation data collection. So, I'd like you to sort of tie together for me

[1:09:59] because I'm an impatient person um this business of collecting data,

[1:10:07] evaluation, documentation

[1:10:13] versus outcomes. How do those tie together? Because I

[1:10:18] want to talk about outcomes. Um,

[1:10:24] and I don't want to I'm only speaking for one of a number of people around the

[1:10:28] table.

[1:10:32] I'm hoping that we don't get way more reports than we get outcomes and and and

[1:10:37] I don't mean to be flip with that response. So can you tie together this

[1:10:41] work you're doing on evaluations and data collection

[1:10:46] and relate it to ensuring outcomes?

[1:10:50] » AB: Absolutely. Um so there are a number of piece of pieces in terms of outcomes

[1:10:56] and I'm I'm making an assumption and you can correct me if I'm wrong. In outcomes

[1:11:00] you're looking for like tangible changes in the community when you're saying

[1:11:05] outcomes. Okay. So we are hopeful that obviously we're going to see outcomes in

[1:11:10] the community. I think where there's sometimes a challenge especially when

[1:11:15] we're looking at prevention focused work is it's hard to quantify what that might

[1:11:20] look like or be able tori to describe it as opposed to yes we've seen a change

[1:11:26] but what does that look like or what does that mean? We are looking to be

[1:11:30] able to the best of our ability be able to also put some numbers or some some

[1:11:36] stats behind those changes so that we are able to quantify them to at least

[1:11:42] some degree or to the best degree that we're able to in terms of the changes

[1:11:48] that we're seeing as opposed to are we happy with what we're seeing? Yes or no?

[1:11:53] Why are we happy with what we're seeing? So, if we're seeing an increase in

[1:11:59] feelings of safety in our community, are we able to capture that in an

[1:12:03] appropriate way and able to communicate it to the community? Um, I know I shared

[1:12:08] a report with councelor Nielsen in one of our conversations that came out of

[1:12:13] Edmonton in regards to their 247 diversion program. Um, if you haven't

[1:12:17] had a chance to read it, I'm going to do a quick little plug because Reach

[1:12:20] Edmonton put out a wonderful report describing the work that's being done in

[1:12:24] Edmonton and it was able to put some numbers to outcomes that are sometimes

[1:12:29] really tough to describe. So, their 247 diversion is essentially outreach that

[1:12:33] goes out into the community primarily dealing with social diversion. um the

[1:12:38] call or the types of calls that uh Brendan spoke to in terms of disturbing

[1:12:45] the peace and mischief. That would be a lot of the calls that they would be

[1:12:48] responding to and they were able to quantify. So, I believe, and don't quote

[1:12:53] me because I don't know off the top of my head, but they had a social return on

[1:12:56] investment figure that caught my eye right away because they were able to

[1:13:00] state that for every dollar invested in that initiative, the social return on

[1:13:04] investment was over $6, which is extremely impressive. And it's nice to

[1:13:09] be able to quantify that you're investing in this program, but here's

[1:13:13] what you're actually seeing back in terms of dollars of return. And

[1:13:17] especially for a small community, that's not something that's easy to do. And it

[1:13:21] does take someone who is able to dedicate some time and some expertise in

[1:13:26] being able to do that. And that's one of the roles that I foresee CSWB being able

[1:13:31] to assist with is we are going to have people doing really great work in this

[1:13:35] community. When we hopefully get funding for all of the initiatives that we're

[1:13:40] looking to implement here and we feel will provide immense benefit, we will be

[1:13:44] able to assist on the back end of being able to gather data to be able to

[1:13:49] quantify and describe in terms of besides yes, we've seen this program

[1:13:55] functioning. Is it helping to what degree? What could

[1:13:59] we change? So maybe what isn't working as well so that we're able to ensure

[1:14:03] that as that program evolves, we are it's evolving in a direction that is

[1:14:08] providing increased benefit as opposed to just what someone thinks might be

[1:14:13] best. That's a really long-winded answer. I hope that answered your

[1:14:17] question. >> For now, it does.

[1:14:19] » Okay, I'm about to make it more winded. Um, I do just want to add as well that

[1:14:23] being able to have this quantifiable data that is then concretely documented

[1:14:29] is something that we haven't been able to have, especially in addressing the

[1:14:32] CSSWB specific measures. So, not only will it be incredibly useful for being

[1:14:36] able to relay to council and the community that, hey, these initiatives

[1:14:39] are actually worth your time. they are um whether they're showing that social

[1:14:44] return on investment, they are contributing positively to the

[1:14:46] community, even if it's through changes in RCMP stats, things like that that can

[1:14:50] happen. Um and being able to have that proof essentially will be incredibly

[1:14:55] helpful, especially when it even comes down to um tracking down potential

[1:14:59] funding opportunities as well. >> Thank you.

[1:15:05] » I'm looking around the table and I see nothing else. Um

[1:15:09] four months It's incredible. And

[1:15:15] this is the anytime you start a project, it's almost

[1:15:20] the scariest time, right? Because there's so much that you can do. So, I

[1:15:24] just I want to thank Carly, and this isn't not thanking Emily because Emily

[1:15:30] knows how I feel about her and the work she does with FCSS, but I just want to

[1:15:34] thank Carly for coming in with your your normal enthusiasm, but it's not just

[1:15:39] doing I don't think you're throwing everything at the fan or everything at

[1:15:43] the wall or everything at to see really what will stick. It looks like that. But

[1:15:48] I I think that you are taking your knowledge and your background both of

[1:15:52] our community and of the projects and and trying to compare those two, but by

[1:15:58] where do we start? And I had the opportunity to hang out with you guys a

[1:16:02] little bit more on Sunday morning at the barbecue. And

[1:16:07] you are working with businesses as well. and you are working with um people

[1:16:14] not just when we say communities it's not just community members it is that

[1:16:18] larger community and so I am encouraging everybody to reach out and at least talk

[1:16:23] to Carly if they have the if they have issues or problems to just so she better

[1:16:29] understands what the environment looks like and when

[1:16:34] is the next time people are going to be able to spend their $100 on the four

[1:16:38] initiatives um because they made me do this $100

[1:16:42] spend my money thing and it was good. >> Thank you Karen. Yeah, so one of the

[1:16:48] data collection that we're doing right now um I kind of spoke to it briefly is

[1:16:52] gathering community input on how they would like us to approach this work

[1:16:57] because as you said there is a lot to it. Um I'm one human so obviously I

[1:17:02] can't do everything right away but we do want to also be mindful of the fact that

[1:17:06] we want to approach this in a way that the community would like to see this

[1:17:10] work done. So we have been doing uh the same exercise at a few different

[1:17:14] community events and so we will be posting kind of the outcomes of that

[1:17:19] data collection but it is available on Facebook right now through uh a Google

[1:17:24] form. So essentially we are providing you the opportunity to have $100 to

[1:17:31] invest in community safety well-being. It has some information on the four

[1:17:35] different approaches of this work and it obviously simplifies it but we are

[1:17:40] trying like I say to just better understand the community's desires and

[1:17:43] needs. So it gives you the option of education, prevention, intervention or

[1:17:49] enforcement. And it's asking you to think about if you had to invest in

[1:17:53] CSWB, where would you like to see that investment put? And it could be across

[1:17:58] all four, it could be all-in-one. There is no wrong answer to this because this

[1:18:03] work does work across all four of those realms, but it does give you the

[1:18:07] opportunity to have your input. And the online one also gives you the

[1:18:11] opportunity to explain why you invested the way that you did. It is anonymous,

[1:18:15] so we don't know who wrote what, but we are compiling all of that information

[1:18:20] and it will be utilized both for what we're going to prioritize, but also as

[1:18:25] we engage our partners so that they're also able to be aware of what work the

[1:18:30] community would like to see done. Um, so the in-person ones, I believe we've kind

[1:18:34] of wrapped up that unless we decide to push it further, but if you go on the

[1:18:39] Facebook page, there is a link to the Google form that's open right now. So,

[1:18:42] if anyone would like to invest $100, imaginary of course in CSWB, um please

[1:18:48] go to Facebook and click that link because we would love to have as much

[1:18:52] community input as possible. >> Thank you. And the reason I brought that

[1:18:55] up and it's the quote the thing that you said that I've written down um for the

[1:19:00] community by the community and they really are focused on this. if I can say

[1:19:05] that out loud, but not but. And we have to do these forms and really show what

[1:19:12] our priorities are to help both this I always get the acronym wrong, the CSWB

[1:19:19] and council because we're going to spend the real $100 quote unquote. Um, so we

[1:19:25] know where those priorities are. Thank you so much for coming in and we'll see

[1:19:30] you soon. >> Thank you for having us. Excellent.

[1:19:46] Uh I think we have time to move on to item six, which is the agenda review.

[1:19:55] » Uh thank you, Deputy Mayor. The um next four meetings I believe are

[1:20:01] included in the um agenda review RFD and we'd be happy to answer any questions

[1:20:06] you might have.

[1:20:12] I was about to say this is a um great Monday because we're moving along, but

[1:20:17] it's Tuesday. So, seeing no comments from council, I would like to move into

[1:20:23] the council action task summary as of September 22nd, 2026, please.

[1:20:34] » Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Um, the existing or most current cats um are

[1:20:40] captured in the attached document. You'll notice that the highlighted ones

[1:20:44] are deemed complete and will um fall off before the next reporting period. I did

[1:20:51] also note that there were a few items um that did have deadlines that had passed.

[1:20:57] Um some of those, for example, like the chamber upgrade, we were waiting for an

[1:21:02] FIR that just went out to council today. Um and then we'll make sure that that

[1:21:06] gets um updated and brought back. Uh, and then there's another one in there

[1:21:11] that we're actually asking for an extension. Today was the due date. Uh,

[1:21:15] and in regular council meeting, we'll be asking for an extension on that. Um, and

[1:21:19] I'd be happy to answer any other questions council might have.

[1:21:26] I literally see no hands and I don't know where I am. So,

[1:21:32] Oh, no. Councelor White, go ahead, please.

[1:21:34] » I will just say uh through the chair, thank you, Deputy Mayor Everly. to

[1:21:38] administration. Thank you for asking for extensions because that was on my list.

[1:21:43] » Beautiful. We can move on to item number eight, which is the monthly city manager

[1:21:50] report to council and the community. >> Thank you very much. Um, this month,

[1:21:58] um, I do have to apologize for the formatting in the document. If yours is

[1:22:01] the same as mine, there's a bunch of ones on there. Um, don't know what went

[1:22:05] wrong with that, but sometimes technology gets the better of me. Um,

[1:22:10] the update is really just um, looking back over the last little while. Um,

[1:22:15] most of this work is going to be um, moved from this report into the next

[1:22:20] section which is reporting on our projects. Um there are some community

[1:22:25] connections um current vacancies uh that are noted

[1:22:29] on there as well as some customer service um complaints and then our

[1:22:34] communications um with the public. We still have opportunity for public

[1:22:39] engagement um and any of our public engagement can be found on the what if

[1:22:44] with taskwin website and then we've got a couple of um organizational wins that

[1:22:50] are in there. Um we're starting to see the completion of some of our clean

[1:22:54] energy improvement programs. So, uh grant program. So, that's exciting. Um

[1:22:58] and we currently have a wait list uh for residents to get onto that program. So,

[1:23:04] it is um it is fully subscribed, excuse me, we have finished the um

[1:23:10] entrance signs to the city. And um the one thing that's not on here, but I'm

[1:23:15] super excited about the recycling roll out um that's that's coming out. um next

[1:23:22] month, early next month. And I did want to mention that I know that there's been

[1:23:26] um some questions or comments around what's happening. Is is there not enough

[1:23:32] um communication going out to people, but I wanted to note that um we have um

[1:23:36] advertised this a lot, but because it's a third party delivering this service,

[1:23:41] we're really at their whim. Um we put out what they give us and um and they're

[1:23:47] in control of that whole thing. So, some of the um questions we've had to refer

[1:23:54] back um and we haven't been as um I guess able to present it in a way that

[1:24:01] that would have provided a little bit more information because we're at their

[1:24:04] whim. I think a really good example is the first advertisement that went out by

[1:24:08] the company said October 1st start and then they changed it to October 5th. So,

[1:24:12] there's some information that we're trying to get caught up on. Um but we're

[1:24:16] really it it's their program. So we're just following suit on that. And then um

[1:24:22] we do have um all of our capital and operating projects that are also

[1:24:27] attached here. And if I don't go into another coughing fit, I'd be happy to

[1:24:31] answer those questions for you. >> Uh thank you, Councelor White. And then

[1:24:38] councelor Nielsen. >> Um thank you through the chair to

[1:24:42] administration. Sue, thank you for this report that is for as of August.

[1:24:48] Can you please speak a little further to the last sentence in your in the section

[1:24:53] called challenges that says four summer operators have been extended to the end

[1:24:56] of September to assist with cutting, trimming, and tree pruning.

[1:25:03] » Yeah, madam deputy mayor through you to councelor White. Uh we had seasonal

[1:25:08] staff with uh because of other vacancies we were unable to hire all of our

[1:25:14] compliment that we anticipated, but we using that funding can keep them on.

[1:25:19] We've had a long season as you'll notice we're still mowing our lawns, which is

[1:25:22] abnormal for the end of September. So, we're looking to uh leverage that uh

[1:25:28] manpower to or people power to to continue to work throughout the

[1:25:33] community and and maintain the the cleanliness and and appearance as best

[1:25:37] as we can.

[1:25:42] » Okay. Thank you. Second question is, it's not really a question. Can you

[1:25:48] someone from administration please expand on and Sue you started to touch

[1:25:52] it a little bit more. The playground improvements public consultation is

[1:25:57] ongoing. Complete the survey and find updates at what if with taskwin. Um can

[1:26:02] someone enlighten me but also for our public to understand a little bit more

[1:26:07] about this playground consultation thing? From my

[1:26:12] understanding, it looks like this is the beginning of a couple years worth of a

[1:26:16] project. How can the public participate?

[1:26:24] » Yeah, chair council. Um the playground consultation has been gone going ongoing

[1:26:29] this year. I believe council awarded um the recck group about $750,000. So,

[1:26:35] we've been looking at all the playgrounds, the usage of the

[1:26:38] playgrounds, um the demographics of the neighborhoods that the playgrounds are

[1:26:41] in, and also looking at diversifying what types of playgrounds in what area.

[1:26:46] Um, so that consultation is ongoing as we replace different pieces and parts of

[1:26:50] playground equipment.

[1:26:55] » Can I get a an idea of of what is ongoing

[1:27:00] consultation or community input opportunities? Are these is this

[1:27:05] open-ended for the next two years or when are decisions and going to be made

[1:27:09] and plans start being enacted or is this like by the end of you know you've got

[1:27:14] three days left to finish the survey and then

[1:27:19] uh through the chair to councelor white um one of the um we we actually had a

[1:27:24] big meeting on this yesterday when we were talking about budget and one of the

[1:27:29] um directions that I'm giving to the team is um a a little bit of a different

[1:27:33] type of consultation, too. So, we've done a lot of online surveys. We've done

[1:27:36] a lot of uh meet you where you are surveys and and chatting with people in

[1:27:40] the neighborhoods and stuff. Um I'd like to do direct mailouts and engage a

[1:27:46] little bit closer to um the specific neighborhoods where we're considering um

[1:27:52] certain things. Uh we're also tapping into our planning and development

[1:27:56] department because um planners also do park planning and and future um

[1:28:02] neighborhood planning. And so we're going to take a little bit of a

[1:28:05] different spin on this and try to get deeper consultation closer to the parks

[1:28:11] um and then refine our list before we bring it back to council and give you an

[1:28:14] update on that. >> Thank you. I appreciate that update.

[1:28:20] That's it for now. >> Okay. We'll we'll go to councelor

[1:28:24] Nielsen and then I'll look at you again. Oh, perfect.

[1:28:29] » Thank you. Uh through the chair to administration. Um I'm looking at

[1:28:34] capital projects and every year we have a conversation about

[1:28:42] are we going to get projects completed or and carry a bunch of dollars forward

[1:28:47] that we worry should be spent. Um, so my first

[1:28:53] question I guess is sort of a general question.

[1:28:56] Should we as a council be concerned regarding the number of capital projects

[1:29:01] only marginally completed thus far? Um, typically most of these projects tend to

[1:29:07] be warmer weather projects with cooler weather coming. Are we going to be

[1:29:12] getting these projects done

[1:29:17] » uh through the chair to council um at this point? So when that report was

[1:29:21] written uh we were at that those percentages of completion uh but we've

[1:29:26] had some really good weather over the last uh number of weeks and so we are

[1:29:30] confident that we will be able to get these capital projects completed um by

[1:29:34] the end of the summer season. >> Thank you. And specifically Kathy then

[1:29:39] um one of the ones that that stuck out to me was the mechanical access

[1:29:45] uh and egress and it being a safety issue for staff and it was at 33%

[1:29:51] completion at the time of this report. So where are we at with that particular

[1:29:55] safety concern? >> Uh through the chair to councelor

[1:29:58] Nielsson that project has been completed.

[1:30:00] » Thank you very much. Um and on the operational projects

[1:30:06] um a report to council on geothermal um when will we see that is or will that be

[1:30:12] part of part of a budget presentation?

[1:30:24] Sorry, I'm ill and my brain isn't working as fast as it should normally.

[1:30:29] We did have a discussion about this project recently and I believe Chris has

[1:30:33] some options for us to consider. >> Yeah, Madame Deputy Mayor through the

[1:30:39] project has been assessed now and we're looking at uh making those improvements.

[1:30:44] we can likely bring that forward through the the budget process. Yes.

[1:30:50] » Thank you. And in terms of city hall ground maintenance, what's

[1:30:56] left to be done to finalize that project?

[1:31:02] » Um we are waiting for the province. I believe they gave us approval on the

[1:31:07] sidewalk. Um and they're just looking at the um the tree plan. I have had a

[1:31:12] discussion uh while Ryan was gone. I had a discussion with Sean that if we didn't

[1:31:16] hear back uh right away because we're going to lose the opportunity to

[1:31:20] complete the project if we don't finish it right away. Um that we would be

[1:31:24] having a discussion higher up in the minister's office because there

[1:31:28] there are um I have some concerns that the department may be overstepping when

[1:31:35] it comes to safety. Um, and I realize that the building is a heritage

[1:31:39] building, but that doesn't necessarily extend to the site, although they may

[1:31:42] think it does. Um, so we're having a discussion right now over who has

[1:31:48] authority over respect to safety issues. >> I wonder if it's a federal issue. No,

[1:31:52] sorry. Um, >> inappropriate. I apologize. Um

[1:32:05] so so you indicated that we have

[1:32:10] approval for sidewalks. When would we see that project?

[1:32:20] » Due to the rain that we had in June, our schedule was delayed for concrete. So,

[1:32:25] we're hoping that we can get it completed by the end of October. If for

[1:32:31] some reason the weather turns on us, then it will be done in the spring of

[1:32:34] 2027. >> Thank you. And my last question is,

[1:32:41] um, it may already have been done, I don't know, winterizing the spray park

[1:32:46] lines.

[1:32:57] Yeah, madame uh deputy chair, there we will be working on we've gone through it

[1:33:02] with the consultant on the process. So we'll it will be done. I don't know the

[1:33:06] date, but it should be soon. I don't think many people are going to be using

[1:33:10] it after yesterday was nice, but uh the weather is definitely turning off.

[1:33:22] I'd appreciate getting a more definitive answer in the

[1:33:26] short term here. Um, we have some history with regard to

[1:33:31] clearing lines in uh

[1:33:35] the aquatic center and I certainly don't want to repeat on that one. And

[1:33:44] as was suggested, weather can turn quickly. I don't know what the impact is

[1:33:51] for

[1:33:56] lines being frozen. And I also have concerns about the actual water

[1:34:02] container that holds the bulk of the water as it's recirculated and ensuring

[1:34:07] that that's managed the way it's supposed to be

[1:34:10] managed and that that doesn't freeze. So, I would appreciate some, and it

[1:34:15] doesn't have to be today, but I would appreciate knowing

[1:34:19] that we're on top of our game with regard to our newest million-doll

[1:34:23] investment or the community's investment. Thank you,

[1:34:27] » Madame Deputy Mayor. So, I did just get an update. October 1st is the scheduled

[1:34:31] date. >> Thank you very much.

[1:34:34] » Uh, thank you. I just wanted to clarify, too, because I thought I heard Councelor

[1:34:37] Nielson say recirculating. We we don't have a recirculating system.

[1:34:43] » There is no >> underground. No, I understand the

[1:34:46] recirculation. >> It's built for a future one, but okay. I

[1:34:49] just wanted >> There is There is no container bladder

[1:34:51] underground then. >> Correct.

[1:34:52] » Thank you. So, it's lines only. >> Correct.

[1:34:55] » Thank you.

[1:34:59] » Councelor White. >> Madame Deputy Mayor, I move that we go

[1:35:03] into close session. >> Absolutely. Um, all those in favor?

[1:35:09] Carried.

[2:09:04] Okay. Uh, thank you everybody uh for your patience. While we were in close

[2:09:08] session, may I please have a motion to come out of close session? Councelor Ho

[2:09:12] or excuse me, I apologize. Councelor White. All those in favor?

[2:09:19] carried. Is there anything else on the city

[2:09:23] manager report?

[2:09:26] Seeing none, we can move on to the council committee reports and

[2:09:31] attendance. Again, we'll go through this in the order that they are

[2:09:37] listed. Councilors Billingsley, Neielen, White, and then myself.

[2:09:44] Anything you'd like to highlight? >> I do. Um even though it's not on this

[2:09:50] specific report, I do want to speak um to welcoming week.

[2:09:54] » Excellent. >> Um I don't want to get it lost 30 days

[2:09:58] from now. Um first of all, I would like to thank all the organizations who

[2:10:03] showcased um in the community in our community and

[2:10:08] who they are and what they do. I'd like to give a thank you to all the residents

[2:10:13] that participated. Um many of the events um were extremely well attended and um

[2:10:20] it was very enlightening. My third thank you will be to former

[2:10:24] mayor and counselor Bill Elliot who had the idea of such a wonderful thing.

[2:10:31] And last I really would like to thank our staff um not only for the

[2:10:38] organization but their participation. Um, it certainly did go noticed and for

[2:10:45] that I give a big thank you. >> Thank you.

[2:10:51] » Me. >> Yes, please.

[2:10:52] » Um, thank you for that, Councelor

[2:10:56] Billingsley, because it I think uh reflects certainly my perception and

[2:11:03] appreciation for what has taken place. Um,

[2:11:08] and when former mayor and councelor Bill Elliot put this idea forward, I

[2:11:13] supported it, but in the back of my head, I thought, "Oh, I don't know if

[2:11:17] this will get any traction at all." And I am

[2:11:22] overjoyed by how the community has responded to the work of our of of the

[2:11:30] city staff to make this happen. and like you attended a number of these things

[2:11:34] where their turnouts were really really stellar. So thank you and

[2:11:39] congratulations. So to everybody the only thing I would I would say um

[2:11:45] regarding my council attendance and it goes back a month now. I attended I was

[2:11:49] city rep to Samson Pow and it was a positive experience

[2:11:56] um to reconnect with new chief Isaiah and uh

[2:12:03] and he has expressed sincere interest in working more closely

[2:12:08] with our community and I know we're working to try and make that happen. So

[2:12:12] that would be the only thing I would report at this point in time. Thank you.

[2:12:15] » Thank you councelor White.

[2:12:19] Uh nothing specific on August for me. >> Okay. Thank you. And then for myself, I

[2:12:25] don't believe I have anything specific either. Uh two weeks ago, I encouraged

[2:12:30] everybody to go to welcoming week for all of the reasons that our counselors

[2:12:34] just said. I it is my favorite week in Wasaskin. And unfortunately, I was gone

[2:12:41] um to the MCMC conference for a portion of it, but I'm just repeat everybody's

[2:12:47] thank yous and all of our community groups that made this a great summer

[2:12:52] with a lot of challenging weather. >> So, yes, sir.

[2:12:58] » Um, two things. Number one, I'm I'm I'm glad

[2:13:03] to see we've got more attends reports submitted, but I really wonder if we

[2:13:08] don't need as a council to have a conversation about this in terms of

[2:13:11] understanding for ourselves what the intention of this particular report is.

[2:13:17] I know in my conversations with some of my colleagues from my

[2:13:22] past commentary um a a a very different perception about

[2:13:28] what these reports are intended to do. Um I've heard everything where it's

[2:13:34] meant to inform us as to what's going on and how we are interacting with the

[2:13:40] community that elected us. Um, it's an opportunity for us to share what we're

[2:13:45] learning at at uh committee work, but I've also heard comments that if I'm not

[2:13:51] claiming pdiums, then I don't need to do the report. And and I that's why I

[2:13:55] really wonder if we don't need some clarity um in this process.

[2:14:01] um because I I don't happen to re see this as singly a uh um

[2:14:09] a report for financial remuneration. It's it's it's more than more than that.

[2:14:14] And the conversation led me to believe that maybe we all as a as a council

[2:14:19] don't have common agreement about what this is

[2:14:23] intended to do. And perhaps if we had a common agreement, we would have u seven

[2:14:31] seven reports every month submitted as if we all knew what what the intent of

[2:14:37] the activity was. So I would encourage us um to have that conversation. I don't

[2:14:43] know if that's done um here now. I don't know if it is done in close session. I

[2:14:49] don't know. So I would ask administration for some suggestions or

[2:14:53] ideas on that note please.

[2:14:58] » Um through the chair to council Nielson. I was thinking that it might be a really

[2:15:01] good um conversation to go with prediums or governance training that are both

[2:15:07] planned I think in future meetings in committee of the whole.

[2:15:10] » Okay. That that would suit me fine. >> Is that a general consensus around the

[2:15:16] table? >> Excellent.

[2:15:20] Is there anything else? Okay, I would like to um

[2:15:27] Councelor White, fun fact.

[2:15:32] Um I said I wouldn't speak much to to my report. It was pretty sparse. I went

[2:15:36] away in August, so I wasn't um super active. But just for the fun of it, I

[2:15:41] will share publicly that nerd Laura went to the Northwest

[2:15:47] Territories and Yukon for vacation. And when my family went fishing, I chose

[2:15:52] to go to the Yellow Knife City Council meeting and observe. And I will say that

[2:15:59] I spent an hour and a half watching a presentation on land use bylaw update

[2:16:04] and probably 30 minutes of debate on shall and should.

[2:16:13] You should have gone fishing. >> Um, so we are in good company. I think

[2:16:18] » we are in good company. Thank you, Councelor White. That's hilarious. What

[2:16:22] I'm going to do is I'm going to call a 15minute um break and then we will come

[2:16:27] back at 11:30. Thank you.

[2:30:11] Welcome back. Welcome back. I'm going to surprise the

[2:30:15] entire world and be a minute early for something. It is 11:29

[2:30:19] and I would just like for the record we are moving again into close session. So

[2:30:25] can somebody please make a motion? Laura. All those in favor carried

[3:45:57] Uh, thank you everyone. Uh, may I please have a motion to come out of close

[3:46:01] session? >> Uh, councelor Nielsen, all those in

[3:46:04] favor carried. We have no new business or

[3:46:10] correspondence. So, it is my pleasure to adjourn today's committee of the whole

[3:46:15] meeting at 12:45 p.m. and I will see everybody for regular counsel at 4

[3:46:22] o'clock. Thank you.

Committee of the Whole - 22 Sep 2026

Transcript