The town council of Outlook met for a regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday night, January 23.聽 Present was all of council; Donna Smith, Kevin Grotheim, Kyle McLeod, Maureen Applin, Floyd Childerhose and David Simonson, as well as Mayor Ross Derdall, Administrator Tina Douglas, Assistant Administrator Rachel Sillers, and Acting Superintendent of Municipal Operations Luke Lockhart.聽 Absent was Recreation Director Jordy Jones.
A number of topics and items were discussed, including the following highlights:
- Linda Evans, a delegate representing Teen Missions Canada, was present to speak to council.聽 A letter had been submitted to council back in November asking if Teen Missions could possibly purchase Camp Outlook as the organization seeks to do more, touching on the desire to create two North American Training Camps.聽 Teen Missions is currently ten years into a 30-year lease with the Town over the property, which measures out to approximately 31.39 acres of land.聽 Evans said that the group is also looking at an Alberta location, but they don鈥檛 wish to leave Outlook as the program is so 鈥渆ntrenched鈥� in the area.聽 She also noted that a clean-up crew will be coming later this year to fix what鈥檚 needed down in the camp, a list said to be substantial.聽 Council thanked Evans for appearing and said they would take Teen Missions鈥� request under advisement.
- In the Rec Report, it was said that things are moving into a heavy grant period starting in February, which may allow the Town to benefit from some outside monies.
- Jones received a list from Kerrobert as it relates to what sort of other necessary equipment will be needed for the new swimming pool.
- The Rec Plex should be quite busy this coming weekend when the Outlook Curling Club hosts a Senior Men鈥檚 Southern Qualifier, which will bring other clubs from around the province to town.
- Jones has been working on putting together a possible 鈥楽tay and Play鈥� package, a partnership between the Regional Park, Riverview Golf Club and the new pool as a way to provide a boost to Outlook鈥檚 tourism.
- Jones is looking into organizing a 鈥楲earn to Curl鈥� class for young kids, and an introductory one may be held just to see what the interest level is first.聽 Everyone seemed to agree that the curling rink 鈥� and the Rec Plex in general 鈥� is very underused.
- In the Superintendent Report, Lockhart noted that crews have been out sanding streets, and the public was said to be very happy with the work.
- It was noted that some residents in town have been leaving out 鈥渓arger than normal鈥� amounts of garbage lately, including instances where it appears the homeowners are having a 鈥渕oving out鈥� sale and leave exorbitant amounts of material out to be picked up.聽 Lockhart said that he would look into how other communities handle this type of situation.聽 There was frustration in the room because of how important the landfill is to the town, notably its expanding growth, and it was said that some people from outside town dump their trash at a family or friend鈥檚 home in Outlook to get rid of their trash without paying any fees.
- There was a hearty discussion on the practice of sewage lagoon dumping following the realization that there had been dumping going on without payment or even official authorization for some time.聽 Council was decidedly unhappy about the development, and the locks have been changed.聽 A motion was made to charge the party involved in order to simply 鈥渂e rid of them鈥�, and they also may not be welcome back.聽 The overall Sewage Lagoon Dumping Agreement is under review for now.
- Council held 1st, 2nd and 3rd readings of Bylaw 03/19 Cemetery Operations, which had been revisited.
- Council talked about re-upping their membership to the West Central Municipal Government Committee.聽 Councillor Grotheim asked about what Outlook specifically gets out of the membership and found it difficult to see the benefit, but it was said it can鈥檛 exactly be measured in dollars and cents, rather that they receive information and networking/PR opportunities, and the Committee also has access to top-level government officials such as cabinet ministers, and it gives Outlook a seat at the table as far as important discussions and/or decisions.聽 Councillor Applin said that council should seek holding a Committee meeting in the near future.聽 Council moved to rejoin the Committee for another year and said that Outlook needs to have more involvement in the group going forward.
- Council moved to continue membership in the Outlook & District Chamber of Commerce.
- Council moved to waive the fee for the Civic Centre for the Outlook Kinsmen Club for an upcoming Telemiracle fundraising event.
- Arrangements have been made for the public town meeting that was held on Wednesday night, including a moderator and a PowerPoint presentation.
- Council returned to in-camera talks after moving the Correspondence.
