The town council of Outlook held a regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday night, July 14. Present was all of Council: Bob Stephenson, Sharon Bruce, Justin Turton, Kevin Grotheim, Kyle McLeod, and Ryan Husband, as well as Mayor Maureen Weiterman, Administrator Kevin Trew, and Assistant Administrator Rachel Sillers.
The meeting was broadcast live on the Town of Outlook's Facebook page.
A number of topics and items were discussed, including the following highlights.
Bylaws
Bylaw 07(2021) Zoning Bylaw Amendment for 1st Reading Only - This item dealt with the former Quadra building in town, which recently closed. A motion was made and carried to hold the first reading of the bylaw. The public hearing for anyone wanting to give their input was made for August 11 prior to the next Council meeting.
Reports of Administration, Staff and/or Committees Requiring Decision
There was discussion over how much to apply for in a line of credit, $500,000 or perhaps even double it to $1 million. It was said that the Town is not in any kind of emergency situation finance-wise. Trew and Sillers will seek more information on the application before an official decision is made.
After some discussion, a motion was carried stating that Council exempt a portion of the Education Property Tax levied and a portion of the Municipal Property Tax levied on the attached properties for the year 2021 due to housing purposes:
- Rolls 4528 to 4541 Municipal 3395.16
- Rolls 4528 to 4541 Education 1117.34
- Total $4,512.50
After some hearty discussion was held surrounding a tender report for clay hauling, a motion was carried that Council award the clay haul tender to Tridaron Construction Ltd. for a total of $939,060 including applicable taxes and that the right of first refusal of loading be offered to Acadia Construction at $1 per cubic meter. Should Acadia not exercise their right of first refusal, the loading also be awarded to Tridaron Construction Ltd. for a total of $99,900 including applicable taxes. As a point of further interest days after the Council meeting, it was learned that Acadia has not exercised their right of first refusal. The full contract is going to Tridaron Construction Ltd.
Two applications have been received for recreation committee members, with both of them having experience in the community. There was discussion over whether or not to have people who don't live and pay taxes on the committee, or to perhaps have a ratio of three people from town and two people from outside town. A motion was made and carried to appoint Dylan Carey and Allison Park to the Recreation Committee. The Town is looking for two or three more people.
On the topic of the Town's cottages on the hill beside the Outlook Regional Park entrance, specifically their rental rates, Council passed the following motion:Â That Council sets the monthly rental rates for the cottages located at 801-804 effective September 1, 2021 as follows:
- 2 bedroom c/w 5 appliances furnished $1,200 plus utilities
- 2 bedroom c/w 5 appliances not furnished $1,200 includes utilities
- 1 bedroom c/w 5 appliances furnished $1,000 includes utilities
- 1 bedroom c/w 5 appliances not furnished $800 includes utilities
It should be noted that most of these units come with air conditioning and yard maintenance and the Town plans to include air conditioning as standard.
Mayor and Councillor's Forum
After attending a recent meeting, Councillor Bruce asked whether the Bounty Hall was going to be named a heritage site. The group involved with the Hall behind the scenes were looking for some direction. Mayor Weiterman said Council should allow the group to proceed however they see fit.
Public Works Report
Prepared by Luke Lockhart
Superintendent of Municipal Operations
Key highlights from the report:
Transportation:
- Sidewalk inspections are complete; we have identified areas which are needing replacement, trip hazards, and areas which are needing resurfacing. Wuollet Concrete provided the lowest of 3 bids for removal and replacing, as well as remediating trip hazards; DLN Construction provided us with pricing for resurfacing options. To add to the sidewalk work intended to be done this year, we will also have some accessibility ramps placed in areas where there currently aren’t ramps.Â
- The majority of our gravel roads will be graded this week, including the areas where calcium was applied as the condition is slowly deteriorating. Historically, we have been able to grade once or twice prior to needing a reapplication of calcium to keep the dust down, we will keep our eyes on it, and when needed will reapply.Â
- DLN Construction has been given the go ahead for the asphalt patching for this year, we are hoping to see some action over the next week or 2; along with patching, our crews will be out later this week to do another round of pothole patching.Â
- We have been informed that the street sweeper that we are looking to purchase will not be available for another week or 2 due to shipping issues, however we look forward to checking it out and getting going on it as soon as possible.Â
- I have asked for updated quotes for a skid steer from the 3 original places, and am only waiting on 1 more to come in. Once they are here, we will present the options to Kevin for direction, and approval.Â
±«³Ù¾±±ô¾±³Ù¾±±ð²õ:Ìý
- All systems are currently operating as they should; we will be doing our lagoon discharge starting next Monday; SSRID, WSA, and the City of Saskatoon have been notified.Â
- Brunners have done all sewer service connection replacements from our original list, we will likely have a few more to do in the near future; root intrusion has been a major issue this year.Â
- We have completed the first round of hydrant flushing for the year; all hydrants are operational; however some were difficult to operate, and we still have 4 with the wrong thread pattern; we will be looking at replacing 3 hydrants this year.
Environmental Health:Â
- The landfill compactor has been repaired, and is back in service.Â
- Update for the new development at the landfill; building renos are continuing, the majority of electrical work is complete with just a few odds and ends left; the majority of the plumbing is complete; painting, and flooring is near done; trim boards and interior doors have been painted and put on where they can be. We are awaiting windows, and 1 exterior door. We are still looking into some software solutions for the scale that will assist in proper, detailed record keeping for the landfill.Â
- We had scheduled McGills for removal of leachate at the landfill, however it has been put on hold as the Saskatoon waste water plant is requiring a sample be taken prior to accepting it this year; we will be sending the sample either this week or next as we are needing different sample bottles for it.
Recreation Report
Prepared by Megan Anthony
Recreation Director
Swimming Lessons at the Van Raay and Community Swimming Pool have begun as of July 5th. We have hired one more lifeguard who is going to be taking her next few lifeguarding courses within the next few weeks and we are excited to be welcoming another member to our team! This will help out in all aspects of the pool operations. We are working on a plan for recruiting more lifeguards over the next few years so we can utilize the fantastic pool we have.
The Kinsmen Park Program has also started as of July 5th, this is a free program for kids between the ages of 5 and 12. We have lots of fun planned for the return of this program. We have created program schedules for July and August and we will be sending them out to the public through their mailboxes and via social media.
The Rec Plex staff have been working outside and maintaining the grass cutting and ball diamonds. We were able to repair the outdoor washrooms by the ball diamonds. We are going to be starting the Kinsmen Park washrooms as soon as possible. The Multi-Sport Court is also open and available for the public to use; you can find the drop in times on the Town of Outlook website, under the Rec Facilities calendar!
We are still looking for a few more volunteers in regards to joining our Recreation Committee, we have received two applications but would like to see 3-5 more before going ahead with the next step in this process.
Assistant Administrator Report
Prepared by Rachel Sillers
Assistant Administrator
Administration Items
Administration welcomed a new staff member, Dercilio Neto, on July 5th. Dercilio will be filling the position of Office Clerk while I am on Maternity leave. He has caught on very quickly to our accounting system and will be a great addition to the Administration team.
Administration will be starting a project to have the cemetery mapped professionally.
Wendy will be leading the project and working with Munisoft utilizing the data in our current cemetery program. The goal is to have the mapping work completed in 2021 in order to implement a map on site at the cemetery in 2022 for visitors, and to have a digital map available online as well.Â
Finance Items
Administration staff have received the final 2020 Financial Statements from the Auditor and have put them on our website for the public to access.Â
Administration staff have renegotiated our Moneris fees for our two supplementary terminals at the swimming pool and the landfill, the reduced rates were effective June 15th.Â
Administration inquired about renegotiating interest rates on our Bank of Montreal loans with our account manager and our rates on our long-term loans are 3.38% and 4.18% and the bank cannot offer us anything lower at this time without incurring additional fees. Since the Swimming Pool loan is due at December 31st, 2021 and the Watermains/Landfill loan is due June 2023 we would not recommend making any changes to our existing loan structure.Â
In partnership with Munisoft we have created the custom Quarterly Income Statement report and Dercilio and I plan to have the Quarter 2 report available for Council to review at the July 28th, 2021 meeting.Â
