OUTLOOK - The town council of Outlook met for a regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday night, April 27. Present was all of Council: Bob Stephenson, Justin Turton, Sharon Bruce, Kyle McLeod, Ryan Husband, and Kevin Grotheim, as well as Mayor Maureen Weiterman, Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Trew, and Municipal Office Clerk Crystal Fisher.
The meeting was broadcast on the Town of Outlook Facebook page.
A number of topics and items were discussed, including the following highlights.
Bylaws
Bylaw 14(2022) Change in Zoning - Amend Bylaw 08(2014) - This bylaw was to rezone lots 29-32 in Block 37, Plan G5358, which is the property on which the former Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witness church resides. The property on Hearn Street is currently zoned as R1, which is known as 'low density residential'. Shanidar Funeral Services, a funeral home based out of Rosetown, has bought the property. The first reading of the bylaw was held and carried, and set a public hearing date of May 25 at 7:30 as part of the regular Council meeting.
Bylaw 15(2022) Change in Zoning and Addition of New Zoning District - Amend Bylaw 08(2014) - First motion was held and carried, and the public hearing date of May 25 also applies to this bylaw.
Bylaw 16(2022) A Bylaw to Close a Lane - This has to do with development related to AG Foods in Outlook. It was said that ISC does not like the bylaw that was created at the advice of the Ministry of Highways. The first and second readings were held and carried.
Communications Requiring Action or Deletion
Mayor Weiterman and Councillor Turton recused themselves during discussion of the next item on the agenda, which was a letter received from the Outlook branch of the Royal Canadian Legion in regards to a plan related to the placement of banners in the community. It was advised during conversation with Legion reps that the stands in the Veterans Memorial Park should only be put on the east and south sides and not the north and west sides in order to avoid inadvertently creating any traffic blind spots. The Legion was seeking permission of the Town, the property owner, to move forward on this project. A motion was made and carried to allow the Legion to put up stands on the south and east sides of the Veterans Memorial Park. Councillor Husband commended the Legion branch for how they've managed this project alongside the Town.
Reports of Administration, Staff and/or Committees Requiring Decision
In discussing two non-arm's length payment vouchers, motions were made and carried to pay both, which included paying for travel expenses related to the recent SUMA convention for Mayor Weiterman and Councillor Husband.
Mayor and Councillor's Forum
Mayor Weiterman thanked Councillor McLeod for his time and service on the Administrative Committee, now welcoming Councillor Grotheim to the position. Grotheim was also named the new Deputy Mayor for his designated length of time, beginning in May.
CAO Report
Prepared by Kevin Trew
Human Resources:
Connor Segovia was hired last summer to float between Public Works in the summer and Recreation in the winter, in 2021 he ended up working in recreation the whole time, he has now moved over to the Public Works department, as functions in the Public Works department change and as employees are on leaves, we will analyze whether this move will become permanent.
We know that we will be hiring additional permanent full time staff for the Recreation Department this fall and will review needs in the Rec and PW Department as time goes on.
The Canada Summer Jobs Grant has been approved for the Town of Outlook wherein we will receive approximately $32,000 to subsidize wages we will be paying for summer workers at the Pool, Beautification, Kinsmen Park and Summer Public Works. The Town has budgeted expenses of approximately $50,000 in addition to the summer grant funds. We had advertised positions and look forward to finalizing selections for those positions momentarily. We did not get as much support as we had asked for and will quickly analyze what programs we can afford to proceed with and what ones we will not. Of course, staffing the pool is the number one priority for summer programming and we are hopeful that it will see full staffing this summer.
We have received notice that the Town Hall Janitorial Contractor will be done effective April 30. We advertised the contract and received no bids before the deadline. We are re-advertising the contract and we are contemplating making this a staff position and combining it with something else. We have interim janitorial staff while we await a permanent appointment.
Policy and Procedural Items:
Strategic Planning – The plan in its draft form is presented to Council for their approval and prioritizing at the April 27 meeting. We have made several small changes with the feedback we received from the public and the Executive Team has done a great job brainstorming more specific goals for Council to prioritize.
The Auditor attended the office on April 1, we are awaiting the draft statement and follow up from that.
Town Open House – There was a great turnout for this event and we are confident that we will be having a similar event in the fall. People seemed to like the venue and the format.
Successes this Month:
We received prepayments of equivalent to 1/3 of the 2021 Tax levy in the month of March, the 6% discount was applied to just under $800,000 in municipal taxes. There were also prepayments nearing $200,000. This bodes well for our cash situation and will take away from some of the rush expected in late May and June regarding tax collection once taxes are levied.
The Civic Centre opened with a fantastic Casino Night with over 150 people in attendance, organizers are excited to start planning another Casino Night.
We have 2 furnished 1 bedroom cottages for rent to the public at $1,000 per month including including water, sewer, heat, power and FSWD/air conditioning; the furnishings can be removed for the rent of $800 per month including water, sewer, heat, power and FSWD/air conditioning – there has been some interest.
The open house had a good turnout of presenters (21 booths) and approximately 175 attendees. We are very happy with this as something we can build on. Plans are that we will hold a similar event in the fall with community partners, perhaps with a focus on recreation but still incorporating the partners we had in April.
Learning Opportunities/Capacity Development:
The curling bonspiel had very low registrations so it did not happen, the Town will work with the club to advance curling in the community, there is work to be done with all user groups of the Recplex and our CDAC committee and Recreation staff look forward to exploring the opportunities.
Landfill scale software for new billing – Many supply management issues have occurred with delivery of the software for the landfill, we will not speculate when new rates will be exercised.
Rudy Landing Water Customers are now being invoiced direct by the Town of Outlook, we look forward to a signed agreement soon, the Town will be installing RF meters in the residential properties this summer at the cost of the Rudy Landing Customers.
Assessment Notices – All properties with a change in assessment, change in owner or change of some sort for 2022 have received their assessment notice very soon. The appeal period is 30 days. Anyone can appeal their assessment, the deadline for appeals is May 3.
Current Unfinished Projects:
Storm Water Outfalls rehabilitation will be complete in 2022 – we just received the tender documents and have not had time to review.
Landfill Decommissioning of Old Cell – We signed an agreement with Associated Engineering to go forward with more work on the decommissioning, Machibroda will be out testing dirt for final cover, we may use dirt from a borrow pit on the landfill site or haul in dirt that meets specifications.
Raw Water Intake/ Water Treatment Plant Upgrade Project – We will be meeting with partners in June to discuss the raw water intake, we have reached out to landowners affected by our testing for the sites.
Subdivisions Projects:
Railway Commercial/Industrial – Pricing has been set for the 13 lots established, we are completing Zoning and Land Purchase Agreements as well as business tax incentives and requirements to develop prior to final sale; those who have expressed interest in purchase have been emailed information, anyone else interested is invited to contact the CAO direct at [email protected]; we expect public sale to be advertised as soon as the Zoning has changed and agreements are finalized.
Highway Commercial – We went through the traffic impact assessment with the Ministry of Highways and have looked at pricing for changes required. Associated Engineering has been contacted for a quote regarding project management.
Residential – Nothing new to report at this time. We are looking at Development of the College South Subdivision as well as residences along Mann Street.
Future Projects:
Council heard from Loraas Disposals regarding a proposed contract for pickup and transportation of solid waste to the Outlook Regional Landfill; Council and the CAO continue to receive and be receptive to feedback from the public to this regard before a decision based on sound numbers is expected in May.
Application has been made to both higher levels of government for two projects under the recreation stream of ICIP:
On behalf of the RMs of Fertile Valley and Rudy and ourselves, a regional project - Sports Ground Upgrade,– we were denied on the first iteration of this funding stream.
Skytrail CP Rail Bridge Rehabilitation – we continue to await news of approval or denial.
New Zoning Bylaw – Urban Systems has been contracted to help us with a new Zoning Bylaw, Danny Gray was in attendance at our Open House and received some feedback from the public. We will be having at least one additional dedicated public sessions in the future to this regard to hear public comment prior to introduction of first reading of the bylaw and then we expect to hear public comment following first reading of the bylaw (expected late summer, early fall).
New Business
In discussing the sponsorship agreement between the Town and the River and Rail ArtVenture event, Mayor Weiterman gave credit to the event organizers, Sue Robertson and Janet Akre. Councillor Husband recused himself from the discussion. The desire is to make it a long-term annual event, and as such, the Town has been in discussions with the organizers regarding a potential five-year sponsorship agreement. The Town will provide funds for flags to be made and displayed, and these flags are expected to be used for the next five years. The Town's logo will be displayed on all printed and advertised material, as well as on River and Rail's social media. The cost of the flags will be $8,720.45. A motion was made and carried to proceed on this, with the Town approving sponsorship, providing sponsorship cost for 15 venue flags and hardware to be used over the next five years, and that Council authorizes the CAO to sign an agreement with River and Rail ArtVenture.
In discussing a boiler replacement that needs to be done at the Jim Kook Rec Plex, it was said that two submissions and estimates had been received as far as tenders for the work that needs to be done. Councillor Grotheim brought up concerns that he had with the tender that he read on the SaskTenders website.
"In my opinion, it was very vague and I was made aware by others who were thinking of bidding on it that it was very vague and they were uncomfortable about how it was presented," he said. "I guess my concern is that I would've rather seen it as a Request for Proposal so that we kind of knew what we were getting."
Mayor Weiterman asked if he'd brought forward his thoughts before on the tender, to which Councillor Grotheim replied no. Weiterman asked if perhaps the presence of a project manager would alleviate such concerns in the future, to which Grotheim was unsure. Grotheim felt like the Town was repeating steps that they've already gone through before, a feeling that was echoed by Councillor McLeod.
Councillor Grotheim then was set to recuse himself from further discussion on the matter, but was pulled back into the discussion before leaving the room.
A lengthy, back-and-forth discussion was had in the room surrounding the logistics of the project, with the tone in the room approaching a heightened level of debate, though things did not become disrespectful. Grotheim wondered whether the Town could approach things differently next time. It was said that the Town had to have faith in the engineers that they hire for jobs such as this, as those on Council aren't experts on many matters that come their way. Ending the lengthy debate, Mayor Weiterman said that a discussion may need to be had in the future on the Town's tendering process.
Councillor Grotheim then did recuse himself from discussion, and afterward, Councillor Husband said they were choosing to move forward with Sim-Tec, the less expensive option. A motion was made and carried to accept the Sim-Tec tender at a price of $69,022.02.
In discussing the Town's strategic plan, Council went over a large number of ideas and projects on paper handouts that Outlook is looking at as a community. Council was asked to give each initiative, activity or project a numbered rating based on priority; a rating of 1 was High Priority, 2 was Mid Priority, and 3 was Low Priority. CAO Trew made it clear that while certain initiatives could receive a ranking of 3, they were by no means off the radar of Council or the Town, as they're still ranked on the list to begin with, which speaks to the level of conversation happening around those topics.
It was also said that what Council would love to see is people in the community stepping up and being a leading champion of certain projects, should something be of particular interest to anyone. If someone has enough knowledge, as well as passion and know-how when it comes to specific ideas, the Town would love to speak with them on how to approach said projects.
The Council meeting concluded with three items on the in-camera agenda, including personnel and legal matters, as well as a land estimate from Tridaron Construction Ltd.
