March 7 2023 meeting

Joe McWilliams
Lakeside Leader

Walkway sale one step closer

The sale of a public walkway in southwest Slave Lake passed another hurdle at council’s Mar. 7 meeting. After hearing no comments of any kind at a public hearing, council made the required motion to have the matter sent to the government for approval.

Assuming the Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors okays it, the town can go ahead and sell the piece of land to the next-door property owners.

That’s the process. Municipalities aren’t allowed to dispose of public ways without the blessing of the province. Even when they are merely walkways between a street and a back alley, which is the case here.

Several months ago, the town was approached by the owners of the lot on the corner of 11th Ave. and 7th St. SW. The alley serves no useful purpose, they said; it hardly gets used, and adding it to their pie-shaped corner lot would help with parking space.

To do that, the town needs to do a bylaw change, which in turn requires a public hearing, not to mention notification of the neighbours. Council heard that no objections to the proposal were noted.

More on the Caribou crossing

Council had asked for a bit more information on the possibility of getting crossing arms installed at the rail crossing at Caribou Trail. Having heard at an earlier meeting that the chances of getting on the list for federal funding for such a project were slim to none, most councillors had been content to let the matter drop. But not Steve Adams.

Adams’ point was that such an enhancement would be important for Slave Lake’s future, and if there was a chance of ‘staying on the list’ for future funding consideration, why wouldn’t we?

So back came the town’s project manager, Kush Patel, with another report. A detailed traffic count (which CN would need) would cost an estimated $7,000 to $10,000, he said.

Adams was skeptical.

“How does a traffic count cost 10 grand?” he asked.

It’s a ballpark figure, said CAO Jeff Simpson, adding, “If you have to have an engineer collect data for you, it’s going to cost you.”

Councillor Kim Hughes asked why, if the crossing is deemed compliant by the federal authorities, the town would push the enhanced crossing idea now.

Two reasons, said Adams. Noise and safety.

“I think we can do better,” he said.

But he didn’t get much support from his colleagues.

“I think the dream is dead,” said councillor Julie Brandle.

Hughes made a motion to let the matter drop. Adams’s was the only opposing vote.

Adding some stuff to parks

Thanks to a recent $400,000 donation by the Torgerson family, the town plans to add some amenities to parks and playgrounds this year. One of them is a ‘pump track’ for bicycles at Barton Park in the southwest part of town. Another is a basketball half-court at Poplar Grove Park in the northwest. Otherwise, picnic tables, garbage cans, bike racks and a sunshade are on the list.

These are capital projects and council was asked to approve an amendment to the 2023 capital budget accordingly, which they were happy to do.

Councillor Adams questioned the statement in the report that said the projects would have ‘no net financial impact’ on the town. How about replacement and maintenance costs? he asked.

How about flooding that pump track for winter use, was councillor Brandle’s question.

We could look into it, said the director.

The plan is to get as much of the work done this year as possible.

Weed inspector appointed

Municipalities are required to have one or more weed inspectors, to “enforce and monitor compliance” with the relevant provincial legislation on weed control. In some past years, the town has teamed up with the M.D. to share the services of its weed inspector, but this does not appear to be an option anymore. Accordingly, council made a motion to appoint the town’s junior peace officer as a second weed inspector, joining the senior PO, who is already appointed as such.

How much actual weed inspecting and enforcement will get done is a good question.

“The goal is to seek compliance over enforcement,” says the report.

Regional raw water line agreement

Council approved an amended version of a regional raw water line agreement between the three parties in the Regional Tri-Council. Besides the town, these are the Sawridge First Nation and the M.D. of Lesser Slave River.

The water line in question is the one built from Wagner to the Slave Lake water treatment plant, in 2017. Besides providing an alternate (and more reliable) source of raw water to the town, it serves fire hydrants in both other jurisdictions along the way.

This latest version of the agreement incorporates a few changes requested by the Sawridge back in February. Council approved it with no questions or discussion.

Note from the minister

A letter from Minister of Municipal Affairs Rebecca Schultz in council’s agenda package outlines the government’s spending plans for 2023. There’s nothing specific to Slave Lake in it, but councillor Steve Adams mentioned the town is expecting $820,000 in Municipal Sustainability Initiative funding this year. Is that a decrease? he asked.

“I think it has increased a bit,” said Simpson.

Councillor Brice Ferguson confirmed it’s “around $40,000” higher than the 2022 allocation.

Mayor’s corner

Interim mayor Shawn Gramlich, in his remarks to close out the public portion of the meeting, expressed “a huge thank you to Lance and Tammy Torgerson,” for their $400,000 donation to the town.

“That’s huge for our region,” Gramlich said.