April 11, 2023 meeting

Joe McWilliams

Lakeside Leader

Pesky power pole

The first council meeting of the Francesca Ward era began with a delegation. A resident of 11th St. SE, Jonathan Allen, has built a new garage. The only problem is a streetlight pole that interferes with access to the garage. He’d like it moved, he told council. This is estimated by ATCO Electric to cost about $7,000.

Allen said the pole also prevents him from making his driveway more than 17 feet wide, which is too narrow to fit two trucks side-by-side. His proposal is to move the pole 12 feet to the east.

Councillor Shawn Gramlich asked if he was seeking the town’s permission to move the pole, or for the town to pay for it.

“Both,” said Allen. “Cost-share, maybe?”

Allen got no commitments from council. Later in the meeting council discussed the matter. Nobody on council could remember such a situation arising before. CAO Jeff Simpson said he had seen it in other communities, and in all cases, “costs are borne by the developer.” That should be the case here, he said, in the view of administration.

Gramlich made a motion directing the town to contact ATCO “to help facilitate moving the light pole, at the expense of the landowner.” It was carried.

Survey results

A proposed reduction in the default speed limit in town (unless otherwise posted) from 50 kilometres per hour to 40, received 59 online responses. Fifty-six per cent of respondents strongly disagreed with the idea. Seventeen per cent strongly agreed, and the rest were spread out over three intermediate categories.

The town also had a question out about extending school zone hours. ‘Make no change’ was the most popular option among responses, at 61 per cent. This information was part of CAO Jeff Simpson’s update for council.

Fire service update

The service responded to 42 calls in the month of March. Over half of that number (22) were to alarms. The other big one was motor vehicle collisions, at 10. There were no structure fires and just one ‘outdoor’ fire.

Total calls in 2023 as of April 6 were 143.

Spring hockey

Simpson’s report also included the news that interest in spring hockey is “very strong,” with five groups booking ice times into May. Ball hockey is also starting, mid-April and running to the end of June.

Staffing gains

A few positions have been filled at the town, Simpson reported. A new program coordinator (filling in during a maternity leave) was starting April 17. The Summer Splash coordinator is on board and starting April 24, and a couple of Visitor Information Centre counsellors will start in May.

Rural renewal

Council heard that a portal has been created on the town’s website for the new Rural Renewal Stream program. This is the thing by which employers can seek out foreign workers.

Councillor Kimberly Hughes asked how the town is getting the word out about the program. By social media, said economic development officer Jason Swanson. (See the article on Page 24)
“We’ve already received four applications from businesses,” he added.

Hughes urged Swanson to reach out to Community Futures and the Chamber of Commerce about the program.

New councillor Ali Mouallem said he’s hearing a lot of interest from businesses in the program, who have questions about it. Would the town be willing to do a presentation?
“Happy to,” said Swanson.

Community clean-up, May 7 – 13

The town’s community relations manager, Jillian Hutchings had a report for council on preparations for this spring’s community clean-up event.

The week of May 7 – 13 has been chosen. Individuals and groups are being encouraged to sign up (at the MRC). Areas of town in need of special attention are being identified, Hutchings said, and groups will be urged to tackle those.

Packages will be available at the MRC starting May 5. These include bags and t-shirts.

Councillor Mouallem asked how participation has been in the past couple of years. Not that great, Hutchings said, 2019 being “our last strong year.” She added the town is reaching out to the schools, and in fact has already learned E.G. Wahlstrom School is planning a litter-collecting blitz at an earlier date.

A clean-up event later in the season is being contemplated, Hutchings said.

Service levels for issuing permits

When it comes to issuing permits for development, special events and food trucks, it’s difficult to please the applicants. It often seems to take too long. Councillors hear about this and had asked for a report on the situation.

For starters, the current service levels are based on two full-time employees in the planning and development department. Except that there’s only one full-time and one at 60 per cent of full-time.

Processing time for a properly completed application (many aren’t), for a permitted use is 21 days. This is by and large being met, council heard.

For a discretionary use and larger, more complicated developments, the time the town has to process the case is upped to 28 days. This time limit isn’t being met. It’s been taking on average 35 days for this type of application under the circumstances, council heard. As such, the recommendation was to amend the policy to make 35 days the upper limit.

That’s not ideal, but it seems to be the reality. Councillor Steve Adams, commenting on the situation, said as it only amounts to about six per cent of the total number of permit applications, he’s okay with it. So was councillor Brandle, who made the motion to proceed as recommended.

Asphalt patching

Council approved the awarding of the contract for asphalt patching for 2023 to Ruel Concrete Ltd. It was the lowest of three bidders on the project, at $88,000. The other two bids – also from companies with local operations – were $99,000 and $157,000.

This is not a pothole-filling project, council was reminded. It’s bigger stuff, at points around town identified as needing upgrades. The town budgets $100,000 every year for this work, and contracts it out.

Sidewalk and curb repairs

The town has a $100,000 budget for the 2023 concrete repair program – mainly sidewalks and curbs. The town received two bids on the project – with the lower one a long way from the higher.

The contract goes to Duro Contracting Ltd. of St. Albert, which bid $59,960.

Councillor Ferguson observed that at that rate, the town might be maintaining, but not getting ahead. He asked if the town could “top up” the work, with the remaining cash in the budget and get more done.

Already in the plan, he was advised.

Community calendar: conceding the field

Jason Swanson’s report on the town’s online community calendar boiled down to this: The community events calendar maintained by the Lakeside Leader is doing such a good job, there’s no point in duplicating the effort.

Not only that, the Slave Lake Region Tourism Society is working up its own community calendar.

The recommendation to council was to maintain the town’s online calendar strictly for town programs and activities, such as garbage and recycling pick-up dates and such that “are not included in the other community calendars.”

Trying to make it more comprehensive, Swanson told council, would require more time and effort by him, which he can ill-spare under the circumstances. Among those circumstances is the recent loss of the town’s communications coordinator, Jordan Schenkelberg.

Council passed a motion by Steve Adams, to proceed as recommended.

Tourism strategy, 2023

Swanson was back in the hot seat for the next item, which was the town’s tourism strategy for this year, as conceived by him.

“Marketing is going to be a huge part of my work,” he said.

To that end, he said the town has engaged a local marketing expert to develop a promotional campaign for this summer.

Part of the work this year will be seeing what maps and other promotional materials the Tourism Society comes up with, identify gaps and see about filling them, Swanson said.

One idea is to promote good spots to view the Northern Lights. A lot of Europeans come through the area on their way to the Northwest Territories, specifically to see the lights, Swanson said. They might like to know they could pop up to the top of Marten Mountain, say, while staying here, and see what they can see.

Councillor Ali Mouallem threw a bit of curveball into the proceedings when he asked if there was any consideration for moving the Visitor Information Centre into town. It was once there, he said, and he thinks it got more visitors when it was.

Councillor Kim Hughes pointed out that the building is owned by the M.D. and jointly funded by the town and M.D., and moving it isn’t on the agenda.

Mayor Ward asked Swanson what success looks like, in tourism terms. That we have a lot of identified gaps filled by the May long weekend, Swanson said. That, plus in the longer term, “higher visitor numbers.”

How to track those numbers is something he has to figure out, Swanson continued. There are visits to the VIC, but beyond that, the picture gets murky.

Council appointments

Following the recent byelection, council made moves to fill some appointment gaps that were created when the previous mayor and one councillor resigned.

Accordingly, mayor Ward was appointed to the Municipal Planning Commission, LSL Regional Housing Authority, Inter-Municipal Committee, Wildfire Legacy Corporation, Alberta North Central Alliance and the LSL Regional Waste Management Services Commission.

Councillor Mouallem was appointed to the Tri-Council Health Services Subcommittee, Inter-municipal Committee, Community Education Committee and the Children’s Resource Council.

Council also appointed councillor Ferguson as deputy mayor for a period starting in July of 2024 and ending in February of 2025. After that, Mouallem takes over.

Committee reports

Chamber of Commerce – Mouallem reported that two people have joined the Chamber board. The trade show had 50 vendors registered, which he called “really good.”

“We always have last-minute sign-ups,” added Ward.

Regional housing authority – No meeting, said councillor Brandle, but she had attended a provincial conference and found it quite interesting. One thing that was “an eye-opener,” she said was how involved some of the housing authorities are in dealing with homeless people. There was a lot of talk about it, she said.

Homeless Coalition – “Good news,” said councillor Ferguson, leading off his report. The coalition has hired a new executive director (see story on Page 15). Otherwise, the Mat Program is winding down for the season.

Airport – The commission has been approved for an $80,000 grant. This is to go towards an ‘airport master plan.’

Correspondence

Two letters were in council’s package. One was from an organization called Wellspring, which offers support to people living with cancer. It asks the mayor to help spread the Wellspring message and invites him (it was addressed to former mayor Tyler Warman) to visit a Wellspring centre.

The other letter is from M.D. of Lesser Slave River Reeve Murray Kerik, addressed to interim mayor Shawn Gramlich. It is a ‘thank you’ for the town’s support in the M.D.’s advocacy program for the replacement of the Smith Bridge.

Mayor’s corner

Congratulations to Ali Mouallem on his successful election campaign, said Ward, in her remarks wrapping up her first meeting as mayor.

“I’m happy to be here,” Ward said. “I missed being at the table.”

Ward also said this would be the last mayor’s corner.

“We’re going to revamp this going forward,” she said.