July 10, 2023 meeting

Joe McWilliams

Lakeside Leader

Council’s Committee of the Whole meeting for July was all wrapped up in under a half hour. Whether the absence of councillor Kimberly Hughes had much to do with that we can’t say, but the absence of CAO Jeff Simpson almost certainly did. His usually lengthy CAO report was in council’s agenda package, but was not referred to.

There was a glitch in the broadcast, so that people wanting to view the meeting live on the town’s YouTube channel weren’t able to. However, the problem was identified and fixed, so it’s now there – all 26:26 of it – for viewing any time.

Green light for ‘personal services’

Council voted in favour of a bylaw change that will allow a beauty salon to operate legally in the Secondary Commercial District, or C2. Previously a category called ‘personal services’ was not permitted in the C2 district.

The salon in question, however, has been operating at a location on Main Street, near 6th Ave. SE. for the past couple of years. It had been in a non-compliant situation since it opened in 2021, without a development permit.

According to the written report in council’s agenda package, the town didn’t enforce the bylaw at that point because council was considering a wholesale switch of the C2 lots to C1, in which personal services are allowed.

The situation came to light recently when the salon applied for permission to add a tattooing service.

The report goes on to explain why personal services were removed from the C2. It was because – back in 2018 – the goal was to design the zoning so as to bolster the downtown core, which was seeing a loss of businesses. Not permitting certain things in other zones was seen as a way to strengthen downtown.

That vision remains, but councillors were not inclined to make things difficult for the business in question. Nor did the planning director recommend they take a hard line. After a public hearing that saw no submissions, for or against, council gave second and third readings to the bylaw change that adds personal services to the C2 district. It’s acknowledged that “the issue will be revisited in 2023/24,” at which time something different might be decided.

“We need to figure out what’s going to fit where,” said councillor Julie Brandle.

Brandle asked if council ends up deciding to remove personal services from the C2, how much notice would the business get.

Answer: the existing business would be able to continue as long as it remains in the owner’s hands and stays open. The new restrictions would only take effect if there was a change of ownership, or if the business closed and attempted to re-open.

SW lane closure taking time

Reviewing the management task list, councillor Steve Adams asked about the status of a lane closure (actually a footpath off 11 Ave. SW to a back alley). It’s been through all the steps required by the town, and was sent to the Minister of Transportation for approval, probably back in March.

We’re waiting for feedback, Adams was told. News out of Transportation is it is “way behind on their road closures.”

Once ministerial approval is granted, the town signs off on it, opening the way for the next-door property owners to buy the strip of land and incorporate it into their yard.

Aiming high for minister meetings

Council is already thinking about who it would like to talk to at the fall Alberta Municipalities Convention. Accordingly, councillor Shawn Gramlich made a motion for the town to write a formal letter, requesting meetings with the following government ministers: Advanced Education, Affordability and Utilities, Children and Family Services, Education, Energy and Minerals, Environment and Protected Areas, Forestry and Parks, Health, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Indigenous Relations, Jobs, Economy and Trade, Justice, Mental Health and Addiction, Municipal Affairs, Public Safety and Emergency Services, Seniors, Community and Social Services, Technology and Innovation, Tourism and Sport, Transportation and Economic Corridors.

HR

A dozen new employees had recently started work, or were about to, according to the CAO’s written report. Six of them are Summer Splash program counsellors and two are lifeguards. Still to be filled are the information technology manager, admin. assistant to the CAO and Human Resources, animal pound keeper, and deputy fire chief. Two of these were in the interview stage and the other two were at the ‘reference check stage.’

Notes from the CAO

The town is constantly trying to get more people signed up to their various online communications platforms. Results of that effort form part of the regular updates by the CAO for council. This time, the report showed a modest increase of seven in the number of subscribers to engageslavelake.ca, bringing the total to 272. This is the method by which the town seeks feedback on its plans and projects.

Voyent Alert is a system of letting people know about things that are happening, all the way from snow removal to disaster response. It actually had a decrease in subscribers (three) from the last reporting period, bringing the total to 2,354.

Then there’s the town’s Facebook page, which had gained 64 followers since the last time it was reported. The total is up to 7,816.

Users may be up, but page visits were down by a whopping 74 per cent from the previous month.

The town’s Instagram page ‘reach’ increased 5,700 per cent (!!!) from the previous month, Simpson reported, reaching over 16,000 people. The increase is due largely to something called the ‘Tourism Digital Marketing Campaign.’

The town’s website, meanwhile, received 7,700 visits in June, up 11.5 per cent from the previous month.

Fire and rescue

Activity numbers for the fire service show response to six fires in June – one of them a structure and five ‘outdoor’ fires. Nine of the calls were for motor vehicle incidents, while four had to do with hazardous materials. There was one water rescue on the list. Total calls for service in June were 57. As of July 6, the call total for 2023 was 336.

Challenges in health care

Councillor Brandle’s report included the news from the Tri-Council Health Advisory Committee that a replacement for Dr. Burke (who left about a year ago) is close to arriving. Dr. Lerm is now gone as well, and the process for getting a replacement for him is underway. Don’t hold your breath (she didn’t say, but implied).

There have been “zero bites,” Brandle said, for any nurse practitioner jobs. Meanwhile, contract nurses are filling in for the shortage of RNs.

Recruitment of international nurses is underway, Brandle said. Slave Lake expects to end up with “three to five” of these, although nobody knows just when it might happen. Some of them have started arriving in other places in Alberta.

Brandle said the RPAP (Rural Physician Action Plan) people have requested volunteers from the committee to help these nurses integrate more easily and quickly into life in the community Councillor Ali Mouallem has volunteered to do that, she said.

In other local health care news, the Family Care Clinic has seen something in the order of 6,700 patients this year. Entering all their data into the new Connect Care system is slowing things down, Brandle reported. It’s estimated that the job is about half done.

No-shows for FCC appointments are down – a good news item.

Finally the councillors on the committee asked the health care managers what topics they would like councillors to bring up in meetings with government ministers. They mentioned the removal of incentives for doctors to practice in rural communities. That “really hurt us,” she said they were told.

Also, any advocacy that would result in a reduction of the time it takes for a willing foreign doctor to be able to practice in Alberta would be welcome.

Waste management options on the table; big expenses looming

The regional landfill is “somewhat at a crossroads,” reported councillor Brice Ferguson. From what followed in his report, it appears the crossroads is the intersection of some very large looming expenditures with the very limited ability to pay for them.

Everything appears to be on the table for discussion, including the possibility of turning the landfill into a transfer station and trucking waste somewhere else.

By 2028 the current cell must be closed, and the estimated cost of it has pretty much doubled, Ferguson said, to around $1.2 million. Add to that $1.2 million to build a new one, plus $400,000 to $500,000 for a new packer and the numbers get pretty big.

So the board is looking at options. Ferguson said these include status quo, forming some kind of partnership with another waste management organization, or the transfer station idea. Management is going to look at the pros and cons of each option, Ferguson said, to see what’s best for taxpayers.

“We expect a report in a couple of months,” he said.

State of the Lake

Wrap-up remarks for the meeting were led off by Shawn Gramlich, who mentioned the recent passing of long-time town employee Clifford Ching.

“I just wanted to let his family, Peggy, Adam, Tyler and Kiel and their families, know that everyone is thinking of them,” he said.

Mayor Francesca Ward went next, offering thanks and congratulations to town staff and volunteers who pitched in with the Chamber of Commerce to make Riverboat Daze happen.

“It was a great weekend,” she said.

Ali Mouallem put in a word for the town staff and volunteers who keep the Sinclair ball diamonds looking in tip top shape for weekends of minor baseball. He said he’d heard from people with visiting teams how impressed they are with the facility.

Last word to Steve Adams: “I’m looking forward to seeing the economic impact numbers from the Chamber of Commerce events.”