The town council of Outlook met for a meeting on Wednesday night, August 21 that had been rescheduled from its original date of August 14. Present was all of council; Donna Smith, Kevin Grotheim, Kyle McLeod, Maureen Applin, Floyd Childerhose, and David Simonson, as well as Mayor Ross Derdall, Acting Administrator Rachel Sillers, and Public Works Coordinator Bonnie Pshyk.
Absent was Superintendent of Municipal Operations Luke Lockhart and Recreation Director Jordy Jones.
A number of topics and items were discussed, including the following highlights.
Council adopted the minutes of the July 24 regular meeting, as well as the July 31 and August 2 special meetings.
Three delegates representing the RM of Rudy met with council for an in-camera discussion from 7:15 to approximately 7:40.
Recreation
With the Outlook & District Chamber of Commerce Trade Show coming up in late September, council discussed the Town having a presence at the event, and believed it was a good idea to have a table booth. Ideally, they would like to get some new banners featuring the updated Town logo for their booth. A motion was made and carried to book a table for the trade show, and pricing will be explored over purchasing banners with the newer logo.
It was revealed that the last day of the season for the Van Raay & Community Swimming Pool would be this coming Saturday, August 31. Councillor Grotheim questioned why the final day was on a Saturday during a long weekend, and it was said to be done due to some short-staffing at the time, as well as the logistics involved with school starting on Tuesday and university classes starting soon for a number of the college-age lifeguards.
The Town hasn’t received results back yet from Communities in Bloom after Outlook was visited for judging back on July 30, but Jordy felt that it had gone well.
Public Works/Transportation
Dredging of the lagoon has been completed, and it was said that it’s a good thing it had been done because it was “very close to being plugged up”. There were some interesting results and items found after the work had been done, and as a result, residents are being advised to please watch what goes into their systems. The Town is now looking into having the area fenced off.
There have been the “usual amount” of Bylaw Enforcement calls coming in, though Pshyk noted that some are hard to prove in some instances. Councillor Simonson noted that some Town employees aren’t following a number of bylaws and the public is noticing it. The Town is continuing to explore their bylaw enforcement options after former Bylaw Enforcement Officer Ron Klassen tendered his resignation earlier this summer.
The Town is using temporary pumps and has had the fluc chambers cleaned after a concern over the taste of water. During the switch over and amidst the cleaning, the Town says there was at no point any affect to the quality of drinking water.
Speed limit signs on McKenzie Street North will be replaced.
Two paving quotes for fixing up parts of Chow Crescent and Semple Street will be explored for the next meeting.
The Town will combat the weeds issue affecting streets and sidewalks, notably in the downtown corridor that was said to look particularly bad.
New Business
A motion was made and carried to accept a bid from Halonen Construction of Outlook for a cost of $12,421.03 before taxes for renovations to the town offices.
A motion was made and carried to accept another bid from Halonen Construction for a cost of $53,865.19 before taxes for extensive renovations and work to be done on Cottage #4 owned by the Town of Outlook.
Council acknowledged the Commercial Development Incentive Application brought forward by Piccolo Pizza of Outlook.
Council made and carried a motion to grant a municipal and school tax abatement to the Small Steps Early Learning Centre in Outlook.
Admin Report
The transitional review of financials that had been requested by outgoing Administrator Tina Douglas was done, with nothing unusual or out of place to be found.
November 9, 2020 is the new date of the next municipal election in Outlook due to a conflict with the provincial election.
A motion was made and carried to obtain a second credit card for the Town of Outlook with a $10,000 max limit.
Council moved to in-camera discussions after accepting the correspondence. The following items made up the in-camera agenda:
- Ray Derdall – Request for Cancellation of Fire Services Invoice (moved from New Business into In-Camera)
- Land – Lots 14-17, Block 60, Plan G358
- Land – Railway Avenue Subdivision
- Land – Long-term Planning & Development
- Personnel – Administration
- Legal – Rudy Landing
