The town council of Outlook met for a regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday night, January 9. Present was all of council; Donna Smith, Kevin Grotheim, Kyle McLeod, Maureen Applin, Floyd Childerhose, and David Simonson, as well as Mayor Ross Derdall, Administrator Tina Douglas, Assistant Administrator Rachel Sillers, Acting Superintendent of Municipal Operations Luke Lockhart, and Recreation Director Jordy Jones.
A number of topics and items were discussed, including the following highlights:
- In Jones’ Rec Report, it was noted that ads for a Rec Plex manager and positions for the new swimming pool facility have gone out.
- Jones is also looking at operating budgets of towns that have pools in order to compare numbers and possibly see what Outlook could expect, including the facility in Foam Lake that saw Outlook’s pool committee look over prior to its opening in the summer of 2014.
- The heating out in the stands of the rink will be looked into after Ross heard feedback from some people that it was “too cold”, and people have also asked why Outlook’s rink isn’t as warm as facilities in other communities.
- In Luke’s Superintendent Report, he noted that Jackie Douville is quickly learning tasks in her new role as Public Works Coordinator.
- It was recommended that an increase be applied to the dumping fees at the lagoon for contractors. Later in the meeting, council approved a new Lagoon Dumping Agreement – Contractor Rate that will take effect in February.
- Public Works would like to see the Town continue to seek a recycling agreement with surrounding RMs, and in a related note, there is no update on any agreement with RMs over the landfill.
- Council set a date for a public meeting that will be held at the Civic Centre on Wednesday night, January 30 at 7:30 pm. A number of topics will be discussed, as well as a possible multimedia presentation in order to give people key information.
- A motion was carried to take care of a town trademark registration issue.
- The weather elements were said to be to blame over the solar lights at the town entrance signs not kicking in at certain times of the night. The panels simply need more sunshine to charge.
- Council carried out business that is done at the first meeting of every new year, including board appointments of council, memberships, and custom work rates, the latter of which may be revisited in the near future.
- Eric Tollefson, a lawyer out of Saskatoon, requested to rent an office space in the town hall building as he believed it to be a good spot to do business, and council approved the request.
- Council declined a membership request of $100/year for the Hudson Bay Route Association.
- The Town received $500 and an apology letter from a young man responsible for graffiti vandalism around town.
- Access Communications is looking to record interviews with local officials for clips to be played on the local Access channel. It was seen as a great opportunity to promote the town and any community activities and events that are happening, and council will look into the endeavor with Access.
- In speaking about the Bylaw Enforcement Officer report, Douglas believed that Ron perhaps creates issues where there may be none, and it was suggested that there isn’t enough for him to do with one appearance in town per week. Council noted that Klassen does a fine job, but there are issues that will need to be discussed with him.
