The town council of Outlook held its regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday night, July 25, starting half an hour earlier than usual at 6:30. Present were all of council; Donna Smith, Kevin Grotheim, Kyle McLeod, Maureen Applin, Floyd Childerhose and David Simonson, as well as Mayor Ross Derdall, Acting Administrator Sylvia Klotz and Rachel Sillers of the Town of Outlook, and Superintendent of Municipal Operations Randy Antoniuk. Absent was Recreation Director Jordy Jones.
A number of topics and items were discussed, including the following highlights:
- There are concerns about dust blowing on McKenzie Street North due to the dry conditions being felt in the area, and Superintendent Antoniuk said he would take care of the issue.
- Antoniuk feels more of the public need to secure lids on their garbage cans to ensure that animals won’t get into them, as crows have been a problem recently.
- The results of the traffic counters obtained by the Town to gather data on traffic numbers should be available by the next council meeting.
- A motion was passed to move forward on a project to repair just under 1500 square feet of sidewalk in town, with the project coming in under budget.
- A motion was made and carried to move the remaining account funds for Canada Day to another account controlled by the Town, and it’ll be reserved for future July 1 celebrations.
- Council had a first and second reading of Bylaw 04(2018) The Smoking Bylaw, an all-encompassing bylaw that includes marijuana, and it was carried.
- A motion was made and carried for the thermostats in the town hall building to be set and then locked after complaints about both the heat and the cold in the building.
- Council accepted a bid from AG Foods for advertising space on the floor of the new swimming pool facility.
- Councillor Simonson brought up an idea to have the Outlook fire department members on standby during the weekend of the outdoor rodeo, which led to further discussion about possibly having the crew on standby pay since the department has grown to the point where such a measure may be needed for Outlook. Further talks on this were tabled to the next meeting.
- The meeting welcomed several delegates. First up was Melanie Gamble of the Small Steps Early Learning Centre, who spoke with council to ask for an abatement or exemption on the facility’s taxes. The large tax notice Small Steps received would be considered a “huge hit” to them, since it is a non-profit.
- Two residents, Dan Raymes and Ward McNichol, spoke with council about issues on Tufts Crescent, particularly to do with a sinking residence that affects other homeowners. As well, they were concerned about a long-time hole on the north side of Tufts that they hoped the Town would fix and fill in, to which Superintendent Antoniuk said it would be looked into immediately.
- The third delegate was Sean Bruce-Haye, a project manager representing Jean Paul Lim, who was the person selected to receive a permit to open a cannabis retail outlet in Outlook. Sean said Lim wanted the business to “be a good member of the community” and work with the Town and law enforcement to address any concerns and ensure that things run smoothly. He noted that they were looking at 104 Saskatchewan Avenue as a possible location for the outlet, a location that council thought would be quite suitable. Sean noted that they’d like to use local tradesmen in construction and will be looking to hire local staff as well. Mayor Derdall said he would expect the business to pay the normal standard fee, touching on the “exorbitant” fees for cannabis outlets being established in Saskatoon and larger city centres. Mr. Bruce-Haye feels that the project is a “win-win” and said they’d like to be open by October 17 – the day marijuana is officially legal in Canada – but that there may be some hurdles to overcome in making that date.
