The town council of Outlook met for a regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday night, June 13. 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 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:
- Kevin Grotheim was welcomed as the newest councillor for the Town of Outlook, having won the recent by-election held on May 30.
- The Town has started the implementation of a system that will allow for documents to be more readily accessible online to the public. People will be able to access materials such as town bylaws, meeting minutes, and forms at their own leisure through the town’s website, and the full rollout of the system is expected by September.
- A motion was made and carried for the Town to advertise for a temporary position for a receptionist in the town office.
- On the topic of the town landfill, it was said that mixed garbage loads need to be addressed to state what exactly is allowed. More information is expected at the next meeting.
- Council has requested that the Bylaw Enforcement Officer be at the next meeting for a discussion.
- As it relates to town beautification efforts, Councillor Applin said the Legion would take on responsibility of sprucing up the area where the war memorial cenotaph is located behind the hall, and she believes the flowerbeds by the SkyTrail need improving. As well, Applin noted that there were some complaints by residents after a number of town workers recently helped her plant flowers around town; residents apparently felt that the five workers helping her was perhaps too many for one task, but she noted that there were approximately 1500 flowers to plant.
- There was disappointment over the poor ticket sales for the banquet being held on Friday night at the Civic Centre for the Outlook fire department. It was said that the event, designed to be a fundraiser for the department, would instead end up losing money. The feeling by some was that the event should’ve been an instant sellout.
- A discussion was had on a construction project for the town library, in which doors and a washroom are expected to be installed at an estimated cost of approximately $80,000-$100,000. The Town may be expected to pay for all of it, drawing some raised eyebrows and a hearty discussion. Further talks on the subject were tabled to the next meeting, pending new information on the project.
- Council tabled talks on the RM and town fire bylaws to the next meeting.
- There is interest from the public in purchasing compost from the town landfill, and Randy noted he would follow up on the matter to see how it could be provided to those who wish to purchase it.
- Council passed a motion to accept an O&M grant for 2018-19.
- The Town may look into a New Horizons Seniors Grant, although the deadline to apply is approaching quickly. There was a feeling of “don’t leave any possible money on the table.”
- There was talk on the options surrounding advertising for the new swimming pool. The in-floor advertising may no longer be an option because “once they’re in, they’re in.” One of the avenues explored was the notion of putting the available wall spots up for auction to go to the highest bidder, and there has already been some local interest in advertising at the future facility.
- Council passed a motion to enroll the firefighters in the SUMA Employee and Family Assistance Program, feeling it was necessary following the busy 2017 the department had.
- Council obliged a request from the library for a voicemail system, opting to get an answering machine.
- On the topic of the Outlook & District Regional Park, there was a discussion on whether or not to provide the park with $14,000 in grant funding following a request that was made by the park board. The money isn’t promised every year, but it has been provided in the past and it has been budgeted for in 2018, should the park request it. Council said they would’ve liked to have seen the park’s year-end financial statements before receiving the request for funding. Councillor Applin called a motion to deny the park the funding, which was defeated. Council will instead seek the park’s financial statements before reaching a decision on providing the grant funding.
Open Letter to Town Council – Why Deny?
At the June 13 meeting of Outlook’s town council, the subject of giving funding to the Outlook & District Regional Park came up. To our understanding, this is operating funding that is routinely given to the park every year by the Town in the form of a grant. This money is not technically promised on a yearly basis, but nevertheless it has been provided. It is normally the same amount; $14,000 was given to the park last year, and $14,000 has been budgeted for this year, should they request it.
As learned at the meeting, the park has requested it. However, a discussion was then had on whether to give them the funds at all, a topic which appeared to split the room. A motion was even made by one councillor to deny them the money, which was defeated.
The conclusion that was reached was that council would like to see the park’s financial statements before reaching any sort of decision on giving them any form of grant monies.
Our viewpoint is simply this: why even entertain the thought of denying them money that they obviously need? Money that has already been budgeted to provide?
By all means, the Town should take a good look at the park’s financials and judge where there may be issues, and perhaps even give them some advice on how to save some money here and there, but why on Earth would the Town ultimately say no to giving them the funding?
Outlook’s park just manages to skate by year after year with limited resources; only last year was there a concentrated effort to put a spotlight on the area and promote what the park has to offer by way of the very popular summer programming events. Now, the person who spearheaded those events has resigned, and there’s no real way of knowing what the next few months have in store for the park from a financial perspective.
What we *do* know is that a park such as Outlook’s needs all the support and exposure it can get. It’s a piece of land that is breath-taking and spacious, but also criminally underutilized.
So to that end, shouldn’t the Town at least be the silver lining in all of that by providing the funds that might allow the park to maximize its efforts going forward?
At a time where thousands of dollars have been spent buying flower planters to place all over town in the name of ‘community beautification’, we just don’t understand how there is suddenly a line in the sand when it comes to your local park and why the Town may entertain the notion of closing the coffers at a critical time for such an iconic piece of Outlook’s rich history.
Staff
The Outlook
