The town council of Outlook met for a regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday night, November 28. 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:
- Delegates from the Riverbank Rodeo Committee – Arielle MacDonald, Tanner Barton and Lee Ponto – were present to inform council of their plans for future rodeo events in Outlook, including the news that next year’s rodeo has been scheduled to take place on August 23 & 24. They will be using the same site for the event, located just south of LCBI, and they want to secure the site for the next five years. The committee hopes to help make the sport of rodeo a big deal in Outlook once again and would like to see younger demographics get involved in the event, including teaching young kids bull riding and other events. The inaugural event from this past summer was seen as a major success, and council commended the committee on a job well done, even if there were some learning curves along the way. The committee believes that they have enough volunteers for the future to cover jobs that the Town had to undertake. Following the delegates’ exit, council again remarked on how well the rodeo had gone over with the public and its success, but there was a “skittish” feeling over making a deal for use of the land for five years. One councillor shared concern over the possibility of volunteers losing their drive and interest in the event, touching on Outlook’s past history with rodeo events. In the end, council passed a motion to reach an agreement with the rodeo committee for use of the land for three years, and the deal can always be revisited and/or extended when the time comes for talks.
- In the Rec Report, Jones noted that emails were being prepared to send to all the lifeguards that had applied to work at the new swimming pool in town, and the committee is also looking into getting involved at job fairs to help find candidates and fill positions.
- A motion was made to have four urinals at the Jim Kook Rec Plex fixed and/or replaced.
- It was learned that Luke Lockhart is the Acting Superintendent of Municipal Operations for the time being following the termination of former Superintendent, Randy Antoniuk. A meeting was held on November 22 to go over any concerns and address future practices among town workers.
- Three new furnaces were installed in the ag offices section of the town offices building.
- Workers have been unable to find the direct source of a leak said to be on the roof of the Civic Centre. Councillor McLeod said that he would take a look at the facility to find the source and explore what can be done.
- The new Environmental Protection Officer visited Outlook’s water treatment plant, and the meeting was said to have gone very well, with the EPO pleased to see what the town’s been doing.
- Council made a motion to accept their Emergency Preparedness Plan in relation to the landfill, with revisions.
- Council accepted a tender from Western Water Management for snow removal.
- Local resident Wendy Richards wrote a letter to council requesting that a flashing ‘Pedestrian Crossing’ light be installed at the intersection of Franklin Street and Saskatchewan Avenue, which is a very busy roadway. Council agreed it was a good idea, but it can be expensive. The Town will contact the Ministry of Highways to see what can be done on their end, lobbying them to install it.
- Council accepted their Waterworks Compliance Inspection Report.
- An informational meeting has been set for Thursday afternoon, December 13 for council to meet with TetraTech Engineering, a firm that helps communities to establish regional waste management authorities, and that has already done some pro-bono work and produced some options for the town.
- Council will have their Christmas supper prior to the next meeting on Wednesday, December 12.
- There was frustration in the room over the cannabis dispensary in town appearing to not use any local tradesmen or contractors in the work being done to set up the business on Saskatchewan Avenue. Council would like to confirm that all the right work permits and licenses are in place for such work being done, and they remembered their prior talk with agent Sean Bruce-Hayes about the business, in which Bruce-Hayes said that the intention was to use as many local trades as possible in setting up the business.
