The town council of Outlook held their regular meeting on Wednesday night, September 13. Present were all councillors; Donna Smith, Maureen Weiterman, Kyle McLeod, Maureen Applin, Floyd Childerhose, and David Simonson; as well as Mayor Ross Derdall, Administrator Trent Michelman, Assistant Administrator Laurie Lemon, and Recreation Director Jordy Jones. Absent was Superintendent of Municipal Operations, Luke Lockhart.
A number of topics and issues were discussed, including the following highlights:
- The first 15 minutes were scheduled for a public meeting relating to Bylaw 04 (2017) and the recent signage amendment. However, there was no one from the public in attendance.
- A delegate from the community, Henry Schwanbeck, voiced his concerns regarding major water build-up on his property over on Hearn Street. The water reportedly doesn’t drain in the back alley and the resulting build-up routinely affects his home, requiring Henry to pump the water out. He asked council to address the matter, as he would like to be able to go away and not come back to his home being flooded in the springtime.
- The building over at 228 Franklin Street is set to be demolished in the near future, with two companies having responded to the work, and the town should know more about it in a week or two. There has apparently been next to no response from the owner of the building, who lives in Vancouver.
- Upgrades to the bowling alley have been done, with the facility said to look incredible and the price also came in lower for the work that was done. As far as the appearance of the alley goes, it’s virtually “like night and day”.
- When the town begins clean-up on back alleys, council is exploring the idea of removing trees and bushes that impede on the ability of town workers to do their jobs in those areas, specifically touching on the trouble that the garbage truck has in moving in some alleys due to the presence of large or low-hanging trees and bushes.
- The Canada Day committee has significant money left over from the town’s commitment to the event, and ideas are being explored for some sort of “legacy” project for the community such as banners, flags, or some form of lighting structure.
- The town will need to be careful in how they go about renovating the washrooms at the Civic Centre because certain changes may limit the capacity of the building down to only 100 people, a major drop from the current 472 maximum, and they don’t want to lose those numbers due to the Civic Centre being the only larger-scale performing venue in town.
- Council is looking for more information on the Mann Street storm sewer options as a report provided to them left them with more questions than answers. A site tour or meeting may be planned to confirm details and placate council’s concerns.
- Council moved to extend the hours of the Bylaw Enforcement Officer for the remainder of the year in order to have him around Outlook more.
- The design has been selected for the new town cemetery signage, and it is set to be installed soon.
- Unfortunately, the town can’t seem to get anywhere with SaskPower regarding the installation of lighting at the community entrance signs. A rep reportedly said the project was “not a priority”, which baffled council. This prompted council to move that letters be sent to SaskPower as well as the Ministry responsible for the corporation addressing the town’s frustration with the matter and a hopeful solution.
