OUTLOOK - The town council of Outlook met for a regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday night, June 8. Present were councillors Bob Stephenson, Ryan Husband, Sharon Bruce, Kyle McLeod, and Kevin Grotheim, as well as Mayor Maureen Weiterman, Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Trew, and Municipal Office Clerk Crystal Fisher. Absent was Councillor Justin Turton.
The meeting was broadcast live on the Town of Outlook's Facebook page.
Council held a Committee of the Whole meeting at 5:00, which featured a number of items including a discussion on approvals for capital purchases, the town's capital plan, paving and sweeper bids, and a walk around rescue vehicle.
Recreation Report
Prepared by Megan Anthony
Recreation Director
Operations Report:
1. The Swimming Pool is almost ready for opening day. We have the health inspection scheduled and once we are passed on that everything is completed and we are good to go for the season. We have really appreciated a later opening date. It has allowed us to do thorough training with the lifeguards and cashiers. It has also allowed us to get any repairs needed at the beginning of start up dealt with prior to the season beginning. We are all very excited for this pool season. The schools have booked every afternoon in June which will be great!
2. Rec Staff have been working on maintaining the ball diamonds and grass cutting around the sportsgrounds. The Multi-Sport Court is set to open June 6th! We will be open Monday-Saturday from 9:00 am-4:00 pm for drop in and we have adult rec play scheduled from 6:00 pm-8:00 pm Monday-Friday. Our first beautification summer student is set to start on June 6th so we will finally have beautiful flowers in all the planters around town. The hanging baskets are planted and we are just waiting on the back ordered brackets to arrive so we can hang them. All summer student positions have been filled at this time.
Management Report:
1. Swimming Lesson registration went pretty smooth for it being our first time. We had some troubles with the online payment but were able to direct everyone that was having issues to pay in person. We are fairly booked up for the season with a few classes having some room left. The public can book swimming lessons and private bookings on our Town of Outlook website under bookings! We have had a few private bookings come through as well.
Public Works Report
Prepared by Luke Lockhart
Superintendent of Municipal Operations
Transportation:
- DLN Construction is near done our initial asphalt patch list with just a few more to go. We are very pleased with the work done to date, and will assess our budget amounts prior to adding more to the list.
- Hank’s concrete has been awarded our sidewalk maintenance for the year and we have been putting together a priority list for areas needing attention; including the installation of accessibility ramps in areas where they aren’t present.
- Our first application of dust suppression has been applied to our normal areas of gravel roadway, and has been extended down First Ave East; future applications will also be expanded to include the remaining sections of McKenzie St North, Ash St, and 4th Ave.
- Back alleys are set to have another leveling once we get some gravel in to our shop yard; either next week, or the week following.
- We have some areas on our downtown brick sidewalks needing attention, we will be starting on these repairs next week.
Utilities:
- We had an issue with one of our chlorinator heads in that it didn’t automatically switch over tanks; the issue was caught and fixed prior to any upset conditions in the distribution system; the faulty head has since been repaired, and we have ordered another new one for backup should this happen again.
- All seasonal water systems are on and running.
- McGills were in town yesterday to do our spring cleaning of all sewage lift stations; our staff noticed some deficiencies in the grating system on the East lift that will be fixed ASAP.
- We had our unannounced water and wastewater inspections from the Water Security Agency yesterday; we haven’t received the report as of yet, but will provide it once received. Other than a few minor details, we have 1 deficiency at the main sewage lift station regarding the ventilation system in the wet well.
- We intend to start our first round of hydrant flushing early next week.
Environmental Health:
- We have the hardware installed at the landfill for the scale, and the software is being uploaded to it now. We anticipate that it will be ready for testing next week. We are expecting start using the new landfill prices on September 1, 2022
- Compost pick up has been very steady with many residents getting their yards cleaned up, there is a lot out there.
General Public Works:
- We have completed the first round of dandelion spraying on the majority of our greenspaces.
- Mowing and snipping is in full swing.
- We did our first tree branch pickup over the last few weeks with many, many loads being picked.
- We would like to meet with the cemetery committee in the near future to discuss what we are wanting to do out there as some “ideas” may require planning, and or time to out in place.
Bylaws
Council discussed Bylaw 10 (2022) Fire Pit, which had been brought up at recent meetings. There was a feeling that the cutoff time for bonfires of 11:00 pm may be too early, brought up by Councillor Husband and shared by Councillor Grotheim. It was said that the town's noise bylaw was also 11:00, and that there was an aim for both bylaws to be in-sync with each other and coincide them "for consistency". Councillor Bruce's main concern stemmed from smoke that would be billowing from one household and moving into another, disrupting air quality of that neighboring home.
After some further debate on the issue, a second reading for the bylaw was held, but it will be taken back for corrections and edits to be made before a third reading will be presented to Council.
Reports of Administration, Staff and/or Committees Requiring Decision
Council passed a motion to reimburse Councillor Turton the amount of $75 for his taking part in the Municipal Leadership Development program.
Unfinished Business
In discussing approvals for the town's capital plan expenditures, a couple of things were highlighted.
It was said that the budget was still a plan that is still to be ratified with individual expenses, and was described as a "very aggressive" budget. There are numerous items in the plan, including an estimated $7.3 million in capital expenditures this year. Administrator Trew was asking for an approval of the updated capital budget.
Councillor Grotheim brought his concerns forward in relation to the dollars being spent on equipment.
"I realize that this is only Budget, and what's listed here isn't necessarily what we're going to be buying or spending, so I'll just leave it at that and I'll support it that way, but I'm not sold on the individual items on here," said Grotheim. "I'm not sold on the street sweeper and with the quantity of borrowing, it's just...."
As the topic of the street sweeper was to come later in discussion, it was shelved for now.
Councillor Bruce made a motion to accept the updated capital plan, which was carried.
Council then discussed paving options, of which the Town received two quotes; one from DLN Construction and one from Acadia. DLN being a local outfit and with the Town's positive relationship with them, as well as the fact that their bid came in lower than Acadia, the decision was made to go with DLN. The work being done includes work along McKenzie Street North, Blocks 1-4, from Railway to 1st Avenue. The cost is $978,438 + GST/PST, and includes a rehabilitation of the street in addition to the paving.
As well, work is being targeted for one block of Hearn Street from Railway Avenue to Saskatchewan Avenue, at a cost of $136,740. Finally, work on Cedar Place, a residential street, comes in at $92,005.
A motion was made and carried to have DLN carry out the work associated with these projects.
There were four quotes received for a street sweeper. Superior came in with the lowest bid of $259,666, with a delivery time of October 2022. Trew made the recommendation to award the tender to Superior for the amount listed.
Back and forth discussion was had in the room on the street sweeper and the costs associated with using it and making sure that its potential is maximized. After some points made by Councillors Grotheim, Bruce, Stephenson and McLeod on the matter, Councillor McLeod made the motion to move forward on the bid at the cost of $259,666, which was carried, but opposed by Councillors Grotheim and Husband.
