North Battleford city council's deliberations on its operating/capital budget were supposed to take place this week, but at Monday's council meeting, it was announced that the meetings had been delayed for several weeks.
"The message is to get it right," Matthew Hartney, the City's director of finance explained after the council meeting. "We felt as an administration that given that we have a new council and many things to address, we shouldn't rush it. More time, more transparency, give our elected officials more time to speak with and understand the will of the public."
When the announcement was made of the new budget meeting dates, new councillor Cathy Richardson encouraged members of the public to come out to the two nights of public deliberations to offer their input.
The new schedule means that the draft budget will be distributed to the media Jan. 28, and public meetings will take place from 6 to 10 p.m. Jan. 30 and 31. Further deliberations, if required, will take place Feb. 2 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Also at the council meeting, Councillor Trent Houk received an answer to a question he had asked at the previous council meeting about the appeals process for yard cleanup. After the Killdeer fire last year that put several houses at risk, city bylaw officers implemented a program that ensures that a "safe perimeter" is established around the city to protect against fires.
Residents who do not mow their lawns, clean up their grass or remove other fire hazards from their property may be given an order by a bylaw officer to take care of the problem. Houk had asked about the appeal process after an order is given, and Brian Wilson, the City's deputy fire chief, specified that residents had 15 days to challenge the order.
City Manager Jim Toye also received a piece of correspondence from the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority that led to some discussion at the council meeting about the new changes to the province's liquor laws.
Councillor Greg Lightfoot summarized the opinion of council when he stated simply that "unless we get some feedback either way from either side, we just leave it alone."
Finally, councilors explained that there had been several residents contacting them interested in saving something from the old Kinsmen pool, which will soon be completely demolished. Though council had rejected the idea of saving large portions of the structure (like an arch), it agreed that bricks or other small parts of the structure could be saved.
