Monday marked the first municipal services committee meeting for the new North Battleford city council term.
The meeting, chaired by Councillor Ray Fox and including all members of council, was largely routine in nature and also relatively short, about 40 minutes. Still, there were some items of interest that emerged from the meeting.
One item was the continued good numbers in building permits in the city. In October, nine permits were issued for a permit value of $987,500, compared to 15 for $255,750 for the same month in 2011.
Boosting the permit numbers were two new dwelling permits for $425,000 and one duplex for $240,000. There was also one industrial alteration for $242,500.
For the year through October, 114 building permits have been issued for $42,236,400.
Deputy Fire Chief Brian Wilson was on hand to provide the fire and bylaw activities report for October.
While October was a busy month for North Battleford Fire and Emergency Services due to Fire Prevention Week activities, it was relatively quiet otherwise. Wilson told the committee the emergency response was at an 18-month low for October 2012.
There were a total of 25 responses in the city, plus an additional two more in the RM in October. That's down from 53 for the same month in 2011.
One more item of interest was passage of a recommendation to appoint the executive director of the Battlefords United Way to the Grant Review Committee as a member at large.
That passed unanimously, which means the recommendation will now be presented to the full city council for final approval next week.
