Nipawin council, not the public, will decide if fluoride should be added to the town’s drinking water.
They defeated a motion at their June 12 meeting to hold a referendum on Sept. 20 asking the public about the issue.
“Council meeting had been hearing from the public that they had elected people to make the decisions,” said Rennie Harper, Nipawin’s mayor, “so it was defeated to go to referendum five to one.”
Harper was the only council member to vote for a referendum.
The mayor said that when council votes on the fluoride question, the medical health officer will come and do a presentation.
“That would give, in my opinion, the public the chance to hear the information, since council is then going to make up their mind.”
Harper said she wasn’t sure when that vote would show up on the agenda.
Town finances audited
The town’s finances, Evergreen Centre, Business Improvement District and Twin Lakes Wellness Centre was examined by auditors.
“All of them were clear audits,” said Barry Elliott, the town’s administrator. “Everything’s good. The municipality’s in good financial shape.”
In 2016, the Evergreen earned almost $114,000 from food, liquor and catering sales, compared to around $129,000 the year before. Expenses were almost $234,000, compared to almost $123,000 the year before. The town injected $209,000 into the facility in 2016, compared to almost $88,000 in 2015.
Elliott said that with a new vendor in place and reforms done to how the Evergreen operates, he’s expecting better results in 2017.
All of the audits were approved by council except for the town’s. That was tabled to a future meeting, as there were some calculations the auditors had to do relating to transfers to reserves.
The audits are an annual event.
Arena parking lot to be repaved
The town will be repaving the parking lot in front of Centennial Arena.
Elliott said it was a project that needed the work, especially due to the new pool.
The tender was around $77,000.
Behaviour and security
The town is taking a stand towards those that are belligerent and abusive to their staff at their facilities.
Council passed a policy that gives town staff the ability to act if one of their patrons are acting poorly.
“It’s really just intended to have better control and more consistent control over poor behaviour,” Elliott said. “If patrons are swearing at the staff, misbehaving, unruly, whatever the case may be, we want the ability to attend to that.”
Belligerent patrons are also a reason why the town is looking at installing a security camera for the front office of the town hall.
Also approved is the installation of a keypad for the back door of the town hall and a security cage around the town’s servers.
