The recent meeting of the Carlyle town council was visited by delegations from Bullee Consulting, the firm responsible for some recent infrastructure projects including the new water plant, and the Carlyle Detachment of the RCMP.
Bullee Consulting project engineer Lawrence Lukey visited council to deliver an updated status report on the water plant construction, as well as information regarding sewage systems and drainage basins.
The water plant was reported to be well under way, with the estimate of completion falling within the timeline demanded by the federal and provincial grants that make the project affordable by the town.
At present, the new reservoir is almost completed, a portion of the water plant demanded by new legislation that states the town must hold in reserve enough treated water to fulfill average daily consumption demands for more than a day.
Lukey reported that the floor, walls, and other below ground portions of the new reservoir are completed, and it is hoped the chamber will be roofed soon.
Once the roofing is complete, the task of constructing the building to hold the new equipment will begin.
For the sewer project the town has been contemplating, Lukey suggested that a single pump house, properly situated, would be more than sufficient to ensure proper flow of sewage to the lagoon.
In terms of lagoon expansion, Lukey informed council that any expansions would likely be expensive, but offered some ideas about how to pursue expanding the lagoon area at a minimal expense.
Reports on the further development of these projects will be given at future council meetings.
Attending the council meeting in the place of Staff Sergeant Phil Harrison was RCMP Corporal Kelly Guider.
Cpl. Guider attended council to deliver the quarterly report from the RCMP Detachment.
The quarterly report showed a total of 230 violations pursued by the RCMP over the period of the report, with crimes against property showing a growth relative to the year previous.
The same quarter one year ago also showed a total of 250 calls, but Guider pointed out that a seatbelt blitz that had been undertaken during the quarter one year previous had accounted for 21 of the cited violations.
Once those numbers had been factored into the report, the number from year to year showed almost no change.
Once Guider had completed his report, an open discussion with councillors followed, with the familiar issue of speed and traffic enforcement within town limits being discussed.
Several councillors expressed concern at speeding within the town, especially around the schools.
Guider informed the council that the RCMP would continue to provide what enforcement it could in those areas, and promised to look into other complaints raised by the councillors.
Guider pointed out that the Detachment was up to full strength, though one member is currently on light duties.
Once the delegations had completed their respective presentations, the discussions at the table moved through usual matters, until reaching the topic of messy yards.
A proposal was discussed that people who are to be cited from untidy premises should be contacted with a letter before receiving the town's form letter of demand which bears with it a threat of fiscal punishment, in terms of paying the town to have town employees clean the yard in question.
The feeling amongst some of the councillors was that receiving a threatening letter was not the ideal way for the town to pursue these issues, and that a softer approach would be preferable.
Discussions were mildly heated, as some councillors felt that a simple request sent before the demand letter would likely be better received by residents that are to be cited, while other councillors argued that in effect, the demand letter was the request, and adding a second letter on would likely just cause the problem to continue on for a longer period of time, especially with those individuals who would be disinclined to respond favourably to any form of request, demand or not.
The policy within the town for issuing citations for untidy property is based on receiving a public complaint about the property in questions.
