The town council of Outlook met for a regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, June 9.聽 Present was all of Council: Bob Stephenson, Kyle McLeod, Ryan Husband, Sharon Bruce, Kevin Grotheim, and Justin Turton, as well as Mayor Maureen Weiterman, Administrator Kevin Trew, and Assistant Administrator Rachel Sillers.
After a brief technical hiccup, the meeting was broadcast on the Town of Outlook Facebook page.
Bylaws
Draft Bylaw - Animal Control - It was time to renew and replace the old bylaw.聽 Recommendation was to hold the first reading.聽 It was said that the Town may look into staging a temporary kennel-like area for roaming pets that may be found in the community.聽 It was mentioned by Trew that the Town has been dealing with one particular pet owner with a vicious dog, in which there have been three calls in approximately the last eight months.聽 The owner, Trew said, "simply doesn't care".聽 A motion was made and carried to hold the first reading of the bylaw.
Reports of Administration, Staff and/or Committees Requiring Decision
A Committee of the Whole meeting pertaining to discussion on the town budget was held, and it was said there was some "great work" done on the 2021 budget, Trew said.聽 At the June 23 council meeting, it's expected that there will be substantial discussion on the numbers.聽 Trew said they're looking at running a surplus of $100,000 for 2021 and looking at some hefty projects.聽 It was said there would be an increase in property taxes, but exact numbers and data would be available at the next council meeting.
Unfinished Business
Maternity, Parental, Compassionate Care and Caregiver Leaves Supplement 鈥� Council asked for administration to prepare policy reflecting a top up of EI for leaves to approximately 55% of gross salary with provisions of returning to work following leaves as well as employees not on probation and long serving for the Town of Outlook.聽 A policy that is not passed is currently 小蓝视频 worked on to present to Council at the next meeting on June 23.
Pest Control Officer Update - This topic had to do with firing a weapon in town to be rid of pest animals.聽 Council read from a list of animals.聽 The permit authorizes the official names who have been authorized to perform such tasks.聽 Deer are not on the list of pest animals, though their presence is most definitely felt in town, particularly during these summer months.
Recreation Report
Prepared by Megan Anthony
1. RecPlex: The Recreation Staff have been busy working outside for the last few weeks.聽 They are maintaining grass cutting and ball diamond maintenance all while marking and planting some new trees. They have been a big help with certain things such as the new First Aid building, landscaping and step building at the pool. The kitchen renovation is coming along, Merit Plumbing and Heating will be in to install the sink within the next few weeks but has a deadline to complete as of June 30th. The cabinets will be ordered this week and installed by our recreation staff as soon as the sink is installed. After that, it is a matter of putting things back in the kitchen and we are good to go for next season.
2. Swimming Pool: We have had a few things come up since we have opened, two of our boilers broke down so we had to replace two circ pumps. Rafoss Plumbing and Heating resolved that issue within a week at the best price he could find. Our Tiger Shark (pool vacuum) is damaged from previous year. It is wear and tear but also some user errors. We are going to get Warren Bender (electrician) to fix the cord as buying a new cord would cost $400.00 and I do not think we need to go that route yet. Other than that, we have had some minor hiccups but we are resolving all issues as quickly as possible.
3. Communities in Bloom: We picked up the flowers on May 31st and the volunteer committee came and grabbed their flowers June 1st! Some of the flowers are already planted but due to Alanna 小蓝视频 in a First Aid course, she will not be able to plant the rest until Thursday June 3rd. We are watering the plants in the RecPlex daily until they go out into the planters.
Public Works Report
Prepared by Luke Lockhart
罢谤补苍蝉辫辞谤迟补迟颈辞苍:听
- Sidewalk inspections are close to 小蓝视频 complete; tripping hazards are 小蓝视频 marked with orange paint as we go, we will be looking at bringing back Safe Sidewalks Canada next year to deal with these as they will only come out if there is enough work to warrant. Other areas of concern are 小蓝视频 documented and prioritized for fixing, replacing, or recovering.聽
- Gravel road sections that did not have calcium applied have been graded again, and we will keep up regularly on those sections; the areas that received calcium treatment will not be graded until necessary as disturbing the calcium greatly reduces its effectiveness for dust control.聽
- We are hoping to get going on our asphalt patching in the near future; as well as any approved recapping, and or resurfacing of streets.聽
Utilities:
- All systems are currently operating as they should; river levels have been lower, but not to low to cause us any issues to date. We did have some issues with flow control leaving the filters at the water plant; however our staff has been able to remedy it.聽
- Brunners still have 3 sanitary sewer connections to replace from previous inspections; we have been contacted on 2 others for inspection. I will be hearing from them today with a schedule of when they will be here to do the previous 3, and we will be inspecting the others when we can line up time with the property owners.聽
Environmental Health:
- The landfill compactor has been delivered to KALM for the repairs needed on the brake and hydraulic systems, we are hoping to have it back in operation by the end of this week.聽
- Update for the new development at the landfill; building renos are continuing, the majority of electrical work is complete with just a few odds and ends left; plumbing is expected to start next week; and the scale has been setup, calibrated, and is ready to be put into service. We are also looking into some software solutions for the scale that will assist in proper, detailed record keeping for the landfill.聽
General Public Works:
- Compost pickup has been steadily increasing throughout town; we would like to remind residents to keep compost separate from branch piles, or any other form of waste.聽
- We completed our first of the year town wide branch pickup, there was lots, but the guys did a great job.聽
- Mowing is in full swing now, so far we have managed very well to keep ahead of the game, our big finishing mower is in getting some work on driveshafts, and u joints but should be back in service later this week.聽
- Our department has been tasked with 鈥渃leaning up鈥� the yard at the 鈥淨uadra鈥� building; tree removal, yard maintenance, etc, and will be working at it as time permits over the next few weeks.
Assistant Administrator Report
Prepared by Rachel Sillers
Administration Items
The Tax Enforcement List for 2021 has been sent to Taxervice for processing. We allowed for a few extra days grace at the end of May for payment, and from the original 26 properties with arrears equal to half or more of the previous year鈥檚 levy, we collected from 5. The remaining 21 properties will now be advertised and proceed to have liens registered where applicable.聽
The Office Staff have made an 8-week recycling tips series to be posted on Facebook and our website, to encourage responsible recycling and spread the word about the various recycling streams offered by the Town.聽
Administration, in coordination with Public Works, have setup an after-hours call line utilizing our existing Sasktel phone system. The new feature allows callers to either leave a message for Administration for non-urgent matters, or to press a button to be directed to our on-call PW employee if the matter is urgent. We are going to use June as a trail period and then proceed to advertise the new feature to the public for use.聽
Enrollment for the Connect by All-Net program has tapered off significantly. As this was a service requested by the public we had hoped for a larger engagement, however we only have 227 people registered to date.聽
The 2021 Assessment Roll is scheduled to close at 4:00p.m. on Thursday, June 3rd. To date we have received two appeals which are currently at SAMA for review. Both are likely to be settled by an agreement to adjust.聽
Past due utility account tags were hand delivered to 33 properties as of May 27th, of the original 33, 5 properties were tagged for service disconnection on June 2nd.聽
We are continuing to cross train the Office Clerk positions to ensure we have adequate backup, and to be able to offer more consistent services to our residents. In the month of June, we鈥檒l be focusing on cross training for accounts receivable and payroll.聽
General Meeting Notes
Mid Sask has notified the Town of Outlook that they will be vacating the building known as the Quaddra Building, owned by the Town of Outlook, effective July 31, 2021.聽 The Town hopes to sign short term leases with the current sublessors until such time as the building is sold or the Town renovates the building in 2022.聽 Mid Sask notified the Town that they will be relocating to an office space in the Town of Outlook, however, it is not currently known where that space will be located.
