It was a fairly routine final council meeting of 2010 for members of North Battleford's city council Dec. 13.
The main highlight of the night was the City's adoption of the 2011 Water, Sanitary Sewer and Sanitation Budget, calling for a 4.3 per cent monthly increase. As well, two bylaws instituting the new water and sewer rates were approved.
But there were numerous items on the agenda that evening. One was a delegation from the Battlefords Early Childhood Community Planning Network, which presented information on the importance of early childhood development. Karen Weran and Jane Ziekle asked council to put pressure on the province to establish effective programming for early childhood.
They quoted a study that indicated the children in the Battlefords are behind their Canadian peers in four out of five important areas of child development. Weran and Zielke said resource poverty and time poverty are factors - and that children from all backgrounds, not just poverty-stricken ones, are impacted.
Another issue raised during the announcements and inquiries portion of council was future plans for traffic control and safety at the intersection at Territorial Drive going into the Sobeys location.
The intersection is already well known by councillors for its high traffic, in part due to the popularity of the Tim Hortons location there. Traffic counts released by the City several months ago indicated a spike in traffic there after Tim Hortons was built.
City Manager Jim Toye indicated the city plans to present traffic statistics to involved business owners who must agree to expedite the installation of traffic signals or another entrance/exit.
Reports indicated 136 utility accounts from 2009, totaling $31,544, will be written off as directed by the Outstanding Utility Accounts Policy.
As well, some fee increases are coming in the New Year. As of Jan. 1, tax certificate fees go from $20 to $25 and the NSF charges go from $10 to $20.
Various increases are also coming for administrative costs for tax enforcement, with administration requesting the Tax Enforcement Administrative Cost Recovery Policy be amended.
New business permit and business license fees were also approved by council, with an increase coming in those two categories as well.
Building permit fees are set at $5 per $1,000 of construction value up to $100,000 and $4.50 per $1,000 of construction value over $1,000. The minimum permit fee is set at $60. The fee would be doubled for proceeding without a building permit.
The proposed increase for building licences is five per cent and would raise an additional $7,500 of revenue.
In other new business, council awarded the engineering services contract to AECOM of Saskatoon, who has been contracted to provide engineering services until 2013. AECOM has been providing consulting engineering to North Battleford since 2001.
Eight organizations throughout the Battlefords were recommended for $22,000 in funding by the Grant Review Committee. The eight organizations are Battlefords Boys and Girls Club ($51169.33), Battlefords Citizens on Patrol (increase in advertising), Battlefords District Food and Resource Centre ($5,000), Battle River Archers ($835), Catholic Family Services ($2,500), Girl Guides of Canada ($1,700), NB City Kinsmen Band ($2,000) and NB Golf and Country Club ($1,500).
Finally, council also approved the meeting dates for their 2011 council schedule. The next regular council meeting is set for Jan. 10.
