Pincher Creek Town Council notes from January 27, 2014 meeting

Toni Lucas

• Water/sewer hook-up bill partially rescinded
• Cattle Drive mural to be repaired
• Pincher Creek to host 2014 Elected Officials Meeting
• Sidewalk snow removal a hot topic
• Landfill billing concern brought forward
• Alberta highway planning consultations underway
• North Hill and Castleview drainage and groundwater concerns
• Report notes

Council for the Town of Pincher Creek met on the evening of January 27, 2014. In attendance were Mayor Don Anderberg and Councillors Adrian Hartman, Wayne Elliott, Mark Barber, Tammy Rubbelke, Doug Thornton and Lorne Jackson. CAO Laurie Wilgosh was also in attendance.

Bill partially rescinded to homeowners Mike and Debbie Keehn

At the request of local homeowners Mike and Debbie Keehn the Town of Pincher Creek were to locate and hook up water and sewer lines to their property at Plan 5690S Lot 89.  It was up to the homeowners to pay the related costs for this endeavour.

Members of Council pored over information that depicted the chronological order of events that led to Mike and Debbie Keehn attending the regular Council of the Whole meeting on January 14, 2014 as a delegation. This information is a paper trail that has been in the making since March 31, 2011. The bill is currently invoiced at $3,788.64.

A third party contractor in this instance had a great deal of difficulty finding the existing 60 year-old services and dug up a large area of pavement to try and accomplish the task, pavement that had to be replaced. According to CAO Laurie Willgosh the bill for the paving came to $1,375 plus interest. It was later discovered that the hook-up for the new water and sewer lines were very close to the property. "They are not asking for the $3,788 back," said Mayor Don Anderberg. "It's that they didn't have to dig in the street to begin with. The services were at the curb."

Councillor Mark Barber made a motion to rescind the invoice from the Town of Pincher Creek for $1375.00 plus any interest that accrued.  The motion was carried.

Cattle Drive mural to be repaired

A large mural, "Cattle Drive",  located 1034 Bev McLachlin Drive was vandalized in 2012. The mural was originally painted by Penny Corradine of Wolf Pack Studios in Turner Valley. Wolf Pack Studios has quoted a cost of $992.50 to fix the mural. An additional quote of $2,835.00 was submitted for the cost of fixing the damage to the mural and putting a protective coating across the entire painting.

Councillor Lorne Jackson said that Communities in Bloom is creating a sub-committee to accrue the funds to put a protective coating on all the murals in the Town of Pincher Creek. Council agreed to support the bid of $992.50 from Wolf Pack Studios, and to inform Pincher Creek Chamber of Commerce and Communities in Bloom of this decision, and to see if the coating can be taken care of locally.

Pincher Creek to host 2014 Elected Officials Meeting

Involved districts and municipalities take turns hosting a regional Elected Officials Meeting. This includes the Regional District of East Kootenay, the District of Elkford, the District of Sparwood, the City of Fernie, the Municipality of  Crowsnest Pass, the Municipal District of Pincher Creek, and the Town of Pincher Creek.

 The Town of Pincher Creek has agreed to host the event in 2014.  It usually takes place in September.

A theme of 'The Crown of the Continent' was suggested by Councillor Doug Thornton, who identified that in Waterton there is a large Crown of the Continent Conference starting September 12. According to Thornton, finding a balance for land use issues is a concern for all of these municipalities. The Town may be able to get a speaker who is appearing at the conference to also speak at the Elected Officials meeting.

Administration was directed to schedule the meeting on September 11, 2014 and that a representative of the Crown of the Continent be invited to attend as a speaker.

Snow removal a hot topic

A citizen that has a property across from Huddlestun Senior Center on Main Street had an issue with snow and ice removal from the sidewalk in front of their property in late November 2013. The snow was cleared at the direction of the Town of Pincher Creek, resulting in a bill of approximately $200.00.

According to administration there were two complaints from citizens about that stretch of sidewalk on November 28, and bylaw officers assessed it as being un-kept and possibly dangerously icy. The Town of Pincher Creek tried to contact the owner both directly and by phone to make them aware of the situation, leaving a message about the situation. A third party contractor was hired to clear the portion of sidewalk and this was charged back to the owner. This took place well after the 48 hour grace period to clean sidewalks. According to administration there is no fee structure for the Town itself to charge residents for snow and ice removal from private residences, which is why they hire private contractors. 

Councillor Mark Barber said that with the large amount of snow removal the Town is responsible for Town workers are busy for days at a time after a major snowfall.

"Is that a fair thing to do, when they're not creating the traffic?" said Anderberg about the citizen having to clean their sidewalk. "There are other areas that are kind of high traffic, more public than private.  Sure it's the sidewalk in front of a house..." he said, then suggested having town maintenance look into the high traffic area private residences like the ones on Main Street. "Because of where they live, there's circumstances. I'm not sure that there's that many of them that we couldn't really look at them and find a way to help out."

Several councillors spoke against this suggestion. A few of their concerns were that it is the homeowners responsibility to clear the sidewalks, and where would the dividing line of the Towns responsibility end, and the possibility of commercial businesses making similar requests.

Council voted to accept the information.

Landfill billing structure concern brought forward

A citizen that owns several properties in the Pincher Creek area is upset in a change to the landfill billing structure that will no longer allow contractors to split loads but will instead be charged a commercial dumping fee.

The concern is that as the contractors will now be charged for the weight of their loads the expenses incurred will be passed along to the individuals using the contractors' services. Issues that were discussed by council included dumping fees for loads over 500 kg being the ratepayers' responsibility instead of the municipalities', splitting of loads, and the opportunity to opt out of garbage removal.

Previously a contractor could split the cost/weight of loads stating that it came from several residences. "If they are split into 500 kg increments it is billed back to the Town. So it's actually the Town that is paying for that commercial load to be dumped at the landfill," explained CAO Laurie Wilgosh.

Homeowners still pay a base rate and cannot opt out of town garbage removal even when they utilize a private service. Sewer and water was brought up as a town service that some residents do not pay. "About the sewer issue," CFO Wendy Catonio clarified, "Those residents don't have the ability to tie into our sewer at all. The service isn't there at all. But this one, the service is there, they are opting out of it."

Members of council requested that administration respond to the concerns.

North Hill and Castleview drainage and groundwater concerns to be examined

Drainage and groundwater issues for the North Hill and Castleview areas were discussed. The streets of Tumblweed and Thistle Crescent were specifically mentioned. According to Mayor Anderberg a number of houses in these areas have drainage issues and use sump pumps that drain out onto the pavement. Then the water pools and creates icing issues in the winter, stagnant water in the warm weather, and damage to the underlying pavement year round.

Council directed administration to investigate and come back with recommendations on how to rectify the drainage situation. 

Alberta highway planning consultations underway (click here for full story)

Report notes

Councillor Wayne Elliott said that the planning for a columbarium in the Pincher Creek Cemetery is progressing. A columbarium is a place for the respectful and usually public storage of cremated remains in cinerary urns. He encouraged the other councillors to celebrate Literacy Week occurring Monday January 27 - February 2.

Councillor Doug Thornton said he attended a meeting to look at plans for a new Crestview Lodge structure. "Both the Town and the MD have made funding commitments toward this," he explained.
 He said he is hopeful that the plan will be presented to the Minister of Municipal Affairs for a grant that Crestview has applied for twice recently but has been denied both times. "We have residents of our community living in 160 square foot rooms without their own bathroom."
Councillor Thornton also sits on the Emergency Services Committee.   He told council that the committee has authorized an order for a new ambulance.

Councillor Tammy Rubbelke reported she attended Castle Mountain media day as a representative of the Town of Pincher Creek, and attended a Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) meeting, and a meeting for Municipal Development and Subdivision Authority (MDSA).

Councillors Mark Barber, Adrian Hartman, Lorne Jackson, Tammy Rubbelke, and Doug Thornton all reported that they attended a Joint Council Meeting about the Emergency Services Commission. "We all put up our hands, we have a commitment from everyone at that meeting that they are in favour of the commission."

Mayor Anderberg reported that he went Daysland east of Camrose to attend and compete in the Elks and Royal Purple Provincial Curling Championship January 17 – 19. He also attended a MDSA meeting on the 21 of January.

Councillor Lorne Jackson said he attended a Communities in Bloom (CIB) meeting "where we heard an overview of CIB (Communities in Bloom) activities for the last quarter of 2013. This included the committee’s Light up the Park/Lebel Mansion initiative, the residential Christmas lights competition, and CIB’s involvement with the Holiday Train. John Hancock reported that there has been good interest in the Pinchers Mural project from private, and commercial supporters. Resultantly, a motion was passed to open a bank account to facilitate donations to the mural. We are more than thankful for the enthusiasm shown to date, and welcome any, and all other interested parties to contact John, or any other CIB member for more information. As with many of our volunteer organizations, the membership base unfortunately continues to age, and decline in number. This presents a challenge for the committee in covering all of the numerous projects and other community events that Communities in Bloom are involved with every year. I think at times people need to be reminded that CIB is more than just a spring and summer beautification program. Anyone interested in helping out in any way would be welcome to join this group."

Councillor Jackson also reported on a meeting of the Pincher Creek Foundation Board he attended with Councillor Thornton (see above).  " I am always amazed with the event calendar at Crestview. There is something interesting or fun for the residents there to do practically every day of the month, and Charmaine and the rest of the staff deserve a huge pat on the back for their efforts. The CAO’s report revealed that the lodge, as well as the community housing units have one of the lowest vacancy rates in quite some time. While this is good in some respects, it also brings to light the difficulty that some might have in finding adequate housing, especially young families in need. Several policies were reviewed and revamped, and other topics included defining Alternate Board Directors rights and responsibilities."

Councillor Jackson also attended a Joint Council EMS Commission meeting in the MD’s spacious new Administration Building. "I found that meeting to be much more fruitful than the first with the new councils, which I attribute to all of us being more up to speed with the agreement. Although there were some hard questions asked, and some of which require deeper discussion, all in all this is exactly the type of interaction we need to develop the policies and bylaws of the commission in the coming months."

Councillor Jackson reported on a Library Board meeting he attended. " At the meeting, the idea of some type of wall art for the children’s section was discussed, as well as the emergence of e-books as a growing request from library members. E-books are a bit of an enigma, while they do not take up shelf space, the virtual publishers that provide them to public libraries limit the number of lend times per purchase to 25. Many of these cost twenty-five dollars, representing a cost of $1.00 dollar per lend. While the library cannot charge a premium over and above the membership card fees already paid by patrons, other strategies to help offset this expense are being explored. It seems to be policy and bylaw revision time for everyone these days, as several of each were the last of the items on the agenda."

Councillor Jackson also attended a Regional Landfill Board meeting.  "Emile (Saindon) reported that although it was looking like the budgeted operating number for 2013 was going to fall slightly short, industrial waste tonnage from two unexpected sources in December put them right on target for the year. A problem in radio communication at the Landfill has necessitated the purchase of new digital Motorola handsets, and base. The current system is only a couple of years old, but higher waste cell heights have had the effect of cutting off the analog signal. While there is basically no trade in value for this old system, a purchaser is in the wings for it at close to two thirds new price. The board voted to approve a $1000.00 scholarship to a St Michael's student who will be entering a post-secondary environmental sciences program. Congratulations to Michael Roy. The concession trailer appears to have caught the interest of a good many groups and organizations already, and it looks as though it will be booked regularly through the spring to fall as word of mouth circulates. There was a proposal for the purchase of a new roll-off bin truck to be considered in the next budget."

In Camera

After the regular meeting council met in camera to discuss: Land: North Hill Development Highway access, Renovations: Repair and upgrades to Children's World Daycare Society, and an Offer to Purchase.