- Marilyn Kirk brings snow removal issues to Pincher Creek Town Council (link)
- Traffic taming requested by citizen at Town council (link)
- Insurance and sewage woes for local businesswoman
- Rotary Club tells Town council of plans for new performing arts theatre
- SASG facility upgrades costs discussed
- Town Council to host Best of the West pancake breakfast
- Council to meet with MLA Pat Stier
Council for the Town of Pincher Creek met on the evening of March 24, 2014. In attendance were Mayor Don Anderberg and Councillors Adrian Hartman, Mark Barber, Lorne Jackson, and Doug Thornton. CAO Laurie Wilgosh and Recreation Director Diane Burt-Stuckey were also in attendance. Councillors Wayne Elliott and Tammy Rubbelke were absent due to being at Assessment Review Board training courses on behalf of the Town of Pincher Creek.
- Insurance and sewage woes for local businesswoman
Celestial Sweets owner Celeste Fouillard met with Town Council on March 2014. She suffered a sewage back up on October 28, 2013. "The back up, nobody seems to know what cause it. My line has been checked, and it's apparently fine. I have insurance for water back up, but not sewer back up, so I'm sitting with no coverage for what has happened."
"My costs are pretty high, I had to replace pretty much everything. and I had finished about a $150,000.00 reno." The recent renovations were finished before the backup incident happened.
"Everything's been cleaned up, and we're back on." In addition to physical damage, she says that she has suffered as a business. "My staff lost time, I lost sales. It's quite a hardship."
"I guess I'm looking for some help, somehow," Foullard says that she had to spend $32,000.00 because of the situation.
A few of the councilors asked for clarification regarding her insurance. Discussing sewer back up coverage that is usually automatic in a residential property Fouillard answered, "On commercial property, it's not. I wasn't aware of that. I said to my broker that I should have been aware, he should have asked me, or said are you interested... Who doesn't have sewer backup? He said that pretty much commercial buildings they don't have sewer back up, because the deductible is too high."
- Rotary Club rep tells Town council of plans for new performing arts theatre
Initial costs when Rotary looked into this a year ago were between 5-10 million dollars for a stand alone theatre.
The St. Michael's School has recently been awarded money to modernize the school. Korbett saw this as an opportunity to add a proposed CPAC to the site. He has met with representatives of the school board about entering into a partnership agreement. The Holy Spirit cannot use any of the funding for the remolding on this project. The footprint of the two facilities will be adjacent to each other.
"We have some deadlines, which create urgency, which also makes things happen. Their (Holy Spirit) request is to actually be able to use this as of September of 2016." According to Korbett this is when the school modernization is to be completed. Architects are being met with regarding the school within the next week.
"We have some deadlines, which create urgency, which also makes things happen. Their (Holy Spirit) request is to actually be able to use this as of September of 2016." According to Korbett this is when the school modernization is to be completed. Architects are being met with regarding the school within the next week.
"That's why I'm here, today. I am starting to get this word out," said Korbett. "I've seen this community raise money. I have seen it happen, I know it's here. I know we can find a way. We are looking for support. The school division is looking for us to sign a partnership statement up front, so they can help us with the planning process, and make it happen. A joint use agreement contract would be in place, opening it up to the community."
"Rotary is putting ourselves out in front of the community. We need to get in front of every service club, every user group, anybody that can contribute to this, anybody who can use it. Oftentimes, when you put urgency to a project like this, in my life, when there's urgency it seems to get done quicker. It's a little bit urgent, but it's a positive thing. This is a community project, it needs community support, community buy in, community fundraising, the whole works."
"Who will use it? Everybody. I have a hard time finding any group that could never use it." Korbett listed that as well as being an entertainment venue it can be used for speakers forums, meetings, conferences and conventions.
Korbett sees that one venue that may be impacted would be the Community Hall. "However, this is not a dance floor, and there is no kitchen in it. It's not redundant, It's different. The last thing we want to do is make something obsolete in Pincher Creek, by putting up something new. It will add more to the community value than it will take away."
"We are seeing positives, and opportunities. I'm biased, that's okay. We do need to talk to everybody in the community about this project, that's why I'm here. We are very preliminary in the whole organization of it, but I would be happy to answer questions.
"It's up to us to make sure, right now, we don't leave anybody out. If there is a nay-sayer, somebody with a negative comment, or a reason we shouldn't be doing this, we have a very short time period to find those people and hear them."
Councillor Lorne Jackson said he liked that it was in partnership with a school. "It's a building that sits vacant for so much of the year," responded Korbett. "We are not trying to make another tax burden, I'm a tax payer. It's the last thing we want to do. I don't know if you can tell I'm pretty excited about it, it's a pretty neat project."
Related Story: Rotary Club seeks support for new performing arts theatre in Pincher Creek
Town of Pincher Creek Parks and Recreation Department Director Diane Burt-Stuckey made a presentation to council. With Pincher Creek hosting the Southern Alberta Summer Games (SASG) in July of 2014, she was reporting on the need to upgrade many of the recreational facilities around the area.
The Recreation Department is asking that council approve up to $48,500.00 to upgrade facilities.
Councillor Lorne Jackson said he liked that it was in partnership with a school. "It's a building that sits vacant for so much of the year," responded Korbett. "We are not trying to make another tax burden, I'm a tax payer. It's the last thing we want to do. I don't know if you can tell I'm pretty excited about it, it's a pretty neat project."
Related Story: Rotary Club seeks support for new performing arts theatre in Pincher Creek
- SASG facility upgrades costs discussed
Town of Pincher Creek Parks and Recreation Department Director Diane Burt-Stuckey made a presentation to council. With Pincher Creek hosting the Southern Alberta Summer Games (SASG) in July of 2014, she was reporting on the need to upgrade many of the recreational facilities around the area.
The Recreation Department is asking that council approve up to $48,500.00 to upgrade facilities.
- Track lining: $6,500.00
- Lions Ball Park dugouts: $16,000.00
- Diamond Shale: $11,000.00
- Beach Volleyball upgrade and temporary court: $15,000.00
"When we accepted the 2014 budget (in 2012) we hadn't had word on the games," explained Burt-Stuckey. She laid out the costs of upgrades and options to the council. She explained that almost everything on the list was for upgrades of existing facilities that would have to be accomplished within a few years time anyway.
The beach volleyball upgrade was presented with some options. "One question that she asked of council was, given the popularity pf beach volleyball at last year's SASG in Taber, does Pincher Creek want to have a second court and if they do, should it be made as a permanent structure? "We didn't know whether we should be putting in that amount of investment into it, should we make it a permanent court, or should we make it a temporary court?"
This was one of the considerations that Burt-Stuckey presented to council. She also said sand could be found in a different quality, reducing costs. "Shale is difficult to find in Alberta," she explained, saying Drumheller is one of the few places in the province that can provide it. "I want to do other inquiries about what other surfaces, because a lot of communities are using shale for both their infields and trail systems. Fortunately, we can use crushed limestone from the Pass for our trail systems." she said. "To be honest, we had a little bit of a stockpile of shale, but I don't think that anything's been added in years." Burt-Stuckey estimated that even after dressing the diamonds in town, a new order of shale should last another 5 years.
Trucking is another expense that has factored into the cost of the estimates. "It all adds up, when we put it together, but most of this is really maintenance items that should be done. It's an investment in those facilities."
One suggestion that came out of the discussion was that the Pincher Creek Golf Club uses sand, and maybe it could be bought early enough in the year that it could be used in the volleyball pits and then be reused by the golf club at a shared cost. She said that there was 232 tonnes, or 7 loads of sand, used in Raymond last year.
"Is this the list, in it's entirety, of everything you will need to run the games smoothly?" asked Councillor Adrian Hartman.
"This is the facility upgrade part," said Burt-Stuckey. She has a different budget for equipment, materials and supplies. "Donations and grants do affect the budget." She said she would like to see the facility upgrades done soon, as there is little time before the event is here, and even less time before our own citizens are using some of the facilities in question.
"As an update today, I did get confirmation that the Lion's Club is donating $1,500.00 toward the dugouts." Additionally she said that she has made a grant application to the Lethbridge Foundation.
"We do anticipate a 2013 surplus, so funding wouldn't necessarily come out of General Contingency (fund)," explained CAO Laurie Wilgosh. "It could be out of Surplus, if required."
Council approved up to $6,500.00 for running track lining, and authorized the summer games committee to pursue funding and in-kind donations from participating partners and other groups to help offset the costs of facility upgrades.
Stuckey is to meet with council again on April 14 to provide an update of the status of fundraising and upgrades.
Town Council voted unanimously to organize and co-host the 2014 Best of the West Weekend pancake breakfast on Sunday, June 15, 2014. Town and MD councils for Pincher Creek attend to serve the breakfast, and alternate every year between the two councils as to who organizes it. The year of 2014 is the Town councils turn. $800.00 have been set aside for this years breakfast. The Best of the West Weekend has previously been called Cowboy Poetry or The Gathering.
Livingstone Macleod MLA Pat Stier has requested a meeting with Council to discuss community concerns, and offered a number of dates that he was available.
A number of options were discussed, and administration was directed to work with Stier's office to find a date and time for the meeting.
The beach volleyball upgrade was presented with some options. "One question that she asked of council was, given the popularity pf beach volleyball at last year's SASG in Taber, does Pincher Creek want to have a second court and if they do, should it be made as a permanent structure? "We didn't know whether we should be putting in that amount of investment into it, should we make it a permanent court, or should we make it a temporary court?"
This was one of the considerations that Burt-Stuckey presented to council. She also said sand could be found in a different quality, reducing costs. "Shale is difficult to find in Alberta," she explained, saying Drumheller is one of the few places in the province that can provide it. "I want to do other inquiries about what other surfaces, because a lot of communities are using shale for both their infields and trail systems. Fortunately, we can use crushed limestone from the Pass for our trail systems." she said. "To be honest, we had a little bit of a stockpile of shale, but I don't think that anything's been added in years." Burt-Stuckey estimated that even after dressing the diamonds in town, a new order of shale should last another 5 years.
Trucking is another expense that has factored into the cost of the estimates. "It all adds up, when we put it together, but most of this is really maintenance items that should be done. It's an investment in those facilities."
One suggestion that came out of the discussion was that the Pincher Creek Golf Club uses sand, and maybe it could be bought early enough in the year that it could be used in the volleyball pits and then be reused by the golf club at a shared cost. She said that there was 232 tonnes, or 7 loads of sand, used in Raymond last year.
"Is this the list, in it's entirety, of everything you will need to run the games smoothly?" asked Councillor Adrian Hartman.
"This is the facility upgrade part," said Burt-Stuckey. She has a different budget for equipment, materials and supplies. "Donations and grants do affect the budget." She said she would like to see the facility upgrades done soon, as there is little time before the event is here, and even less time before our own citizens are using some of the facilities in question.
"As an update today, I did get confirmation that the Lion's Club is donating $1,500.00 toward the dugouts." Additionally she said that she has made a grant application to the Lethbridge Foundation.
"We do anticipate a 2013 surplus, so funding wouldn't necessarily come out of General Contingency (fund)," explained CAO Laurie Wilgosh. "It could be out of Surplus, if required."
Council approved up to $6,500.00 for running track lining, and authorized the summer games committee to pursue funding and in-kind donations from participating partners and other groups to help offset the costs of facility upgrades.
Stuckey is to meet with council again on April 14 to provide an update of the status of fundraising and upgrades.
- Town Council to host Best of the West pancake breakfast
Town Council voted unanimously to organize and co-host the 2014 Best of the West Weekend pancake breakfast on Sunday, June 15, 2014. Town and MD councils for Pincher Creek attend to serve the breakfast, and alternate every year between the two councils as to who organizes it. The year of 2014 is the Town councils turn. $800.00 have been set aside for this years breakfast. The Best of the West Weekend has previously been called Cowboy Poetry or The Gathering.
- Council to meet with Pat Stier
Livingstone Macleod MLA Pat Stier has requested a meeting with Council to discuss community concerns, and offered a number of dates that he was available.
A number of options were discussed, and administration was directed to work with Stier's office to find a date and time for the meeting.
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