The provincial government has given municipalities a fore warning that there may be changes to the way they charge communities for policing.
Under the current model, municipalities with up to 15,000 people are responsible for paying 70 per cent of contact costs for RCMP, while those with a population over cover 90 per cent.
Communities and rural areas with less than 5,000 residents aren't required to pay.
During their meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 11, MD of Bonnyville Reeve Greg Sawchuk informed council of a possible change to this funding policy that would see all municipalities assist with covering policing costs.
He stressed, "This is still in the informative stage, they’re wanting to consult with counties, which this was mainly aimed at."
"The initial scribblings that I did, or at least my calculations anyways, had an annual cost coming to the MD of anywhere from $800,000 to $900,000 per year up to an excess of $3-million per year,” Sawchuk continued.
The amount municipalities will be required to pay will be based partially on their assessment.
"In our case, where we do have a fairly good assessment, it puts us up there for having to pay a higher cost," explained Sawchuk. "The two modifiers will be the crime severity index and shadow population, both of those account for a maximum of a five per cent change per item."
Council felt if they were going to be paying for RCMP they should be spending more time on their roads and in their communities, and agreed to send a letter with their remarks to the province.
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MD to provide input on caribou conservation plan
The MD received a letter from Cold Lake First Nations about providing input on the caribou conservation plan.
“In this letter, they’re in the midst of developing an agreement with Environment and Climate Change Canada under section 11 of the Species at Risk Act,” detailed Matt Janz, general manager of environment and protective services. “What this entails is they’re creating a management and conservation plan with the federal government on how to help the caribou.”
Although most of the area impacted is on the Air Weapons Range, there is a small area near the Marie Lake basin.
“With this, they’re asking if the MD of Bonnyville would like to participate in any of the discussion around the caribou conservation plan,” he said. “In their letter to us, they say they want to strike a balance between economic and conservation, so still having those caribou there while understanding there are still areas for energy sectors to do some oil drilling and keep those wheels rolling."
Sawchuk felt it was important council have their voice heard about the issue.
“I took part in the initial (discussion), a year ago or so… where the federal government was in and they were presenting (the plan). The initial area they showed it affecting was huge, and what they were originally proposing in regards to what they considered a safety corridor, when those were increased to the size they were planning, that would basically mean no development would take place north of Marie Lake, there would have just been slivers of land available for development, all just to have these species protected,” he stated.
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Adventure park delayed, waiting on federal funding approval
The Kinosoo Outdoor Adventure Park has been delayed until the MD gets news from the federal government that their $800,000 Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) application has been approved.
At this point, general manager of planning and development Caroline Palmer said, it's looking as though the project won't be finished until 2021.
CAO Luc Mercier explained, “All we’re saying to council is that this $800,00 that we’ve committed as revenue for this project is going to hold us up. There was some discussion of potentially paying for it all ourselves, but the issue is… any work we do beforehand risks us getting the grant at all because they won’t allow us to start before.”
More to come.
MD passes road map
The MD of Bonnyville now has a better idea of the direction they're headed when it comes to their roads, after their general manager of infrastructure services, Abid Malik, presented council with a road classification map.
After discussing the map at previous meetings and pinpointing which roads should fall under one of the five categories, the MD passed the map that defines what roads will be maintained at certain standards.
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Glendon suffering from drainage issues
The Village of Glendon reached out to the MD about drainage problems they've been facing.
In a letter to council, Glendon CAO Melody Kwiatkowski outlines ongoing concerns the village has had in relation to drainage, which they believed is directly linked to run-off water flowing through the community from the MD of Bonnyville.
The MD agreed to look into the problem and report back to council on their findings.
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Council hears concerns from residents regarding education tax
"We're getting a number of comments from taxpayers in relation to the education portion of their taxes. They've noticed an increase in those, and we've seen it at the front desk where some of our folks are being beaten up a little bit on this one," described Sawchuk. "We would like, if possible in the future, to have a separate sheet that would at least give the contact information for the school boards and then they can answer those questions instead of our staff having to answer them in regards to the education portion of their taxes."
Contract awarded for Fort Kent and Ardmore lagoon repairs
After some discussion, council voted to award the Fort Kent and Ardmore lagoon repair projects to Double D Contracting at a cost of over $700,400.
The lagoons require repairs due to ongoing issues with the liners ballooning since the construction of storage ponds in 2009.
The MD allocated $40,000 for an engineering investigation into the problem, and an additional $340,000 for repairs for the Fort Kent repairs in 2019.
This means the project, which is now costing $934,000, faces a $554,000 shortfall, which council agreed to fund through unrestricted surplus.
Malik confirmed the work will be completed this fall.
Saddle Lake Lateral Loop Project underway
Council received an update on the Saddle Lake Lateral Loop Project, which will see natural gas delivered to communities in and around the MD of Bonnyville.
The TC Energy proposed 20-kilometre pipeline project is to connect natural gas production in Alberta and increase the delivery capability to the province's northeast areas, as well as northwest Saskatchewan. Parts of the route pass through the MD, which is why the company building the pipeline has been keeping in close contact with Palmer.
"We have reviewed the proposed area and have no current applications for subdivisions or development within the pipeline's proximity," she explained.
"This is an exciting project because it will provide natural gas for the area and there will be the ability to step up and provide gas to the area east of Cold Lake. It runs from south of Cherry Grove over to the Alexander area, and it's a 20-inch line. There's plenty of gas available," noted Sawchuk.
Campsites getting electricity
The MD has met with ATCO Electric about bringing power to campsites at Chicken Hill, Minnie Lake West, and Crane Lake East.
"They will be providing options such as overhead and underground requirements," Palmer outlined, adding the provider will also include costs.
Town halls could be making an appearance
"Why haven't we had town halls for the past three or four years?" asked Coun. Dana Swigart, who has wanted to bring them back as a way of communicating with residents.
Council will be bringing the topic back to the table for further discussion.
