The Town of Bonnyville has approved their 2019 interim operating and capital budgets.
On Tuesday, Dec. 11, during their regular meeting, council accepted the budgets administration presented, after receiving public feedback at the open house last week.
The proposed capital budget included no tax increase, a decrease in funds for equipment replacement and lagoon dredging to reserves, and $287,805 transferred from general operating reserves.
CAO Mark Power noted that administration will bring any future capital purchases to council before making a decision, as they don't consider it concrete until the final budget is approved in 2019.
"As far as 2019 capital final projects, we'll wait until the final (budget) before we award, or we'll bring them before council for award prior to it," he explained.
Cost estimates for trail upgrades still weren't available, which administration hoped to have before the final budget.
Council amended the water, sewage, and waste utility bylaws to reflect the proposed 2.2 per cent increase.
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Town talks library relocation
After the library expressed an interest in potentially relocating to the C2, the Town of Bonnyville gave them the go ahead if they decide a move is in their best interest.
The C2 board submitted an estimate of the cost of relocating the library to the space previously occupied by Portage College. Council committed to assisting with the amount, should they decide to move.
The cost of relocating the library was estimated to be anywhere from $1.7-million to just over $2-million, though Power noted the cost is in square-metres while the space is in square-feet.
As the upgrade would be a considerable one for the C2, Power noted they reached out to ensure the funds were available.
"That's a rather significant expenditure that couldn't happen at the C2 without both the Town and MD of Bonnyville (putting) additional capital costs directly into the building," Power said.
Currently, there is $1.5-million in the 2019 capital budget that could be used toward the move.
According to Power, the money would be more than enough to cover 50 per cent of the project with the hope that the MD would cover the remainder.
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Council appoints member to fine arts society location committee
The Bonnyville and District Fine Arts Society invited a member of council to sit on their location committee, and Coun. Brian McEvoy volunteered for the position.
Coun. Rene Van Brabant was in favour of appointing a member to assist with the planning process.
"The further we delay it, the longer we won't have a fine arts (facility)," he expressed.
Coun. Chad Colbourne wondered if they should wait to appoint someone, because there currently isn't a plan in place regarding a fine arts facility.
He explained, "Can they not just bring that forward as a delegation... once they have a plan in place, and they're looking for funding? Then we can assist, and at that time, put a council member on there."
Mayor Gene Sobolewski noted having McEvoy on the committee allowed council to remain informed, and to be included in conversations about the plan.
Town sells portion of Vezeau Beach to MD
Council approved the sale of the wayside campsite at Vezeau Beach to the MD of Bonnyville for $1.
After being approached by the Lakeland Sports and Recreation Association about turning the land over to the MD, because they are willing and able to operate the campgrounds, council passed a motion to sell the property.
"The MD said they would be willing to, but they wanted to own the entire parcel. I think that's a fair trade-off, because we don't have the staff to run the campground or the knowledge to run it," detailed Power.
Previously, the Lakeland Sports and Recreation Association sold their parcel to the MD for the same price.
