MUNICIPAL DISTRICT BONNYVILLE NO. 87
COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS October 16 and 23, 2019
Keeping you informed of the services, business and development that affect YOU!
#1 Fire Hall Tenders Awarded – Council awarded the $4,798,000 tender for the Fort Kent Fire Hall and Ardmore Fire Hall/Grader Shop to RPC Group Inc. of Edmonton. The funding sources for the two new fire halls is the 2019 Infrastructure Budget of $1.5 million and the 2019 Fire Budget for $3.5 million.
#2 VSI Services Renewed – Council agreed to renew the Veterinary Services Incorporated (VSI) Program at a 50/50 cost share for the year The estimated cost of the 2020 program is $119,000. The program is designed to aide livestock producers and local veterinary services in the rural area. VSI encourages more use of vets to increase their practice, or to encourage other vets to work in the large animal field. Currently the program pays 50 percent of procedure fees, with no medications being paid for through the program. In 2019, 497 M.D. producers signed up for the program. The program covers producers of cattle, sheep, goats or pigs.
#3 Council Nixes False Alarm Bylaw – On October 16, Council agreed not to proceed with implementing a False Alarm Bylaw. Council directed Public Safety staff to continue to follow up with other options to reduce false alarms and to report back on the number of false alarms the M.D. Fire Halls are answering. Officers will meet with property owners to discuss alarm related concerns or issues. Staff will document the company servicing high frequency sites and make some comparisons to see if it’s an individual company issue, especially in cluster areas. Additional, detailed information is being gathered to study common reasons behind local false alarms. A public awareness campaign may be developed to reduce police responding to false alarm calls.
#4 Range Road 454 Erosion Control Contract Awarded – The Beaver River and Rge. Rd. 454 Drainage and Erosion Control Project tender was awarded to Prairie North Construction Ltd. of Acheson for $796,875. The engineering budget was approved on June 19. The contractors will be constructing a drainage ditch/gully and other erosion control works at the south bank of the Beaver River and Rge. Rd. 454. The work is to be completed before December 2019.
#5 Public Safety Quarterly Report – In the third quarter of 2019, from July to September, Provincial Written Warning tickets were up to 363 and Provincial Tickets increased to 333. Bylaw Warning tickets were up to 18 and Unsightly Property Notices were up as well to 17. The three most common Case Reports dealt with Regulatory Bylaws (110), Crime Prevention (53) and Provincial Statutes (52). Officers performed 95 Commercial Vehicle Inspections this quarter. When dealing with Commercial Vehicle Violations the most common infraction was an Overweight Truck. Ward 1 has the highest number of Speeding Tickets/Warnings at 190, with Ward 3 and Ward 6 coming in with 108 and 99 respectively. Officers made 456 Vacant Home Checks throughout the M.D. and did 877 Crime Prevention Patrols. Ongoing initiatives include: Heavy Users of Service (HUoS) Project; joint force operations with RCMP; Crime Survey; investigating the ability to text message alerts to public; as well as to receive text messages from the public; Rural Police Committee; Ladies Self Defense; School Resource Officer (SRO) Saddle Up Initiative and The Power Within Me Project and developing a Speed Limit/Regulatory Sign procedure.
#6 Council Organizational Appointments – Councillor Darcy Skarsen was appointed Deputy Reeve for six months until April and then Councillor Ed Duchesne will take over for the next six months until October 2020. The Council meeting day and time will remain every second and fourth Wednesday of the month, starting at 9:30 a.m. in Council Chambers. There were several seat changes on a few committees. The 2019-2020 Committee/Board listing can be found on the M.D. website at www.md.bonnyville.ab.ca.
#7 Briefly – Council appointed the M.D.’s Environmental Coordinator to LICA’s Integrated Watershed Management Plan Committee. Council amended Procurement Policy 2B.012 to remove “Request For Proposals” from the statement “The opening of tenders must be completed in a public setting and requires that at least two (2) directors or their respective designates be present during the opening”, as there is no requirement to have these opened in a public setting.
For more information, contact Diane Jenkinson, Marketing and Communications Manager at 780-826-3171. Our website is a useful way to get the information you need. Visit: www.md.bonnyville.ab.ca Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @MDBville.