Stirling town council briefs

Posted on February 9, 2023 by admin

By Kenyon Stronski
Westwind Weekly News

The following are selected briefs from the Jan. 18 regular meeting of Stirling town council. 

Proposed Bylaw 529-22:

Following the passing of its first reading at the Jan. 4 regular meeting of council, a public hearing was conducted for members of the public to either submit writings for or against the bylaw, or to speak for or against the bylaw. As nobody was registered to speak and no written submissions were received, Mayor Trevor Lewington called the public hearing to a close after a small overview of information from Bonnie Brunner, senior planner for the Oldman River Regional Services Commission (ORRSC). 

Recognitions:

Following the public hearings conclusion, council took some time to recognize people from the community. 

Stirling’s Director of Operations, Shane Still, was recognized for his work on enhancing cost savings on the Village’s pool project – this led to a larger portion of the project’s cost being shared by PrairiesCan through the Canada Community Revitalization Fund. Appreciation was also given to CAO Scott Donselaar and all the team members in the public works department for helping aid Lewington in hosting “Inside Education”. 

Inside Education was an involved project, with tours and activities taking place on Jan. 18 that showcased Stirling’s journey to net zero. It was confirmed that around 50 students and teachers from Grades 9-12 visited Stirling from St. Joseph’s in Lethbridge and the Piikani Nation’s Secondary High School. 

Donselaar was also recognized for working in conjunction with Fortis to help move Stirling from an interval to a cumulative metre at the lift station. The Village received a credit of $7,386 for all electrical expenses in 2022. Compared to a cost of $31,172 in 2017 at lower electrical rates, the Village is happy to report there’s around $40,000 that can be reinvested into operations annually.

Items for Discussion:

Robert Grbavac arrived as a delegation to discuss a rural water connection that would take place at SW 24 – 6 – 20 West. Currently the project is pending engineering evaluation with some cost implications, however it was carried for administration to prepare the necessary contracts. 

Some independent contractor agreements passed through council’s hands at the meeting, where it was approved to make some changes to the agreements. As amended, these agreements include the campground and reunion centre, administration office and community centre. Administration was further directed to notify the current contract holders of the tendering process and to begin the tendering as well as for administration to investigate the status and move forward for the waste transfer station agreement – however it is to be brought back to council for further discussion.

A year in review for the Fire Department was presented with it being carried for council to provide funds for a 2007 Spartan Rosenbauer Pumper truck to come from existing revenues. Donselaar was additionally instructed to work with the Fire Department and to bring back a strategic business plan for council’s review.