Stirling town council briefs

Posted on March 13, 2023 by admin

By Kenyon Stronski

Westwind Weekly News

The following are selected briefs from the Feb. 15 regular meeting of Stirling town council. 

Public Hearing for Proposed Bylaw 532-23 and 533-23:

A public hearing for Bylaw’s 532-23 and 533-23 was scheduled for 7:02 p.m. just before the regular council meeting on Feb. 15. The two bylaw’s are Land Use Bylaw Amendments and nobody was registered to speak for either public hearing and there were no written submissions. Bronnie Brunner, Senior Planner for the Oldman River Regional Services Commission spoke at the public hearings to give some information on both bylaws, however nobody from the gallery wished to speak for or against the bylaw. 

Items for Discussion:

As both public hearings went by with nobody against either Land Use Bylaw, both Bylaw 532-23 and Bylaw 533-23 passed their second and third readings and were motioned into effect at the council meeting. 

A delegation arrived at council where Delbert Birky wished to ask for approval in a proposed rural water connection at SE 23-6-20 West of the 4. The project is currently pending engineer evaluation with cost and administration has been directed to prepare the necessary contracts including the Rural Water User Agreement. Administration was also directed to follow up contact with the related parties pending the outcome of the engineer evaluation and to come up with a rural water user policy to bring back to council at a later date. 

A year-end review for 2022 was presented by the Director of Operations for Stirling however no information was attached to the minutes. 

Council Committee Meeting Reports:

Mayor Trevor Lewington attended the monthly Mayors and Reeves meeting occurring on Feb. 3 and noted he was briefly able to meet with Deputy Premier and Minister of Infrastructure, Nathan Neudorf as well as MLA Grant Hunter to chat with them regarding Stirling’s Alberta Water and WasteWater Program Application. 

Lewington also met with the North American Director of Hoymiles Energy to inquire about some opportunities related to renewable energy sources in Stirling. In addition he also exchanged some correspondence with organizers of Eco-Solar Home Tour 2023 to add Stirling to the tour route as a business development opportunity. This opportunity relates to Ridge Utilities opportunity for Stirling to be profiled as a community to show it’s a great place to live. The event is slated to take place on Saturday, June 17. 

Deputy Mayor Larry Nilsson only reported on the Stirling medical clinic. 

Coun. Gary Bikman attended the first instance of a day-long Chief Mountain Regional Solid Waste Services Commission strategic planning session. The session’s are being held in Magrath and are prior to the regularly scheduled monthly board meeting. Bikman noted the session was extremely productive and should help in ensuring all the surrounding communities are on the same page when it comes to focussing on the needs of their communities. Additionally, the board meeting included a candid discussion of the Four Mayors letter and there was general agreement with all of the points set forward. 

Bikman also attended the joint use meeting in Cardston with CAO’s from Raymond, Magrath, Cardston and the various counties associated with the area. It was said mutual benefits were acknowledged at the meeting and are being incorporated into the final agreement that will be set forward. 

Coun. Matthew Foss had nothing to report.