Council went into their Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting before entering their regular meeting on Thurs. March 5.
Council was introduced to Munisight Flagstaff Regional, a website coded with Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping used to help administrators, councillors and residents within Flagstaff County about important details within their community.
This system tracks complaints and finds complaint hotspots which will only be accessible to town administration and councillors but anyone is allowed to access the program as a guest where they can see a visual overview of their community from a bird’s eye view perspective.
When clicking on a specific home, it can show how much that resident pays in residential taxes on average as well as other information like development permits and land titles.
No one will be able to see how much that resident currently owes or does not owe for utilities and taxes.
Something as simple as a fire hydrant can be checked on.
Administration can view it and see how old the hydrant is, when it was installed, etc. as well as track all capital asset information when needed at a click of a button.
Council was encouraged to ‘play and look at it’ to get a feel for how the program works and how it may be helpful in the future when helping residents.
Incentives for lot sales
The Town of Forestburg hopes to attract new and already interested buyers into the area by having two different discount weeks for residential lots.
From March 16 – 27, buyers can see a 15 per cent drop in lots purchased within that time frame while March 28 to April 3 will have a 10 per cent reduction in price.
One person has already voiced interest in purchasing the land for house development.
This promotion runs in conjunction with the realtors who currently hold the listing and would be promoted in Camrose and within the region.
Emergency Draft agreement
Council hit the highlights of the Flagstaff Regional Emergency Draft Agreement, noting several issues and inconsistencies within the fine print.
“This is a terrible contract, I’ve done thousands,” said Coun. Fossen as she sifted through her copy of the pages filled with notes and highlights.
“Everything that comes up you will be hiring a lawyer for.”
Council came up with a few suggestions as well as clarity from Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Debra Moffat when it came to some of the clauses.
Comments are asked to be given back by March 31 so council made a motion to table the discussion to the next meeting to allow more time to go over the document.
FRACCA Grant denied
The Heisler Archery Club submitted an application for a Forestburg Recreation, Arts and Culture Grant (FRACCA), requesting a grant in the amount of $3,000.
Unfortunately, the application did not meet three requirements including the fact they are not based within the Village of Forestburg, no budget was submitted with the application, and the maximum grant available is only $1,000.
“I think it’s really hard to give to something that hasn’t really proved itself and it might just go out the window, we don’t know,” said Coun. Elaine Fossen.
“We could give this money to somebody who has been in the village and needs the money more than that.”
“They have also applied to the Flagstaff Recreation Board,” added Dep. Mayor Bob Coutts.
The FRACCA account currently has $2,000.
A motion to deny the request was carried.
Flagstaff Victim Services letter
Flagstaff Victim Services asked for a letter of support from Forestburg.
The letter is included in a funding application to the Victims of Crime Fund to assist with their programs in the region.
Council agreed to support unanimously.
This program provides essential services such as support, information, referrals and court preparation to victims of crime throughout the communities within Flagstaff County as well as the Village of Amisk.
Terri Huxley
ECA Review
