Chief Administrative officer (CAO) Sandra Kulyk proposed a 1.5 per cent cost of living pay increase for town employees at the Nov. 27 regular town council meeting as no pay increase was given last year and this number would be more in keeping with the Canadian average as outlined in the October, 2017 Consumer Price Index data.
“Lots of people aren’t getting them, most people don’t get them every year, it’s still pretty scary out there,” were some of the comments made by Coun. Jackie Brigley when discussing the pay increase with fellow councillors.
Coun. Keith Griffiths suggested a 1.3 percent increase instead be given and this motion was put to a vote and passed with all councillors being in favour except for Coun’s. Jackie Brigley and Vickey Horkoff who opposed the motion.
Animal Control Bylaw
The council has been taking time and careful consideration in reviewing and revising the existing Animal Control Bylaw as it is an important bylaw that needs to be specific and detailed in regards to licensing and regulation with respect to animals within the town.
A few distinctions in the bylaw are between dogs, nuisance dogs and restricted dogs, and the fines that will be levied against owners if these dogs display threatening behaviour, attack, or bite other animals or people.
The fines imposed will be considerably higher depending on the severity of the situation and the outcome of the harm caused.
A nuisance dog is one that has had three or more convictions in three years and has been declared a nuisance by the town manager.
A restricted dog is one that has chased, bitten or attacked any person or animal, has caused physical damage, has done this on more than one occasion and the town manager has determined that this dog is likely to cause harm again and it has been made the subject of an order under the Dangerous Dog Act.
A break down and analysis of the fine fee structure and how it can escalate would be as follows: the owner of a nuisance dog which chases, attacks /bites a person could be charged $300 and if it that nuisance dog chases/attacks/bites a person or animal causing physical injury or damage to property this would be a $700 fine.
A $1000 fine would be given if the nuisance dog caused severe injury to a person , animal, wildlife or livestock.
Interfering with a Peace Officer and providing false or misleading information to a Peace Officer or Town Manager could result in a $500 fine.
The first reading of the new bylaw has been accepted and the council will discuss it further at the next council meeting.
Communication upgrades needed
“Communications Group” out of Red Deer has been working with the Highway 12 Regional Emergency Communication Center to help evaluate the regional communication system and after doing a site inventory of the Coronation Water Tower they have noted that the building under the tower is in serious disrepair partly due to the fact the radio equipment is open to access by pigeons and they have made a huge mess.
“Our tower site, base of the water tower was identified to be in probably the worst condition of them all simply because the little shack at the base is not properly set up to keep birds out,” CAO Kulyk mentioned when reading some of the comments made by the Communications Group.
The Communications Group have made a comprehensive report detailing safety concerns with access to the equipment at the water tower . They feel it would be wise to choose a more suitable location.
Moving the antennas to either the TELUS tower or the Vital Networks tower is an option council will discuss further. This would be significantly less expensive rather than trying to fix the issues at the water tower and it would also provide better reception than is now being experienced.
Reconfiguring the existing mobile radio equipment so all firefighters along Hwy 12 can communicate more easily with each other is also something that council wants to pursue . When there are big storms and power outages like the county experienced on Oct. 2 – 4 of this year it is imperative that all first responders be able to contact each other immediately if emergencies arise.
Council will budget $10,000 to do the necessary upgrades to the radio system as well as purchasing an additional two mobile radios for the firefighters.
Lisa Bye
ECA Review
