Showing ‘the signs of the time’, Coronation resident Titi Akindipe visited council via video conference to discuss the possibility of having chickens within the boundaries of the municipality.
She proposed they look at potentially pursuing a pilot project for a year to determine if having urban chickens would be beneficial to residents and determine what issues may arise from it.
“What is the story behind having eggs, whereas dogs bark and are loud?” said Akindipe.
Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Quinton Flint explained he has also done some extensive research on how other municipalities have approached the situation and what their bylaws are, saying that most are almost completely copied from others so he felt it wouldn’t be hard to track down a proper policy to extend the animal bylaw.
Council agreed with the majority saying it was a good idea and something that should be looked into but also done properly.
As seen in other communities, Akindipe pointed out that some require annual licenses for owning the birds, much like dogs and cats.
“I don’t think we’d be very popular if we allowed roosters,” said Mayor Mark Stannard
They directed the CAO to come back with a draft policy for the requirements of owning chickens in a municipality.
BREOC delegation
A second delegation on Mon. May 25 was made by Battle River Economic Opportunities Committee (BREOC) board chair George Glazier and Wayne Roberts.
The committee has asked for an additional $6,886 – a 8.7 per cent share of the costs for the program between all partners.
This payment is to build a reserve account to ensure that any shortfalls will be covered and to ensure that the BREOC programming is appropriately supported in the case of a funding shortage or if any grants don’t cover a portion of the program.
Glazier has sent out a request to all municipalities that are participants in the BREOC program, and the BREOC centres, to help provide a one-time support payment to the BREOC board.
Last year, Flagstaff County and the County of Paintearth were left with a large sum of in-eligible costs which they felt should be split between all parties using these services.
It was determined the counties would pay 35 per cent each while the 3C’s communities pay 8.7 per cent and the villages of Heisler and Halkirk pay two per cent each to make up any shortcomings that may be anticipated.
The board is not anticipating any deficit for the 2020 year and this additional funding will also support any projects not covered under the Western Diversification Grant.
Currently, the municipality has not contributed any dollar figures to the BREOC programming or board but after the meeting council chose to accept this dollar figure, sighting how these facilities benefit locally and regionally at a fair price.
“It’s a pretty cheap investment,” said Mayor Stannard. “It’s a small fee to pay for supporting businesses.”
When asked if this program overlaps with the Paintearth Economic Partnership Society (PEPS), the presenters explained that this program ‘enhances’ PEPS as BREOC can spend money within the region from the Western Diversification grant whereas they do not have access to it.
Anyone with a small business or even a potential idea is encouraged to work within the area and utilize the BREOC team as they are all business experts with specific skill sets to meet each clients needs.
“The big conversation is conversation,” said Glazier.
Glazier added that the centres are currently helping 10 businesses right now.
Swimming Pool Repairs
Administration has been informed of the necessary repairs for the swimming pool, needing a new chlorine regulator system as the old one was roughly 30 years old and well past its life expectancy.
The system that is in place right now has suffered significant damage to the internal parts due to the cold weather from this winter.
The damage to the chlorine regulator is beyond repair and will require a replacement system.
The pool cannot operate or open without this system in place as it is the system to keep the pool from going septic and controls the pool sanitization.
The recreation department will need to order this system, and they have two received quotes.
Council directed administration to ask and see if Automated Aquatics Canada Ltd. could install this by a certain deadline before accepting their lowest quote for $15,810.
Closed session
Council went into a closed session under the Municipal Government Act (MGA) FOIP third-party business interests from 6:45 p.m. to 7:25 p.m. before the regular meeting commenced.
No motions were made at that time.
Terri Huxley
ECA Review
