Director of Operations, Melissa Robbins advised town council that a 2018 capital expenditure of $350,000 was approved to remove sludge from lagoon cells A, B, C and D.
During the tender design, it was determined that the volumes of sludge in the existing cells was much higher than expected, making the budget amount not large enough to de-sludge more than one cell.
Tenders received to complete work for one cell was complete but the prices presented were all over budget so council decided to delay the expenditure to 2019.
The 2019 budget includes $300,000 to desludge Cell C and $350,000 to desludge the waste ponds at the Water Treatment Plant.
Four tenders were taken in but Taber Solids Control put in the lowest bid to do both projects for $527,600.95, approximately $122,400 under budget.
Engineering services were awarded to Tagish Engineering for up to $69,000.
Computer replacement
Tech giant, Microsoft has announced they will be phasing out Windows 7, a program that provides staff updates and security patches.
The computers will still be able to function but could have security risks as updates will no longer be provided.
The town’s current computer replacement schedule explains that all computers will be replaced every five years.
They have 12 computers with the program still on it but they were originally scheduled for replacement in 2020 and 2021.
Nine of them must be replaced in 2019 prior to the schedule while the other three will be purchased with the expenditures coming from the 2020 capital budget. Once Windows 7 is retired, the three remaining computers will not be used.
For budgeted purchases, the total reaches $39,646 while unexpected purchases including two monitors, a server hard drive crash and the nine computers with Windows 7 costs an extra $22,897.
Council approved the extra expenditures.
Since these computers will be replaced early, the schedule to originally have them replaced by 2021 will not come into effect, syncing up with the next replacement.
Housing Assessment proposal accepted
Back in April of this year, town council approved $10,000 to proceed with the County of Stettler Housing Authority partnership for a Request for Proposals for a housing assessment.
Request for Proposals were sent by invitation to seven consulting firms with a closing date of July 24, 2019.
Four proposals were sent back and an evaluation of them based on the housing assessment scope established by council and staff was completed by both the Town of Stettler and the County of Stettler Housing Authority administrations.
Altus Group Limited came in with a bid for $12,725 which council readily accepted as the town will provide half at $6,362.50 while the housing authority will provide the other half.
This assessment is designed to prioritize the identification of a variety of housing needs in the community.
The County of Stettler Housing Authority has budgeted $10,000 to have a seniors-focused Housing Needs Assessment completed in 2019 and had shown an interest in a partnership with the town to expand the scope of the assessment to an inclusive look at the housing continuum.
Rezoning for detached garage
The owner proposed to build a new accessory building in the form of a detached garage at 4409 – 47 Avenue.
The land they were proposing they use was designated as Land Use District DC4: Urban Reserve Direct Control which allows existing uses to remain while maintaining the long term plan to have this area transition into mixed commercial/industrial.
The existing single-family dwelling is located on the north end of the 1.39-acre parcel accessed from 47 Avenue, while the south end of the property accessing off of 46 Avenue is vacant and zoned Industrial.
Based on the existing use of residential, the eventual transition to industrial and the siting/location of the proposed accessory building, administration did not see any future conflicts with this detached garage.
Council approved the detached garage with standard rules in place like obtaining a building permit.
An 11-year-old bylaw states that all decisions pertaining to development must be directed to Council for approval.
The long range plan identified in the Municipal Development Plan for this area, in particular, was also labelled as industrial.
The general purpose of this district is to provide an area that is compatible with residential, commercial and industrial land uses with the long term plan to transition to commercial or industrial.
Terri Huxley
ECA Review
