Clive village saw 31 properties with tax bills that were not paid by the Dec. 31 deadline. The report was made at the Jan. 9 regular meeting of council.
The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Carla Kenney stated penalties in the amount of $9,297 were therefore applied to those tax rolls. “This compares to 27 properties and $11,846 in 2022 and 32 properties and $11,680 in 2021,” stated Kenney’s report to council.
She also noted that as of Dec. 15, 2022 there was $8,099.98 of outstanding utilities owing to the village from 14 properties which was transferred to property tax rolls.
“This compares to 21 properties and $9,085.42 in 2021 and 21 properties and $8,963.50 in 2020,” stated the report to council.
It was also noted that the village sent out its December utility billing the first week of January and no metering or consumption issues were detected.
Concerned resident
The CAO reported she had received an in-person complaint about several issues, including that taxes are high in Clive, cost of living is high in Clive, water pressure in the residential areas is too low and that the village can’t afford to build a dog park or a splash park.
Kenney stated she discussed the two park ideas with the resident and it turned out the resident thought that council had approved the projects when the resident read that the reports were “accepted as information.”
Kenney explained that accepting for information simply means the council read the report and filed it away and assured the resident the parks were not approved by council.
Development permits
Kenney reported the village recently received two development permit applications, one for a home occupation business on 48th Ave. which will be forwarded to the MPC and a permit for a home occupation business on 47th Street.
Sewer lift station
Kenney reported the sewer lift station’s backup pump and mechanical float system is operating effectively and the replacement pump is scheduled to be installed Jan. 16.
Water commission
Kenney reported the Hwy. #12/21 Water Commission recently called a closed session meeting, hence she could not speak in the open council meeting about what happened there.
However, she did report on the commission’s efforts to complete the Village of Clive tie-in, noting ongoing delays. The CAO added the commission is planning for a spring, 2023 tie-in.
Bylaw report
Councillors read the quarterly report of Community Peace Officer (CPO) Mark Sproule, who noted he focused on community safety and traffic issues. He added that five tickets were issued for the third quarter of 2022 along with 18 warnings.
Sproule also noted a railway safety course was offered to kids at Clive School.
Mayor Lucy Henry noted she was happy to see far more warnings than tickets issued as village council prefers education to enforcement.
Fees bylaw
Councillors unanimously passed all readings needed to bring the new rates and fees bylaw into effect. It was noted at the meeting that increases to utility fees were included in the new bylaw.
Mechanical disruption
As councillors read the Blackfalds RCMP detachment weekly news they noted that police had to deal with a mechanical problem on Dec. 18.
“A 911 call was received that a snowmobile blew up on the street,” stated the police report.
“Police, fire and EMS attended. One male received burns to his legs and was transported to hospital.”
Crime rate dropping?
Councillors also perused the RCMP crime statistics for the Blackfalds detachment area, and it was noted in a summary that from Jan. 2022 to Dec. 2022 there had been 44 fewer persons crimes, 149 fewer property crime offences and 237 fewer total Criminal Code offences than over the same period in 2021.
Stu Salkeld
Local Journalism Initiative reporter
ECA Review
