At Delia council’s latest regular meeting held on Mon. March 21, council met with Jeff Stehl who has been elected as Delia’s newest fire chief.
Stehl gave a brief update on the department as of late including that members are all working on completing their first aid as some are in need of a refresher course to be up to date.
After a rather strained relationship with the former chief, council and Stehl agreed to put their best foot forward by starting fresh and collaborating as much as possible.
“I’ll do my best to do it as well as I can,” said Stehl.
Although Stehl is appointed by the members of the department, council is still required to approve the new chief as well.
“Some members feel there is no place for council but it is legislated,” said Mayor David Sisley.
Stehl asked to have some form of recognition for a couple of veteran members who have served as volunteers for the past several years – one at least 30 years.
Coun. Jordan Elliott agreed to be in touch with Stehl as she has been asking for an updated list of members and their training/years active for some time.
Palliser visit
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Devin Diano and GIS Coordinator Cody Dale-McNair of Palliser Municipal Regional Services came to village chambers to re-introduce themselves and what Palliser is all about.
Palliser was formed in 1995 as a formal regional agency but its original origins date back to the early 80s.
The multi-purpose non-profit organization provides services such as bylaw review and adjustments, GIS support and much more.
They service an area with 24 member municipalities across east central Alberta, equal to 4.4 million hectares and includes all of Special Areas, Starland county, Paintearth county and MD of Acadia as well as most communities in Kneehill County and Wheatland County.
Currently, Palliser is looking at rebuilding by creating a new strategic plan and cost-sharing model which discusses structure, staffing and so forth.
They are also in the process of hiring two planners.
For Delia, both the IDP and MDP are in place for the village and scheduled to be reviewed next year as they are on a five-year review cycle much like other important documents such as the land use bylaw.
The most popular program has been the ISDAB which Delia has signed on to.
Seventeen of the 24 municipalities in Palliser’s region has joined as it.
The benefit to having a regional SDAB has been the pooling of resources and people to run a proper hearing for developments.
It does not require every municipality to have their own which can be hard to find people with the proper training (which can be a long commitment to learn and stay apprised) when the occasion arises.
GIS Coordinator Dale-McNair shared how the GIS program works and the infinite amount of knowledge it can hold.
Sewer flushing approval
Councillors have been looking at getting a village-wide sewer flushing completed within the next couple of years.
To kickstart the process, administration was tasked with finding a quote for this process.
Council wishes to make the flushing common every five or six years to alleviate and/or outright eliminate back-ups into people’s homes.
The flush hasn’t happened in at least 12 years which has created an urgency to get this done, making it to the top of the village’s priorities for this year, if not next depending on budgeting.
Council pondered if they could do a quadrant at a time to save on funds while still getting some work done but with the lines, it would have to be the entire village to get the most benefit from the process.
Council directed administration to get three quotes from reputable companies to conduct a full village flush.
Terri Huxley
ECA Review
