Peace Officer, Garreth Thomas introduced himself to Morrin council at their regular meeting on Wed. Jan. 15 stating he was pleased to be back in east central Alberta and looking forward to his position as peace officer for the county and villages within the county.
He stated he would be providing a log of his activities in Morrin to council.
Library Board
A letter from Library Board Chairman Darcy Graham again put off the attendance of the Morrin Library Board at the council meeting stating some members had previous commitments, Council agreed the inappropriate behaviour of the chairperson towards Coun. Melissa Wilton still needed to be dealt with by council who is responsible for the library appointments.
Council felt it was incumbent on the library to respond to council as requested.
“The protocol,” said Mayor Helton, “would be: we appoint the board, they report to us, they’re responsible to the council, the council should not have to respond to their requests to go to their meeting when council has offered them quite a few opportunities for them to attend our meeting.”
Mayor Howard Helton asked of council library representative, Coun. Wilton who brought the concern to council, “What’s your opinion of attending [library board meetings] alone? Do you feel threatened?”
“Well, I’m hoping it’s not going to continue. I’m hoping it was just to get it off her chest. I guess if it happens again, I guess I would just have to get up and leave,” answered Wilton.
Council will write a letter intent on explaining that inappropriate behaviour by council appointed members should not happen to anyone, not just to a councillor.
Bank reconciliation
Morrin council motioned at their regular Jan. 15 meeting to have Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Annette Plachner build a bank reconciliation statement based on a copy of the Town of Bashaw’s Monthly Reconciliation Statement that shows the balance at the end of the previous month, lists expenses, income, term and bank balances for the month as well as outstanding cheques and deposits.
Plachner had requested at the December meeting as to what council expected in a bank reconciliation, a motion that had been made in the April 2019 meeting.
Room divider
CAO Plachner will provide two quotes for the office space divider to allow access to the back room from time to time when it’s required.
Budget meeting
Another Special Budget Meeting was set for Thurs. Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. Council motioned to hire a financial consultant with knowledge of new requirements by Municipal Affairs to attend the budget meeting at a cost of $2,324.
This resulted from a Municipal Affairs meeting that was to be attended by council and the CAO in Big Valley, Alta. on Tues. Jan. 14, however only Coun. Edwards and Mayor Helton attended.
Coun. Wilton had informed CAO Plachner at the previous meeting that she could not attend on Jan. 14 when Municipal Affairs was attempting to set a date that worked best for all involved.
CAO Plachner did not attend although council had been under the impression from the previous council Special meeting that she was planning on attending.
Helton explained that the financial presenter at the meeting had financial numbers back to 2013 of the villages in attendance that showed “quite some anomalies where we could use some guidance because we are going down a road that could get us into trouble.”
Helton explained, “After reviewing that and considering that, we decided we could take advantage of her guidance,” stated Helton.
“She was very good,” said Edwards.
Old business
Mayor Helton had the CAO add Old Business to the agenda which numbered 24 items so “we can review the progress rather than the hit and miss business we tried to keep attached to the minutes”.
“This isn’t a sheet for Dave’” said Helton.
He’s not to take this as a worklist. It’s not to be perceived by Dave or yourself [CAO]. It’s just a list to keep us apprized of what’s happening” until such time as the jobs are completed.
Council added the ‘tree carver’ onto the old business list.
Council motioned to hire a lawyer to look after obtaining the title to the village property, commonly known as the Toby Noble property.
A previous motion to have quotes for asbestos assessment and then a demolition quote had already been requested by council.
When asked by Mayor Helton about the status of the GenSet and the emergency motor, CAO Plachner stated as far as she knew, it had been commissioned back in December.
Considering the monetary investment by the village, Mayor Helton questioned why council wasn’t invited to have a look at it when it was completed.
“I don’t know,” said CAO Plachner.
“I was just given a call, just to let us know when it was done.”
Mayor Helton advised council that he had been in touch with Pioneer Village in Irricana and they would accept the donation of the old emergency pump now that the new one was installed.
J. Webster
ECA Review