It was decided at Paintearth council’s latest meeting on Tues. April 5 that the county donate $5,000 to help Ukrainian humanitarian efforts as the Russia-Ukraine war wages on.
Counties across the province were recently challenged to do so which prompted the response from Paintearth.
The $5,000 will be given through the Red Cross.
Special meeting held
A special meeting was held on Sun. March 13 while council and administration attended a conference in Edmonton.
Under Section 194 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), this is allowed to take place with all members suscrited to the waiver for the purpose of discussion.
While at the private dining room of the Courtyard Marriot Downtown Edmonton Hotel, council passed four different motions.
The first two motions were in support of Paintearth Economic Partnership Society’s (PEPS) decision to self-fund the broadband network infrastructure design for Castor and Coronation ($7,000 each) as well as Co-op Phase 1 study estimated at $50,000.
Council also approved the Lake Thelma Paving tender to TJ paving Ltd. for $82,372.50.
Community support
The Coronation 4-H District was seeking $500 in sponsorship from the county for their show and sale on June 7 and June 8.
Council agreed to support them in the amount specified.
Council agreed to give $500 to the U15 3C’s Tier 1 Hockey team as they played in provincials and the U18 Tier 1 3Cs Hockey team who qualified for provincials recently as per their recreation and community service grant and policy.
Grader delivery schedule
Administration shared with council a pressing situation regarding their grader purchasing schedule and that some changes were needed to be made.
“Due to the past two years of supply and demand globally, manufacturing difficulties have occurred in all industries, Caterpillar is no different.
“Finning has advised us the equipment deliveries are 16-18 months away from the ordered dates and do not see any improvement for a couple years,” stated Public Works Director Bryce Cook in his request to council.
“If we order two new graders for the 2023 budget now, we will hopefully see them in the first half of the second quarter in 2023 and we will keep our eight divisional graders on full warranty.
We would like to purchase all new graders with a 6-year 7500 hr. warranty cycle adding an extra year. If we choose to wait and order in December 2022 or January of 2023, we will not see delivery of our graders until 2024.
“This would leave us with two divisional graders off warranty for at least a year.
“Warranty moved to six years, and we stay with eight grader divisions. We would not have to purchase graders in 2027 or 2028. Our spare graders are not on warranty.”
“This is one of those damned it you do, damned if you don’t type of scenarios,” he said.
He shared that they typically pay $580,000 on a five-year cycle where the graders are constantly being rotated out and paid through Municipal Sustainability Initiative funding.
The problem posed is that if they order at their usual time they may not see the graders right away when needed.
Council agreed to move forward with the suggestion to order ahead of time.
Terri Huxley
ECA Review
