Village of Elnora could get $30k for old garbage truck

Written by Stu Salkeld

Elnora village council heard a report suggesting the municipality’s surplus garbage truck could be worth up to $30,000. The report was made at the Feb. 13 regular meeting of council.

Village Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Sharon Wesgate provided councillors with an update on the odyssey of the surplus garbage truck; it’s been discussed at every regular council meeting for months.

Wesgate reported she’d been approached by an auction market that suggested the village list the garbage truck in a March sale, with auction staff estimating the truck could fetch $20,000 to $30,000, based on similar vehicles that successfully sold in the past.

As well, the auction market offered the Village of Elnora a discount: the market would charge Elnora an eight per cent commission rather than its normal 12 per cent.

During discussion Wesgate stated that at least one other municipality voiced interest in purchasing the garbage truck.

Mayor Jul Bissell stated the truck’s just sitting there collecting dust and something should be done with it.

Wesgate stated the truck has “very low mileage” and could be of use to someone.

Councillors passed a resolution authorizing the staff to place the surplus garbage truck in a March auction sale.

Approaches and culverts
The CAO gave councillors an update on the village’s investigation of culvert and approach costs, with Wesgate providing her suggestions for a village policy.

Essentially, the policy would make a property owner responsible for initial costs of the culvert, including engineering, while later maintenance of the culverts would be the village’s responsibility.

It was noted this would only be for gravel, not pavement. Councillors passed a resolution approving the report.

Procedural bylaw
The CAO presented councillors with an update on drafting of a revised procedural bylaw; readers should note such a bylaw sets out the rules for conducting council’s business, including how delegations are handled.

Wesgate stated in her report she investigated procedural bylaws in two other municipalities and their rules seemed specific to them.

She noted one municipality allowed for a private “closed session” after a delegation. She also noted that in other procedural bylaws, groups wishing to speak to council as a delegation were required to give the municipality some advance notice.

Mayor Bissell stated that councillors don’t want to exclude anyone but also want to have some rules in place for delegations.

Bissell stated that members of the public who come to council meetings every month with the same comments are wasting everyone’s time.

During discussions councillors voiced interest in including a limit on the number of appearances delegations can make when discussing the same subject.

Councillors agreed three months sounded right, with Mayor Bissell stating one year “is too long.”

Councillors passed a resolution directing staff to make those changes to the draft bylaw, which will be brought back for discussion at a future meeting.

MPC bylaw
Wesgate also gave an update on a draft Municipal Planning Commission (MPC) bylaw. She stated that village staff looked at some other communities’ MPC bylaws and had some suggestions.

The CAO suggested the MPC have one seat set aside for a village councillor, with other seats open to the public.

The CAO also stated public seats should be open to all residents of Elnora, not necessarily limited to property or business owners.

Councillors passed a resolution directing Wesgate to make those changes to the draft and bring it back to a future meeting for discussion.

Stu Salkeld
Local Journalism Initiative reporter
ECA Review

About the author

Stu Salkeld

Stu Salkeld, who has upwards of 28 years of experience in the Alberta community newspaper industry, is now covering councils and other news in the Stettler region and has experience working in the area as well.

He has joined the ECA Review as a Local Journalism Initiative Journalist.

Stu earned his two-year diploma in print journalism from SAIT in Calgary from 1993 to ’95 and was raised in Oyen, Alta., one of the communities within the ECA Review’s coverage area.