The Village of Youngstown was shown their financial statements for the 2021 year led by auditor Brian King of Brian King Professional Corporation.
He dove into the ins and outs of the statements at the latest meeting held on Tues. April 5, finding that it was a ‘clean audit’ with ‘no major issues’.
The village left 2021 with an accumulated surplus, half of which was attributed to the revenue of selling the village’s street lights to ATCO as part of their municipal program.
King asked if council and administration would be interested in upgrading their financial software to Muniware as their current system is outdated.
He stated it is an intensive program to learn for staff but one he is most familiar with.
Council passed a motion to accept King’s audit and a second motion to hire King as the village’s auditor for next year.
Electric vehicle
After council requested administration to track down more information on the electric vehicle charging station grant, an update was given at the latest meeting.
Administration found and applied for the grant to potentially have up to two charging stations valued at $100,000 per piece built in the community.
A few locations within the village were brought up that have 3-Phase power which could make these stations feasible.
Council felt that any traveller will want the quick charge. Having these units in place would be good for tourism as well.
No formal motion was needed and the village is allowed to opt out at any time.
“If we can get people to stop in town here that’s a benefit,” said Coun. Ken Johnson.
Municipal Fees Bylaw
Council reviewed Bylaw 22-725, the Municipal Fees Bylaw as a replacement for former documentation such as Bylaw 00-673 and four old policies.
Not many changes have been made other than a newly placed amount of $25 for water connection fees and $50 for disconnection as it takes time for staff to conduct the process.
Council passed the bylaw.
Recreation board grants
Council approved the Youngstown Recreation Board’s latest decision on grant allocations.
The group met on March 14, choosing to approve $47,000 to be given to various groups including the community centre, library and Speargrass at $3,000.
The Youngstown Community Centre will receive the bulk of the funding at $41,000 to support utilities ($23,000), insurance, cooler, grill and new defibrillator as well as hall rental whereas the library will get $3,000 for new books and DVDs.
Terri Huxley
ECA Review
