Last week's town council, which was called to order on Oct. 17, marked an end to Mike Lothian, Darren Grimes and George Anderson's terms as alderman. Alderman Lothian, who served two consecutive terms (3 years each), had a fairly good idea of what to expect when he took up the position; his mother had served on Town Council for 18 years. Perhaps the most rewarding part of being an alderman, according to Lothian, was being directly involved in Carlyle's rapid and unprecedented growth in recent years. Despite gaining a tremendous amount of satisfaction from this experience, Lothian decided that he would like to spend more quality time with his four-year-old son.
Alderman Grimes served on town council for three consecutive terms. A Carlyle resident since 1984, Grimes described learning an incredible amount during his nine years on the council. Although he had a hard time recollecting each and every one of the council's many achievements during these years, moving forward the development of residential and commercial lots far ahead of schedule seemed to stand out for him. Facing a sharp increase in demand at his primary occupation, Grimes decided that a fourth term as alderman would simply not feasible.
Alderman Anderson has served two terms intermittently. A retired RCMP officer, Anderson's contributions to town council are further testament to his steadfast commitment to public service. Deciding to focus on his other engagements in the community, Anderson's finely-tuned sense of humor will be missed at the council meetings.
The three aldermen will be replaced by Jennifer Sedor, Brian Romaniuk and Mr. Darcy Moore, who have been observing council meetings over the past weeks in preparation for their new positions.
The meeting's first order of business was the expansion of the sewage lagoon, which is required in order to keep up with the town's growth. A unanimous decision was made to buy the land required for this expansion outright in order to avoid any delays.
Also approved was a motion to initiate improvements to the Carlyle Airport. Work on the airport's culvert system and driveway is expected to move forward in the following weeks. Council also agreed to gather more information from the Airport Authority regarding amendments to the airport's fencing system.
Mayor Shirley reported on the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency's "25 Year Water Security Plan." He highlighted the Plan's seven main goals of: sustainable supplies; safe drinking water; protection of water resources; safe dams; flood and drought damage reduction; adequate data, information and knowledge and; effective governance and engagement. Further details are available at https://www.wsask.ca/. The mayor also touched on the value and wide-scale adoption of irrigation measures in municipalities across Saskatchewan.
The Mayor, along with aldermans Sedor and Olmstead, agreed to represent the council at the Sun Country Health Region upcoming "Community Leadership Network," which is set to take place on Nov. 1.
It was brought to the council attention that the laneway running parallel to Main Street's east side is in need of ongoing trench and gravel work; council agreed to the improvements and the work is expected to begin as soon as possible.
Council also discussed the possible acquisition of a new payloader. The existing payloader is 16-years-old and in need of approximately $5,000 worth in repairs. As one alderman noted, it is the town's most heavily used piece of equipment.
Council approved the purchase of a three-phase booster-pump amounting to $14,273 as a backup for the water treatment plant.
Regarding the financial report for Sept. 30, 2012, Chief Administrative Officer Huguette Lutz presented some positive numbers. The public purse is up by roughly 47% from last year's figures and is projected to increase as Council nears the end of its fiscal year.
Lastly, Corporal Kelly Guider from the RCMP provided council with his updates. Staff Sergeant Phil Harrison will no longer be heading the Carlyle detachment effective Nov. 8. As the detachment seeks a replacement for Staff Sergeant Harrison, Corporal Guider will be filling-in the position. Also, Constable Glenn Walter has returned to the Carlyle detachment for duty. Corporal Guider briefly talked about vacancies in the force created by government spending cuts. So far, Carlyle has not been impacted by the cuts, but nearby towns such as Melville are down by a least four members. The corporal also highlighted some of the challenges facing the RCMP in terms of recruitment, which has been on a steady decline. The question of quads in town was also brought up. The corporal reiterated that it is an offence to ride quads through the town streets for leisurely purposes and that it is not being tolerated. Tinted windows and rear-bumpers exceeding 29.5 inches in height were other road-safety issues being closely monitored.
