The meeting of Carlyle's town council on Wed. March 7th included the introduction of a letter regarding a proposal to the town to place electricity generating windmills on town buildings.
The meeting proved to be a busy one, with two delegations coming to speak directly with council.
The first delegation was made up of two members of the Saskatchewan Building Trades Council.
Lyle W. Daniels is a Labour Development Strategist with the organization, and Gunnar Passmore is a Business Representative.
The two were introduced into council, and began by explaining that the billion-and-a-half dollar Clean Coal project planned for the Estevan area will be underway soon, and the region will likely see more than 700 people, many of them belonging to one of the member unions that make up the Saskatchewan Building Trades Council (SBTC.)
The two appealed to council to spread the word of the workers imminent arrival, as housing continues to be a concern throughout the Â鶹ÊÓƵeast.
"We're hoping that people who were considering something like a basement suite in their homes might move ahead with it," Daniels explained. "Our people are the elite of the building trades industry, and they are good people for landlords."
Daniels also explained that in his past experiences, cases where there had been damage to a property, or if a member tenant skipped town without settling outstanding rent, there had been times when the union organizations would step in to settle the affair.
"Our people are the elite, and the unions want people to know that," Daniels said. "It's important to the unions that people have good experiences when dealing with their members."
Asked afterwards if the unions were guaranteeing such coverage, Daniels said no, however he stated that each case is individual, and it wasn't unheard of for the building trades unions to do things like that.
"The work at the Clean Coal project will be peaking by June, 2013," Daniels told council. "We are hoping people will find space and welcome our people into the community while they work on this project."
The second part of the delegate's presentation was led by Passmore.
Passmore, who retired from his trade as a pipe-fitter some years ago, now works solely with the SBTC.
"We're also hoping that people will hear about and think about the building trades as a possible career choice," Passmore told council. "It's a great career, and as union members, they see as much as $15 an hour more than non-unionized members."
"We take our jobs seriously, and we have the best building trades people in the business, that is why we keep calling ourselves the elite."
Passmore offered some printed material to council for display in the town office.
The second delegation was a representative of nearby producers, who had some questions regarding the planned lagoon expansion.
The delegation and council spoke at length until both parties came to an understanding.
Following the delegations, two bylaws that had been postponed from the previous meeting were re-introduced.
Bylaw 2012-02, regarding changes to community boards that manage town-owned properties, was read a second time, however the third reading was held until a consultation meeting with existing boards could be held.
Also bylaw 2012-04 was presented for second reading, however it was discovered that there was an error in the references of the bylaw, so the second reading was again postponed.
In correspondences, some interesting mail had come into the council.
One was regarding the propane tank and facility located next to the Carlyle RCMP Detachment.
Pursuant to finding from a community overview paid for by the town some time ago, the town had asked the business if moving the tank would be a possibility.
The company, in its response letter read into council, explained that relocation of the facility would cost them in excess of $100,000.
The next letter was from the company Vbine, a business that specializes in wind power developments.
Vbine asked the town to consider a proposal to have Vbine pay for and control a series of windmills that would be built onto existing community buildings, like the Carlyle Sports Arena, or the Carlyle Curling Club.
In return for this, Vbine would sell power to the town facilities the windmills would be located upon for a reduced rate.
The deal, the letter explained, would pivot partly on whether or not Saskpower agreed to purchase power produced by the Vbine wind turbines.
Council showed some initial interest, however they felt that there were too many un-answerables at the time, so it was agreed to contact Vbine for clarification of some points and facts of their proposal.Finally in correspondences, the town received two letters of support in their stand against a proposed CN crude oil tansload facility within town.
One letter came from the Upper Souris Watershed Authority, and it expressed its concerns over local waterways, and the dangers a spill would pose to community all the way down to the Alameda Dam.
A second letter came from the Cornerstone School Division, and offered general support of the council's decision to refuse the project.
