The Town of Carlyle held their second meeting of the month on Wednesday, April 23, where they discussed numerous topics surrounding the community. The next council meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 7.
Mayor's report
Mayor Don Shirley only had two items to bring up to the council. One included the health meeting that Sun Country Health Region put on at Kenosee Lake early in the month. Shirley simply relayed some of Sun Country's initiatives this year which includes the prevention of both resident and staff injuries.
The second topic he spoke on regarded the land for the new lagoon. The land was paid in trust to a lawyer with it to be released when the land titles were transferred. The owner of the land was getting impatient though as Community Planning took time to go over the proposed subdivision thoroughly. The documents should be ready in two weeks to sign, but the town has yet to hear back from the landowner as to whether the deal has been rescinded or not due to the amount of time it has taken.
RCMP update
Staff Sargent Tom VanderZwan at the Carlyle Detachment of the RCMP stopped by to give his quarterly report to the councillors.
Within the first three month period of the year the RCMP received 141 calls to service, which includes everything from a speeding ticket to reports submitted to RCMP for informational purposes by complainants. Of these calls to service there were 57 which resulted in charges.
VanderZwan explained the detachment is currently fully staffed, but that two members will be leaving later this spring. A cadet will be starting on Friday, while they are waiting to hear about the other position which will be opening soon.
The RCMP will also be tracking the number of times they visit communities in the area on patrol, not for calls to service, but for being present in communities within their coverage area.
Highway patrols have been out, which included a joint patrol with the Highway Traffic Board between Redvers and Stoughton which involved a stop at the Skyline Motor Inn.
Extra attention has been focused on speeding complaints along Hwy 13. While the traffic patrols are also focusing more heavily on texting while driving as it is very dangerous and surprising as to how far one can travel at 100 km/h in glancing down for five seconds.
Boogie Fest
A Community Events Permit was issued to Boogie Fest with the stipulation that liability insurance is needed by the committee if they are hosting the games and burn out contest. The town wants to see the event come to fruition though so they have issued the permit, so the committee is able to obtain their liquor licence and move forward with the planning of the event.
Though the town's insurance company said the Boogie Fest Committee's waiver form is excellent, they were not willing to extend insurance to cover the event. The committee is now waiting to hear back from Andrew Agencies following the alteration of a few operational procedures during the festival.
The Town of Carlyle will again sponsor the fireworks display. Following discussion of insurance needed by the committee for Boogie Fest, Alderman Tourand questioned if this was covered under the town's insurance, which was confirmed by the rest of the council.
Budget
The town budget was deliberated over, as the councillors have done for the past two meetings. Essentially the introduction of a base tax and the lowering of the mill rate this year will make commercial taxes more fair than they were following last year's taxing issues which arose following SAMA's tax assessment.
These changes will see a small increase across the board, which is minimal and will in essence be covering possible inflation this year. It will not come close to the large jumps that were seen last year for some businesses.
This year the mill rate for commercial has been set at 1.1385 by the town.
New Transfer Station employee needed
On Tuesday, April 22, a Transfer Station employee had to quit due to a broken hip. A posting for the job will be up soon. The job requires two days of three hours in the winter and three days of three hours in the summer, with pay above minimum wage set at $11.
Councillors spoke of the position and said it would be a good job for someone retired and wanting to put in a few hours of work still.
Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure
The Airport Maintenance Assistance Program, which was a grant for $2,000 Carlyle used to receive, is being discontinued. This is different than the CAP grant program, which is for major projects being taken on for the airport.
Property and General Liability Risk Control Report: Carlyle Sports Arena
The town's insurance company, Aon, conducted a risk assessment of the Carlyle Sports Arena last fall and has submitted its findings to the town. Many of the items on the list had actually been dealt with prior to this letter being received; but, there are a few major projects suggested such as replacing steps. The Arena Board will be given a copy of this letter as some of the items are their responsibility, while others are the responsibilities of the town.
With talks last year of possibly needing a new arena in the future, this may be something that will give the Arena Board a timeline to begin fundraising for instead of simply continuing to fix the current rink.
