The first bi-monthly meeting of the month of September for the Carlyle Town Council occurred on Wednesday, Sept. 3, to discuss various matters.
Wayne Orsted takes over as mayor
Wayne Orsted was sworn in as Mayor. He earned the position through acclimation and his previous position as alderman is open. Nomination day will be on Wednesday, Sept. 24. If there are numerous nominees then a by-election will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 29.
Railway crossing on 4th St. East
The town's Chief Administrative Officer, Huguette Lutz, will be inquiring with Transport Canada and CN Rail concerning the track. According to a letter, Transport Canada had sent required the wooden planks to extend beyond the track by one metre for pedestrian traffic. When the crossing was fixed this stipulation was not adhered to and the town wanted to bring attention to this as the crossing is located between Carlyle Elementary School and Gordon F. Kells High School, making safety a priority.
Council will go ahead with hiring a company to conduct a traffic count along this crossing. Both Transport Canada and CN Rail located deficiencies at the crossing and the traffic count should help in addressing these.
Ensuring timely construction
Lutz has been put in charge of looking into ways of ensuring timely construction so projects do not last for years without fully being completed. Lutz will look into suggestions from the province of Saskatchewan regarding building standards as well as the possibility of creating a separate property maintenance by-law to see if something can be developed.
Stockton Ave
Council has decided that next year they will reconstruct Stockton Ave for local improvement. They hope to have plans in place for the spring of 2015 which will include rebuilding the road, adding a curb, gutter, and then paving it. Since it will be reconstructed the road will need to settle for a year before paving can be done, therefore in 2016, Stockton Ave. will be completed. Lutz says the New Deal Tax Gas Grant of approximately $81,000 will be used to help pay for a fair amount of this project.
Further discussion on funding the Fire Department
Last meeting a special tax of $100 was discussed regarding saving money specifically for the Carlyle Fire Department. This meeting discussion surrounded a different approach to creating this fund. Instead of a special tax the town will be looking into what the financials would look like if the base tax was increased by $100 and how this would work financially. No decisions have been made yet and they are still researching the best plan of action for the community.
Other
Request for closure of four parking stalls last week on Friday, Sept. 5, were approved. The stalls were located in front of Michael's Coffee Shop and Bakery where Greg Johnson, the Tornado Hunter, was setting up an area to discuss his new television show and the art he has created which is displayed in Michael's.
A request to park RV's where the old tennis courts were has been denied by council as they do not want to compete with businesses which already offer this service.
