Council finalizes this year's budget

A public meeting was held to discuss the finalization of this years budget. As council has restricted public access, there were no citizens in attendance. Council meeting proceeded with the first item discussed relating to the purchase of equipment for the fire department and payments for debit orders and municipal operations. A vote was cast in favour to establish new tax rates with no one opposed. 

Next up was Committee of the Whole with the first item on the agenda being dedicated to economic development. Dominique Charboneau, the EDO for the township of Schreiber gave an update of ongoing projects. The new Discovery Centre has been running over budget and completion and opening had been delayed when COVID restrictions came into affect. Structural drawings for the new downtown pavilion which should be completed before next summer will be submitted in the next few weeks. Most new projects have been plagued by issues with vermin, especially roosting birds in rafters and some modifications will have to be made.

The recreation manager had nothing to report this month, as the opening of the arena could be delayed or postponed due to changes implemented by new COVID restrictions that could come into effect very soon. This would also potentially prevent the gym facilities from re-opening. Nathan Diaz, CAO, reiterated the safety concerns being met before any consideration of opening up the recreation facilities. Mayor Hamilton was adamant that until all safety measures were in place, no public facilities would be allowed to open.

Water treatment reports for the term were discussed, the biggest concerns being how to address the aging infrastructure in the municipality including possible upgrades to the dam at Cook’s Lake.

Director of Operations report recommended that cleaning the duct work at the medical centre be undertaken and proper maintenance of the HVAC system be regularly scheduled.

Question period and communications resulted in no items to discuss. The annual Christmas party will be decided on at a later date, but might be cancelled for this year.

A bylaw to ban bird feeding was brought forward in order to try and curb the nuisance caused by pigeons overtaking public spaces. Also the issue of what to do about the bears was touched upon. Educating people about garbage removal might help to improve the situation.
Council was then recessed.