Council Seeks Expert Advice on Land Drainage Approvals

The February meeting of the RM of Rosedale Council saw extensive discussion around gravel crushing and hauling for 2025 as well as a visit from Bo-Russ Contracting to get a full picture of how tile drainage on private property affects surrounding municipal lands.

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The sole delegation to this month’s meeting was from Bo-Russ, which specialises in tile drainage. Sid Boeve, owner of Bo-Russ Contracting, attended at the request of Council so that they could better understand the impact of tile drainage in terms of municipal infrastructure and downstream water flow, in order to make better decisions about requests that come to Council. Boeve indicated that the drainage would have minimal if any negative impact and would not increase water flow through ditches any more than rainfall itself would if it flowed overland. In fact, he said, in some cases tile drainage may actually help to reduce erosion on municipal roads.

The bylaw that sets out the distribution and number of wards in Rosedale is in need of updating to reflect the current populations and demographics of the municipality. Some towns, for instance, have decreased substantially in size since the bylaw was set out in 1997, and other areas now have more complex municipal needs, which has led to the current wards being unbalanced. Council decided to put out a tender for that analysis rather than just engaging a consulting company to ensure responsible use of taxpayer funds.

With the many kilometers of gravel roads in the municipality to cover, gravel is no small matter in Rosedale. Council is tendering out gravel crushing contracts for two of its three pits this year for a total of 60,000 yards of gravel. For reference for anyone unfamiliar with the units of measure for this type of application, each yard of gravel is a cubic yard and weighs in excess of one ton. Council also broke out the gravel maps for each ward and discussed how much gravel they would need this season so the CAO could put out their annual tender for gravel hauling, loading, and spreading.

Finally, Council discussed updating their procurement policy to express a preference for Canadian-made products, and also decided to write a letter of support to local MLA Jodie Byram regarding removal of restrictions on provincial trade barriers. Because of the many complexities around determining the origin of products, particularly when they are produced in Canada while the company may be owned internationally, the CAO will draft an update for Council to review at the next meeting.

The meeting also followed up on several threads from previous meetings, including an application to the public utility board to increase water rates in Kelwood following a rate study that was completed last year, and a look at what it might take to fund a seat at a veterinary college to help in local recruitment efforts, which was discussed at January’s meeting.

Also covered were community donations to the Burrows Trail Arts Council and the Handivan, drinking water analysis at Eden, resumption of service at the Kelwood post office, an MOU from the Rossburn Subdivision Trail Association, and the 2025 tax sale.