Councillor to reimburse the Town

Times Reporter

 

The Alberta Urban Municipality Association conference was held Nov 22 to 25 in Edmonton. All of council, except one member, drove to Edmonton, incurring total costs of $380. Councillor Earl Best flew to Edmonton, incurring a total cost of $469.42. 

“Policy 1806 is very specific in outlining that all travel should be by the most economic means of transportation,” said Councillor Bob Sobol.

“The policy goes on to state that if a person chooses to travel other than by the most economical means, then that person shall reimburse the amount equaling the cost of the most economic means of transportation.” 

Sobol said he had brought this up to Councillor Best before, saying he should reimburse the amount of $89.42. The money had not been paid back at the time of the council meeting, and Sobol was curious what the recourse was to reclaim the funds. Chief Administrative Officer Dwight Stanford said if the majority of council agreed, then the funds would be taken out of the councillor’s next pay period. Best outlined the reasons behind why he had flown, one of which was he was under the impression that the Mayor’s vehicle was full, and he opted to fly as council had done previously.   

“I haven’t done anything wrong here,” said Best, when asked by Mayor Steve Grajczyk. 

“It seems to me if we remove the emotion from it and we realize that there was a certain amount allotted and it went over, it seems a simple thing to just repay that,” said Councillor Pat Fule. 

The motion was made by Sobol for administration to hold back the $89.42 from Best’s next paycheque. Councillors John Rempel and Best were opposed to the motion. 

 

Westcreek re-designation

A public hearing regarding bylaw #10-29 is held at the Town Offices on Jan. 19. The purpose of the Bylaw was to amend the Land Use Bylaw to re-designate the land currently a part of phase 1 of the Westcreek Area Structure Plan, ASP. The ASP was approved August 18, 2010, and the developers were looking to change a portion from R1, R2 and UR to R1N, R2 and UR.  The presentation made at the council meeting showed that 31 per cent of the lots would be 40 feet, and only seven per cent would be 50 feet. Councillor Earl Best had concerns about the potential traffic flow issues and the fact that 93 per cent of the lots will be less than 50 feet. Councillors Pat Fule and Best were the only two opposed to the third and final reading. 

 

Conforming with town bylaws

There was also a public hearing for Bylaw #10-34 at the Jan. 19 meeting. Though a few concerns were brought up by an adjacent landowner, council voted unanimously in favour of re-designating SW 1/4 16-24-25 W4M from DC3 to CHWY. The property was non-conforming up to this point and the idea behind the bylaw was to have it conform to the town’s bylaws.   

 

Change of Committee

Councillor Rocky Blokland is now a member of the United Way Strathmore Committee, after the Mayor was unable to be a part of it due to scheduling conflicts.