New CAO for Wheatland Housing
Sharon McLeay
Times Contributor
Previous Interim Chief Administrative Officer, Shirley Reinhardt, has moved into the position of CAO for Wheatland Housing.
According to the policy and procedures manual for the agency, positions can be awarded in house without outside postings.
“I talked to residents at the lodge. They were extremely happy with the decision and the recent changes,” said Councillor Bernice Bland.
The need to know
Councillors discussed the need for more information from fellow councillors sitting on various boards. Brenda Knight gave the example of waiting for information that was not forthcoming from a request she had made to Wheatland Housing.
“I have requests from several ratepayers with questions about housing,” said Knight. She suggested that if the taxpayers are giving money to various agencies, they should have the right to information from those agencies.
There was a suggestion that those funded agencies submit the minutes and financial information as information for the public. Councillors noted that representatives who sit on the committees already update council with information as they attend meetings. However, there was concern that not enough, and not the right kind of information was available to address the ratepayers’ questions.
Other council members noted that there may be Freedom of Information infractions and some agencies meetings are not open to the public.
Council decided to discuss the matter again at an organization meeting to come up with a formula which would address ratepayers’ needs, and respect and protect confidentiality issues.
Education funding clarified
Council is meeting with Golden Hills School Division on Feb. 21, to clarify rules surrounding the Municipal Reserve funding.
Golden Hills School Division and the Catholic School Division split approximately $1.7 million in education funding. Subdivision developers are required to contribute to this fund and the county takes cash in lieu which is released to the schools. The schools address their request for funds to the council and the subdivision appeal board.
“There has been some confusion by people that the county is required to provide land and services,” said Councillor Glen Koester, about new school buildings. This issue will be clarified at the meeting.
Too many goats and complimentary haying
A small acreage owner has requested to hay land on vacant lots in Cluny. He is currently looking after the lots and otherwise, the county would have to send crews out to mow the property.
On further investigation, one of the lots still had an old land title in Viterra’s name that was supposed to be transferred to the county and all the lots concerned were zoned as residential, so the lots would have to be designated to agricultural, for the lots to be farmed. In addition, the acreage owner was keeping more goats than was allowed on his acreage allotment. The maximum amount of goats allowed on three acres is five.
Council moved that the land title change would be given first reading and be given a public hearing, and the question of haying and the goats would be dealt with subsequently.
Handi-bus supported
The Valley Bus Society was given $2,000 by Wheatland Council to support and maintain bus services within the Wheatland area.
The Society is non-profit and provides seniors with information and referral services, assistance with government forms, advocacy, information for home renovations subsidy programs, assistance for newly bereaved and a handyman program. It is facing increased costs. They will use the grant to help finance a new wheelchair-accessible van for its clients.
Area elder honoured
Gleichen Park and Foundation will get funding out of the Municipal Reserve fund to complete foundation work for a bench dedicated to Ivy Bogstie. She is a well-known and well-liked 95-year-old resident of Gleichen, who maintained the park for many years.
Insurance break granted
Insurance deductibles will be more flexible for organizations covered by Wheatland County’s Jubilee Insurance policy.
“Council had asked for reduced deductions for some of the smaller organizations, to make them more affordable,” said Jim Laslo, Manager of Administration Services for the county.
Those with building, contents and machinery coverage under $25,000 can choose to reduce the deductible to $5,000, $2,500 or $1,000 (with conditions) resulting in only a modest increase in premium payments
Canadian Badland in conversations
Bob Davies, representative for the Canadian Badlands (CBL), addressed council concerns on Feb. 21.
“I am glad to have opportunity to have a conversation with you. Every municipality has its challenges and I am here to listen to those,” said Davies.
He addressed council’s concerns about the 50-cent per capita levy fees, equal fee structure and board representation issues. He said that all those issues were slated in the AGM meeting held during the CBL conference set for March 28-29.
The association, comprised of 63 municipal shareholders, is forming an investment foundation that would issue tax receipts for donations. As CBL is a not-for-profit charity, it cannot issue tax receipts. He noted that the CBL cycle of grants was ending in 2012. They were starting to generate innovative ideas such as an IPhone app and re-inaction weekends that allow people to dress up in period costume and participate in theme events.
Councillor Alice Booth, who is on the CBL board, said the group was moving forward and gaining momentum.
“The CBL is becoming a tourism template for the whole province,” said Booth.
Council goes high teach
It was MS versus Apple, as councillors debated the pros and cons of replacing their obsolete computers with more up-to-date equipment. Technical advisers demonstrated the merits of IPads vs. laptops to the council and outlined the pros and cons of each. In the end, the IPads won out, as they had both WiFi and 3G networking capability, considered by the majority to be more versatile and user friendly, portable, affordable and came with neat add-ons like printers, keypads and nifty covers.