From the minutes

Discussed in closed session at the Oct. 12 meeting were Development Permit 21-D0041 and the MD of Pincher Creek’s municipal development plan.

A motion that council lease the southeast parking area and undeveloped road access as provided for the Wild Winds Brewery for $1 per year and to negotiate after three years was carried, with the condition that the developer maintain the driveway access off of Veteran’s Street, to be marked with appropriate signage.

Council also received the MD’s municipal development plan as information.

Poppy presentation

The Legion will present poppies to the Pincher Creek and Cowley mayors and MD of Pincher Creek reeve in a Remembrance Day ceremony later this week.

While details are still in the works, the Nov. 11 Remembrance Day service will be similar to last year with veterans and some dignitaries invited to attend in person and a livestream available on Facebook for the public.

The sale of poppies begins this Friday.

Halloween in the Village

Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village will host its fifth annual Halloween in the Village event Oct. 30. Coun. Mark Barber will represent the town at the event, which will follow all Covid restrictions. 

Meeting with Alberta Transportation at AUMA fall convention

Council will consider meeting with Alberta Transportation Minister Rajan Sawhney at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association convention later this fall.

Discussion showed a variety of positions, with some councillors feeling it would be a waste of time to meet with Minister Sawhney because there isn’t anything new, or specific, on the table.

“I’m OK with forgoing a meeting this year until we actually have more discussion and flesh this out,” said Coun. Sahra Nodge.

“It seems like right now it’s just a little bit of spitballing future plans, and if we’re going to have a meeting, I’d rather go in and have a bit more of a cohesive push on what it is we’re pushing for and have conversations and support with our regional partners.”

Mayor Don Anderberg was in favour of keeping the plan on council’s radar.

“We don’t have anything new and specific to talk about but we can certainly talk about all the things that have half gone on and are going on, and we could get a pretty good presentation together on that in short order because we’ve got all the information,” he said.

Council also carried a motion to have administration attempt to arrange a meeting with the new health minister to get a status update on the CT scanner scheduled to be set up in Pincher Creek, discuss the upcoming ground ambulance contract and present ideas from the local health-care retention committee. 

APEX utilities and FortisAlberta franchise fees

Town council voted to cap franchise fees for natural gas and electricity at 25 and 13 per cent in 2022, the same rates that residents paid this past year. Since 2014, the fee for natural gas has climbed five per cent and the fee for electricity seven per cent due to increases in Apex and FortisAlberta fees, and demand for new growth.

Financial and operations reports

Details from the second-quarter financial operating statement, covering Jan. 1 to June 30, were presented by Wendy Catonio, director of finance and human resources. 

The third-quarter operations report, spanning July to September, discussed updates to Pincher Creek’s water systems and the Fairview Cemetery, monitoring of air quality in relation to wildfire smoke, preparations for winter, citizen requests and information sharing, and completed and upcoming infrastructure and construction projects.

These reports will be covered individually in a coming issue of the Breeze.

Closed session

Council went into a closed session to discuss tax arrears payment agreement roll 293900, development agreements for Title 061318661 and for Plan 0614431, Block 1, Lot 4; and a management position change.

Next meetings of council  

Upcoming committee meetings include a Pincher Creek Community Early Learning Centre meeting Oct. 28 at 7 p.m., a Regional Emergency Management Organization meeting tentatively scheduled for Nov. 4, and a committee of the whole meeting Nov. 3 at 9 a.m.

The next regular council meeting is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 8, at 6 p.m.