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Chicken bylaw passes first reading

People who want to raise a few chickens may have cause to rejoice if a bylaw passes its second and third reading.

People in rural residential areas who want to raise a few chickens on their property may have cause to rejoice if a bylaw which passed its first reading on Wednesday, May 13, passes its second and third reading.

The bylaw is a result of several councillors being approached by ratepayers wanting to raise chickens for personal use on their property, not commercial numbers of chickens, it was clarified.

The bylaw passed unanimously at the meeting, which mostly dealt with housekeeping issues.

The county also passed its revised budget, which had to be amended after the lower fuel prices impacted the original forecast for fuel prices. The lower cost of fuel, despite a tax increase in the former PC government's budget, will see the county save money. The change in fuel estimates was the only change to the budget, which passed unanimously.

Paving contracts for Warden and Resource roads was awarded to Central City Asphalt out of Blackfalds. Councillors asked staff to look at the possibility of adding repair work near Old Macdonald's campground to the work contracted since the paving company would be in the area, rather than reserving the job for a later date.

The county received five bids on the tender, from Allied Paving Company, Border Paving Ltd., Brooks Asphalt and Aggregate Ltd., and TBL Construction Ltd., in addition to Central City.

Central City's bid of $2,096,316 came in as the lowest bid, as well as the lowest site occupancy charge. The county had budgeted $2,250,000 for the project.

Also awarded was the septic load and haul contract. Yesterday's Meals on Wheels from the county won the contract, which will see the company haul out septic waste from county buildings and sites.

The cost of the contract is projected to be $18,000. The county received bids from Rio View Industries Inc. Of Castor and Rollie's Vac of Stettler in addition to Yesterday's Meals on Wheels. Yesterday's came in at the lowest bid rate for the regular May-November season at $2,000 a month, but had the middle-cost of $1,000 during the off-season of December-May.

Yesterday's is already working with the county and county staff reported that they are "satisfied with the services."

As part of the contract, there's an incidental rate of $125/hour, which is a small decrease with the contract. Also included in the contract is a guarantee for no rate increases for three years, with an option to renew the contract at the end of the three years.