Castor's town council was in the hot seat again as 15 residents crowded into the council chambers for the Nov. 25 council meeting.
The majority of those in attendance were from previous meetings who had spoken out against the Town of Castor's "multi-use facility upgrades" at the old Highway 12 and Golf Course Campgrounds, items not on the evening's agenda.
While the only delegation to speak during the evening's meeting was RCMP Sgt. Jeremy Houle, after Houle spoke to one of the gallery members, self-described "freedom advocate" Ron Clark stood, demanding time to speak.
"I want the floor a little bit here," said Clark. "These meetings should have an open mic for the ones that pay your salaries. It's we, the people of this town, that pay your salaries."
Mayor Richard Elhard informed Clark that due to the town bylaws, delegations requesting to speak need to get on the agenda the Thursday before the meeting and that he would not be granted time during the evening's meeting.
"You know the rule," said Elhard. "You can bring it in two weeks from tonight ... that's our rule."
Clark asked why the town kept putting bylaws in place to keep people from speaking.
"We have to go through bylaw to make change," said Elhard.
Clark didn't agree.
"It's wrong on so many levels," said Clark. "You know, I have some stuff which addresses everybody in this community ... I will do it tonight."
Items Clark wanted to discuss included the previously mentioned upgrades, which Elhard noted had already "been resolved."
Clark asked another person there, who resides adjacent to one of the campgrounds in question, if the matter had been adequately resolved; the resident said that it had, at which point Clark pushed again to be allowed to speak.
Elhard, not backing down, again denied the request, informing Clark to get on the agenda and return in two weeks.
"We're done here," said Elhard. "We have to move on with our agenda ... We're going to move on with this meeting, sir. And you need to either sit down or leave."
RCMP
During Sgt. Houle's delegation, he updated council on quarterly crime statistics and some initiatives he has been working on.
According to Houle, the detachment had been without a commander for a little over a year and the majority of his time had been getting everything back in order, and ensuring all the constables at the detachment had the training they needed.
As far as regional statistics go, The only area significantly up, 22 per cent, was traffic, which Houle attributes to his officers being on the road and being visible in the community. In The quarter July to September, the detachment issued 704 tickets in 2024 against 582 during the same time in 2023.
Regarding other crime statistics, all other areas are showing a decrease, and Houle says that the detachment's clearance rate remains high.
Houle did inform council that body-worn cameras will be rolled out through 2025 for all officers and Coronation should be receiving theirs sometime in spring or summer.
Other initiatives the Detachment is working on include getting a new detachment built and force houseing; both are projects that have been approved by the regional RCMP command but Houle says they now need to get pushed through RCMP asset management.
Skid Steer Attachments
Public Works Director Arjan Van Hienen was in the meeting to discuss a 2024 capital purchase.
Local Government Fiscal Framework grant funds totalling around $45,000 had been approved in the budget for a variety of skid steer attachments, which would allow the town to make better use of already owned equipment.
Attachments presented during the meeting include a grapple bucket, a snowblade, an auger and bits, a box scraper, and a soil conditioner from a variety of vendors.
According to Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Donna Rowland, the total cost for the items presented was around $42,000.
Van Hienen noted that the equipment would be beneficial to help with the town's landscaping, and the auger, in particular, would be handy to have in the cemetery as it is getting harder and harder to maneuver around that facility with the existing truck and auger.
"It'll be nice to use the skid steer to its capacity," said Van Hienen.
The carried motion to approve the purchase of all the attachments was put forward by Coun. Kevin McDougall.
Library bylaw
After attending a library webinar with Assistant CAO Lorissa Lindmark, CAO Rowland has done an update to the Town of Castor Library Bylaw to make it more in line with the current Libraries Act.
The previous version of the bylaw was originally drafted in 1981 and no longer met existing Government of Albert legislation.
First reading was passed of the updated bylaw during the meeting.
The bylaw will be forwarded to the library board for review and comment before it is again reviewed by council for second and third readings.
Economic Development
An extra item added to the agenda, Coun. Kevin McDougall brought forward a motion for the town to begin development of its own economic development board.
Previously a member of the Paintearth Economic Partnership Society, the Town of Castor withdrew from that organization in 2023 as council did not feel it was getting value for its contribution.
"We talked about this, but we haven't moved on it yet," said McDougall. "We need to start working towards something."
The motion to begin developing a Castor Economic development organization of some kind passed unanimously, with more information to come to a future meeting.
