By Kevin J. Sabo
For the Independent
The County of Stettler council has passed Bylaw 1643-20.
The bylaw, known as ‘The Gadsby Repealing Bylaw,’ repeals 27 of the former municipality’s bylaws which were in effect at the time of dissolution.
All the bylaws repealed are either no longer pertaining to the community or have County of Stettler bylaws which cover the same issue.
At the time of dissolution, the municipality had 393 bylaws recorded in its bylaw register.
The vast majority, 297, of those recorded were either transactional in nature, or already expired.
Sixty of the bylaws have already been superseded or otherwise repealed, and two more will be repealed in February when the council next meets to discuss the upcoming Water and Waste-water Bylaw.
According to the request for decision submitted to council by County administration, 37 bylaws passed between 1910 and 1935 have no record, as do several other bylaws which are missing documents.
County administration recommended no action be taken in regard to the missing documents.
The bylaw passed third reading in a motion made by Reeve Larry Clarke.
Water and waste-water bylaw
A second bylaw passed first reading during the Jan. 13th council meeting.
Bylaw 1652-21, the Water and Wastewater Bylaw, makes several changes to the water rates around the County.
Because the County of Stettler gets its water from multiple sources, administration has found that the current one rate for all approach isn’t working.
Under the new bylaw, once it is based, the County will be split into geographic regions, depending on where the water is supplied.
In addition, the bylaw will also rescind the Gadsby water bylaw, and incorporate Gadsby into the new one.
The County of Stettler will be broken into the ‘Central Service Area’ which will be serviced by the Shirley McLean Regional Water Services Commission and have a rate of $2.91 per cubic metre of water.
There will also be the ‘South East Service Area’ which will affect all water provided by the Henry Kroeger Regional Water Services Commission and have a rate of $3.15 per cubic metre of water, the ‘Buffalo Sands Service Area’ which will have a rate of $2.91, the ‘Buffalo View Estates Service Area’ which will remain at the rate of $21.12 per cubic metre (recognizing that the water must be trucked in), and finally, the ‘Gadsby Self Reporting Service Area’ which will remain at the previous Gadsby rate.
Once the residents of Gadsby get their water meters switched over to the County of Stettler meters, they will bill moved to the reduced Central Service Area rate.
The bylaw must have a public hearing, which will occur at the February council meeting, prior to passing the final readings.
Once all three readings are passed, the bylaw will become effective April 1st, 2021.
Notice of the upcoming change will be sent out in the February and March utility bills.