After reviewing the infrastructure study conducted for the village’s viability review, chief administrative officer Marcy Renschler proposed the first of many needed projects to council during the March 10 council meeting.
The initial project being recommended is the repair of the inlet pipe into the north anaerobic cell of the village’s sewage pond.
According to the viability infrastructure report, the existing pipe is either blocked with debris or collapsed; either way, it needs repairs in case the south cell needs to be bypassed for repairs itself.
A previous estimate for the work prepared by MPE engineering placed costs for the project around $69,000, however with recent increases to pretty much everything, MPE has added inflationary costs adjusting the overall project cost to around $75,000.
The village is potentially eligible for a project grant which would see 75 per cent of the costs covered by the province, leaving the village covering the remaining $18,000 to $20,000 which Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) funds could be used for.
Mayor Thomas Schmidt motioned to submit the grant application and see if the project could be done in 2022, which was carried.
Grad
Two members of the Gus Wetter School 2022 grad class attended the Halkirk council meeting.
They were there to request permission to use the shed at the Bullarama grounds to host a “Safe Grad.”
The request is similar to requests the grad class has made in previous years.
Council made clear expectations to the students if they were to say yes to the request, including that students would not be allowed to drive to or from the event, it must have adequate supervision and students would be limited to the Bullarama shed only.
“We want to see you kids safe,” said Coun. Sheri Jamieson.
The students indicated that the total number of students would be limited to around 150 people, Grade 11 parents would be signing kids in and out and rides are being arranged.
Deputy Mayor Dale Kent moved to accept the request as information, and the students will be notified of council’s decision at a later time.
RCMP
In the little more than a year that Sgt. John Pike has been in command of the Coronation RCMP detachment the number of case files have close to doubled.
This is due to Pike encouraging his members under him to document the work the detachment is actually undertaking.
Pike indicated that work members previously did without generating files numbers, such as answering resident questions, are now generating numbers for better statistics tracking, documentation and continuity between members in case the resident comes back in speaking to a different member on the same complaint.
“The more files we get … the more officers we get,” said Pike, in a presentation to council.
Pike has also been getting his members to work on more crime reduction strategies in the community, including doing more patrols through the communities of the County of Paintearth.
“Patrols are more of a deterrent,” said Pike.
“We’re trying to catch people in the act.”
While still not as high as he would like, the Coronation RCMP case clearance rate has climbed up 23.54 per cent.
“I’m trying to get the team to dig a little deeper and get more convictions,” said Pike.
Pike is currently looking for community feedback on community priorities as he guides the Coronation RCMP out of the pandemic and can be reached by email at KCoronationDet@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.