It was a quickly completed town council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 4, with the present councillors moving through the agenda at a quick pace.
Mayor Dick Richards, absent from the past several meetings due to illness, was still away from council, leaving current Deputy Mayor Al Campbell to chair the session.
Councillors Darcy Bachman and Karen Sernecky were also absent.
Safety Inspection contract
Councillors first addressed the matter of the town’s inspections contractor, IJD Inspections Ltd., whose contract expires at the end of March.
IJD has been used by the town for the past six years through two three-year contracts.
The company handles all building, plumbing, gas and electric inspections within the town.
In 2009, the last time the town put out a request for proposals for safety code inspections for the town, three agencies responded, with IJD being chosen.
Since then, there’s only been one amendment to the contract, to reflect changes to the pricing scale as well as to extend the contract for an additional three years.
Town staff recommended the council enter into a new three-year contract with IJD, which council unanimously supported.
Permit fee increase up for vote
Council next examined the town’s building minimum permit fee, which is $70. Reviewing several communities, including Calgary, Blackfalds, Red Deer and Bonnyville, council heard that Stettler’s building permit fee was the lowest of all surveyed communities. Bonnyville was the highest with a minimum fee of $150, while Red Deer’s $72.40 was the closest to Stettler’s fee. Staff recommended that the fee be increased to $95, which was supported by a council vote.
Town saves money by thinking ahead
With an eye to replacing its aging fire engine fleet in the future, the town took advantage of the high Canadian dollar in 2014 to secure US dollars. The fire engines are purchased using US currency, and due to exchanging Canadian currency when the dollar was high, the town saved roughly $26,000 of the estimated price.
To pay for the fire truck now, at today’s exchange rate, would cost the town roughly $300,000, as the Canadian dollar is much lower than the US dollar.