Council Highlights - April 17, 2018

Citizens' Minute with Council

Residents are welcome to speak to Council about issues, events, celebrations or concerns during Minute with Council. At the beginning of each regular Council Meeting, Mayor Michaels opens the floor to the public to speak and share with Council members, administration and meeting observers.

Maria Michener
Michener spoke to Council regarding her thoughts on the previously discussed draft animal control bylaw.

Glen Barrow
Barrow came before Council, first asking questions regarding the automated traffic enforcement policy, and then raising concerns regarding the recreation centre implementation plan.

Delegations

Presentations are required to be arranged through the Executive Assistant, so that presenters can be sure time is set aside for their presentations on the Council agenda. Find out more about how to be a delegation by following this link.

1. Teck Coal Cheviot Mine Update - Presented by Matt Cole and Ciaran Thompson
Cole and Thompson provided an overview of the operations at Cardinal River, as well as their involvement in the community, and then an update on the MacKenzie Redcap project. View the presentation file here.

Public Hearings

In some instances, Council is required to conduct public hearings regarding land use bylaws, rezoning, etc., or on any other matter council deems appropriate.

There were no public hearings.

Action Items

1. Automated Traffic Enforcement Policy PS - 2600 - Presented by Todd Martens
The Automated Traffic Enforcement Policy outlines the management of the Automated Traffic Enforcement Program to ensure public awareness, fairness and consistency to residents and visitors within the Town of Hinton. It ensures the provincial guidelines are followed, recognizing that this is one tool available for speed, stop sign and red-light enforcement in our community. Council made a series of motions: That Council direct Administration to remove the last sentence in Section 7.4 and replace with “A magnetized sign identifying the vehicle as an ATE Enforcement vehicle must be on the vehicle while conducting photo enforcement in the Town of Hinton, That Council direct Administration to amend Section 5.7 “The Peace Officer will alternate the location of the photo enforcement vehicle when in a residential zone to no more than 2 hours per month in front of the same residence or dwelling.“, That Council accept the Automated Traffic Enforcement Policy as amended, and That Council direct Administration to brief Council on our contractual obligations and opportunities with Global Traffic Group. All of these motions carried.

2. Bylaw #1120- Property Tax Bylaw - Presented by Carla Fox
The approved 2018 operating budget is $ 28,079,461. The Tax Levy bylaw is required to raise the general municipal taxation amount approved in the budget. The Tax Levy Bylaw includes the requisitions for the Education Property Tax, the Evergreens Foundation and the Designated Industrial Property. These amounts are set by the province and the municipality is responsible for the collection and remittance of these requisitions. This Bylaw received unanimous first second and third reading.

3. Bylaw #1121- 2018 Supplementary Property Tax - Presented by Carla Fox
This item is before Council to give Council the necessary authority under the Municipal Government Act (section 313) to levy supplementary property tax. The 2017 Budget contains supplementary property taxation revenue in the amount of $ 50,000. In order to collect this revenue, it is necessary to put in place a supplementary property taxation bylaw. This Bylaw received unanimous first, second, and third reading.

4. Policy #082, Recreation and Parks User Fee - Presented by Hans van Klaveren
This item is before Council as directed at the March 27, 2018 Standing Committee meeting directing “Administration to organize public consultation regarding Policy #082, Recreation & Parks User Fee Policy including 2018 - 2021 Fee Schedules A and B as presented and bring a report to Regular Council of April 17, 2018 for a decision.” Policy #082 is an effective tool for setting fair and equitable fees for our recreation facilities. The schedules for daily admission and user fees (rentals) reflect the annual increases as proposed, as well as the introduction of a monthly membership and specific rental fees which maintain the service delivery levels to our residents and visitors. The current three-year fees & charges term will end August 31, 2018. It was moved that that Policy #082, Recreation & Parks User Fee Policy including the 2018-2021 Fee Schedules A and B, be approved as presented; this motion carried.

5. Hinton Recreation Centre Implementation Plan - Presented by Wendy Jones
In the 2017-2021 Council Strategic Plan, Town Council established Objective 4.1: Execute informed decisions on maintenance, renovation and new development of infrastructure with a Key Strategy (4.1.2) to determine the future of the Hinton Recreation Centre. Adopting the Implementation Plan establishes a Steering Committee that will bring forward a recommendation to Council in 2019 for the Hinton Recreation Centre. It was moved that Council direct Administration to advance the proposed Hinton Recreation Centre Iteration 3 with a cost estimate of $28,500,000 to $35,000,000 by:

Advance the Hinton Recreation Centre Implementation Plan (“Implementation Plan”) dated March 2018 prepared by GEC to guide the process in achieving detailed schematic design drawings and specifications describing all material components and systems in the project.
Develop the membership model and terms of reference to establish a Steering Committee to lead the Implementation Plan Tasks 1 to 11.
Approves a not-to-exceed $200,000 capital budget expense to facilitate the Steering Committee and Administration to utilize GEC Consulting services or other consulting services as needed to support delivering final recommendations to Council in 2019.

This motion carried. It was then moved that Council direct Administration to provide the data collected after the Barr Rider report from surveys, open houses and other means prior to the terms of reference for a recreation centre steering committee are presented to Council. This motion carried. Finally, it was moved that that Council direct Administration to bring back the Hinton Centre policy to a Standing Committee to discuss possibly expanding the program. This motion also carried.

In Camera

In-camera is a legal term meaning “in private.” When a council goes in-camera, it means the Council meeting is closed to the public. In general terms, the exceptions include matters where disclosures could be harmful to personal privacy, individual or public safety, law enforcement, intergovernmental relations, or economic or other interests; reveal confidential evaluations, local public body confidence, or advice from officials; or disclose information that is subject to legal privilege.

There were no in camera motions.

Information Items

Councillor Trevor Haas: Councillor Haas advised all residents to consider visiting the Hinton Municipal Library website and Facebook page, saying the library has a large amount of programs and events scheduled for all ages.

Councillor Tyler Waugh: Councillor Waugh and Councillor Nelson, who both attended the Economic Developers of Alberta Conference recently alongside members from Community Futures West Yellowhead, shared a joint presentation regarding some of the sessions they attended. The presentation has since been made available for all to view by clicking here. Waugh also offered an update on recent MPB Committee meetings, saying the group has wrapped for a month after completing their key messages and some other important early documents.

Councillor Ryan Maguhn: Councillor Maguhn gave an update to Council regarding positive progress on a number of items at the Golf Course, as well as notifying the public about a coming job fair this Saturday, and informing Council of weather related opening delays.

Councillor Albert Ostashek: nothing to report

Councillor Dewly Nelson: Councillor Nelson offered a reminder to his fellow Councillors of next weekends VSU gala, calling it a fun night. Nelson went on to express his enjoyment at having presented to a group of high school science students, and referenced the GYPSD meeting. Councillor Nelson also joined Councillor Waugh in the presentation of EDA learning - more information and link above.

Councillor Joann(Jo) Race: Councillor Race reported having attended an ASH meeting, wherein the committee established a number of important items. Race went on to report having attended a meeting with GYPSD alongside fellow Councillors.

Mayor Marcel Michaels: Mayor Michaels offered his thanks to Councillor Waugh for his role in filling in as chair of the MPB committee while he was injured, and while he was away. He also provided an update on his attendance at a Seniors Housing Conference, the recent GYPSD meeting, and then issued a proclamation for National Volunteer Week.

Interim CAO Denise Parent: Parent echoed Mayor Michaels statement regarding the importance of volunteers, and then offered a reminder to Council and the public that the Animal Control Bylaw returns to Standing Committee next week and asked that anyone who has questions or concerns contact the Protective Services Division.

Administrative Inquiries

If Councillors have queries they would like to submit to admin, this will be the time at which they do. This is in accordance with Council's procedural bylaw.

There were no new inquiries.

Town of Hinton Newsflash

Street Sweeping Scheduled to Begin Tomorrow

Town of Hinton staff will begin street sweeping tomorrow (Thursday), weather permitting. Crews are currently planning to begin by doing a full clean of the highway areas, followed by Switzer and Robb road, and then moving into areas like the Recreation Centre and shopping areas before cleaning residential zones. All sweeping plans are dependant on weather patterns, while residential plans are also adjusted based on garbage pickup days and the rotation of priority areas. Further updates for timelines on residential areas will be shared, and electronic notifying signs posted, once the highway and main routes are completed. We ask that all drivers who encounter street cleaners to please be aware of their movements and give them space to work.

Council Video Recordings

As some residents may have noticed, we have recently experienced difficulties with our streaming video provider online. The service provider has changed the accepted methods of posting, which has made all older videos in the inventory non-functioning. These non-functioning videos will removed from the inventory for the time being, however, administration is investigating ways of making a larger library available for residents to access online. In the interim, a new format has been selected, and new recordings are being posted as before; however, the new format is slightly larger, and so less videos will be accessible online than in years past. Recordings of the videos are also available on DVDs at the Hinton Municipal Library, which can be checked out and viewed on either computers or DVD players, or by contacting the Town of Hinton should those DVD recordings not be available.

Need Tax Help?

Trained CRA volunteers are ready to file taxes for individuals, families, seniors, persons with disability and/or lower incomes. Call 780-865-6036 or visit FCSS at 821 Switzer Drive (The West Fraser Guild), no appointment needed (just bring your tax slips)!

You can view the entire agenda package here.

The next Council meeting will be held April 24, 2018, at 4pm
in the the Committee Room.