I'm Disappointed

I'm admittedly disappointed that our newly elected councilor, Nikki King, has been called away on a business trip and will not be able to attend the Spring Town Hall Meeting to be sworn in.

I was hoping to see a tiny bit of Beiseker history made this coming Monday!  As far as I can tell, it would be the very first time in Beiseker history that a councilor would be sworn in at an open public meeting.

Oh well, we'll have to have the brief ceremony at our next regular council meeting to be held on Monday, May 9 in our council chamber at the Village Office.  You are all most welcome to come and observe the ceremony there, although seating will be very limited.

Village Councilors' Expense Claims

At last Monday's Council Meeting, I made another proposal with a view of saving money on the village budget. 

This time, I proposed that we reduce the amount slated for councilors expense claims.  As you may know, prior to the 2013 municipal election a committee was created - totally separate from council - to review and recommend changes to the expense claim amounts.  After that election, the newly elected council accepted and passed the new schedule designed by that committee.

It significantly raised councilors' fees.  In fact, that budget line in our books more than doubled in 2014, over what it was in 2013! 

I am suggesting that we take another look at those new figures for expense claims and possibly reduce them during these "belt tightening times."  They could be raised back to their current amounts in the future, when councilors feel the Village coffers could better could afford it.  What do you think?

Town Hall Meeting Reminder

Monday, November 10 is the date of our 2014 Fall Town Hall Meeting of Council.  A Town Hall Meeting provides a chance for residents to ask questions or voice concerns to Village Council without having to attend a regular council meeting as a delegation.

I will be chairing tomorrow night's meeting at the Beiseker Community Centre.  We will first hold an abbreviated council meeting following our standard agenda, after which we will take questions from those assembled.

We ask that questions be addressed to the councilors and that they address concerns within the village.  These Town Hall meetings are NOT to be used as a witch-hunt!  Derogatory or inflammatory comments directed toward village staff members or councilors will not be acknowledged.

We'll have the coffee on, I hope to see you there!

More Aqua7 Water Woes

At last Monday's Council meeting I voiced my concern that the Town of Drumheller had raised their water rates to the Aqua7 Regional Water Services Commission by 10% over the past two years. They have asked for part of this increase to start in July of this year, even though our contract with them stipulates increases must take effect in January of each year.

It appears everything costs more these days, but I'm wondering if such a huge increase in water rates from Drumheller is really necessary.  I hope that we will be able to meet with representatives from Drumheller in the near future to discuss these increases.  They need to explain to us why such an increase is necessary at this point in time.

I and the rest of the Aqua 7 water commission need to know that the increases in the water rates will be used to pay for upgrades in the water treatment plant and its supply line to our Kirkpatrick reservoir - and not to upgrade the water supply infrastructure within the Town of Drumheller.  We also need to know that we are getting a wholesale rate on our cost of water from Drumheller, and not a different retail rate.

It has been suggested (again) that Beiseker might be able to go back on its well water system if Aqua7 water becomes too expensive.  In my opinion, though, that possibility is totally out of the question.  The aquafer from which Beiseker drew its water from has been severely depleted by increased use over the past ten years.  Without drilling a series of new (and expensive) wells, I doubt we could pull enough water out of the aquafer to supply our growing community. 

We also signed a contract with Aqua7 at its conception that we would do our part in supporting the system and paying down its debt.  We would still be responsible for our share of the debt as agreed to in that agreement, even if we stopped using the pipeline.

I truly believe that Aqua7 Regional Water Services Commission will continue to grow and prosper.  I am sure Rocky View County will be able to buy and sell Aqua7 water in the future.  I am confident that the provincial government will one day finally wake up, smell the coffee and realize they treated the Aqua7 folks very, very badly and make amends as recommended in their own study made a few years ago!

Taxes!

Yesterday morning (Saturday, June 2) the Council of the Village of Beiseker met to discuss the 2012 budget and start the process of setting a mill rate for this year.  

We had an excellent meeting.  Our Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) had drawn up a proposed budget.  It was up us to go through it line by line and recommend changes.  Our CAO will then take our changes back, work them into the budget figures and bring them back to council at our next regular council meeting.  At that time we will either accept the changes and declare a mill rate or send it back for more modifications.  By law we have to declare a mill rate by the end of June.

Something alarming is that our Overall Assessment has dropped more than three million dollars!  That means that if we all sold all of our Beiseker properties today, we would receive three million bucks less than we would have last year!

Some properties were assessed higher and others assessed lower, many remained close to their 2011 assessments.  It's all based on formulas created by a mysterious process called Market Value Assessment (MVA).  It basically declares that if a similar property in a similar place sold for a certain amount, that's what my property is worth! 

Yes, I know that there are flaws in that logic, but that's what the provincial government says we have to do.  Municipal politicians from all over Alberta have complained to Municipal Affairs about this MVA system for years to no avail.

Council must estimate as closely as possible, how much money our municipality will need to operate for one year.  We must then set a mill rate to raise that amount of money based on a one dollar tax for every $1000.00 of assessed value.  Another provincial rule says that a municipality cannot submit a deficit budget.

We pored over the figures for more than two hours and made some important decisions.  Our Overall Assessment has dropped but the cost of operating our municipality has increased!

I hope we gave our CAO enough guidance so that she might work out our budget and enable us to declare a mill rate at our next regular council meeting.  That's about all I can tell you right now because nothing has been officially decided beyond that. 

Our next meeting of council will be held on Monday, June 11, 2012.

2012 Priorities: Paving

Our first council meeting of 2012 will be held on Monday, January 9 at the Village Office.  I'm sure we'll start talking about priorities for the 2012 budget which for us is set in May of each year.  Besides the issues I mentioned in my New Years message a few days ago, there are a number of other projects we need to consider.  One of my favourites is pavement.

 There are a number of streets in the Village which need paving!  They are;  the avenues starting with Second Avenue going south at the Mountain View Credit Union, then Third Avenue going south from the Community Links building, and Fourth Avenue going south from the entrance to Friendship Park.  Beacon Heights Road going south from Beacon Heights also needs paving. 

The residents along Seventh Street turned down pavement a few years ago, but I think we need to ask them again!

All of these can't be paved over one year, probably not even over five years, but I believe we need to start the process of engineering, base preparation and applying for grants.

Let me know what you think.

Fire Department Insurance and Candy Canes

After some careful research Jo, our Chief Administrative Officer for the Village of Beiseker, found that we do have a very good insurance policy covering our volunteer firefighters!  It has been in place for many, many years. The reason why we weren't certain of its existance was that no firefighter has needed it!  We have made this information available to the BFD members.  The coverage is arranged through the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association and will continue into 2012 and beyond.  In the future,  Beiseker Village Council will ensure that all volunteer firefighters are aware of their insurance coverage through the Village.

I do hope this clears up any misunderstanding brought forward at the last council meeting. 

I see that the Beiseker Fire Department is doing the Candy Cane Run on Christmas Eve.  I had the honour of riding with the firefighters for many years of Candy Cane Runs.  It made me very proud when I saw a firefighter in full turnout gear give a candy cane to a child on Christmas Eve.  Have a wonderful, warm and safe Candy Cane Run this year and a very Merry Christmas to all of the Beiseker Volunteer Firefighters!

Council Debate

Last Monday night we had a very interesting Beiseker Village Council meeting!  A delegation had asked to address council regarding issues with the Beiseker Fire Department (BFD).  Their presentation was almost derailed when one of the "back-bench" delegates began yelling and name-calling. 

His points, no matter how valid they may have been, were negated by his behaviour!  Order was re-established and the original presenter made her points and comments on the issues.  I was most impressed by her demeanor and that of the rest of her supporters.

One point which interested me considerably was the perception that the volunteer members of the BFD had no insurance coverage if they were injured on a call out.  I am in the process of checking this out.  It seems to me only natural that those who give up their time and energy and risk their safety to be a part of our fire department be suitably covered by some kind of insurance. Stay tuned on this one.  (Dec. 20th follow-up:  Fire Department Insurance and Candy Canes)

Another point was that it was their perception that the Village Council was dragging their feet in drawing up an agreement with the County of Rocky View to share the responsibility of fire protection in this northeast corner of the county, including Beiseker.  I think Mayor Rowe made it very clear that negotiations have been actively going on for many months and will continue until a suitable compromise has been reached. 

Our situation is not the same as Irricana's.  The Irricana Fire Department was always a part of the North East Rocky View Fire Association (NERFA) and simply moved over into Rocky View's new fire protection program.  Beiseker, on the other hand, left NERFA with much bad feelings and anguish more than 20 years ago.  Beiseker is now starting back at square one!  

A negotiated agreement will be arrived at, but it must be in the best interest of the village and the county.  But it will happen!