Code of Ethics Complaint
Reeve Bob Schmidt and Councillor Marilyn Labatte declared a conflict of interest for an ethics complaint discussed in a closed session at the end of the meeting.
The public is not made aware of who the complaint was filed against nor the basis of the complaint. Council reviews complaints in closed sessions and determines the validity of the complaint against their fellow councillors. According to CAO Brandi Morisette, details of ethics complaints are not made available to the public, as is dictated by the RM’s Code of Ethics Bylaw.
After returning to the open-session Council made a motion to dismiss the ethics complaint because “neither council member named in the complaint gained from the decision of council nor did they intentionally or unintentionally influence the decision of council.” LMT and the public are still in the dark regarding which Councillors were named in the complaint and what decision those councillors were involved in that formed the complaint’s basis.
If a person disagrees with the Council’s decision, they may send a complaint to the Ombudsman’s office for review. Since 2019 there have been several ethics code complaints filed against Councillors in the RM. The Last Mountain Times has requested all complaints filed against councillors since June of 2019 through an Access To Information Request under the Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
First Reading of Council Member Code of Ethics Bylaw
The Council Member Code of Ethics Bylaw 407/2021 received its first reading at the meeting. The bylaw establishes a code of conduct directing the actions of Council and will establish procedures if there is a complaint of alleged misconduct.
Public Hearing
A Public Hearing was held for a discretionary use application for gravel extraction and storage on the SE 10 23 23 W2 and Asphalt Plan SW 30 23 22 W2. Several gallery members spoke on the matter and a number of submissions.
Resort Village of Sunset Cove
The RM received a letter from the Resort Village of Sunset Cove declining to pay custom maintenance charges billed by the RM, stating they have told them this before because they don’t have a road maintenance agreement with the RM. CAO Morissette told LMT they wouldn’t be responding to the letter and that the RM receives the same communication from the Resort Village on a yearly basis.
Community Policing Report
The Southey Detachment of the RCMP submitted their Community Policing Report to the RM from October 1st, 2020, to December 31st, 2020. Out of the 948 total calls for service, only 58 were for the RM of McKillop. During the same reporting period in 2019, there were 95 calls for service, a decrease of 37 calls. Forty-four of the calls were traffic-related.
Planning and Economic Development Committee Meeting Report
The Planning and Economic Development Committee met on January 27th. Recommendations that come out of committee meetings then come before a regular meeting of Council. There Council will discuss them, and Council may make potential motions based on those recommendations.
Council sent two subdivision applications, Shoreline SE 14 22 23 W2 and one for Collingwood Resort, to the RM’s community planning consultants, “Urban Systems”, for an in-depth review and reported back to the Council. The RM uses a professional community planning consultant while they advertise to fill a position for a Development Officer position that their in-house Community Planner recently vacated. During the meeting, Council decided to negotiate an agreement with Urban Systems that caps the annual expenditure at $50,000.
Glamping Resorts Ltd. Discretionary Use Application – Council moved to proceed with the application and engage the public.
Council carried a motion that the RM pursue using a fee per lot calculation formula for the Village of Silton Agreement for the fire suppression services vs assessment calculation formula to coincide with how the other stakeholders contribute.
The RM hired Chip Bookkeeping Services ltd to process the RM payroll and related duties.
Public Works Committee Meeting Report
The Public Works Committee met on February 3rd. Recommendations that come out of committee meetings are then brought before a regular meeting of Council where they will be discussed and potential motions made based on those recommendations.
Council carried a motion that the RM would use Roadata Services Ltd to administer overweight vehicle permits.
A motion was passed for the Administration to review and amend the license to extract gravel bylaw 356/2018 and bring it back to Council for their review and approval.
The RM will be advertising for a Seasonal 1 Equipment Operator position.
Council defeated a motion that the RM put out a notice to all RM ratepayers that may have land available for a possible RM shop location. Voting yes on the motion were Councillors Dixon, Gilbert, McKenzie. No votes were Councillor Labatte, Romanyk, Whitrow and Reeve Schmidt.
Reeve Bob Schmidt made a motion to direct the drafting of a bylaw to regulate the speed of heavy haul vehicles in the RM. This motion arose to reduce the damage done to the RM’s roads which directly attributed to the speed of heavy haul vehicles.
SARM Virtual Convention
The SARM Virtual Convention will be occurring on March 9 and 10th. While all Council can attend the Convention, the voting delegates on behalf of the RM will be Reeve Schmidt and Councillor Whitrow. The regular council meeting scheduled during the Convention has been rescheduled to March 8th at 9 am.
Jennifer Argue, Civic Reporter, LMT - Local Journalism Initiative reporter
Note: These reports are abridged for content