RM to Begin Building Inspections to Determine Use.
Ratepayer Fred Harman presented as a delegation to council after he saw his building mentioned during a December 8th council meeting reported in the December 13th edition of the Last Mountain Times. During the December meeting council decided to have buildings in the RM inspected to determine if they were being used for commercial purposes or agricultural purposes. An inspection would determine if they were up to the commercial building code standard. It would also increase taxes on a commercial building.
Council zeroed in on a building in the RM that the council believed was being used for commercial purposes and believed housed a second-floor residence.
Harman explained he is using the building both as a shop and an agricultural building. He added he is in the process of restarting an aquaculture operation, which he expects to be running at 10% in the spring and 100% in a year. The equipment is part of the farm operation as they dig dugouts/ponds which stock the fish. The business is a third-generation family business that was started originally in 1968 by Harman’s father. Due to a downturn in the market, he had stopped operations for several years. He informed council there wasn’t a residence in the building but an office and lunchroom with a full kitchen. Harman further explained the building would be at least 60% for agriculture purposes.
After the delegation, councillor Dixon questioned if a building could be split for assessment purposes and questioned the splits. Reeve Schmidt explained as Harman declared its use, it would be inspected under the normal permitting process noting other buildings have had split assessments and that he expects to see more of this.
No Tender Received
Council discussed a land lease that had expired. When the lease expired, the lessee wished to continue with a new lease. However, because council felt they could get more money for it, they placed it up for tender but did not receive any offers. Council debated putting it up a second time; however, several councillors felt it was only fair to honour the previous agreement by negotiating with the original lessee.
Ombudsman Complaint Close Letter
Council received a letter from the Ombudsman regarding a ratepayer complaint after an ethics complaint filed against then councillor, Ken Swanston, was deemed invalid by council. In the letter, the Ombudsman’s office determined they were not going to investigate as they only had the authority to investigate current councillors, not former. (Swanston did not run again in the 2020 election). The Ombudsman made suggestions to the RM regarding the dust control policy. Read it at lmtimes.ca/mckillop-jan262021
Trailer Permits
Gallery members asked the council questions during the public forum about how many trailer permits had been issued in 2020 and how many did not take out permits. Council responded that Twenty-eight permits were issued, and 105 did not get permits. In 2020 the RM was going to start enforcing the trailer permit bylaw but has yet to do so.
Acknowledgement of Council and Administrator’s Work
During the public forum portion of the meeting, two gallery members thanked the council for their work. Reeve Schmidt also took time during the meeting to acknowledge the Chief Administrative Officer’s work, Brandi Morissette, who said she is exhausted, noting she had worked late the previous evening.
Meetings of Council are open to the public and are held over Zoom. Zoom invitations are available on the RM webpage. The next meeting is on Tuesday, February 9th at 9 am.
Jennifer Argue, Civic Reporter - Local Journalism Initiative reporter
Note: These reports are abridged for content