Lloydminster City Council has had another regular, scheduled meeting this week.
On Monday, March 14th, Council met to discuss a number of topics. Major discussion points were the need to repave the runway at Lloydminster Airport, the rental rate changes coming for Lloydminster’s arenas, and a Cost Recovery Review for the Servus Sports Centre and the Lloydminster Leisure Centre.
Testing was done on the airport’s asphalt surface and determined that by the middle of 2018, it will be at the end of its useful life. There is funding available for the project through the Airports Capital Assistance Program (ACAP) that can be applied for through the government, Transport Canada, and takes about a year to go through.
The company that has been hired on as the primary engineering consultant for the project, Integrated Airport Systems Ltd., will put forth the grant application package on behalf of the city as they have done before for other municipalities and the project could potentially be 100% funded by the government.
“We want to be a regional hub and we want our airport to be part of that. So we want to make sure our facilities are able to meet aircraft movement and have, hopefully, more aircraft movement in and out of the city, and if it’s 100% funded, that’s a great benefit to the city and the taxpayers for sure,” says Councilor Chris McQuid.
As well, at Monday’s council meeting, Council approved a rental rate increase for the Robert B Holmes Arena, Rusway Arena, Russ Robertson Arena, Centennial Civic Centre and Archie Miller Arena. The rate changes come into effect September 1st, 2016.
“Every year we have to look at the cost to operate those arenas and other facilities in the city, and of course, the cost of labour and power and everything else goes up, so the increases are fairly minimum. I wish they could go down like everybody else but that’s the reality of life and when you take a 20-man team and you divide it up, it’s not really too much of an increase, but it does offset some of the operating costs within the organizations,” says Councilor Ken Baker.
Also to do with city facilities, Council approved the award of the Operational Review and Cost Recovery Plan of the Servus Sports Centre and the Lloydminster Leisure Centre to Expedition Management Consulting Ltd. in the amount of $54,930. The review will analyze staffing structure, membership and fees, programs, strategic alignments, and partnerships. Councilor Larry Sauer explained that the review is meant to identify efficiencies and inefficiencies in these areas. The review will go on until late September/early October of this year.
With regards to planning and engineering, Council approved the award of the 2016 Water and Sewer Main Replacement Program consultant agreement to BAR Engineering Co. Ltd. for $107,000 and the 2016 Waste Management Facility Master Plan consultant agreement was approved for Stantec Consulting Ltd. at $118,976.
Following review from the Administration and feedback from the public at November’s Your Voice event, the Code of Conduct document for Council has become a bylaw. The Code of Conduct Bylaw 8-2016 passed its first reading at Council this week, but was referred back to administration for further amendment before the second and third readings.
“This is something that we heard from the public and we see as a council, that needed to be updated. Before, it was a single-page document that didn’t really have as much pull to it as now. This is in the form of a bylaw: 8 pages, it has more substance to it, has the ability to put forward sanctions on anybody that doesn’t follow the Code of Conduct. So I think what we see now is a very good document for the city… It’s there to regulate us as council, make us aware of our duties and what we can and can’t do,” says Councilor Jason Whiting.
The Code of Conduct also incorporates a 12-month cooling-off period, currently in place, that Whiting says will be revisited.
“We want to ensure that there is an opportunity for everybody, after council is done to be an employee of the City. So it’s something that we will investigate,” assures Whiting.
Finally, Council also briefly reviewed the last Your Voice, which was held in February. The topics up for discussion at the last event were the Traffic Bylaw, the Taxi and Vehicle for Hire Bylaw, The Land Use Bylaw, the Wastewater Treatment Facility (Lloydminster Utility Corporation—LUC), and the Downtown Revitalization.
“The think the Your Voice went really well. It was the second open house that we did have for the public and I personally noticed some different people, that hadn’t been at the first one, come out. And I felt that people felt a little more comfortable now, seeing how the format’s laid out. People in the community are already asking when the next one is,” comments His Worship, Mayor Rob Saunders.
The next Your Voice will be held in June, after this quarter. To review the Council Highlights documents or full City Council Minutes, go to lloydminster.ca and click on “Government.”