City Council has had its regular scheduled council meeting Monday, April 25th.
The Taxi and Vehicle-for- Hire Bylaw was revisited, as an information item on the docket, and Council will go ahead with its 2nd and 3rd readings. It was first presented to council March 28th. The bylaw was put out for public consultation, but no feedback was received. Councilor Larry Sauer assures that people can still read the bylaw and air their concerns.
Although the City didn’t receive response from citizens, they did receive feedback from from stakeholders and taxi companies in town, which lead Administration to change a few points of the document: the expiry date of March 1st, 2017 for the current permits will be honoured; a taxi will be able to remain in use for 10 years rather than 8; the wait-time fee has be increased from $30 per hour to $37.50 per hour; meter fees are to be reviewed annually; and the term “Ride Share” was added to the bylaw and was provided the same definition as Vehicle-For-Hire.
Once passed, the bylaw would be subject to a one-year evaluation to identify areas, if any, in need of adjustment.
In addition, the City discussed the signing of a new memorandum of understanding with the Lloydminster Rescue Squad, to provide monetary support for the emergency service team’s operational costs and new building fees.
A previous MOU between the entities had stated that the Squad would provide rescue services to the City, as required, in exchange for accommodations. The Squad had been in the old Emergency Services building but it has been deemed beyond economical repair, so the Rescue Squad has now moved to a new location, where they are renting a facility.
Because of this, the City has agreed to financially assist the Squad by paying an annual sum of $14,400, to offset the monthly lease payments. The City had paid a similar amount at the old building to cover the lease, maintenance, and utilities. The Rescue Squad is now at the same location as the Handivan Society.
Also at the meeting, it was brought forth that Bio Clean Disaster Services is sponsoring the Lloydminster Leisure Centre. The most significant change to the Centre that we can be sure of at this time will be in the name, as the Bio Clean deal includes the naming rights.
The sponsorship/naming rights contract was based on the Servus Sports Centre’s contract as well as consideration to the number of people using the facility. As of 2015, the Servus Sports Centre saw 500,000 visitors, while the Leisure Centre had only 49,000.
Administration is actively seeking and working with numerous businesses to obtain sponsorship for other facilities. An active list of sponsorship opportunities is available from the Strategy department and questions or discussions regarding sales, advertising or sponsorship opportunities from the public should be directed to Mark Neumann.
“We’ve tasked Administration with going forth and seeking out revenue opportunities, and one of those opportunities comes in the form of sponsorships. So in this case, our marketing person has gone out and sought that, and I guess when people have looked at that, they’ve had one person come forward now, one corporation I guess, said that they thought that the Leisure Centre was something that they would like to support,” explains Sauer.
Director Don Stang noted that the funds received from sponsorship opportunities will be used to offset capital expenses, in particular, towards the sponsored facility. The company will provide $20,000 in funding each year over a 10-year period.
Once again, Council discussed the hot topic of the proposal of the Lloydminster Utility Corporation. At the meeting it was revealed that a report was conducted with regards to Lloydminster’s current wastewater treatment plant, which showed the City has not been fully compliant with water standards in place dating back to 2001, and that non-compliance has a potential personal and financial liability.
Solutions were considered to make the facility and system compliant and improvements were made, with the most recent being the pilot project for the submerged attached growth reactor. However, a study on the pilot project showed there is still a need to build a new water treatment facility in order to meet the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency’s requirements for carbonaceous biological oxygen demand and total suspended solids removal.
Councilor Linnea Goodhand and Terry Burton, Director, Planning & Engineering emphasized that action must be taken and the City simply cannot ignore the problem any longer.
The topic of the LUC is also on the list for the next Your Voice Event. Goodhand says everything that’s been brought forth in council will be available to the people for discussion, and that she hopes the event has a big turnout so as to get the public engaged.
Other topics on the list of discussion items for Your Voice are Report to the Community, Land Division, Municipal Development Plan, and Building Lloydminster.
Your Voice will be held Thursday, May 5th at College Park School (2111 56 Ave.) from 5 to 8 p.m.
Finally, the meeting included 4 proclamations by Mayor Rob Saunders for the coming week:
- Pitch-In Lloydminster Week, from May 2nd to the 8th, where citizens are encouraged to take action to clean, healthy, and safe communities and environments; to reduce, reuse, and recycle; and to help clean up local neighbourhoods and greenspaces.
- McHappy Day in Lloydminster on May 4th, when $1 from every purchase of a Happy Meal, Big Mac, coffee or tea at local McDonald’s establishments will go towards supporting the Ronald McDonald House in Edmonton and Saskatoon.
- Maternal Mental Health Day on May 4th, when the community of Lloydminster pledges to raise awareness about maternal mental health and postpartum depression in particular, and to strive to remove the stigma.
- Emergency Preparedness Week, May 1st through to the 7th, during which the City recognizes the importance of emergency preparedness and being proactive, by encouraging residents to sign-up to receive the City’s emergency alerts, to create a household emergency plan, and prepare an emergency kit.