Ponoka County council is considering financial support for a new clerical position, as requested by the RCMP.
A management review of the Ponoka detachment was done and the clerical area was deemed one in need of support.
The county would give $16,000 per annum.
However, CAO Charlie Cutforth reminded council if they assist with the new position they may have to consider supporting two other detachments.
“I just reminded council if we do this we have the Rimbey detachment and the Bashaw detachment, that covers the east part of the county … may be forthcoming with their requests.”
Compactor purchase
County council has decided to purchase a Caterpillar compactor for the Bluffton landfill.
At their Dec. 11 meeting, council discussed the merits of two different compactors, the Bomag compacter and the Caterpillar.
County CAO Charlie says Bomag compacters are known to run well but the service isn’t up to the counties desired standards.
The quality of Caterpillar compacters is less known but Cutforth says he hasn’t heard of any problems.
The landfill has a Bomag compactor in use; however, it’s off warranty and sitting at approximately 6,000 hours of use. “If worse comes to worst we could run this Bomag another year,” said Cutforth.
The Caterpillar will cost between $507,000 and $510,000, and a Bomag would cost $550,000.
New Precision Precast application
Precision Precast, the company recently denied their land rezoning application, has applied to the county for a different land designation.
Since they couldn’t apply under the same type of designation for at least a year, they’ve switched to a direct control application.
A direct control designation means county council would issue all development permits and conditions, rather than the county development officer considering only permitted uses.
“So that will come before council in the new year,” said Cutforth.
Rimbey lagoon outfall request
The Town of Rimbey requested support from county council for their lagoon outlet project.
County council accepted the request as information but made no further decisions at their Dec. 11 meeting.
The outfall system from the lagoon is 5.6 km and runs south to the Blindman River. Based in an engineers report, the total cost to clean the outfall channel would be approximately $600,000.
Cutforth showed council photos of standing water throughout the outfall path but no one there believed the water was significant or out of the ordinary.
“There’s some potential improvements for the affected land along that outfall,” added Cutforth. “And I thought, well really, that is such flat, low wetland anyway. How much impact does this really have, and how is it the responsibility of the county?”
Bluffton Hall support
County council is donating $6,000 to Bluffton Hall to deal with water drainage issues.
“They had standing water that wouldn’t drain from the building,” said Cutforth. The is concern that increased humidity caused by the water could lead to mold.
“When they built their addition onto the hall three years ago, they’ve had some water issues,” said Cutforth, in recommending the county’s support.
In the last year the hall hosted around 40 functions, most attended by more than 200 people. These numbers affirmed to council the hall is still a well-used building in the community.