VILLAGE OF FORT SIMPSON
Minutes of the Regular Council Meeting #RM03-2017 of February 6th, 2017
AGENDA
REGULAR MEETING # RM03-2017
Visitors' Information Centre Theatre Room
Monday February 6th, 2017 @ 7:00 PM
Present Mayor D. Sibbeston
Councillor C. Blyth
Councillor C. Cli
Councillor M. Lafferty
Councillor L. McPherson
Councillor M. Rowe
Councillor S. Whelly
Absent: Deputy Mayor J. Hardisty
Councillor M. Hassan
Also present: SAO W. Bennett
Clerk A. Burrill
Delegate L. Keats
Press A. Hudson
1) Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm.
2) Agenda Additions
- Add 15a) Human Resources
- Add 5a) Councillor Hassan
3) Adoption of the Agenda
Resolution #2017-020
Moved by: Councillor Rowe
Seconded by: Councillor Lafferty
THAT Council adopts the agenda of Regular Meeting #RM02-2017 as amended.
CARRIED
4) Declaration of Interest
None
5) Councillor Absences
a) Resolution #2017-021
Moved by: Councillor Lafferty
Seconded by: Councillor Rowe
THAT Council excuse Deputy Mayor Hardisty and Councillor Hassan from Regular Meeting RM03-2017.
CARRIED
6) Delegations
a) Leah Keats
Leah Keats wanted to inform the Council that what was quoted in the Deh Cho Drum as to why she resigned from Council was untrue. The Deh Cho Drum stated that she resigned because of the water rates set by Council. She wanted to clarify that the reason she resigned was the access to water given to a customer. A customer needed water from the community. Instead of going to the local water deliverer in town, the person went to the Mayor at that time and Mitch Gast. The two jerry rigged a fire hydrant for the customer and put a meter on it so that the customer could take water from it as needed. They would then be charged by the Village of Fort Simpson for whatever the meter said that they used. She felt that this was biased and went against local business in town. She didn’t feel that her concerns were supported by the Council at that time about how bad doing this was, so she resigned.
Leah Keats wanted to discuss the issue that Council had with the fire department volunteers using the water at the fire department to wash their personal vehicles. She feels that they do a lot for this community and it is all volunteered. Over 2000 hours a year are volunteered by the members of the fire department. She would like for Council to really think about whether it is the right decision to take the little perk of washing their personal vehicles away after everything they do for the community.
7) Adoption of Minutes
a) RM02-2017 January 16th, 2017
Resolution #2017-022
Councillor Whelly thinks that the minutes were great, but he has an issue with how long and detailed they have become. He would like for the minutes to be summarized and have a lot less detail in them so that the administration isn’t spending as much time trying to type them up.
Councillor Rowe would like to keep the minutes very detailed. The Village has been criticized for not having enough details in the minutes in the past and he would like to avoid this issue being brought up again.
Councillor Blyth likes the amount of detail put into the minutes.
Councillor McPherson and Councillor Cli are ok with either way that the minutes are typed up.
Councillor Whelly would like for audio or video recordings to start being posted so that the amount of detail being put into the minutes can be brought down.
Mayor Sibbeston pointed out that the Senior Administrative Officer can go over the minutes once they are completed by the clerk and scale back the amount of detail put into them.
Moved by: Councillor Rowe
Seconded by: Councillor McPherson
THAT Council approves the minutes of Regular Meeting #RM02-2017 of January 16th, 2017 as presented.
CARRIED
8) Reports
a) Mayor’s Report
Mayor Sibbeston gave her report verbally.
Debra Richards has been hired as the Bylaw Officer. She met most of the Councillors last week while assisting handing out Council packages.
Councillor Hassan is currently in New York for a meeting with the United Nations.
Mayor Sibbeston would like to start inviting different organizations to a meeting regarding the youth space in the Village of Fort Simpsons fitness centre.
Mayor Sibbeston has had a discussion with Senior Administrative Officer Bill Bennett regarding media relations. A policy will be made for the Council in reference to what can be said by Councillors on social media or publically regarding the Village of Fort Simpson.
Mayor Sibbeston noticed that the agenda for the meeting was not posted on Friday. She would like for the administration to try and get the agenda up on the Fridays before every meeting.
b) SAO Report
Senior Administrative Officer William Bennett’s report flows into the items in Tabled Items and Old Business.
9) Tabled Items and Old Business
a) Budget 2017
Senior Administrative Officer William Bennett went over the report with Council. He mentioned that in order to balance the surplus in the water and sewer fund and deficit in the general operating fund in the budget, they would have to redo the budget and find an area to bring in some revenue like property taxes, or go over the budget again and find places to cut $400,000 out of it.
Councillor Whelly does not believe that the surplus that the Village has is the actual surplus. He thinks that the administration has not done the proper cost counting for everything. An example he used is the pump out truck at the public works shop. There is maintenance and heating for the truck, as well as training to use it. All of the money for this comes out of the public works budget, but the truck is used to dump sewer and should be charged against water and sewer. Another example is that the utility clerks pay is being charged to administration but should be charged against water and sewer. He would like for this to be looked back on and to fix as many of these errors that they can.
Mayor Sibbeston pointed out that half of the utility clerks pay is charged against water and sewer. She believes that the water and sewer access fees that the Village started to charge utility customers in 2014 helped build up the surplus in water and sewer. She thinks that Council should consider whether the Village should continue charging these fees or if they want to get rid of them all together. She agreed that the water and sewer charges have not been properly quoted. She definitely agrees with going back in 2016 and moving things to the proper areas, but thinks that’s as far back as they should look. It is very time consuming and both the Senior Administrative Officer and Finance Manager have a lot going on at the moment.
Senior Administrative Officer William Bennett agrees that they do need to go back and move things to the proper areas, but this is a huge task. He also agrees that they should do this for the previous year only.
Councillor McPherson questioned why the auditors didn’t catch this.
Senior Administrative Officer William Bennett mentioned that the auditors would have to be in the office for at least a month in order to catch many of the errors.
Councillor Whelly does not want to see a cut in the budget or property taxes raised. He would like to have the administration work with accountants to properly allocate these amounts.
Senior Administrative Officer William Bennett would like to use a separate accountant for this and not the auditor for the Village. His only concern is if this took two months to complete, they would now be 4 months into the new year.
Mayor Sibbeston recommends temporarily freezing all spending for the Village unless it is necessary. She also suggests bringing in Ann O’Hare to help with this as she has been working with the Village of Fort Simpson and its accounts for 3 years.
Councillor Rowe recommends letting William decide how to move forward with this. Once he has something prepared, he can bring it forward to a Council meeting.
b) Building Lease
Senior Administrative Officer William Bennett told the Council that he received negative feedback from MACA regarding the building lease with Nogha Enterprises. They told William that they cannot use funds from the CPI or Gas Taxes. It would have to come out of the O&M budget. Council will have to show MACA where in the O&M that they could come up with the money. Bill also mentioned that the document that Council sent to MACA did not meet their requirements. He asked MACA not to string the Village along and to let him know whether or not they want to kill the idea before they spend more money on it.
Council asked William if he thought they would the idea would be killed. He believes they will no matter what.
Councillor Whelly would like for the Council to look at the options they have. He mentioned that the current building is not meant for an office for the Village of Fort Simpson employees. It was only supposed to be a temporary move, not permanent. The building will also need major upgrades in the coming years as it is getting very old.
Council wanted to know exactly what else they needed to send to MACA in order to meet the requirements. William said that they only sent a cost analysis. They would need to send both the cost and benefit analysis.
Mayor Sibbeston does not want it to look like they did not do the proper paperwork. They were only asked to send the cost analysis and that is what they sent. She is wondering why they are asking for the benefit analysis after they’ve sent the paperwork.
Councillor Cli would like to see more of a political push from Mayor Sibbeston on this. She thinks that this move would be good for the Village office and shows good governance.
Mayor Sibbeston suggest having a conference call with the Minister once they get a package with all of the information together.
Councillor Whelly suggests having a meeting with the Senior Administrative Officer regarding the intent of developing the terms of reference for the company. Councillor Whelly will work on this with the Senior Administrative Officer and Finance Manager. He will also send an email to the rest of the Council if they have any input on this.
Resolution #2017-023
Moved by: Councillor Blyth
Seconded by: Councillor Whelly
THAT Council directs SAO to hire original firm to upgrade the cost analysis to include the benefits and third option.
CARRIED
c) Bulk Water Cost
Senior Administrative Officer William Bennett would like to hire a third party to look into the cost of water and put the issue of what should be charged to rest.
Resolution #2017-024
Moved by: Councillor McPherson
Seconded by: Councillor Lafferty
THAT Council direct Senior Administrative Officer William Bennett to hire a third party to perform an analysis on Bulk Water Cost/ Residential/ Water & Sewer.
CARRIED
d) Tax Collection on Leased Land
Councillor Blyth suggests not allowing anymore leases be to be given to anyone. He also suggests getting the current leases in the community transferred from the Departmet of Lands to the Village of Fort Simpson so that the town can deal with them.
Mayor Sibbeston would like for this to be brought to a Community Development Meeting. They can invite April Hudson from the Deh Cho Drum to the meeting.
10) Recommendations from Committee
None.
11) New Business
a) Half Day Civic Leave for Beavertail Jamboree- Beavertail Jamboree Committee
Resolution #2017-025
Moved by: Councillor Rowe
Seconded by: Councillor McPherson
THAT Council approve Friday, March 10, 2017, between 12:01pm and 5:00pm a Civic Holiday for Beavertail Jamboree.
CARRIED
b) Employee Time Off for Community Events 2017- Government of the Northwest Territories
Resolution #2017-026
Moved by: Councillor Lafferty
Seconded by: Councillor Rowe
THAT Council direct Senior Administrative Officer William Bennett to inform the Government of the Northwest Territories about the Beavertail Jamboree Civic Holiday on March 10, 2017 from 12:01pm to 5:00pm.
CARRIED
c) Pancake Breakfast Sponsored by Mayor and Council- Beavertail Jamboree Committee
Resolution #2017-027
Moved by: Councillor Blyth
Seconded by: Councillor Cli
THAT Council sponsor the Beavertail Jamboree breakfast on March 11, 2017 for a maximum amount of $1000.
CARRIED
d) Application for Business License- Trevor Ryhorchuk
Resolution #2017-028
Moved by: Councillor Blyth
Seconded by: Councillor Whelly
THAT Council approve the Home Occupation Business License Application of Trevor Ryhorchuk to operate a business of Professional Accounting Services (part time) on Lot 79, Plan 1083, in Fort Simpson, NT.
CARRIED
e) Transforming NWT Communities Through Tourism Workshop- Government of the Northwest Territories
Resolution #2017-029
Moved by: Councillor Blyth
Seconded by: Councillor Cli
THAT Council approve Councillor Cli to attend the Transforming NWT Communities Through Tourism workshop from February 21-23, 2017 in Fort Simpson, NT, $240/day indemnity of days attended.
CARRIED
*Council breaks at 8:28pm, returns at 8:38pm*