WASKESIU COMMUNITY COUNCIL - Minutes

Council Meeting:Monday, February 19th, 2007, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

WCCand Parks Canada, Board Room, Hawood, Waskesiu

Attendance: Don Ravis, Bryan Matheson, Nancy Wood-Archer, Gord Beuckert, Wayne Simpson, John Stevenson(via telephone), Kevin van Tighem

Call to Order9:10 amDon Ravis

Adoption of Agenda / Additions

Bueckert/SimpsonCarried

Approval of Jan 23rd, 2007 Council Minutes

Bueckert/Wood-ArcherCarried

Business Arising from Minutes

  • State of the Community Report – WCC recommendations submitted to Parks Canada January 30, 2007. Expect completion early spring.

Correspondence

  • Mail, Email from Colleen Cooper(Jan 23,07) – council response emailed and mailed Feb. 14, 2007
  • Email from Al Matheson(Feb. 12,2007) - council response emailed Feb 13, 2007

Motion to receive and file

Simpson/MathesonCarried

Townsite Update - Schneider written report

Report to Waskesiu Community Council - February 19, 2007

  • Sewage Lagoon Project:

February 20, 2007 contractor start up meeting in Saskatoon.

oInvitation sent to Don/Herve for one them (or another WCC rep) to attend the meeting –Don Ravis will attend this meeting which will review the current progress on the final stages of the sewage lagoon construction project.

  • Landfill:

Request to RM of Lakeland to renew landfill agreement for an additional year. Letter sent on January 19, 2007.

Copy of letter provided to B. Twyver. – *current agreement ends March 31st, 2007

  • Cabin Lot Encroachment Policy

I will continue to develop a strategy for dealing with Cabin area lease site property line encroachments and compliance issues. I have a laptop with me to work on this in the evenings during my time away this week.

  • Development Issues

A joint session with a public work architect, a cabin designer and Prince AlbertNational Park staff at the table was arranged at the end of January 2007, to review “roof line” profiles – Cabin Guidelines.

Upon review of this section of the text an amendment was drafted that has been signed by the Superintendent and has been sent to WCOA for endorsement. Chris Arnstead has read this document and will sign and return ASAP.

This will allow cabin developments to move forward in a timely manner.

Full Cabin guideline review would be appropriate to improve the language of the document and to make adjustments where deemed appropriate. – *available from townsite manager, council asked that compliance issues related to cabin guidelines continue to be a focus of PCA planning and Development.

  • Community Hall Update

Feb 14/07 - Mike Caswell notes that insulation to the crawl space is complete.

From my visual inspection on Feb 14/07 I note that work has commenced on the roof and that there is temporary supplies storage compound established on site. Pictures of this work in progress were sent to Bob Twyver. - *Council expressed concern that the understanding is completion date is May 1st for utilization by general public. Council requested copy of tender document and critical timeline for completion. Tender document received by council Feb. 20th, 2007.

  • Cabin Owners Lease Process

Insurance requirements:

Since January 26/07 PCA office has delivered a consistent message to the WCOA and individual interested parties that have made inquiries about insurance requirements.

The message is that the Insurance Bureau of Canada confirms that there are companies in Saskatchewan that will underwrite policies providing coverage as set out in Article 11 of the lease, including Wawanesa, Aviva, SunAlliance and ING. (There may be others.) These companies agreed that the requirements, while not common in residential policies, are not unreasonable.

The lease holder will be required to obtain such insurance and to provide a certificate of such insurance to our office as an obligation of the lease and to produce the insurance policy if called upon to do so by Parks Canada

Leases Executed to Feb 14/07:

218 of 451 are fully executed or 48%.

94% have chosen Option 3 – Rent indexed by CPI annually.

There are only 9 cabin owners that have not responded with any reply to Rent Option Selection Form to date. That said, we know that these parties are aware that they are required to act on the lease process because they have picked up registered mail related to this process that we have tracked at our office.

  • Prospect Point – HW 263 – Geotechnical Study

AMEC Engineering is consulting firm responsible for this study. The test hole area has been marked but the Feb 12/07 work date was delayed due to equipment/weather issues. Dan Hill notes this work will be rescheduled for near future but no date confirmed at this time.

  • Water Connections/Washrooms – Cabin Area

After the Jan 2007 WCC meeting a email was sent to Chris Arnstead noting that the WCOA and Parks Canada would need to discuss the Memorandum of Understanding regarding washroom facilities and water connections.

A phone call meeting has been arranged between Chris and I to discuss this matter further. WCC will be updated as this moves forward. The washrooms in the cabin area are scheduled to close Oct 31st, 2008.

  • Budget Process

I note that Wayne is scheduled to report on this matter but a good session was held on Feb 9/07 with more work to follow.

  • State of Community Report

The WCC notes are appreciated. This document is currently under review at Park level.

* notes added as a result of discussion during council meeting

Members of the Waskesiu Community Council expressed appreciation for the efforts of Terry Schneider in his position of Townsite Manager to date. They asked that a written report, as above, be submitted to council before each meeting.

Park UpdateKevin van Tighem

  • Treasury Board Submission

oThe final submission has been drafted and is in the hands of the Treasury Board liason analyst for a meeting on Feb. 28, 2007.

  • Relationship Agreement

oThe concensous of Council was to have Ravis/van Tighem co-chair the process. They will work with a sub group of council and park management to create document. It is important to have ownership by both groups. They will create a list of questions to be provided to participants prior to meeting tentatively scheduled for March 20th in Waskesiu.

  • Management/Business Plan

oVan Tighem discussed the Waskesiu “Sense of Place” initiatives. The Park is working with various groups to insure a co-ordinated initial perception of Waskesiu. This should create a consistent and coherent plan for the future. There seems to be an increase in interest in winter use.

WADRA- Carlene Gorecki

oCarlene provided council with an excellent overview of the objectives and activities of WADRA. One of their major fund raising activities is the bottle and can recycling program. They hire a summer student from May to September to facilitate collection and sorting. WADRA is a volunteer organization. All Green recycle bins are owned/repaired and replaced by WADRA.

oSupported community activities include winter operation of the skating/hockey rink, winter festival, children’s Christmas party, children’s summer festival. Fund raisers include Spring Ice Breaker and the Fall Bash. Other donations include Christmas hampers to Montreal lake and specific individual needs. WADRA helps out Friends of the Park and the WaskesiuHeritageMuseum.

oWADRA operates the Recreation Hall and the Library. Rental of the hall is co-ordinated by WADRA and the Chamber of Commerce. It has a capacity of 100 and hosts meetings and conferences. The Library is part of the Wapiti Regional Library system and is housed in the Hawood during the winter. There is a need to catalogue all the books and submit list to Wapiti.

oCouncil committed to work with WADRA in the future to enhance and increase recreational programs/classes offered within the community during both the summer and winter.

PCA – Don Sinclair, Park Recycling Program

oRecycling Program: Don provided a summary of the parks involvement as a member of the North Central Saskatchewan Waste Corporation. This corporation, located in Prince Albert, operates a Material Recovery Facility to deal with paper and cardboard. These products are collected in the Park recycle bins and trucked to Prince Albert. During the summer, approximately one garbage truck is hauled every two days. The cost of membership is $1000. per year and the Park receives a provincial grant of $957. to cover operational costs. This program has resulted in a minimum of 50% reduction in volume of garbage trucked to the Lakeland Landfill. No glass is accepted in the recycling program and is taken to the Lakeland landfill. Most bottles are crushed during the compaction phase in the landfill and take minimal room. Cooking oil from businesses is collected by Parks Canada and stored in two resevoirs at the compound. The resevoirs are the property of Saskatoon Processing and they collect the oil when necessary at no charge.

oNon Domestic Garbage: this is garbage that is not produced by normal daily human activity. Examples range from old lawn chairs, beds, appliances, furniture, and misc. building materials. This has become a significant issue as this material is being deposited at the sides of the garbage bins in the residential areas. There has been a significant increase since the Park notified residents that they would no longer haul this to the Lakeland landfill. During the summer of 2006, the Park was forced to continue to pick up refuse left around the garbage bins due the unsightly accumulation. They picked it up in a gravel truck and trucked it to Prince Albert at a cost of $200.00 per trip plus operational and staff costs. A number of solutions were discussed including a private contractor to pick up the refuse on a fee for service basis or to rent 30 yd roll off disposal bin to be positioned by the recycling bins where residents could discard this type of material. A solution regarding costs associated with this service needs to be resolved. Communication to residents is a high priority for this spring.

oCabin/Cottage Demolition Materials: the conditions for disposal is dealt with at the time of applying for and receiving a development permit. Building materials are not part of the current Parks agreement for landfill usage with the RM of Lakeland and must be taken to Prince Albert.

oCouncil thanked Don Sinclair for his presentation.

Committee Reports

  • Local Governance

oMunicipal UtilityOperations ContractsTwyver

  • Twyver/Schneider to work on operational draft agreements to be presented to council and Park management.

oTimeline and Tasks to Dec 31st,2008. – received and filed by council

oTownsite assessment tender – to be sent out by March 1st with a deadline of March 31st.

  • VegetationG. Bueckert

oNo report

  • Community RelationsN. Wood-Archer

oHousing Policy

  • The committee has reworked the draft housing policy and is waiting for Parks manager approval. This policy will deal with allocation concerning usage of Park housing. The Park is currently in the process of doing a housing analysis to determine condition of inventory.

oMedia Relations Workshop – attended by Wood-Archer.

  • This course was supplied by Parks Canada with local partners invited to participate at no cost. Appreciation was expressed by council for making this course available.
  • Budget/FinanceW. Simpson

oTownsite and Utility budget process for 2007-2008

  • A meeting took place on Feb 9th with Terry Schneider, Harvey Pillar, Don Sinclair, Kurt Smith, Wayne Simpson and Bob Twyver.Kevin van Tighem had presented the Agreement to Park staff prior to the meeting so it was well understood. Both sides determined a formal approach to the meetings was beneficial and important to have townsite management present. Extensive discussion occurred concerning the townsite expenses on a line by line basis. There is a need to detail the expense items to be associated with each expense line to insure accurate budgeting for 2008-09.
  • Pillar supplied a list of projects for 2008-09. This list will be reviewed at the next meeting depending on financial resources available.

oYTD actualsfor townsite operating expenses and utility expenses to Dec 31st, 2006 were received and filed

  • Management Plan/Community PlanJ. Stevenson

oThe Management Plan has been edited to a final draft and submitted to Alan Latourelle(CEO) as of Feb. 28th for final approval. When approved the Plan will be forwarded to the Minister and tabled in the House of Commons. Parks Canada should be operating under the new Plan by April/May 2007.

oAll Community Plans are being revised in 2007. There will be a consultative process during the summer with a draft prepared by October.

  • Bueckert

oSummer funding program information not yet available

  • Waskesiu FoundationD. Ravis

oMinutes of the January 14th, 2007 meeting were received and filed.

oThere are 8 bench applications which have been approved, the benches will be installed this spring/summer. There are 3 bench applications currently being reviewed. Since January 2007, 5 bench packages have been sent out. Obviously this program is very popular.

New Business

  • Don Ravis to talk to Rose Turner concerning Municipal Infrastructure Grant Prgram.
  • Public Meeting

oA public meeting will be scheduled for May 20th at 2:00pm to be held in the Community Hall.

  • Q & A for distribution and website posting

oConsensus of Council to create a generic Q & A of current issues that have surfaced concerning local governance to be posted on the website and sent to all residents and commercial lease holders in March.

  • Fire Chief Contract

oCouncil requested a copy of the current contract. The current one year contract expires on March 31st. A one year contract starting on April 1st, 2007 is ready for signatures. Twyver to contact the Fire Chief for a report on current Fire Department status.

Adjournment

Motion to adjourn.

Matheson/Wood-ArcherCarried