– Tammy Knuttila, CMA/CPA, began as District Administrator on November 1. While Dave Dmytruk’s official retirement date is not until December 31, he is using up some vacation time so is in the office on an occasional basis only over the next month to finish up a few specific tasks. Much of his time is now taken up with Senior Curling, where he is a welcome addition.
– We were pleased to come to agreement resulting in a Memorandum of Understanding with the Organized Hamlet of Elk Ridge regarding the annual operating budget and matters related to administration of the Hamlet. Therefore, the Appeal Board dispute hearing mentioned in the September/October update was cancelled. We look forward to a productive working relationship with the Hamlet Board, and thank them for their efforts and hard work in coming to a mutually agreeable resolution.
– Reports were received from participation at the Provincial Association of Resort Communities of SK, and the SARM (SK Association of Rural Municipalities) semi-annual meeting. Workshops included Harassment in the Workplace, Conflict of Interest, Understanding Fraud & Ethics, Relationships with Organized Hamlets, Human Resources, Aquatic Invasive Mussels, and the Love Your Lakes project that our District participated in this past summer.
– First reading was done for a Council Code of Ethics (a new provincial requirement to be complete by February 23, 2017).
– Reviewed a discretionary use application for a greenhouse on the Gust/DiPaolo property. Adjacent homeowners will be notified of the public hearing to be held at the Council meeting on December 19, 2016.
– Approved a winter sampling program for the Forest Tent Caterpillars. The program will be done at the end of November / beginning of December, and compared with results in the adjacent provincial areas.
– Ratepayer concerns were primarily related to skunks, roads and snow clearing.
While the contact information for Council members is on the website and/or available through the District office, we encourage you to contact the District office if you have a concern or require municipal services (and saying thank you for good service is always appreciated as well) so that it can be addressed in a timely manner.