A new finance committee has been created on Oct. 27 to oversee municipal spending in Beiseker.
The finance committee Chief Administrative Officer Jo Lambert explained they will have a smaller number of people who can make suggestions on Village financial decisions.
The new committee is comprised of Beiseker Mayor Ray Courtman, Deputy Mayor Al Henuset and Lambert.
“If we have financial decisions we can hash them out in a smaller group and then take it to council,” Lambert said.
The committee can also seek the aid of financial experts and bring issues to council for review.
“I think we need somebody around with expertise in looking at what our financial requirements are and they can report back to council,” said Henuset.
Council voted unanimously in favour of the motion.
Appointments
Courtman and Henuset were re-elected by acclamation in the position of mayor and deputy mayor for the Village of Beiseker on Oct. 27.
Each member of council has been added to the list of alternate representatives for the Aqua 7 Regional Water Commission meetings. The commission is required to meet four times per year.
Council voted unanimously to appoint the remaining councillors Karen Ursu, Warren Wise and David Mckenzie as alternates to the Aqua 7 Regional Water Commission.
Library grant
Beiseker Municipal Library has received a CAP-Y grant, which will fund the employment of a summer career-student worker at the facility.
During the Oct. 14 council meeting Ursu stated the Community Access Program Youth (CAP-Y) grant was re-instated by the federal government. At the Oct. 27 meeting she said the Beiseker library received the grant, which gave them the ability to pay for the summer student.
The $3,000 grant will cover expenses to employ one student from May to December. The summer student will help staff at the library with technology including computers, Internet and website programming.
The grant was created by Industry Canada as an initiative to help young Canadians between the ages of 15 and 30 find employment.
Town Hall meeting
The next regular meeting of Beiseker council will be held in a Town Hall format at the Beiseker Community Hall. The meeting will be on Nov. 10 at 7:15 p.m.
“It’s basically to give ratepayers, or members of the village a chance to come and see council in action and ask any questions,” said Courtman. “A lot of the questions are asked behind the scenes and sometimes I don’t even hear about it until a lot of misinformation goes around, so this gives them a chance to ask us directly.”
FCSS agreement
Beiseker council has adopted a new Family and Community Support Services funding agreement on Oct. 27.
Council unanimously approved the new agreement for the term of Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2015.
The agreement will be forwarded to the Minister of Children and Youth Services.
Under the agreement the Ministry of Children and Youth Services will pay the municipality a contribution of $19,182 to establish, administer and operate the FCSS program. The municipality is also required to contribute $4,796 for the delivery of the program. The total cost of the program is $23,978.
