Rocky View County (RVC) council unanimously appointed councillors to Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework (ICF) and Intermunicipal Development Plan (IDP) Review Committees at a regular meeting Sept. 11.
Nesreen Ali, with Intergovernmental Affairs, said the Municipal Government Act (MGA) requires RVC to complete an ICF and IDP with all adjacent municipalities that are not members of the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board. An ICF and four IDP Terms of References with the Municipal District (MD) of Bighorn, Kneehill County, Mountain View County and Wheatland County were adopted by council June 26.
The review committees will provide broad service direction and assistance in identifying issues and opportunities with respects to the ICF and IDP in the councillors’ divisions. The committees will also review the upcoming draft ICF and IDP, and provide periodic updates to council.
Deputy Reeve Jerry Gautreau and Coun. Al Schule will sit on the committee for RVC and Wheatland County, while Couns. Crystal Kissel and Mark Kamachi were appointed to the review committees for RVC and MD of Bighorn. Kissel, along with Reeve Greg Boehlke and Coun. Daniel Henn, will sit on the committee for RVC and Mountain View County. Boehlke was also appointed to the committee for RVC and Kneehill County.
Rescheduled Meeting
Council voted 8-1 to reschedule a regular meeting originally on the calendar for Oct. 9. The meeting will now take place Oct. 16, beginning at 9 a.m., so it can be held at the new County Hall.
With RVC moving to the new building between Oct. 5 and 8, according to Deputy Municipal Clerk Charlotte Satink, rescheduling the meeting will allow administration “to ensure that all the audio and technical requirements are working properly for the council meeting, and also to provide time for administration to unpack and organize their work stations.”
Coun. Kim McKylor was the sole councillor opposed, expressing a preference to cancel the meeting instead as she had booked a vacation and did not want to miss the regularly-scheduled meeting.
Budget Adjustment
Council voted unanimously to approve a budget adjustment of $140,000, from the tax stabilization reserve, in order to submit an application to the National Disaster Mitigation Program (NDMP) grant.
According to Richard Barss, manager of Intergovernmental Affairs, if the County was successful in obtaining the grant, it would go towards a detailed engineering design for a secondary emergency access road from the West Bragg Creek area to Highway 22.
The County recently became aware of the NDMP grant, which is structured towards flood mitigation and covers assessment, mapping and mitigation planning, Barss said, but not the construction of infrastructure.
“The federal government has committed to pay 50 per cent of the costs of any successful grant applicant, and the provincial government has also committed to pay 40 per cent of the cost of any grant award,” he said. “They requested that municipality, or grant applicants in general, pay 10 per cent of the costs.”
Barss said prior to the grant application deadline – Sept. 19 – the County must submit a letter indicating its share of the cost is available. Successful applicants will not be notified until April 1, 2019, he added.
Airdrie Grader Shed
Administration has been directed to negotiate a sales agreement and dispose of the County-owned land known as the Airdrie Grader Shed, following a unanimous council vote.
Corey Graham, Municipal Lands Administrator, said RVC received an application from Melcor Developments Ltd. to buy the 2.41-acre parcel.
“The sales agreement terms and market value offer in the letter of intent appear to be acceptable, and administration will explore a final sales agreement based on this framework,” he said.
According to Graham, the final purchase price of the lands will be $723,000, with a 60-day condition date based on approval by the Melcor board of directors and a review of the property, as well as a closing date 15 days after the condition date. The sale of the Airdrie Grader Shed will offset approved project costs for the construction of a new salt and sand storage building at the new County Hall in Balzac, Graham added.
