Sidewalk snow removal
The city’s elected officials have decided to not pursue a bylaw that fines residents who do not remove snow from their stretch of sidewalk.
Instead, voluntary compliance will continue to be sought -- an approach that appears to be working, Coun. Martin Ring said.
“It’s been a tough year,” he said. “We’ve seen an excessive amount of snow -- double what we saw last season, already, and for the most part, within my ward, I can walk around quite easily on the sidewalks.”
The city’s Golden Shovel Awards campaign will continue to be promoted, wherein residents can nominate neighbours who excel at removing snow from not only their stretch of sidewalk, but also others’.
Nomination forms are available at City Hall or online at www.citypa.ca.
The city also needs to lead by example, Coun. Rick Orr said, noting that some stretches of sidewalk in front of city-owned buildings aren’t shoveled to an acceptable degree.
Another area that needs looking at is with vehicles remaining parked in snow removal zones, Mayor Greg Dionne said, with the city required to provide notice before towing vehicles.
“I propose that over the summer we re-work our snow removal bylaw, that we immediately take a picture of it … and we tow it,” he said. “It’s our own bylaw that causes our own bylaw officers grief.”
Fluoride opposition
Reiterating the decision they’d tentatively made during the previous week’s executive committee meeting, city council wants more information before making a decision on fluoride.
At question is local health advocate Maureen Logue’s request that the city continue to not inject fluoride in the city’s drinking water -- something they haven’t done for about a year, due to ongoing renovations.
“In Europe, 97 per cent of Western Europe does not fluoridate, and hopefully you all received the information that I sent you,” Logue told council.
Wanting additional information to show both sides of the coin, Coun. Martin Ring motioned for city administration to seek additional information from the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region and the College of Dental Surgeons at the University of Saskatchewan.
It’s been a tough year. We’ve seen an excessive amount of snow -- double what we saw last season, already, and for the most part, within my ward, I can walk around quite easily on the sidewalks. - Coun. Martin Ring
“I can certainly provide some names to the city clear of people I know that I have been in contact with,” he said.
“It’s not to be disrespectful to our presenter here tonight, but when you do start looking up fluoridated water, there are many differing opinions on it, and when you look at Health Canada, they are certainly still in favour of putting fluoride in water.”
Committee retooling
Taking the first step toward a retooling of the city’s committee system, a lengthy motion was made on Monday, outlining numerous changes.
Making their death march were the following committees council agreed to dissolve: Street Naming Advisory Committee, Transit Advisory Committee, Beautification Committee, Municipal Enterprise Zone Committee, and the Prince Albert Golf and Curling Club Liaison Committee.
The Community Services Advisory Committee was originally slated to lose council representation, but council opted instead to listen to the organization’s executive director Marv Bender, who made a presentation during Monday’s meeting.
“We think, from our perspective, that having had appointments from city council to our organization has been very, very helpful for us,” he told council.
Responding to this and other potential requests, Coun. Lee Atkinson noted that no matter what they do, it’s never in stone.
“Basically, any of the committees that we are not resurrecting on this list have the option of doing that,” he said.
Among the lengthy list of changes is the new requirement that every committee, commission and board submit an annual report to City Council by Dec. 1 of every year for review. They must also submit a work plan for approval by City Council by April 1 of each year, lest they dissolve as organization.
