Home » City Council Hosts Final Commitee of the Whole Meeting for 2018

City Council Hosts Final Commitee of the Whole Meeting for 2018

by Shanine Sealey
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Martensville City Council met for this month’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, December 11th. The meeting began with a presentation from Warman RCMP Staff Sergeant Rob Eyre, who provided a comparison of this year’s stats compared to last year’s from January to December 1st. Overall, the total calls for the time period saw a decrease this year with the total calls for service from January to December 1st in 2017 sitting at 2360 and the 2018 total as of December 1st at 1817. Eyre then introduced Sgt. Curtis Little, who will be running the Martensville RCMP detachment. Little spoke about his 18 years of experience and noted that he is very happy to be here. Councillor Darren McDonald took a moment to welcome Little to the community.

Leah Bloomquist, Director of Corporate Services, then spoke to Council about replacing the City of Martensville’s current server, as part of the IT hardware replacement cycle of 3-5 years. The current server was purchased and installed in 2015, and has mainly met the operating needs of the City; however, within the past year, it has become unable to meet the day to day requirements of City Hall and the MAP. The new server would be received from Graycon, the City’s IT support and equipment provider, for a cost of $36,500 and would meet all of the current needs of the City, as well as allow for growth. Bloomquist also provided Council with information regarding a new VOIP phone system, as their current package contract will expire on January 30, 2019. If they continue on their current plan, they will see an increase of $560.00/month for City Hall and the MAP alone, an increase of 36%. To avoid the increase, other options have been explored, which would still feature all of the requirements needed. Bloomquist recommended that Council approve the upgrade and phone system changeover, which would see an approximate $10,000 reduction from their current lease option. Both items will be brought back to the December 18th Council meeting for approval.

Next, Ted Schaeffer, Director of Recreation & Community Services, discussed a proposal from administration to install a keyless entry system at City Hall. Currently, all employees that require access to City Hall are provided with keys; however, in the event a key is lost, or failed to be returned, the cost to re-key one lock and provide keys to all employees is approximately $350.00-$500.00. Schaeffer suggested that a key fob system be implemented instead, which would be a cost of $2200.00. If successful, the same system could be looked at for North Ridge Community Centre, the Sports Centre and the MAP in the future. This topic will be discussed further at next week’s meeting.

Earlier this year, members of the Martensville Curling Club (MCC) approached Council and requested that their liquor license be extended into the mezzanine area of the hockey rink. Council requested that the MCC come back with a proposal that would provide details on how the lounge would run, security details, hours of operation, etc. With support from Martensville Minor Hockey, as well as Martensville Figure Skating, the MCC would be required to pay the City a one-time fee of $2500 in lieu of bar sales profit sharing. Council discussed this in detail and will make a final decision next week.

Next Bonnie Gorelitza, Planning Manager, provided Council with information regarding concept plan development and concept plan evaluation. Gorelitza prepared samples from elsewhere, checklists to evaluate concept plan submissions, philosophical questions to consider and a submission checklist developed to be used for development in Martensville. It was recommended that Council adopt the Concept Plan Submission Requirements as provided; which will be decided on December 18th.

Matt Gruza, Director of Infrastructure and Planning, discussed a contract for the snow-removal and sanding of the new interchange, provided by the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure. As per the contract, the City would be responsible for the “Main Street’ portion of the interchange, with MHI tending to the offramps and highway.

Lastly, Dillon Shewchuk, Community Economic Development Manager, requested that changes be made to the ride-sharing bylaw that was passed by City Council earlier this year. On December 6th, the Government of Saskatchewan approved regulations to allow ridesharing within the province, which would take effect on December 14th. Unexpected changes had been made, which results in the Vehicle for Hire Bylaw within Martensville requiring modifications to reflect Provincial Approved Regulations.

The next City of Martensville Council meeting will be held Tuesday, December 18th at 5pm in Council Chambers at City Hall. Local residents are invited to attend all meetings, and all agenda information can be viewed at www.martensville.ca prior to each meeting.

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