Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion

The Town of Kindersley has been busy tending to its bylaws in recent weeks, and three more bylaws have received attention from the town’s elected officials.

Council members have given the second and third readings to adopt an amendment to the town’s zoning bylaw, and given all three readings to adopt changes to the general penalties bylaw and the traffic bylaw. All three bylaws came into effect on Jan. 15 after a council meeting.

Bylaw 16-17, to amend Bylaw 04-14, known as the zoning bylaw, was given a first reading at a special council meeting held on Dec. 20 and the town provided public notice of the amendment. Any time the zoning bylaw is amended, the town is required to hold a public hearing to give people a chance to provide comments or feedback.

Deputy Mayor Ken Francis, who chaired the council meeting on Monday, called for comments from any members of the public in regards to the zoning bylaw amendment. With no comments from the public, he moved for the hearing to end.

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Bernie Morton, the town’s chief administrative officer (CAO), told council the administration worked with the town’s planners at Crosby Hanna & Associates to draft the bylaw amendment and the change is being made to “ensure that the current uses in the (railway industrial district) RW zone are the permitted uses.”

The zoning bylaw amendment gave a broader definition to “Railways and railway ancillary functions.” Morton said the previous definition did not give credence to all of the things that happen in the town’s RW district, so an amendment needed to be made.

He said the town worked with the Community Planning branch of the ministry of government relations to update the definition. It defines “Railways and railway ancillary functions” as an area of land where trains are stored, switched, loaded or unloaded and includes sites and facilities used to transfer commodities, goods, or products from one mode of transportation to another including related offices and storage facilities.

Bylaw 01-18, to provide for penalties for contravention of bylaws, was given all three readings at the meeting. Morton said the bylaw is being updated, in part, due to the new municipal bylaw court. The updates include changes to the schedules for payment and changes to notices and certificates.

The CAO said the bylaw has been updated with a new notice of violation, notice of pending summons, certificate of offence and summons, and parking violation certificate of offence and summons. The changes comply with the Municipalities Act and the Summary Offences Procedures Act, he noted.

Bylaw 02-18, to amend Bylaw 12-17, known as a bylaw to regulate traffic, also received all three readings at the meeting. Morton said similar to the general penalties bylaw, a new notice of violation was added to the town’s traffic bylaw.

Other meeting highlights

• The town’s elected officials have adopted a process for handling change orders relating to the construction of the new Kindersley Aquatic Centre Build Project.

In addition to the change order process, council members were informed about two change orders that have already been approved in line with the process. Town officials discussed change orders in the fall, according to Bernie Morton, the town’s CAO.

Morton said members of council and administration discussed how to handle change orders for items over and above the design build for the aquatic centre. He noted that there is a build committee consisting of himself, Tim Hanna, the town’s director of community services, and councillors Gary Becker and Dean Galbraith.

The resolution before council formalizes the process for change orders. As per the process, the build committee is authorized to approve change orders with a cost of less than $25,000 and any change orders with a cost of $25,000 or more have to be approved by council resolution.

The CAO said details of any change order “must be brought forward to council” regardless of the cost. The thresholds for change orders are before taxes and special meetings of council could be called to address the orders.

Deputy Mayor Ken Francis said council might need to call a special meeting to address a crucial change orders during the build project. If any change orders need special consideration from council, they will require a council resolution regardless of cost, he said.

Two change orders were approved by the build committee. The first change order at a cost of $17,176 before taxes covers labour for building and dismantling hoarding, an insulated tarp for the foundation, indirect heaters and heating fuel. The second change order at a cost of $8,030 before taxes covers items relating to the parking lot.

The parking lot work includes a topographical survey and a design, along with consultant fees. The parking lot design will include work to determine the elevation for the parking lot, Morton said. The RM of Kindersley has made a sizeable financial contribution to help pay for the parking lot, he added.

• Council has passed a resolution to consolidate three lots on the 100 block of First Avenue West in support of future plans for two non-profit organizations.

Kim Vogel, the town’s director of transportation and environment, said officials met with the existing property owner. One of the lots is currently home to the West Central Crisis and Family Support Centre’s outreach centre.

She noted that the plan is to consolidate the lots, and go from there. The request involves future plans for West Central Abilities Inc. Vogel said the current zoning fits with future plans and the related parties are meeting all necessary requirements to consolidate the lots, but further approvals would be required.

• A resolution has been passed to revise the town’s procurement and purchasing policy. Bernie Morton, the town’s CAO, said the revisions help to tighten up language with respect to new trade agreements, so they are only “minor technical amendments.” Thresholds in the policy have not changed.

• Council has passed a resolution to purchase storage lockers from the Kindersley Athletic Club for $750. The lockers are located at the West Central Events Centre, and people will now be able to rent the lockers for $150 per year.

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