By Kevin J. Sabo
For the Advance
The County of Paintearth council passed two new bylaws during their Dec. 14th meeting.
Bylaw 692-20, the Procedure Bylaw, outlines things such as when meetings are to be held, the process for the establishment of special meetings, and rules regarding who or when proceedings may be recorded.
The bylaw also sets out rules for timelines on when a potential presenter must have their notification into the chief administrative officer to get onto a council meeting agenda, and time limits on speaking in the meetings.
The Procedure Bylaw passed first reading during the Nov. 24th council meeting and passed the last two readings on Dec. 14th.
The second bylaw passed is Bylaw 693-20, the Nomination Deposit Bylaw.
“It’s a deposit for prospective candidates,” said Chief Administrative Officer Michael Simpson.
The bylaw stipulates that anyone wishing to run for a seat on the County of Paintearth council must place a $100 deposit to secure their intention to run.
Depending on how well any potential candidate does in the election, they may get their money back.
Under new election rules brought in by the Province, the maximum deposit is $100. There will be elections across the province in 2021, and under the new rules, candidates can begin filing their nomination papers on the first business day of January and may continue to do so until the week before the election in October.
Palliser Municipal Services
Palliser Municipal Services, of which the County of Paintearth is a member, is looking for County of Paintearth council support in the application of a grant which would allow them to hire an outside consultant to review their funding model and work on developing a new strategic plan.
In a motion made by Coun. George Glazier, council moved to support Palliser in the grant application.
County Office
Due to the new restrictions in place across the province, the County of Paintearth administration has closed their office to drop-ins from the public.
Anyone required to do business with the County is asked to call the office first to book an appointment. In addition, the County of Paintearth administration offices will close to the public at noon on Dec. 31st to allow staff to go through the process of rolling everything over for year-end.