By Kevin J. Sabo
For the Advance
After receiving complaints from residents, the Town of Castor will be placing speed bumps around the park on Parkview drive to slow down drivers.
Three residents wrote into Town council requesting the placement. In addition, since speeding tends to be a problem yearly at the location, a request was also made to have the speed bumps placed automatically on an annual basis, instead of requiring the request.
Up until this point, council has required any requests for speed bump placement to come to council, something which council agreed was redundant.
“Leave it up to public works instead of (needing to) request it every year,” said Coun. Kevin McDougall, who later in the conversation motioned to that effect, in a unanimous decision.
The usual locations for speed bumps are on the south end of 45th St. near the Parkview Drive Park, and near the daycare, when school is in session.
If residents feel that speed bumps should be placed elsewhere in the community, those requests still need to come to council, in writing.
An additional request made in one of the letters requested that a tree be removed from the bottom of the toboggan hill in Pals Park, as there was an injury there last winter.
Administration’s response to the request is that “at risk” and “no tobogganing” signs will be placed at the location, meaning kids will have to find another location to sled.
Other highlights of the May 11th Town of Castor council meeting:
Administration has received a request from a resident to expand the ability to pay Town bills at more financial institutions. Currently the Town allows payment through ATB and Vision Credit Union, as well as online on their web site, and with debit and credit cards in the office, once it reopens.
Unfortunately, the banks only allow residents to pay their bills if they are an account holder, which limits accessibility to lots of people, especially with a lot of places, such as Castor’s ATB, still remaining locked down due to the pandemic.
The resident requested that the Town set up options to pay bills at any of the major charter banks in Canada, such as CIBC or Scotiabank, as not all residents have accounts with ATB or Vision.
“I guess we should maybe get Christopher to look into it a bit more, to see if it’s feasible,” said Coun. Lonny Nelner.
The reason the Town has not set up the ability to pay at other institutions prior to now is, according to Robblee, the municipality must have bank accounts with said financial institutions, which amounts to an extra cost with paying to maintain those accounts and their associated monthly fees.
Robblee will examine the financial implications of making this possible, and report back to council.
Additionally, council directed Robblee to look into the viability of accepting e-transfers for the payment of bills.
Fire Bylaw
Council has passed Bylaw 1074, the Fire Bylaw. The previous Fire Bylaw which was passed into law in 2016 was found to be not compliant with the Municipal Government Act during the Municipal Accountability Program review which was held in 2019. The bylaw has been before council several times since then, however due to adjustments that needed to be made in Schedule ‘A’ of the bylaw, the bylaw was sent back to administration.
As written, the bylaw directs chain of command for the fire department and sets out penalties for violations of the bylaw, such as repeated false alarm calls or fire pit violations.
Utility Service Agreement
County of Paintearth residents who receive water, gas, or sewer services from the Town of Castor will soon be required to sign a Utility Service Agreement.
The agreement will cover standard fees and levies for the services provided.
Since County residents do not pay taxes to the Town, for taxes which support the upkeep of said infrastructure, a modifier will be placed on all County client accounts.
Administration will be drafting letters of intent with affected property owners who wish to continue the Town services, and the proper Utility Service Agreement shall be drafter in the coming weeks.