Stu Salkeld, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, East Central Alberta Review
Clive council turned down an offer from a village resident who stated she’d buy some public land to prevent litter and other issues. The offer was made at the Feb. 28 regular meeting of council.
In an interview with the ECA Review Mar. 4, village Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Carla Kenney stated that Clive resident D. McGrandle told councillors she owns an acreage on the east side of the village where it’s adjacent to some municipally-owned property.
The resident told councillors she was concerned that the public property was attracting people, including some youth, who are playing or otherwise hanging around on the property.
Apparently, McGrandle was concerned these people are dropping litter and also creating a fire risk resulting in the property needing maintenance.
The resident added that she had a family member who could do the clean-up, or she would be interested in purchasing the property from the village and keeping it tidy herself.
Councillors accepted McGrandle’s presentation for information.
Soroptimist presentation
Council also hosted as a delegation Soroptimist International of Red Deer President Sherri Smith.
The Soroptimist club is, according to their website, “…a worldwide volunteer service organization for women who work for peace, and in particular to improve the lives of women and girls in local communities and throughout the world.”
Smith spoke to council about the organization’s various recognitions and programs, including a project aimed at ending “period poverty.” The project would work with communities and schools to provide menstrual supplies for schools so that girls from less fortunate homes wouldn’t have to miss school because they couldn’t afford them.
Smith made the point that menstrual supplies are a basic need like toilet paper, but students aren’t expected to bring their own toilet paper to school.
The president stated the Soroptimists gets some United Way funding, and the period poverty program would be based around vending-type machines. The Soroptimists stated they plan to approach the school division as well. Councillors accepted the presentation as information.
Bylaw passed
Councillors unanimously passed all readings of the updated procedural bylaw.
Kenney stated a recent provincial government review, referred to as Municipal Accountability Program (MAP) and conducted at every municipality in Alberta, noted Clive had something in their bylaw which isn’t actually allowed.
It seems there was a section allowing council to expel one of their numbers. That section has been removed.
FCSS update
Councillors heard an update from the new FCSS Outreach coordinator Kathy Schultz, who was brought on board after Wanda Wagner retired recently.
Kenney reported that Wagner has lots of experience and the community is very excited to have her.
Schultz will attend the FCSS office in Clive three days a week.
CAO report
The CAP reported the village recently took part in a tabletop exercise simulating an emergency water outage. She said the scenarios provide valuable experience for emergency and village staff in the event of a real disaster.
Also in her report was an update on the provincial budget. Kenney noted school requisition increased by 6.7 per cent for Clive residents which is more pressure on the local budget.
Councillors accepted Kenney’s report for information.