THE BEST DEFENCE AGAINST A USURPATORY GOVERNMENT IS AN ASSERTIVE CITIZENRY.

Wm Buckley

IT MEANS: PAY ATTENTION! IT'S YOUR MONEY AND YOUR COMMUNITY.

The Reports from the Gallery are written by ratepayers attending the council meetings in the gallery.

• These reports are their observations of the discussion of council.
• It is important to note that members of the gallery are listening without the benefit of background documentation and other handouts used by the councilors.
• These reports reflect their best understanding as interested and diligent observers..

Report From The Gallery  Council Meeting March 19 2008

All members of council were present and there were 11 ratepayers in the gallery.

Following the financial reports and approval of accounts which were approved and adopted, the administrator circulated her report. It was also approved.

 A reminder to the reader, these are not minutes of the meeting. This is a summary of the events at council that are assumed to be of interest to the general community.

• The sequence of events at this point was that counciller Chekay began his report but then invited delegates to council arrived and his report resumed later. For ease of reading the break is not reflected below.

Councillor Chekay presented his planning and development committee report. He offered four motions but insisted they be discussed individually.

He explained that since the new community plan would not be ready in draft form until May and that the approval process through DPC, city of Regina the provincial government and would take some six or so more months, thus he would like the following changes made to the existing plan:

1. That administration draft a contract for a professional planner to amend the existing development plan and zoning bylaw to allow subdivision in situations where there are two or more occupied residences on a single parcel.

Reeve Miller questioned the value of this because the amendment and approval process timeline parallels the procedure already in progress for the new community plan which will include this change and would not advance the end result significantly.

2. That administration draft a contract for a professional planner to amend the existing development plan and zoning bylaw to allow subdivision of a single lot from a quarter section.

3. That administration draft a contract for a professional planner to amend the existing development plan and zoning bylaw to allow Marathon Properties to develop a 137-lot subdivision (Wascana Willows)on NW-33-16-19-W2  .

4. That the City of Regina be asked for their support and co-operation so that the RM of Sherwood can achieve it’s goals.

• The discussion centered on  which planner was being referred to: the current one or a new planner; and the value of having the two processes occur in parallel with the same result, as well the impact that passing such motions would have since these concepts have not been thoroughly debated as being the will of council. 
• The decision was made to refer the discussion of motions 1 to 3 to a session of the planning and development committee. Motion 4 was voted on and passed. Councillor Chekay also offered the opinion that he felt that as a councillor he was also considered to be administration.

Later in the meeting, as part of a different item of business, the decision was made to bring the RM of Sherwood, the City of Regina and the Developer of Wascana Willows together for face-to-face discussion on this topic.

The transportation chair, councillor Harle introduced the delegates (who arrived in spaced timing) from Brandt and Redhead who made presentations on their graders for consideration. The delegate from Kramer was unable to attend; councillor Harle circulated Kramer’s written presentation. Further deliberations were referred to a sitting of the transportation committee. Prior to the meeting being called to order, as the council was chatting about the grader delegations, councillor Heenan asked councillor Harle if Manger of Public Works Fehr was invited to attend the meeting. Councillor Harle replied in the negative.

The second transportation committee item was the subject of dust control. Councillor Harle proposed a cost sharing program whereby residents could request dust control application. He offered some examples of possible cost for 500 ft around $650. His proposal identified a handful of locations with high dust control needs which would be exempt from the cost sharing requirement. The proposal became a motion and was passed.

Councillor Jijian as chair of the personnel committee presented the report. Notably, and to the great surprise of the gallery he reported that the Administrator had provided her resignation effective April 17^th.  A discussion ensued regarding the possibility of leaving the position vacant while the search for a replacement took place. The administrator was asked for her opinion, she replied that a gap of two weeks was probably manageable, but no longer than that.

•  (SMCA wishes Ms Bzdel well as she pursues her career).

Reeve Miller reported on the situation with SaskWater and the correspondence received regarding their intent not to honor earlier offers of assuming ownership of the S.I.P. water system. The reeve recounted the sequence of events and the administrative levels that have made and backed out of the offer. He suggested to council that if the withdrawal is supported by  SaskWater Corp at the same high level as the initial offer of takeover, then the RM had best prepare itself for the management of a water utility.

The Reeve introduced a petition he had received that day from the members of the community calling for a ratepayers meeting in the absence of that having been done by the council as requested by an earlier letter. He reported the sufficiency of the number approx 70, and instructed the administrator to confirm.

Council made the decision to hold the meeting Wed April 16^th at 7 pm at a location yet to be determined.

The meeting adjourned about 11pm. .