Annexation

Since June Admin has been exploring the planning rationale for annexation of 6 quarters of land from the RM of Kindersley.

Proposed Annexation Lands.

This is still in the exploration stage with no final decision made. Should the Town decide this is what we want to do then negotiations need to be held with the RM regarding compensation. It can be a long process. Needless to say rural municipalities and urban municipalities don't always agree on compensation.

Future Land Use

Trade Show Update: C.O.P.P. Needs Volunteers

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours at the Trade Show. A number of people dropped by to say hi and talk. It is was good.

The Town's booth was beside "Citizen's On Patrol Program" (COPP). COPP is a volunteer program in operation since January of 2001. The group is a crime prevention program acting as eyes and ears for our lcoal RCMP detachment. If the volunteers see something they call it into the RCMP and take no action themselves except to watch.

The goal of COPP is to reduce "crimes of opportunity" such as vandalism, minor thefts, and other actions that are also called "acts of boredom." COPP also report suspicious behaviour including suspected impaired driving. They have some great stories and can be read on a previous post.

COPP needs volunteers. Currently they have only 8 members but need 12 - 16 members to be effective. If you are interested please see their booth or contact the RCMP. The number to call is 306.463.4642.

My bad: I was so busy visiting with a number of people I forgot to take pictures of the Trade Show.

City Mayors' Caucus: Update

May 7th through May 9th I attended the City Mayors' Caucus hosted by the Mayor of Lloydminster.  It was Kindersley's first time at the event. The meetings were long and very informative. On the 7th we started with informal chats and then on the 8th we met informally and formally from 7:30 until 10:00. The informal chats are a great way to learn more details and insight on a broad range of issues.

Four delegations were before CMC from Canada Post (Community Mailboxes, Railway Association of Canada (safety), the Ministry of Government Relations (annexation), and Mission Zero (work and after work safety).

Discussions were held regarding:

• The Fire Safety Act
• The Cities Act
• Building Canada Plan
• Provincial Long-Term Infrastructure Program
• Urban Highway Connector Program
• Government Relations Administration Act
• Multi-Material Recycling Program
• Local Government Elections Act

We also had a tour of Lloydminster's new Operations Centre housing:

• Public Works
• Engineering
• Planning.

It's not often I am in Lloydminster and during our tour I was impressed with how they are trying to manage their rapid growth. This year they are expecting 400 new housing starts and 400 rental units. The average age in Lloydminster is 27.

Minister Jim Reiter of Government Relations was a guest and Minister Gerry Ritz of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture attended Friday morning.

The meeting was very informative and helpful. I have already updated Council on many of the things we discussed.

Moving Towards City Status

Recently Kindersley was invited to SUMA City Mayor’s Caucus. There is recognition by municipalities across the province and government figures that Kindersley is a city. We believe we are a city but city status is sought because we believe Kindersley will benefit from the change in status.

The question is: how does a town become a city? The incorporation is found in the Cities Act Part IV, Division I Section 39. Here is an outline of the process:

·         The town has more than 5,000 people according to the StatsCan census; and

·         The council of the town requests the change.

After that is done then the Minister responds with:

·         Declares the incorporation along with the name and boundaries;

·         The day it is to become a city;

·         Determine when an election shall be held for a Council;

·         Fix the time of the first meeting of the city council;

·         Plus other necessary measures to facilitate the incorporation

Details can be found in Sections 39-41 of the Cities Act but those are the highlights.

Warman has been lauded for the great work they did as they changed status so I am going to speak with the Mayor to learn about their best practices and lessons learned.

If you want to take a peak at the legislation governing cities google: sk cities act.

I will continue to post more about becoming a city including the pros and cons and other considerations.