The following topics were discussed at the Regular Council Meeting on Tuesday, November 10th.

STARS Virtual Update – Glenda Farnden, Sr. Municipal Relations Liaison

Glenda Farnden, Sr. Municipal Relations Liaison of the STARS Foundation provides an annual update to Council on fundraising efforts, STARS missions in our community, equipment updates, etc. Council has committed to an annual budgeted donation of $5000 for STARS. Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, Glenda Farnden is unable to provide an in-person update on the STARS Foundation. Glenda has graciously agreed to provide a virtual update through Microsoft Teams. In lieu of the annual cheque presentation to Glenda, the cheque was mailed on October 30th. The update included the following information: STARS introduced COVID changes and protocols and had an increase in calls related to COVID. STARS were asked to participate in an international consortium about COVID. The majority of staff are working from home. STARS downsized all locations. There is a decrease in funding, including government funding and fundraising initiatives have all seen a decline. Municipal funding has not declined. There are increased expenses due to increased missions. STARS began a training pilot program. Council was also provided an overview of missions to end of October. The update also included information on the phasing out of current helicopters and replacing with new H145 with breakthrough technology. This includes expected additions to the fleet.

Bylaw 1059, 2020 – Municipal Development Plan Bylaw – First Reading

The Municipality has been working on developing a new Municipal Development Plan (MDP) for a considerable amount of time and is now at a stage for first reading of a bylaw to adopt the MDP. The draft MDP has been sent to stakeholders such as the Livingstone School District, provincial agencies, etc, along with the MPC and the MDs of Pincher Creek and Ranchlands. Their comments will be brought back for Council's consideration of second reading, which is tentatively set for December 8, 2020. The Public Hearing has also been scheduled for December 8, 2020. Councillor Ward moved first reading of Bylaw 1059, 2020 Municipal Development Plan Bylaw and to post the draft bylaw on the Municipal website.

Amended Councillor Committee Appointments for 2021 and 2020-21 Deputy Mayor Schedule

Council committee appointments were made in the interim at the Organizational Meeting of Council to ensure that all committees had the required Council member representation. Councillor Girhiny has now been officially declared elected and sworn in; and can now be appointed to serve as a Council representative on any Municipal Board, Committee, or Society. Councillor Girhiny will serve on the following committees: Emergency Management Committee, Parks & Recreational Advisory Committee, Pass Powderkeg Ski Society, Protective Services Advisory Committee, Subdivision & Development Appeal Board, Crowsnest/Pincher Creek Landfill Association and the Bellevue Ecomuseum Trust, Intermunicipal Development Plan Committee MCNP & MD of Pincher Creek and the Intermunicipal Development Plan Committee MCNP & MD of Ranchlands as an alternate.

Q3 2020 Financial Report

This is the third quarterly report for the 2020 budget year. In general, the Municipality should be at 75% percent spend assuming revenue and expenses occur equally through out the year. Some of the revenue and expenses occur at specific points in the year. On the revenue side, Property taxes are the largest sources of revenue and occur in June. From an expenditure side there are several large one time expenses that occur. Insurance ($340,000), Grants to Organizations ($443,000) and Payroll Vacation entitlement ($373,000) are recorded in January. Transfers to reserve ($776,000) and interdepartmental transfers ($616,000) generally happen at the end of the year when actual balances are known. Overall, the Municipality has received 89% percent of the annual revenues and spent 64% percent of the expenses. With Covid-19, rental revenues and sale of goods are down and will remain lower for that budget. With no Community Peace Officer for the last 9 months, revenue from Fines are down as well but this will be offset by no wages being paid out until September. Other cost savings are a result of travel and accommodation to attend conferences and training being cancelled. With construction season underway, there is a time lag between work completed in September and when the invoices are received for payment. The Municipality is on track to be within budget by year-end provided business as usual prevails for the remainder of the year.

Southern Alberta Ortho Photo Project

Ortho Photos provide aerial photography that is corrected for distance, area, and direction by draping the acquired imagery over the surface of the earth. These corrected images used in our local mapping platforms provide a valuable tool for all aspects of our operations including assessment, construction, survey, taxation, addressing, emergency services, etc. Day to day use examples include simple image viewing, measuring distances, calculating areas, planning job layouts, project ground truthing and confirmations, as well as building footprint calculations. Consistent refresh cycles of ortho photo imagery has been considered an operational requirement for the expected efficiencies it provides. The Municipality has traditionally participated in a similar ortho project with ORRSC with member urban municipalities in order to continue to acquire critical imagery every 3 to 4 years. This was done in 2002, 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2017. The area of coverage has been just the urban area and not the entire boundaries. The imagery is done at 12cm pixels. The Municipality will be participating in this project with the next flight that has not yet been scheduled. The Municipality is looking to partner for the first time, with the 2021 Southern Alberta Partnership Ortho Photo Project to complete a fly over of the entire boundaries of the community however at a lesser resolution of 25cm pixels. This will be more cost effective but will allow us to have some imagery for our more rural areas that we do utilize from time to time. The frequency of these photos will be less often as they will be used more for reference. This collaboration approach has reduced our cost for Ortho Photos to an absolute minimum and has been able to attract considerable amounts of provincial government grant funding in the past. Councillor Filipuzzi moved that Council allocates up to $10,000 towards the 2021 Operating Budget, with funds coming from the Information Technology Budget, to participate in the 2021 Southern Alberta Partnership Ortho Photo Project and that Council authorizes the Municipal District of Willow Creek No. 26 to act as the managing partner for the Ortho Photo Partnership Project on behalf of the Municipality.

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