A regular meeting of Oxbow Town Council was held the evening of Feb. 13.
Ald. Bob Goodward and Ald. Cam Rutledge were absent from the gathering.
A building permit was issued to an individual wishing to move a four-bedroom home into the community, and another permit was approved for the construction of a new home. In addition, offers were accepted to purchase two lots on Spruce Drive (new housing area), and a commercial lot on the corner of Main Street and Peters Ave. (to be used as a parking lot for an existing business). A lot on Prospect Ave. will be rezoned from commercial to residential. A bylaw needs to be amended for this to occur.
A delegation attended the meeting to discuss commercial development of some agricultural land near Highway #18. (See Public Notice in this issue of the Oxbow Herald). As the town will need to have a service agreement with the owners, this topic was also discussed. The delegation asked if the Southern Plains Co-op still intended to build a new store, etc. in Oxbow. While it does not seem likely to happen, the administrator said he had been told the project had not been ruled out yet.
An offer by Ex-Cel Well Services to purchase four lots in the new industrial area in the northeast part of Oxbow was accepted. The company plans to build a new shop there. These are the first lots the town has sold in this new development.
An offer to purchase the Memorial Hall for $1.00 was accepted. The new owner will pay all the costs of removing the building, but the town will provide a place to dispose of the material. The owner’s plan is to build on this site.
In other business, Brad Vanbeselaere, administrator, was authorized to contact Regens Disposal and find out what it would cost to have a bin for cardboard at the town’s landfill. Many people find their cardboard recycling bins are not big enough, and would like another way to dispose of excess cardboard.
The cost to have sewer and water services at a certain section of Coldridge Road will be obtained, as there is the potential that three properties will need these services. As Coldridge Road is to be paved, the Town does not want to get this work done, and then eventually have to dig up a portion of the new pavement, so property owners can have access to sewer and water services.
Sgt. Robert Magee from the Carnduff RCMP attended the meeting and presented the police report for January. It had been a quiet month with few incidents. Some of the items were four false alarms, a 911 misdial, a charge to a driver for not wearing a seatbelt, a noise complaint, a fail to yield charge, a damage to vehicle incident, plus some incidents that were reported but proved to be unfounded.
Sgt. Magee is the newest member of the detachment and previously worked in Creighton (near Flin Flon).
As mentioned in the Town Council report for Jan. 23, the administrator was to check with Sask. Power to find out what the cost would be to install a street light at the north end of Heritage Court. As the cost will be $1,750, the Town will send a letter to the Oxbow Housing Authority explaining why their request for the light had been denied.
A shed damaged by a town worker while doing snow removal will be repaired.
The Town of Oxbow will enter the SGI Auto Fund Seatbelt Challenge. This is a community-driven way to increase seatbelt use in the area.
The administrator will start working on the budget soon.
A resolution was passed that, if necessary, the Town would use its line of credit for a few weeks, instead of transferring funds from other accounts.
Some members of council had attended the SUMA convention held recently. Ald. Swanson and Ald. Ching both reported on the sessions they had attended. Some sessions were a SUMAssure presentation (addressing ways to manage risk at Special Events), the renewed RCMP contract (there is a new contract with the RCMP and the Federal and Provincial Governments. The increase in what each community will be paying will be sent out soon), a keynote presentation by Michael “Pinball” Clemons (spoke on how decisions made by council impact the future), Repositioning the Field of Parks and Recreation (the need, importance and rationale for communities to provide leisure services), Doctor Retention (the province has hired Sask Doc. They presented what they are doing to retain and recruit Doctors for the province), a Highways and Infrastructure dialog (the Minister discussed the plan to improve the province’s highways.) Other sessions provided information about Crime Stoppers, Tourism, Sask Power and the need for communities to have long-term plans and a vision. Only a few resolutions were presented. The Trade Show had over 175 booths.
marilyn@oxbowherald.sk.ca
