(File Photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Melfort Council

Election Bylaw to Pay Scales: Melfort Council deals with numerous topics at regular meeting

Aug 11, 2020 | 10:19 AM

Melfort council covered a number of topics at their Regular Meeting Monday. Those included passing an election bylaw, approving an expansion to one of their MEEP projects, and giving the go ahead to some changes to the Melfort Fire Department’s pay scale.

Election Bylaw

As voters head to the polls at the municipal level on November 9, 2020, work is already being done to plan for that day. For Melfort City Council, they passed an election bylaw that covered a few matters.

Previously, there have been two election bylaws, one to cover a mail-in ballot portion, and another for in-person. The new bylaw puts both together into one bylaw. This approves the use of electronic vote counting, which will be a first in Melfort. Mayor Rick Lang said the electronic voting will hopefully be much easier, and will help get results much quicker than in the past.

There’s still lots to be ironed out with the mail-in voting, and using the electronic system, but the format to work with the electronic system will likely involve “colouring in” a bubble to show your vote.

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Nomination packages are available to acquire from the City of Melfort website, but they cannot be submitted until Sept. 15 which is when nominations open.

Mayor Rick Lang is looking to keep his mayoral seat, while Councilor Glenn George has also tossed his hat in the ring to become Mayor.

MEEP Expansion

Back in early July, the City of Melfort was one of a number of municipalities to receive funding from the Municipal Economic Enhancement Program (MEEP).

A total of five projects were approved by Council and funding was received for all of them. One of the projects was asphalt overlay on Broadway Avenue North. The total cost of the project was expected to be around $713,830, with about $363,000 coming from the MEEP program, but the tender for it came in $151,081 lower than expected. If the city were to continue with the original project, they would have to refund some of the money to MEEP. As a result, Council approved to expand the scope of that project to include a portion of McDonald Avenue West.

Lang said it was a no brainer to expand the project.

“When you get money given to you through a program, you’re going to find a way to spend it,” he said. “Because, for lack of a better term, it’s free money,” he said.

The portion of McDonald Ave. that will be part of the project is on the west side of Broadway Ave.North. That section of road has had some frost boil issues which has led to some road degradation. That will be recapped as part of the project.

That portion is still waiting to be approved by the provincial government, but Lang is expecting that to be approved very soon.

Fire Department Pay Scale

Monday’s meeting also saw some changes to the Melfort Fire Department and how its members will be getting paid. Previously, firefighters would be getting paid based on their seniority and how long they had been there for. Now, the new pay scale will see members of the department getting paid for the skills they have and the training they have done.

Lang said the change to the pay scale is very valid.

“Everything will be driven by skill set, so it’ll be better for the community,” he said. “The firefighters will be better trained relative to their pay, and that will be kind of a guaranteed situation.”

The scale adjustment was put together by the Fire Chief and looked over by the department as well. Some wages have changed by $5 per hour.

Also included in the conversation about the pay scale for the department is the master plan for the department moving forward. It includes how training will work, the levels they will include, and how fire fighters will progress through that training.

Cannabis Licenses

Cannabis licenses have started to come up at various council meetings in Saskatchewan recently, and it made its first appearance in Melfort.

A letter was received by the city’s only current cannabis licensee. It stated that he would like to see the City of Melfort limit the number of cannabis licenses allowed in Melfort to just one, in part, to help regulate the availability of products such as cannabis.

Council did raise concerns about a possible monopoly and discussed the principles of a free market economy.

Council decided on Monday to bring that to committee for further discussion. It’s unknown if the licensee is planning to bring the topic forward at a future council meeting as a delegation.

Council also approved their 2019 financial statements at Monday’s Regular Council Meeting.

NortheastNOW will have a story on that in the coming days.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6