Battleford council eyed several issues including pandemic plan procedures during its online council meeting this week. (File photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Council Update

Council looks at pandemic plan procedure among meeting highlights

Apr 9, 2020 | 5:25 PM

The Town of Battleford updated its pandemic plan to ensure it covers all the details related to the province’s COVID-19 pandemic health orders currently and potentially in the future during this week’s meeting. It also looked at dealing with effluent from a new cannabis production facility built in the area, and reallocating capital funding for some of the town’s infrastructure projects.

Mayor Ames Leslie said the town’s pandemic plan reflects the actions the town would need to take to comply with the province’s restrictions. The town looked at how it would respond if a town employee were to have COVID-19 symptoms, or what it would do if the province were to restrict gatherings to no more than five people in one building for example. Currently the province’s COVID-19 health orders ban gatherings of more than 10 people in one place.

“We’re looking at adding some information to the plan pro-actively, just in case the province comes back with five maximum [in one building], and how we would work through that,” the mayor said.

Among the other highlights of the meeting, the town agreed to ask the City of North Battleford on behalf of SBL Contractors Ltd. – the engineers for the Thunderchild-Decibel Cannabis Company facility project – to accept the effluent from the cannabis facility until the Battleford lagoon wastewater treatment system expansion is completed, and the new sewer main is constructed and linked to the lagoon. The cannabis facility is located on the outskirts of Battleford, off Highway 16 on land owned by Thunderchild First Nation.

The town isn’t able to accommodate the request to accept the effluent currently because the contents are beyond the lagoon system’s capacity and capability, however at the end of the year after the lagoon expansion and upgrade is complete the town will be able to start taking the facility’s effluent.

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The facility hopes to dispose its effluent at the beginning of May.

“The contents of the effluent right now legislatively is higher than what we are allowed to take in our present system,” Mayor Leslie said, adding that is why the town is asking the city to help. “They have the capabilities in their system. So once we get our lagoon system upgrade completed this summer and fall, then we will be able to get back to taking the effluent.”

The town also looked at reallocating some capital funds for several priority projects it hopes to get done this year that do not require certain property owners’ contributions. The town made the decision to defer two projects in light of the COVID-19 pandemic precautions in place, impacting many businesses and families.

“We’re not 100 per cent sure what the impact is going to be to the bottom dollar and people’s finances, and how long this pandemic will last,” the mayor said, adding if the town can get some projects completed that don’t require affected property owners pay a share, then it will focus on these instead for the immediate future.

CAO John Enns-Wind said in his report keeping pricing in mind, “it may be prudent to ensure that more sidewalk work is done this year so residents can safely walk around town and practice social distancing.”

Council agreed to administration’s recommendation to make the following adjustments for infrastructure projects: reallocate the town’s capital funding from 23 St. between 2 Ave. and 3 Ave. ($244,150); and 3 Ave. between 35 St. and 36 St. ($39,000) to instead use for work on the 35 St. bypass between 2 Ave. and 24 St. (adding a 35-mm-overlay with a levelling course and patching work); and for Central Ave. between 15 St. and Campbell Innes Way (adding a 35-mm-overlay with a levelling course and patching work).

They also agreed to reallocate some money from paving into sidewalks construction for work along 2 Ave. to ensure the sidewalks extend to 19 St., and for Central Ave. 22 St. to Heritage School.

As well, the town indicated the projects undertaken must not exceed the $283,150 capital allocation originally established in the budget.

As recommended by administration, council decided to defer two local improvement plan projects originally scheduled for 2020 to next year that would require contributions from owners of properties that benefit from the work as well as the province – 23 St. between 2 Ave. and 3 Ave. ($407,000); and 3 Ave. between 35 St. and 36 St ($65,000).

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW