RM of Meota (Supplied/RM of Meota website)

By battlefordsNOW Staff

RM update

RM of Meota bridge temporarily closed; update to ratepayers

Aug 6, 2021 | 5:06 PM

Those who normally use the Rural Municipality (RM) of Meota’s Crystal Creek Bridge on Range Road 3163 will need to take an alternate route, as the structure is now temporarily closed.

Reeve Sherry Jimmy says a contractor noticed some deterioration issues Thursday while completing scheduled maintenance work on the bridge, and advised the RM.

“In the spirit of extreme caution and risk management, council opted to close the bridge until a full engineering report could be done on that bridge to determine it’s safety, and in the long-term a fix for it,” she said.

The bridge is located in Division 1, mainly in the south-east quadrant of the municipality.

Jimmy says the RM will next have the bridge fully inspected to determine a plan to correct the structure.

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Council reviews bridge reports on an annual basis to determine upgrade work required on the structures. The contractor identified some new issues on the Crystal Creek Bridge since the last assessment.

With the bridge out of use, drivers can instead resort to some of the nearby grid roads as well as Highway 4 if necessary, to reach their destinations.

“We appreciate it is an inconvenience to ratepayers in the local area not to use that bridge,” Jimmy said. “However, we are erring on the side of caution, and will hopefully have a full report to be able to determine if the bridge is safe for even light traffic, moving forward.”

The RM of Meota council and senior staff gave ratepayers an update on all the municipality’s activities including its finances at a public meeting Aug. 5.

Jimmy says the municipality is in good shape after a challenging year during the pandemic.

“We have come through what we hope is the worst of it,” she said. “We managed our budget accordingly. And, we are looking forward to being in what I call the recovery phase now after COVID.”

Looking at the past year, Jimmy said the RM progressed well, despite the difficulties.

“We realize certainly through COVID that was one area that could have posed more threat than it did, in terms of our ability to get in revenue through taxes or commercial development,” she said.

Residents had an opportunity during the meeting to ask questions on any of their concerns.

The RM has three distinct sectors within its municipality – the agricultural sector, lakeshore development; and commercial which includes oil development.

During the meeting, the RM gave those in attendance an update on the activities for each of these areas, as well as the municipality’s plans ahead.

Similar to elsewhere, the RM’s agricultural sector is currently stressed due to the impact of the drought situation.

Among the some of the other topics discussed was increased interest from people looking to acquire lakeside property in the RM.

Jimmy said also among the updates is news that Serafina Energy Ltd. is planning for a fourth SAGD (Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage) system oil production facility located within the RM of Meota. The facility will be known as Meota Central.

According to the municipality, the RM will work with Serafina and ratepayers to determine the most suitable oil haul route for the facility.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow