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January 15, 2024 Council Highlights

School Site Being Transferred to GPCSD – Council directed Administration to proceed with transferring a lot within the Windsor Area Subdivision to Grande Prairie and District Catholic School Division (GPCSD), to be used as a site for an elementary school.

Support for RMA Resolution for Emergency Social Services – Council supported the 2024 Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) Resolution – Establishing a Provincial Level of Service for Emergency Social Services for presentation at the District 4 RMA membership meeting in February, for consideration at the spring RMA convention. The Regional Emergency Management Committee directed Administration of the Grande Prairie Regional Emergency Partnership (GPREP) member municipalities to draft a resolution regarding a provincial level of service for Emergency Social Services support when hosting external communities from outside of their jurisdiction.

Three County Open House Events Planned for 2024 – Council approved County Open House events to be held at Five Mile Hall, Valhalla Community School, and Teepee Creek Lyons Event Centre. Stay tuned to the County’s website and social media channels where details will be shared as planning gets underway.

Maskwa Medical Centre – Council appointed Reeve Marshall, Councillor Leanne Beaupre and Councillor Brian Peterson as County representatives to attend the Maskwa Medical Centre meetings. Council also appointed Reeve Bob Marshall as the County representative to attend the Maskwa Medical Centre Building Committee meetings to review design and building plans for their facility.

Streetlights Requested for Industrial Park – Council directed Administration to notify Richard Wilson that a petition from the landowners is required to initiate local improvement to install streetlighting at Albinati/McCrae Industrial Park. If the petition is declared sufficient, Council will revisit the topic.

Rail Advocacy Alliance Membership – Council approved the $2,000 membership fee to support the Community Rail Advocacy Alliance’s lobbying efforts in 2024 and appointed Reeve Marshall to represent the County at the Alliance’s meetings.

Memorandum of Agreement Renewed – Council approved entering into a five-year agreement with Saddle Hills County for Occasional Beaver Dam Removal from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2029. The County has provided beaver dam removal services to Saddle Hills County under contract on a cost recovery basis and the current agreement expires March 31, 2024.

Bylaw 3219 Schedule of Fees, Rates and Charges – Council gave third reading to Bylaw 3219 Schedule of Fees, Rates and Charges for 2024, which outlines the current user rates, fees and charges within the County of Grande Prairie.

Council Remuneration Adjustment – Councillor compensation has been adjusted by 3.5 per cent to reflect the same cost-of-living increase provided to County staff for 2024.

Policies Approved – Council approved the following:

  • Policy F10 – Council and Board Honoraria and Expense Reimbursement, as presented.
  • Policy F7 – Waiving Application Fees, as presented.
  • Rescinding three Human Resources policies that were replaced with Administrative Directives in 2018: L2 – Police Record Checks and Child Welfare Checks, L8 – Personal Vehicle Usage and Business Insurance on Personal Vehicles, and L12 – County Vehicle and Equipment Usage.
  • Rescinding Policy K13 – Canada 150 Grant due to no longer being relevant following Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017.

Development Permit – Council tabled a request for a development permit to the Council Meeting on January 29, 2024 to allow Administration time to work with the applicant to review potential traffic impacts to Highway 43. The permit was requested by Environment Builders for a temporary two-storey work camp within the Bacon Area Structure Plan.

Notice of Motion – Council directed Administration to review the Community Standards Bylaw regarding the topic of noise complaints and bring their findings to a future Committee of the Whole Meeting.

Resident Concern Regarding Truck Route – Council took no action on the request to have an independent safety assessment conducted on Range Road 51 and Township Road 712.

Sponsorship Requests– Council approved the following:  

  •  A gift-in-kind request from the City of Grande Prairie for the use of facilities at the Crosslink County Sportsplex for an estimated value of $5,868.45 for the 2025 Special Olympics Alberta Games events from July 11 to July 13, 2025.
  • A $1,500 sponsorship request from the Wapiti Off-Road Association (WORA) for the Numb Bum 24 Hour Ice Race on Clairmont Lake on February 17-18, 2024.

The next Regular Council Meeting will take place on January 29, 2024. The next Committee of the Whole Meeting will take place on January 19, 2024.

Council and Committee meetings are available to the public via live stream. Find connection instructions and meeting agendas through the events calendar on the County website.