Shawn Bailey
City and RM representatives attend AMM
Dauphin’s new city and RM council attended its first Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) convention and city mayor David Bosiak thinks it was a worthwhile endeavour.
Last week’s meeting, he said, provided a needed opportunity for newly-elected officials to network with provincial officials and bureaucrats, as well as other elected representatives new to municipal politics.
“What was most interesting, I’ll be honest, was sitting in and meeting the others in the Cities Caucus. Of that group of 10 of us, six have new mayors. So there’s a fairly significant level, 46 per cent overall this year, of new councillors or mayors, which is one of the highest levels AMM has ever experienced. So there’s a significant turnover of people,” Bosiak said.
Bosiak also found interesting the diversity of election experiences across the province with some municipalities having their entire council acclaimed and others, such as the City of Dauphin which had near record levels of participation, driven by philosophical differences.
“That really struck me, that disparity,” Bosiak said, adding that seemed to drive the overall feel of the convention. “This is my first AMM as an elected person, so I can’t say that this hasn’t happened previously, but there seemed to be a priority from AMM to share information and encourage good behaviour. There was a couple of speakers that were talking about governance and democracy and how to try and maintain good governance and have a democratic process,” Bosiak said. “There was a couple of specific points made about the conflict of interest guidelines that the province has now established that all councillors and elected heads of council have to participate in. So I think that was probably a historic undercurrent of recent disfunctions in some municipalities that is being addressed by AMM. Overall, I think that that’s their message.”
When it came to interactions with the province, Bosiak said there was a good showing of cabinet ministers who were quick to announce new programming, Bosiak said, adding AMM members were more concerned with the seven year freeze on municipal operating grants and the promise of a number of previously announced programs which have yet to be funded by the province, such as the Community Safety and Well-Being Planning Pilot Project on which Dauphin has been waiting.
“There were 29 resolutions at this conference, most passed, and many were about the province loosening the purse strings and helping municipalities,” Bosiak said. “The one thing that I knew before, but it was made crystal clear to me was the federal and provincial governments can run deficits, municipalities can’t. They talk many times about how municipal governments are closest to the people, yet we have very limited abilities to defer expenditures that are imposed upon us or alternate abilities to generate revenues.”
That relates directly to another of the major issues, Bosiak said, which was the debt looming over communities related to the RCMP’s first collective bargaining agreement and the retroactive pay associated with it.
“The real sticky point there for municipalities was we weren’t around the table during the negotiations,” Bosiak said, adding the city’s director of finance, Scott Carr, has indicated the issue is the biggest financial matter facing the community. “If we can get some relief on that retroactive pay amount, our ability to manage is much better. But will be really squeezed if we’re forced to find that retroactive pay and submit it to the RCMP.”
While City representatives did not have an opportunity to meet one-on-one with provincial ministers, Bosiak said meetings with RCMP representatives and provincial bureaucrats, as well as informal conversations with elected officials made him feel as if they are being heard.
All in all, he is pleased with the experience and the fact the entire council, with the exception of councillor Devin Shtykalo was able to attend.
“We did a lot of listening and we met a lot of other council members and leaders from around the province,” Bosiak said. “So I think it was a very worthwhile effort for us.”
Meanwhile, Ernie Sirski, the new reeve of the Rural Municipality of Dauphin, attended his first Association of Manitoba Municipalities meeting, last week as well.
Sirski had no expectations going into the meetings and was hoping to just learn as much as he could.
“I think I know what my role is as a reeve. I think I’ve got that figured out. But it’s more to try and figure out where we sit in the bigger picture of the municipalities of Manitoba and, hopefully, what we can accomplish and how we move this province forward,” he said. “That’s the big one. Because we don’t operate in a vacuum. We operate along with a whole bunch of other people.”
There were some training sessions for newly-elected reeves, mayors and councillors, as well as other information regarding other organizations they have to deal with.
“It was okay. It was alright,” he said.
Sirski was able to re-establish contact with people he has known for years, but hasn’t seen in a long time.
“It’s a really small province that we live in when you add everything up. When I say it’s a small province, I saw people that I’ve known for 30 years, that I haven’t seen for 20,” he said. “And then I met a whole bunch of new people, as well. It was a great opportunity.”
In meetings such as this, Sirski feels, ‘you get out what you put into them,’ so he was out meeting and connecting with people.
“I guess the thing I’m looking forward to is working with staff, whether it’s administration or public works in our rural municipality. I’m hoping that we can move this municipality forward in co-operation and collaboration with other organizations and municipalities in our area to make the Parkland something that people can come visit. That farmers can continue to practice their best practices for farming and to make sure that agriculture remains a strong and vibrant business in this area,” he said.
Stay fire safe through the holidays, the rest of winter
Winter is nearly upon us and, whether through festive holiday lighting, fireplaces, electrical heating units or cooking for family gatherings, the winter months frequently provide opportunity for exposure to fire hazards.
This week is the Canada Safety Council’s National Home Fire Safety Week, centering on the theme of being proactive and freeze out winter fires.
“One of the big things that we go to on a regular basis with the Dauphin Fire Department are those vehicle fires from your extension cords,” Dauphin fire chief Cam Abrey said. “The continual use of them, people folding them up and crimping the wires and throwing them into the back of their vehicle and pulling them out. We have to watch that we replace those cords on a regular basis. Make sure that you’re checking them, that there’s no bare wires.”
With everyone preparing for Christmas and decorating their homes, inside and out, using CSA approved decorations in a proper application, Abrey said. Inspect those devices for bare or frayed wires and ensure you are not overloading circuits.
“We don’t want to be Clark Griswold of Christmas Vacation, overpowering the home of what it can actually handle,” Abrey said.
Symptoms of an overloaded circuit can include flickering or dimming lights, blown fuses, a tripping circuit breaker and a burning smell. Cooking can be a cause of fires at anytime of the year, but can be an even bigger concern through the holidays with extended family and other guests in the home, Abrey added.
“We’re cooking extra food, more than normal, so keeping an eye on your cooking is important. Don’t leave your cooking unattended,” he said. “It’s the same messages that we promote throughout the entire year.”
Finally, with the colder weather, home heating appliances deserve special attention, Abrey added.
“Whether you have electric heat or natural gas or you’re using wood heat, all of that can also have some incidents if you’re not doing regular inspections,” he said.
For fireplaces and other wood-burning appliances, ensure chimneys are cleaned on a regular basis, Abrey added. For electric and natural gas furnaces, regular maintenance performed by a qualified technician is a must.
“Also remember to have carbon monoxide detection in the home if you do have any kind of a fuel burning appliance,” Abrey said. “It’s more than just the fire safety, it’s people’s general safety that we’re concerned for.”
This heightened exposure to fire hazards during colder months unsurprisingly leads to more fatalities. According to Statistics Canada, between 2011 and 2020, the four highest average incidents of accidental fire-related fatalities by month occurred in January (210), March (195), February (180) and December (165). Additionally, residential properties accounted for 92 per cent of all unintentional fire-related fatalities in that same time period.
Avoid becoming a victim in your own home - ensure your residence is equipped with working tools including smoke alarms and a fire extinguisher, and ensure that you and your housemates have an established and practiced escape plan.
“Never forget that you want to plan and practice your home fire escape plans and make sure that your smoke alarms are actually working,” Abrey said. “And do have a functioning fire extinguisher in the home, as well.”
Time was right for RIDE’s return
For Sarah Shuttleworth, the Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) is just too important to have it not operate for a third year in a row.
So the granddaughter of program founder John Shuttleworth made a point of ensuring area residents have a safe way to get home after celebrating this holiday season
“Obviously we couldn’t do it through the height of the pandemic, but I felt like this year would be a good year to get it going again, so I kind of got my parents and grandparents to agree to do it,” Shuttleworth said. “I thought for the 30th season it would be a good year to start.”
With RIDE celebrating such a long history, the 22-year-old Shuttleworth has had a lot of exposure to the program, but still found it useful to tap into her grandfather’s wealth of knowledge.
“I’ve gone every year since the year I was born, so I’ve learned a lot from him and my grandmother and my mom, of course, about how the program is run and how to run it successfully. So I really asked him a lot about how it started, just with an understanding of why it’s running, how it runs, things like that, she said. “So he shared a lot of his knowledge with me, for sure.”
While RIDE volunteers are committed to being out keeping the streets safe from impaired drivers this year, more help is needed, Shuttleworth said.
“Our last year was 2019, so unfortunately our volunteer list has dwindled quite a bit since then. We are in need of volunteers, the program runs solely on volunteers, we don’t have any paid staff,” she said. “So we’re really hoping that we have a lot of new volunteers, that haven’t volunteered for the program yet, to come out this year.”
Anyone interested in helping out can leave a message on the group’s Facebook page or can call 204-638-1463 and leave a message and someone will get back to them.
“The ideal number would be 20 volunteers a night because it’s teams of two, so that would be 10 teams. but that is quite a bit. We don’t have nearly that for each night yet, but ideally that’s the number,” Shuttleworth said. “Lots of people like to go out and celebrate and may not have a safe ride home, but they have their vehicle with them. So I think it’s really important to have this program running in order to provide everyone with a safe ride home.”
RIDE volunteers will pick you and your vehicle up from a provided location. They will then drive you and your vehicle to your destination, preferably your home residence.
RIDE gets underway Dec. 2, and will run each Friday and Saturday night in December, except for Dec. 24 and 30.
GP Municipality dealing with misappropriation of more than $500,000
A criminal investigation is underway after money was discovered missing from the Gilbert Plains Municipality account.
Reeve Jim Manchur said details of how the $514,571.86 was transfered out of the municipality’s account without council’s authorization are still being determined.
“It happened over a series of time. We’re still getting the final results back from the forensic accounting people that did the investigation for us,” Manchur said, adding the municipality was alerted to the situation by its financial institution and engaged Meyers Norris Penny to conduct a third party investigation.
“There was a number of things happening there and we haven’t got all the details. And a lot of the information from the forensic report has been submitted to the RCMP, so they’re going to be continuing the investigation, as well.”
The employee at the centre of the issue has been terminated for just cause, Manchur said.
In a letter to residents of the municipality, Manchur said councillors take their stewardship of municipal resources seriously and have been making changes to financial controls and procedures to better protect municipal funds.
Those changes include eliminating the ability to etransfer from municipal accounts without dual authorization and requiring council approval on all financial reports.
There have also been increased controls put in place to ensure bank statements are reconciled on a regular basis, as well as requirements for regular and up-to-date audits.
“For a number of months now we’ve changed what we’re doing with our reporting and no single person can now have control of any e-transfer payments out of our accounts,” Manchur said. “And our financial reporting has been vastly improved.”
While the amount of money missing is substantial, the municipality is working on getting reimbursed.
“We’re co-operating with our insurance company. There is, I guess, clauses within our policy that allow us to collect the money from an insurance standpoint,” Manchur said.
Glaziers on the go
Crews from Horizon Glass in Brandon were hard at work replacing windows at the Watson Arts Centre, last week.
The project encompasses the replacement of eight full windows and 36 glass inserts to upgrade all of the facility’s windows to triple pane.
The project is financed through a Building Sustainable Communities matching dollars grant of $50,000, a Heritage Resources Conservation Grant of $25,000 and a $5,000 contribution from the Dauphin and District Community Foundation with the City providing the balance of the funding.
The remainder of the work is expected to take place in January.
City council holds inaugural meeting
Dauphin’s new city council held its inaugural meeting, Nov. 6, after those successful in the recent municipal election took their oaths of office.
Forming council are mayor David Bosiak and councillors Kathy Bellemare, Randy Daley, Christian Laughland, Ted Rea, Devin Shtykalo and Steve Sobering.
Deputy-mayor
Under provisions of the Manitoba Municipal Act and the city’s organizational bylaw, council elected Laughland to serve as deputy-mayor. Laughland took on the role of mayor for the remainder of the last term following the death of Allen Dowhan in September 2021, but decided to step down and run for a council seat this past October.
Youth councillor
Under provisions of the Municipal Act, council appointed Emma Fox as a youth member on council, effective immediately to the end of June 2023. A youth member must be less than 18 years of age or enrolled as a full-time student in school and can participate in council’s deliberations, but is not counted for the purpose of determining a quorum or deciding a vote of council.
Signing authority
Council voted to assign city signing authority to Bosiak, Bellemare and Laughland as council representatives along with city manager Sharla Griffiths, deputy city manager Lisa Gaudet and director of Finance Scott Carr.
Commitment
Council passed a motion acknowledging the “efforts of its predecessors to establish and grow Dauphin into the thriving city it is today”, and commending “the local community groups and organizations that, through the hard work of their staff and volunteers, accomplish great things.” The motion also committed councillors to, “working with each other, municipal staff, the community and all other stakeholders to build upon the foundation of past successes to create a bright and prosperous future for Dauphin and the Parkland.”
Councillor privileges
The meeting closed with each councillor taking a few minutes to express their thanks for those who supported through the campaign and at the ballot box.
9 PM Routine a big success
A program aimed at helping Dauphin residents get in the habit of securing their properties was a great success according to organizer Lisa Gaudet.
The 9 PM Routine - a municipally-led campaign featuring nightly email reminders to secure property by removing valuables from vehicles, locking vehicle doors, locking all exterior doors and turning on an outside light - wrapped up Nov. 6, the deputy city manager said.
“Our social media analytics show that we reached more than 23,000 people, so that is well above and beyond the majority of any other post we have republished on our social media,” Gaudet said. “There was really lively engagement. We had lots of people sharing, liking, commenting. It really helped us to spread the message.”
Gaudet added other municipalities have reached out to her hoping to duplicate the campaign.
On top of the nightly email messages, the campaign involved the local RCMP detachment with officers scouring neighbourhoods and leaving calling cards when they found unsecured property.
“I’m supposed to be having a meeting with (RCMP) next week, just to review from their perspective what the impact was of the campaign. But by all accounts, they felt that occurrences were reduced,” Gaudet said. “So it was very successful. I think we really needed positive messaging. It was the kind of messaging that brings us all together and lets people know that the city is listening. And it was kind of a fun catchy campaign just to connect the community and to connect the city and the RCMP with our residents.”
Given the importance of being aware of crimes of opportunity, Gaudet said the information used in the campaign will be placed on the city’s website in the coming weeks as part of a community safety. It is also quite likely that in the future the campaign will be resurrected, Gaudet added.
“Just as a refresher, possibly in the spring. Because the incidence of mischief, people roaming at night and getting into people’s vehicles and backyards, generally increases in the spring and during the summer,” she said. “So it’s probably a good time to resurrect the campaign at that time. So that’s something we would look at.”
Financing the fund
From left, Dauphin Kin Club member James Blake looks on as Dauphin and District Community Foundation executive director Kit Daley accepts a cheque for $6,674.72 from Kin president Nicole Gulenchin and treasurer Patrick Harrison, recently.
The funds represent money the Kinette Club of Dauphin had in reserve when it merged with the Kinsmen Club of Dauphin.
The money was added to an existing fund with the foundation honouring long-time Kinsmen member Jim Tarrant and was used to rename the fund as the Jim and Iona Tarrant Fund to recognize the former Kinette Club member who served to community for more than 50 years.
Proceeds from the Jim and Iona Tarrant Fund are earmarked to helping youth in the community.
Turning pages
The Rotary Club of Dauphin held its always popular book sale at the United Church Auditorium, Nov. 3 to 5.
As one of the big fund-raisers for the local service organization, the sale brought in more than $3,800 its first day and netted the club a total of $7,866 over the three days.
An incredibly consistent fund-raiser for the club, organizer J.L Guillas said last week’s sale not only drew shoppers from around the Parkland, but provincewide, with Winnipeg and Brandon represented.
To highlight that consistency, Guillas said the sales total was just .4 per cent off the total achieved in last spring’s event.
The next iteration of the biannual sale will be held in April.
Mayor-elect eager to get to work
After a hard fought and heavily contested campaign the City of Dauphin has a new council in place to guide it over the next four years following polling in Manitoba’s General Municipal Election, Oct. 26.
Headed by David Bosiak as mayor, the new council features incumbents Christian Laughland, Kathy Bellemare and Devin Shtykalo, who will be joined by newcomers Steve Sobering, Randy Daley and Ted Rea.
Bosiak earned the mayor’s chair by claiming 74.14 per cent of the popular vote, a total of 1,995 votes to defeat former councillor Kerri Riehl, who earned 696 votes.
Laughland topped a field of 17 candidates vying for six council positions with 1,418 votes, followed by Sobering with 1,363 votes, Bellemare with 1,309 votes, Daley with 1,297 votes, Rea with 1,187 votes and Shtykalo with 1,176 votes.
Unsuccessful in their bids were Joe Houston, who earned a total of 997 votes, Jason Alf with 902, Patti A. Eilers with 792, Rodney P. Juba with 781, Tamara Michele with 580, Bev Sarkonak with 561, Michael Winter with 529, Ken Tarrant with 468, Gerry Wieler with 388, Sharon Riehl with 287 and Carter Taylor-Luke with 130.
The results, Bosiak, said, fit perfectly into his philosophy about bringing good people together and getting out of their way to let them do their thing.
“When you look at who was elected and their strengths and backgrounds and interests, it so well represents what I think we need to do as a community going forward,” he said. “There were others who didn’t get elected who I thought could have done a great job, but the six who did are exceptionally talented and motivated and positive thinkers. And it bodes well for us going forward.”
Eager to get started, Bosiak has already met with senior administration at city hall and has been in contact with elected officials in other area municipalities.
“I talked to a few other elected people from a few other municipalities who congratulated me, and I them. And we talked about working together as a Parkland region on a couple of things, which again just bodes well, I think,” Bosiak said, adding he is sensing an air of optimism after two years of pandemic restrictions. “I think everybody just paused during COVID, especially us with the two former mayors and the untimeliness of their passings and how that impacted us as a community. But I think that everybody is ready to move on.”
We do have to keep in mind that COVID is still with us and could once again threaten public health, we just have to be ready to deal with it, Bosiak said.
“We can’t lose sight that we are still dealing with something big, but that we are moving on and we are learning how to live in our new reality,” he said. “And I think that is a key piece of this. The pause that we had during the beginning of the pandemic, I think, is done, but us now going forward it is something we have to consider. And again, I think that the mandate we have got reflects what the community thinks, let’s think about the community and what is important to us.”
Forty-four per cent of eligible voters came out to cast a ballot, which Bosiak believes signals an optimism in the community and the desire to see positive things happening.
“Some of my shtick about forward together and us together as a team manifested. It was destiny, karma, whatever you want to call it, it’s the truth,” he said. “The resounding turnout was nice to see. The notion that people paid attention. A lot of people were not vocal about it, but they voted with their feet. They showed up and I am humbled by the support and ready to work.”
Bosiak is aware that expectations are high, his included, and he is going to remain cognizant of that and try to temper that enthusiasm.
“And ensure we are focused and, like we have done in the past, we develop priorities and pick them off one at a time,” he said. “We work on more than one at once, but we can’t do it all at once, We will understand that process and move forward.”
His goal is to eliminate that attitude that “this is Dauphin, it will never happen here, it can’t happen here.”
“Oh, yes, it can. So in the realistic sense, and it is not like we are going to shoot for the moon, but we are going to chip away and with a positive outlook on things,” Bosiak said.
There is lots of issues for the city to deal with, Bosiak added, and not all of them are favourable and positive.
“But I think the approach we will take in dealing with them is all positive. What good can come out of this? What can we do with this challenge to turn it into an opportunity or a benefit for us? So I think if there is nothing else that I am so enthusiastic about, is the approach we will take to deal with the issues facing us,” he said. “So I am just really excited, enthusiastic and motivated. I have already talked to all of the council members who got elected and we are all happy to be working together.”