OUTLOOK - The town council of Outlook met for a regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday night, March 12. Present was all of Council: Sharon Bruce, Kyle McLeod, Andy Long, Guy Derdall, Donna Smith, and Kevin Grotheim, as well as Mayor Ryan Husband, Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Trew, and Assistant CAO Rachel Sillers.
The meeting was broadcast live on the Town of Outlook's official Facebook page.
A number of topics and items were discussed, including the following highlights.
To start the meeting, Mayor Husband said that an item pertaining to an update on the town's strategic plan would be tabled for debate at the next council meeting. In addition, an item set to discuss the flag raising policy in town was said to still be in debate in committee meetings, so it was also removed from the agenda.
Bylaws
There were two bylaws set for their 3rd and 2nd respective readings, the first one being Bylaw No. 01 (2025) Sewer and Water Connection Bylaw, which was set for its 3rd and final reading. No further discussion was had on the bylaw, and Councillor Grotheim moved for it to be passed, which was carried by the room. Mayor Husband noted that it was the first official bylaw approved and carried by this current town council.
The other bylaw was Bylaw No. 02 (2025) Building Bylaw, set for its 2nd reading. CAO Trew noted that the province's Ministry of Government Relations required the town to do a new building bylaw before January 1, 2028, so the Town was remaining well ahead of the curve on carrying this out. Councillor McLeod made a motion to pass the 2nd reading, which was carried by the room.
Communications Requiring Action or Decision
Mayor Husband noted that he is one of the members of the WaterWolf organization, which focuses on planning and development in the Lake Diefenbaker regional area, including protecting the lake and its water resources. Husband noted that the organization would like to have six to ten members and they're on the lookout for new board membership.
Councillor Grotheim asked how the WaterWolf group helps the Town of Outlook, unsure of how strong the link between the riverside community and the lake organization is or needs to be. Husband noted that the recent presentation by speaker George Cuff, a top leading advisor, consultant and author on the art and principles of governance and effective organizations spoke volumes about maintaining that link between the two sides.
Trew noted that from the town's perspective, being the biggest affected community around, there are other smaller communities in the lakeside area who look to Outlook to have a stronger stake in what's going on in the Lake Diefenbaker district and to provide perspective in the issues facing the region.
Reports of Administration, Staff and/or Committees Requiring Decision
In discussing the community's new fire hall project, CAO Trew shared that 31 tenders had been sent out for bid, with a focus on local contractors in the area as much as possible in order to make the hall "for Outlook by Outlook".
As it is an open tender, companies are free to bid as the time period isn't closed at this time.
The full list of tenders is available on the Town of Outlook website at the following address: townofoutlook.ca/community/outlook_rudy_fire_rescue_.html.
Moving the conversation to community events coming up, Council discussed the 35th annual SUMA Golf Tournament, which will be hosted at the Outlook Riverview Golf Club on July 11. CAO Trew shared information packets and promotional material that will be made available, and sponsorship opportunities are being explored right now. Trew noted that the Outlook & District Regional Park is hosting a country music cabaret in the performance bowl that same evening, so the golf tournament's promotional material will also include that.
New Business
Discussing potential dates in order to hold joint council meetings with the RM of Rudy No. 284 and the RM of Fertile Valley No. 285, Mayor Husband said that it was all part of the town's commitment to strengthen and continue to build partnerships within the region. Trew said that he was looking at dates later this month or into April to hopefully avoid the busy seeding season.
CAO Report
Prepared by Kevin Trew
Human Resources:
• We have one employee on a back to work program through the long-term disability plan
• Ads have been running for the summer staff for the Van Raay and Community Pool, the program staff for the Kinsmen Park Program and the Explore and Excel Program. We have been informed that we will not be receiving any funds from the Canada Summer Jobs Grant for 2025 so the team will be working on finding savings across the departments to support the shortfall in budget from the approved December budget and present it with the mid year budget update so that we can continue to run these important summer programs without other levels of government support. We have done so for the past two years.
• We extend sympathy to Councillor Sharon Bruce and her family on the recent loss of her Mom, Ruth Harvey.
• In January, 23 members of our team including committee members and other stakeholders took the Mental Health First Aid course, it is a Certificate course offered by “Opening Minds” and the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
Policy and Procedural Items:
• Thank you to those members of the public who participated in the Strategic Plan survey in January, Council reviewed the results of the survey prior to doing the next steps. The operations team has also reviewed the results of the survey, we have this currently available on our website. Council has been busy working on the strategic plan update and we expect to see a slight shift in priorities and a narrowed focus on completing specific projects for the next few years. Those projects not on our strategic plan are not prioritized however that does not meant that there is no work being done on them.
• We advertised the properties in tax arrears on our website and in the newspaper. The 10% penalty on outstanding taxes was applied January 1 and 1.5% interest is applied on the first of each month until the arrears are paid in full. The 2024 arrears list is on our website and has been in the newspaper. Properties with arrears after March 31, 2025 will see tax enforcement proceedings started on their files.
• Once again, the 6% discount offered for prepayment of the 2025 municipal taxes has seen favourable subscription. Those wishing to make prepayments prior to March 31, 2025 will see a 6% discount applied, our office encourages those wishing full discount to pay based on the 2024 invoice and then we have stated that they will get the 4% discount on anything remaining once taxes are levied in May.
• We are awaiting the new assessment numbers as this is a reassessment year for all properties. Each property owner can expect to receive an assessment notice in March.
• I have included the Town Hall Complex quote for roof repairs in the Council package as Council approved the repairs in the 2025 capital plan, these repairs quoted by Flynn Canada amount to just over $19,000.
Successes this Month:
• Snow management – the Irrigation Capital of Saskatchewan has seen its share of snow this winter. Our team has focussed on improving the levels of service in snow management in the community and we have heard positives and negatives, the positives have been many and the negative comments generally have been encouraging fine tuning and specific areas where we could do better. We can and have done better in a year where we have seen more snow, this is due in large part to the cooperation of the public with our efforts. We continue to strive to improve and we have had some very constructive comments that we are looking at to improve even more so for winter 2025-2026.
Learning Opportunities/Capacity Development:
• Budget 2025 was passed in December, a number of capital projects were approved as well at that time.
New and existing projects take time for us to put into place regardless of when they are approved. We haven’t historically put expected timelines on projects approved, however we are facing pressure that we it is not an unreasonable expectation for us to set time goals within the calendar year even at budgeting.
We are looking at this to incorporate going forward.
Current Unfinished Projects:
• Raw Water Intake/ Water Treatment Plant Upgrade Project –This should be wrapped up very soon.
• Subdivisions Projects
o 2024 Highway Commercial and Residential Subdivision – We have contacted Meridian Surveys, working with Casa Boldt Consulting and Associated Engineering regarding a subdivision application for subdivision of the Highway Commercial lots, Mann Street residential lots as well as the sports grounds lot for Municipal Reserve. We expect this to be presented to Council in March or early April.
o College South Residential – The draft servicing agreement has been forwarded to an interested developer and we await feedback and expect something very soon.
• Outlook-Rudy Fire and Rescue capital projects – The Fire Hall tenders for construction will be released prior to March 1 and we expect to have solid numbers regarding tendered pricing by mid March for the Joint Protective Services Committee to consider and make a go/no-go recommendation to Town and RM Councils.
