ROCANVILLE — During last week’s regular meeting, of Rocanville town council adopted the revamped Animal Control Bylaw.
“There were just a few wording changes that needed to be done after the first reading, and it is now coming into effect,” Administrator Tanya Strandlund said.
The biggest change dealt with the identification of pets, which is a requirement under the bylaw.
“They need to be easily identified, meaning a tag or something on the collar that when we grab it or somebody sees it on the street, it is a quick phone call to the owner,” Strandlund said, stressing that the town is not requiring pets to be licensed, but easily identified.
“It’s not a licensing thing. It’s an identification thing,” she confirmed. “There are fines that would follow up if your animal is caught without that identification and does have to go to, say, the vet, and be advertised that it has been found at large.”
The bylaw also defines what constitutes a dangerous animal, outlines the process to deal with unprovoked attacks, and outlines consequences such as fines and penalties.
“Any outstanding fines, penalties, or fees incurred by the town for this situation can go on the property taxes,” Strandlund said. “That is new as well. Anything that is uncollectible at the time will be put on the tax roll and then collected that way.”
Failure to have a valid identification tag will cost $50 for a first offence, $75 for a second offence, and $125 for every offence after. Pets at large begins at $250, while failure to control an animal begins at $100.
Going to the dog park without a human is also against the bylaw, and another costly offence.
“Failure to accompany the animal at the off-leash dog park starts at $200, and then owning an animal that has caused harm or an unprovoked attack starts at $500, and the second and third offences for all of those things do start to add up and continuously grow,” Strandlund explained. “They’re not so big that they’re unreasonable, but they’re big enough that it will hopefully deter owners from letting their animals do whatever they want.”
The new bylaw is now in place, effective April 3.
Potash tax share up
The Town of Rocanville is set to receive even more Municipal Potash Tax Sharing revenue than anticipated in 2025. Previously, council was advised they could anticipate just over $185,000 through the program, but as actual numbers were released, Rocanville is set to receive $194,117.71, which is $14,818.26 more than the year previous.
“Because it comes in at about the same time that we do paving, it ends up supporting our paving,” said Strandlund when asked about where the potash tax share dollars end up.
Lift station generator quotes
The town received quotes to install a backup generator at the lift station, with Jeannot Electric being selected.
“We’re actually going to be putting a deposit down on a 25W Cummins natural gas generator at our main lift station,” Strandlund said. “Last year, we completed the backup generator at our water treatment plant, so now we are going to do the project at our lift station so that we can pump water to the people and then pump it out.”
The cost, including installation (but before taxes), is $50,182.50, with some money from the Canada Community-Building Fund expected to be utilized.
