Briefs from Oct. 10 County of Forty Mile council meeting

The following are briefs from the Oct. 10 County of Forty Mile council meeting:
Protective services coordinator report
County fire chief Dustin McGarry reported to council that that his department responded to 10 calls in September, including four fires, one MVA, one HALO call, and one false alarm.
Three special fire permits were issued for hemp-only field-burning during the fire ban.
At the time of the Waterton fires, McGarry spoke to a concerned local ratepayer about FireSmart tips for minimizing the risk of fire on his property.
McGarry recently attended the Southern Alberta Safety Council AGM where they discussed the proposed Cannabis Act and how it would impact workplace environments, particularly medical marijuana in safety-sensitive work zones.
Municipal enforcement
Municipal enforcement officer Stewart Payne paid a brief visit to the sugar beet scale house, marking the start of enforcement for the annual harvest.
Foremost regional water supply and treatment plant
Bad weather and a few glitches has caused the work on the Foremost Regional Water Supply and treatment plant to fall behind schedule, Payne said in his report to council on Oct. 11, indicating that construction for the raw water pipeline from the well field has started, but drilling and tie-in for Well #9 has not.
Representatives from the County and the Village of Foremost held a meeting to iron out kinks in the agreement between the two entities, including the cost of water the county receives from the new water treatment plant. Payne said that most issues were resolved at the meeting.
Construction of the pumphouses and transfer stations at Etzikom and Manyberries is progressing.
The contract for the pipeline from Foremost to Etzikom has been awarded, but engineers are still awaiting documents indicating approval from Historical Resources and First Nations, documents required before construction can commence.
“Historical Resources has had it since June and three First Nations bands have been contacted and we have not heard back from any of them,” said Payne.
Submissions for sections 1B (Etzikom to Orion) and 1C (Orion to Manyberries) have also been submitted to Historical Resources and First Nations in the hopes of advancing the projects in the queue and to avoid wait times.
“There could be problems further east because of the environmental assessment and sensitive species and there are more areas not cultivated,” said Payne. “However, we will mostly be doing directional drilling in these areas.”
Roads
Coun. Steve Wikkerink took a moment to thank the public works crews who worked tirelessly to clear the county roads in the aftermath of the snowstorm earlier this month.
“Thanks to Bill (Nicoll) and his staff in getting the roads open after the storm,” said Wikkerink.
Nicholl, who is the assistant public works superintendent said clearing the roads was challenging for his crews.
“It was a significant challenge for them. The graders can usually go 15-20 km an hour, but I was watching them on GPS and they were doing 7,8, 9 km/hr. They had to go really slow and it was a real challenge,” said Nicoll.

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