County meeting highlights

Posted on August 19, 2014 by 40 Mile Commentator

By Jamie Rieger

From stop signs to campground registration, County of Forty Mile councilors had a full plate of items to discuss at their Aug. 13 meeting.

40 Mile Park

Reeve Bryne Lengyel indicated that there has been a request for more visibility of the local RCMP at 40 Mile Park during peak hours.

Registering sites at Burdett Campground

In his report to council at their municipal committee meeting on Aug. 13, municpal enforcement officer, Stewart Payne said that twice so far this camping season, he has received requests after the campers arrived to turn on the power to the sites.

“Years ago, a motion was made to disconnect the services and people could camp for free. This year, twice in one month, users have showed up and then asked for services,” said Payne. “Before, it was difficult to collect fees.”

Payne indicated he spoke to county administrator, Dale Brown about having one person from the group of campers pay the fee ahead of time.

“A second group also showed up unannounced and asked for water and power. It took me a week to collect the fee from them,” said Payne, adding the county does not have a pre-registration process in place.

Councilor Chantel Timmons agreed, noting that it appears on the county website that there is services available at the Burdett campground.

“It would be good to have something  on the website and to have the power turned on ahead of time,” said Timmons.

Council agreed the power would be turned on only for group use and not for individual campers.

County council voted in favour of posting signage at the campground for group use, and to post the information on the County of Forty Mile website.

Stop sign on Airport Road

The County of Forty Mile received a letter from Transport Canada indicating that a row of caraganas at the railway crossing on Range Road 105 is limiting the line of sight for motorists crossing the tracks.

County council discussed installing  stop sign at the crossing and/or requiring the property owner to remove a section of the caraganas to improve the line of sight.

“Putting a stop sign in there would cause a bottleneck on the highway,” said councilor, Steve Wikkerink.

Council voted to have public works supervisor, Keith Bodin talk to the landowner about removing a portion of the caraganas.