Schreiber council meeting for December 2021

There is usually only one council meeting in December. The first item is to accept the minutes from the previous meeting and any special council meetings.

Currently Schreiber does not stream any Special Council Meetings even when they are not in camera. Support for a resolution to try and force MPAC to proceed with a province wide assessment update in order for municipalities to collect taxes that are based on current property values and not continue with the old assessments. Depending on which side of the argument you are on and what those assessments might be it could mean a lowering of taxes in some areas but there is the possibility for large increases in others. Municipalities rely on these assessments in order to prepare budgets for the following years. Currently MPAC assessments do not reflect actual property values in Schreiber as the assessments are based on selling price averages. This will be an interesting story to follow in the coming months as real estate prices have rocketed to record high levels, leaving a large portion of the population unable to afford homes.

Other agenda items:

• Lake Superior High School Student Council was approved for a grant in aid to assist in the holding of a dance event in the recreation centre. 
• Accounts payable and bank debits for payroll were approved and ratified. 
• Three property tax right offs were approved. The properties in question are unknown as this information is usually confidential between council and the property owners.
• Another property owned by the municipality was declared a surplus asset and can ow be disposed of. Again the property can’t be mentioned at this time.
• $10,000 of the Fire department truck reserve and an additional $1000 of the fire equipment reserve has been transferred to the fire department.
• Replacing of water meters in the treatment plant was approved.
• Various other payments to businesses for goods purchased were approved.

Other business included:

• A motion to approve the new water bill and sewage rates for the coming year.
• It will now cost more to be buried as an amendment to set the new cemetery price list was approved.
• Public Sector Digest Incorporated has been approved to work with the economic development team with the aim of identifying businesses and programmes that may be important to economic development.
• Wallace Land Use will once again be assigned the task of building inspector and negotiating land use disputes.
• Cost of highway signage for the year to promote the Casque Isle trail and Schreiber beach was approved.
• The recent retirement of the operations director led to a decision on the new replacement.

Committee of the Whole

• Bylaw enforcement report noted a recent property violation is still before the courts and can not be discussed in a public forum.
• Recreation committee plans were discussed to confirm final events for the end of the year.
• Schreiber Public Library minutes were submitted and included a new board member.
• Fire department activity report and a discussion with the fire chief ensued and included renewing the agreement with the Rossport service board and including Nicol Island.
• OCWA report focussed on the current status of the water systems and discussing the repairs during the recent system flushing which resulted in a 24 hour boil water advisory.

Communications section
Suggestion to forward a donation from OCWA to the food bank.

The final portion of the meeting centred around the attendance of the annual NOMA conference to be held in Fort Frances. It is supposed to be the first physical AGM held in over a year but the recent uptick in COVID cases and the emergence of the new variant Omicron in the province might just put those plans on hold.