Two un-named lanes in the Hamlet of Gadsby which are used to access properties are being named according to County of Stettler bylaws. The decision was made during the April 10 council meeting.
According to Andrew Brysiuk, the County of Stettler director of municipal services, addressing in the hamlet doesn’t meet current county bylaws; bylaws say that roads and streets in the community need to be named with a word beginning with the first letter of the community name, in this case, ‘g’ for Gadsby.
Current addressing in the community has the hamlet organized into 100, 200, and 300 blocks, something more like “you would see in a city,” said Brysiuk.
Complicating matters are two un-named lanes which people use to access properties along unused road allowances.
While lanes are not normally named, because they are how people access property, administration felt it prudent to name them so that properties can be addressed properly.
The recommendation before council was to name one of them Gadsby Lane, in recognition of the hamlet, and the other Granton Lane, in recognition of a long-time mayor of the community.
According to the request for council decision (RCD), Granton Rushton was a mayor of Gadsby for over 30 years and his former home was adjacent to the second developed lane, so administration proposed naming it in his honour.
Policies
Stettler County council reviewed several policies during the meeting.
Most of the items were “housekeeping” items that council had reviewed at a previous Committee of the Whole meeting, and were passed with little discussion.
The policies had also been posted on the County of Stettler website for the previous 30 days for public consultation, with no feedback presented.
One policy which did garner discussion was the police regarding the disposal of grader blades.
“We sell one or two of them a year,” said County of Stettler chief administrative officer (CAO) Yvette Cassidy.
Under the proposed policy, the county would sell used grader blades for $1 for county residents and $2 for non-county residents, amounts that councillor Justin Stevens found to be insufficient.
“If we’re giving out a dozen a year, it costs more than $12 in administration,” said Stevens.
Coun. James Nibourg agreed with his colleague, noting that if they were to be sold for scrap the county could probably get “$0.10/pound” for them.
Coun. Gendre agreed as well, noting that while he agreed with the policy, it should be more.
“Only thing I would change is $5/blade,” said Gendre.
“County, or not county, I don’t care.”
Ultimately Coun. Les Stulberg put forward a motion, approving the amended policy selling the used blades for $5/blade, feeling that “they still provide a service” for Stettler County ratepayers.
The motion was carried, with Coun. Dave Grover opposed.
Graders
Due to a “discrepancy” between the approved price and the invoiced price, the County of Stettler council needed to approve around an additional $24,000 for two graders that were purchased through Finning.
According to CAO Cassidy, the change could be because the equipment was delivered in 2024, and not 2023 when it was ordered.
When the equipment was ordered, the machines were $689,000 plus $25,000 for extra warranty, however, when the machines were ultimately delivered, the County found the costs had risen to $697,000 and $29,000 for the extra warranty on each machine.
“We physically have the graders here,” said Cassidy, noting if council chose not to authorize the extra funds while the situation is “worked out,” they would have to be returned to Finning.
“If it was $150,000 I’d be turning them around and sending them back,” said County of Stettler Public Works manager Joe McCulloch.
“In between negotiating and tendering, there was a price difference.”
Council authorized the extra expenditure, though not all councillors were happy to do so.
“I’m going to plug my nose on this,” said Stevens.
“I’m not thrilled … I Strongly encourage staff to negotiate.”
Cassidy noted that she was unhappy with Finning, but that the company was working with the county on the issue; she also noted that the company would be reminded that there are alternate manufacturers going forward.