The 2021-2025 term has gotten off to a busy start for the five members of Sedgewick Town Council. Upon being elected into office on October 18th, the four councillors and mayor attended an in-house orientation session on October 25th and 26th where they reviewed their roles and responsibilities, code of conduct and the Municipal Government Act among other topics.

At 10:30am on October 26th, Councillors Tom Bahm, Nolan Lewis, Clayton Hinkey and Ian MacEachern along with new Mayor Stephen Levy attended a swearing-in ceremony at the Community Hall where they all took their official oath of office in front of a commissioner of oaths which is a legislative requirement prior to performing any duty of office.

Soon after, the Mayor and Councillors congregated for the annual organizational meeting on October 28th where Tom Bahm was appointed as Deputy Mayor for the inaugural year.

Only a few days later, members of Council again participated in another full day of orientation on November 4th at the Killam Community Hall along with elected officials from neighbouring municipalities. In addition, two members will also be attending the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association’s 2021 convention running from November 17th to 19th at the Edmonton Convention Centre which includes several training sessions for elected officials from around the province.

The next meeting of Council is Thursday, November 25th at 6pm in Council Chambers at the Town of Sedgewick administration office.

Mayor Stephen Levy signs the official oath of office

Councillor Tom Bahm is sworn in as Deputy Mayor

The 2021 election is almost here! Make sure you come out to the Community Hall on October 18th between 10am and 8pm and make your vote count!

The Town of Sedgewick is pleased to have partnered with the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre’s Recreation Energy Conservation Program by installing 299 new, high efficiency LED light fixtures within various spaces of the Wild Rose Co-op Recreation Centre and receiving a $43,740 rebate for the project. The new fixtures are not only brighter and more energy-efficient, but also will reduce maintenance costs while having a long lifetime expectancy.

The project is another example of the Town continuously looking for ways to improve its level of service to its stakeholders and saving money for its volunteers and user groups. “The Town of Sedgewick takes great pride in its recreation facility and part of ensuring its longevity is increasing efficiencies through partnerships such as this with the Municipal Climate Change Action Center” stated Mayor Perry Robinson. “LED lights create a brighter and safer facility and also reduces the annual facility costs, which helps keep fees low and reserve funds for other projects that benefit the community.”

The work was completed in early July.

BYLAW 582 – FEES AND CHARGES BYLAW

Council gave all three readings to Bylaw 582, the Fees and Charges Bylaw.  The bylaw amends water fees by adopting an increased block rate structure as a conservatory measure.  Water charges for the first 30 cubic meters used will remain the same however three additional blocks have been added to the structure with the cubic meter charge increasing with each successive block as per the table below.  The bylaw and charges take effect January 1^st, 2022.  The changes affect residential water use only and not commercial or industrial properties.

TAX SALE – RESERVE BID AND CONDITIONS

Council approved conditions of sale and a reserve bid of $210,270 be set for the November 25th, 2021 tax sale of the parcel identified as roll #53003443 500 and legally described as Plan 7920256, Block 03, Lot 11.

FLAGSTAFF REGIONAL EMERGENCY SERVICES SOCIETY – LEASE AGREEMENT

Council approved entering into a 3-year lease agreement for the fire hall with the Flagstaff Regional Emergency Services Society.

OCTOBER REGULAR MEETING AND ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING – RESCHEDULING

The October regular and organizational meeting have been rescheduled for Thursday, October 28th at 6pm.

TOWN OF SEDGEWICK LIBRARY BOARD – MEMBER APPOINTMENT

Council appointed Todd Armitage to the Town of Sedgewick Library Board for a three-year term ending on September 30th, 2024.

The Town of Sedgewick has removed all watering restrictions and outdoor watering may resume as outlined in Bylaw 542, the Outdoor Watering Bylaw.

The bylaw can be found here.

Sedgewick Town Council held a Special Meeting at 10:30am on September 16th for the purpose of discussing the newest Provincial Covid protocols and the recent increase in infections in Alberta. At the meeting, Council unanimously approved cancelling the concert due to the state of Covid in our province.

Refunds will be issued and tickets should be returned to the Town of Sedgewick administration office at 4818 47 Street.

We regret and apologize for any inconvenience.

In light of the recent AHS Provincial mandates on liquor sales, the Streetheart concert will start at 6:30pm on Saturday, September 18th rather than 8pm which was the time set initially.

Who Made Who, the definitive tribute act to AC/DC, will take the stage promptly at 6:30pm with Streetheart to play shortly after. An afterparty will be held in the curling rink beginning at approximately 9pm featuring Who Made Who and all are invited.

We regret any inconvenience this may cause our attendees and appreciate your understanding in these turbulent times.

Doors for the event will open at 5:30pm.

The outdoor water ban for the Town of Sedgewick has been lifted. The restriction remains on as we monitor the situation over the next few days. This means outdoor watering may only happen on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays between 7pm and 11pm.

Further information will be released in the next few days regarding the restriction.

The Town of Sedgewick’s imposed outdoor watering ban remains in effect as reservoir water levels have not yet risen to appropriate levels. Levels have increased somewhat since the ban was declared 7 days ago with the greatest jump recorded on Monday, August 23rd, a day that saw low temperatures and steady rain. Prior to the ban being put in place the reservoir had been depleted by over 25% which is a level considered to be critical.

Based on historical data, average overnight water demand has been approximately 2.5 liters per second in summer months. This overnight rate allows the reservoir to replenish itself rather quickly. Despite a current water ban and previous to that water restrictions being in place, levels during this time period in the last few weeks have rarely fallen below 4.0 liters per second. While there have been limited instances this summer of the water demand falling to 2.5 liters per second, the duration has not been long enough to make significant headway in replenishing the reservoir.

The Town of Sedgewick reminds residents that outdoor sprinklers including those on timers need to be completely shut off during a water ban. Once the water levels recover to their normal level, the ban will be lifted.

The Town of Sedgewick has imposed a Total Watering Ban in response to critically low reservoir levels. The ban is in effect as of Thursday, August 19th and will be in place for a minimum of one week with its status updated again before Thursday, August 26th. Should water levels be replenished by that time, the ban will be lifted.

A total watering ban applies to all properties both inside and outside of town corporate limits which use the Town of Sedgewick domestic water supply system. The ban restricts all watering of lawns, filling pools and hot tubs, and other outdoor water usage. Drip irrigation, hand held hoses, and using water containers continues to be permitted.

The reservoir levels have been depleted in excess of 25% of capacity. These levels place the Town in a challenging position in our preparedness for the risk of fire. Despite a watering restriction which permitted watering on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings, watering has continued outside of this schedule resulting in the water treatment plant not been able to keep up to demand and levels continuing to fall. The Town of Sedgewick would like to remind residents that a healthy lawn requires no more than 1 inch of water each week. This summer, water distribution rates have regularly risen to 5 or 6 liters per second in the middle of the night which points to automatic sprinkler systems being used more than once/week and during restricted hours.

Although the ban focuses on outdoor watering, we ask residents to conserve water in any means possible during this period. 2018, 2019 and 2020 saw no water restrictions being put in place in Sedgewick demonstrating that the reservoir was able to serve the community adequately. There is no data pointing to a deficiency in the water system, but rather there is data showing demand is beyond what it has been in past years.

Bylaw 542 authorizes the Town of Sedgewick to issue violation tags to offenders of a watering ban. A person who contravenes any provision of the bylaw can be liable under summary conviction to pay a fine of not less than $100 and not more than $2500.