The regular meeting of Council for January has been rescheduled and will take place on January 30th, 2020 at 6pm in Council Chambers.

Sedgewick Town Council approved a temporary fix to the arena roof issue at a special meeting held on December 30th. The job was awarded to Premier Fire and Flood Restoration Inc. who will manage the project and work with Phoenix Roofing and a structural engineer to add additional purlins that will allow for the arena to open for full use in a matter of weeks. The work is designed to bring the structure up to current Alberta Building Code standards of allowing for a load of 34 pounds per square foot (psf) versus 29 psf which was code when the rink was built in 1992.

Council expects the temporary fix to be a part of the permanent solution which will be planned to align with a future off-season when the arena would have less users. It is unknown at this point when these permanent repairs will be made as it will be largely dependent on ability to finance the project as well as regular monitoring/testing of the purlins.

The current repairs, that are budgeted to come in under $250,000, are expected to commence on January 7th and could take as little as three weeks to complete. This would allow for the arena to reopen in early February with the facility continuing to be used in March as a host site for the Atom ‘A’ Provincial Championships as well as for the #REDNEK MusicFest concert starring Gord Bamford in April.

Council weighed in on the following issues at their December 19th, 2019 regular meeting.

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Members of Town Council, the Recreation Board and the Sedgewick Agricultural Society along with arena and Town staff met with a manager of Structural Engineering from Associated Engineering earlier today in regards to the concerns over the arena’s roof. Earlier this week, the engineer provided a recommendation to the Town to close the arena to the public due to a loss of strength within the most central purlins attributed to corrosion. Those in attendance were able to quiz the engineer on his interpretation of the data and how he came to his conclusion. The engineer also explained the design constraints of the arena based on his study of the “as-built” drawings that will most likely play a large factor in how the issue is rectified. With 9 sections of purlins tested, it was found that they showed almost uniform reduction in thickness of up to 25%. The engineer stated that had the results shown a 3-4% discrepancy, the closure of the arena would not have been necessary however with the data he was provided from testing, his firm had no choice. The main girders were not part of the initial test as there was little visible corrosion identified on them.
The identified next steps are to have further testing performed to include all purlins as well as the main girders that are positioned in the areas showing the most corrosion. Qualimet Inc., the company that performed the initial testing, will return as quickly as possible to complete these tests, however no timeline has yet been provided for their arrival. Over the next few days Associated Engineering will continue to review drawings and obtain information on the design of the pre-engineered bays so as to be able to work towards the quickest and most cost-effective solution.
In the meantime, the Town has reached out to other experts in order to garner a second and third opinion on the condition of the structure. On-site meetings will take place over the next several days in an effort to leave no stone unturned towards returning the arena to full operation mode as soon as possible.
Timeline
A timeline on the discovery of the degree of corrosion to the arena’s purlins is as follows:
In 2018 the Town began discussions with Premier Fire and Flood Restoration in regards to solving a long-term issue of a leaky roof at the arena. The company was recommended to the Town as a cost-effective way to investigate a long-standing issue. The company recommended a roof inspection and water test be done to identify the issue at hand. In fall 2019, the company was hired to perform the remediation of Sedgewick Public School after a fire broke out in the building in August. It was at this time that the company provided a quote to inspect the roof as they were already stationed in Sedgewick along with their sub-contractors.
On October 24th, Phoenix Roofing, a sub-contractor to Premier Fire and Flood Restoration, attended the arena and inspected the roof from above to identify the source of the leaks. The sub-contractor then inspected the roof from ground level inside the arena and at that time noticed the level of corrosion on some of the arena’s purlins. The advice of the sub-contractor was to immediately test the purlins before investigating or putting funds towards fixing the leaking roof.
On October 28th, the Manager of Structural Engineering from Associated Engineering attended for the purpose of providing a second opinion. The engineer provided the Town with the same advice to test the purlins for strength and connected the Town with a company that specializes in this type of testing.
Qualimet Inc. performed testing on December 4th and results were received on December 9th. After viewing the results, the structural engineer made the recommendation on the 9th to close the arena. A special meeting of Council was called for 4pm on the 9th and at that time Council unanimously approved a motion to temporarily close the arena until further notice.

The Council of the Town of Sedgewick has approved the temporary closure of the arena at the Wild Rose Co-op Recreation Centre due to excessive corrosion of the roof’s purlins.  Purlins refer to roof framing members that span parallel to the building eaves and support the roof.  The Town recently engaged the services of an engineering firm to conduct tests after a noticeable amount of rust was identified on some of the purlins.

Prior to making their decision, Council reviewed the technical report provided to them which showed the center purlins having a 25% reduction in strength as well as a recommendation from a structural engineer advising to immediately close the facility.  Council also discussed the 2014 roof collapse of a curling rink in Drayton Valley and the 2018 roof collapse of the City of Calgary’s Fairview Arena which triggered city-wide arena inspections prior to making their decision.

Council is diligently engaging all avenues to mitigate the issue as safely and quickly as possible. Mayor Perry Robinson stated “as it is Council’s #1 priority to secure the safety and well-being of our citizens, we are left with no other choices in the end.” Programming at the arena will be moved to neighboring facilities in the interim.  Further information will be released to the public upon availability.

Council addressed the following items at their November 21st regular council meeting:

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Council addressed the following items during the regular Council meeting;

Traffic Bylaw 564

Council endorsed final readings to Traffic Bylaw 564; available on sedgewick.ca

Recreation Funding Committee – Phase II Funding

Council approved the allocation of $4,016 to the Sedgewick Community Hall Association and $4,174 to the Sedgewick Lake Park Association for Phase II funding.

FortisAB – 2020 Electric Franchise Fee

Council approved an increase of the FortisAB Electric Franchise Fee from 8 to 9% for 2020.

Parkland Regional Library – 2020 Budget

Council approved the Parkland Regional Library 2020 budget, as presented, with a requisition of $6,935.05 to the Town of Sedgewick.

2127358 AB LTD – Conditional Development Permit

Development Permit 2019-16 for Plan 9023092, Block J, Lots A & B was conditionally approved to permit:

• A Change of Use – to a caretaker’s residence
• No requirement to separate the street from off-street parking facilities with a 1.0 meter-wide landscaped area.

3-Year Tax Agreement

Council authorized Administration to enter into a 3-year tax agreement regarding Tax Roll#20009095-300, with specific terms.

FIP – Management Model

Council approved the recommendation of the Flagstaff Intermunicipal Partnership Committee to eliminate the FIP Committee and split those responsibilities among municipalities with current operations to wind up no later than December 31, 2019.

Municipal Collaboration – Community Peace Officer Program

Council directed Administration to budget $6,500 in capital and $23,200 in operating costs in 2020 for the Community Peace Officer Program to be reviewed further upon the presentation of the 2020 budget to Council.

Deputy Mayor Appointment

Councillor Tim Schmutz was appointed as Deputy Mayor effective immediately, to continue through to the Organizational meeting in October 2020.

Board & Committee Appointments

Councillor’s appointments to the boards and committees were approved; a list of the appointments is available on the Town website.

Council Meetings

The monthly council meetings will continue to be held on the third Thursday of each month, beginning at 6:00 pm.

Bylaw 562 – Amending Land Use Bylaw 461

Council approved final readings to Bylaw 562 that amends Land Use Bylaw 461 regarding fencing.

Bylaw 563

Council approved Designated Officers Bylaw 563 that establishes the positions of certain Designated Officers and establishes a framework for delegation of Administrative functions.

Bylaw 564 – Traffic Bylaw

Council approved first reading to Traffic Bylaw 563.

NOTE: Bylaws are available on the Town website

Main Street Businesses – Request for Tax Break

Council directed Administration to provide a 2019 tax break equal to six months of the municipal portion of commercial taxes to each of the petitioning businesses and send a letter explaining the additional financial contributions that the Town made on behalf of the businesses during the Main Street construction.

Nutec ElectroTel – High Speed Internet

Council directed Administration to proceed with entering into an agreement with Nutec ElectroTel to provide high speed internet within the Town of Sedgewick and the immediate perimeter.

SustainErgy – Rec Centre Scoping Audit

Council directed Administration to proceed with an engineering study through a company called SustainErgy Group as the next step in the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre (MCCAC) Rebate Program for the Wild Rose Coop Recreation Centre.

Town of Sedgewick 2019 Organizational Meeting

Council scheduled the 2019 Organizational meeting for October 17th, 2019 at 6 pm at the Sedgewick Town Office Council Chambers with October’s Regular Council meeting to follow at 6:15 pm.

Flagstaff County, as nominated by Flagstaff Family & Community Services (FFCS) was chosen as one of 15 communities in Alberta to take part in a Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) pilot project that focuses on mental health, mental illness and community well-being in Rural Alberta.

The Goal is to support 150 rural communities over the next 3 years, to develop community road-maps and actions plans through the Rural Mental Health Project (RMHN)

The Vision for this project is to support mental wellness in rural communities. CMHA believes mentally healthy communities think broadly about mental health and mental illness. This includes, but goes beyond access to treatment centres… think: Agricultural & Community Societies; service organizations and programs and committees (such as AHS – Building Blocks program, Flagstaff Beaver Early Childhood Coalition, Battle River Spray Park at Sedgewick Lake Park…)

To facilitate this project, Holly Bovencamp has been trained and is preparing to form a coalition of interested persons to set direction, generate solutions and implement a road-map/Action Plan dedicated to supporting a mentally healthy region.

Road-maps will identify existing services, community strengths, opportunities, promising practices and a set of key strategic activities to consider over the next three years and beyond.

The Coalition will also maintain ties with the Rural Mental Health Project to collaborate with other rural/remote communities across the province and will also maintain connection for additional training, resources and funding.

The proposed schedule is to hold two meetings before Ms. Bovencamp reports back to the RMHN in June 2020. The Organizational Meeting is scheduled for October 16, 2019.

Ideally, a Flagstaff Coalition would include people from all over the county, from all walks of life. If you are interested, she would love to talk further.

For more information Contact Holly at (780) 385-1446 or (780) 385-3976 (FFCS Office)

For more information, check the RMHN website.