The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor The City of Flin Flon will spend more than $130,000 over the next three years to enforce bylaws and inspect buildings. City council last week extended its contract with Skjold Property Inspections, a local company, to provide bylaw enforcement and building inspection services. Coun. Karen MacKinnon commended Skjold owner Ted Elliott, saying he has done 'an excellent job' and expressed council's delight that he signed for three years. The contract is worth $44,141 a year, including a $624 cell phone allowance but not including a mileage reimbursement of 42 cents per kilometre. Over the life of the contract _ 2012, 2013 and 2014 _ that works out to $132,423, again before mileage reimbursements are factored in. Skjold's annual rate is the same as it was in 2012, but that's quite likely to change. The contract contains an escalator clause that will see Skjold's basic rate go up according to any raise afforded to unionized city employees. Those employees are due for a new contract in 2013. If they negotiate a three per cent raise, Skjold's basic rate goes up three per cent as well. Council first signed a contract with Skjold in 2011. Councillors have in recent years been adding to an already-lengthy list of bylaws. Mow boulevards Those include a bylaw that requires residents to mow the city-owned boulevards adjacent to their properties, and another that lets the city force residents to clean up trash from their yards. Council has also banned smoking at the landfill and discussed a possible bylaw to limit the parking of boats and trailers on public streets. Other highlights from last week's council meeting: Coun. Ken Pawlachuk congratulated Coun. MacKinnon on her appointment to the Manitoba Public Insurance board of directors. Mayor George Fontaine also applauded her selection, saying local representation on such boards makes a difference for the community. Council voted to renew the city's membership with the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce for 2013 at a cost of $350. Mayor Fontaine congratulated volunteers with Operation Red Nose on what he called another successful year for the program. 'I'm very proud of that service as a Rotarian as well as a mayor,' he said. Spearheaded by the Rotary Club, Red Nose provides rides home to holiday partiers who are unfit to go behind the wheel. Council reviewed the animal control officer's December report, which detailed no animal captures. Back from their holiday break, Mayor Fontaine and several councillors took turns wishing the public a happy new year.
