On an afternoon last month, a number of Snow Lake town council members and their chief administrative officer sat down for a discussion with Hudbay representatives in the community’s council chambers.
Present on behalf of the Town of Snow Lake were Mayor Kim Stephen, Deputy Mayor Richard Jones, councillors Robin Turnbull and Jodi Wilson, and CAO Jordan Willner.
Attending on behalf of Hudbay were Rob Winton, vice-president, Manitoba Business Unit, and Mary-Lynn Oke, vice-president, Finance.
The issues up for discussion were the EMS ambulance garage location and financial assistance required by the town’s utility.
Mayor Stephen called the meeting to order and thanked Winton and Oke for attending.
In respect to the EMS station location, council members advised they have assessed all available municipally-held property and felt that Hudbay’s lot on Balsam, formerly the site of the single men’s dormitory, would be the ideal location to offer to the Northern Health Region for its proposed Snow Lake EMS Station.
Winton indicated that Hudbay has been holding on to this lot for expansion purposes but will not be requiring it for their future plans. They will proceed to transfer the lot to the town over the winter season.
In relation to the 2015 utility rate study, a draft version of this was presented to Winton and Oke for perusal.
The two main components discussed at this meeting were the regulatory requirements for the utility’s working capital surplus and the 2014 outstanding utility liabilities.
Winton explained that even though Hudbay wants to assist with the development and the continuation of utility services in the community, assistance needs to be directed toward physical, tangible projects, and not internal finances.
The discussion concluded with the mayor thanking them for their attendance.
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