During the 2020 Campaign my wife and I went 'door-knocking' throughout White City, speaking to residents and leaving leaflets about my campaign and my priorities.
I believe it's important to follow up on what I handed out 4 years ago, and provide updates on these priorities. Residents deserve to know what I've done over the past 4 years, and what still needs to be done before they go to the polls in November.
I'll be providing a series of updates on these priorities, posting them both on this website as well as my Facebook page.
The 2020 canvassing handout:
2020 Priority:
Communication: Regular communication and improved transparency between Town (Council and Administration) and residents
2024 Update:
Shortly after being elected, the Town implemented a monthly Councillor Blog, allowing Council to delve more deeply into various topics than it otherwise could through meeting minutes and other traditional communication methods.
In 2024, the monthly Insight newsletter was implemented to provide more information to residents, and the Councillor Blog was migrated to the newsletter and is no longer a stand-alone communication.
The Town had a ‘virtual Town Hall’ in December 2021 that allowed residents to ask questions and receive information from the Town, despite the COVID restrictions at the time.
We held a ‘Town Hall Listening Session’ in November 2023, where residents could come to the Community Centre and have conversations with members of Council to discuss their concerns, seek information, etc.
The Town implemented a communication platform to engage residents and solicit input into a variety of topics (e.g. Multi-Use Recreation Centre). This has since been replaced with a lower cost, more flexible platform to better meet the needs of the Town and residents.
The Town continues to promote Voyent Alert! as a means of keeping residents informed on a timely or even real-time basis. Through communication with nearby communities, Voyent Alert! has now been adopted by the RM of Edenwold, Pilot Butte, and Balgonie, providing a single, common platform to keep residents informed.
What I’ve learned: Despite the different means and methods being used by the Town, we still find significant numbers of residents who are unaware of various initiatives, bylaws, etc. Regardless, we’ll continue to find ways to ‘get the message out’ to inform and engage our residents.
2020 Priority:
Annexation: Continue with proposed annexation
2024 Update:
Annexation continues. After finally getting a hearing in front of the Municipal Boundary Commission in 2022, we were greatly disappointed not only by its January 2023 decision, but also in the many legal errors and omissions identified by the Town’s lawyers. As a result, the Town believed it had no choice other than to appeal the decision.
An application was made to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, and the Town was granted its appeal. Literally thousands of pages of supporting documentation were filed with the Court of Appeal by the RM and the Town, and the Appeal was heard by the Court October 31, 2023.
As of this writing, we’re still waiting anxiously for a decision.
2020 Priority:
Relationships: Reset / renew / refresh relationships with Balgonie, Pilot Butte and RM
2024 Update:
We’ve made great progress healing relationships with our neighbouring municipalities. Probably the greatest progress has been with the RM of Edenwold, and we work together on topics of common interest, including:
a) Joint presentation and discussion with Prairie Valley School Division concerning school planning for our community.
b) Pathway lighting on White City Drive abutting both the RM land on the East and White City land on the West. This was a 50/50 cost share arrangement between the RM and White City.
In addition, to build relationships we’ve held ‘meet and greet’ sessions between White City Council and our counterparts in the RM of Edenwold, Pilot Butte, and the Village of Edenwold. Balgonie is ‘on our radar’ for a future session, but we were unable to find a common date to make it happen.
2020 Priority:
Zoning bylaws: Complete review, particularly: a) comparability to nearby communities; b) simplification; and c) rationalization with those applicable to annexed areas.
2024 Update:
I attempted to address some of the most concerning issues with the Zoning Bylaw early in my term, but didn’t receive sufficient support from Council to pass the necessary changes. These were, and are, related to setbacks and limitations on Accessory Buildings (e.g. detached garages). Council deferred this, preferring the changes be dealt with in the Official Community Plan (OCP) review, but I certainly never expected it would take this long.
The revised OCP was repeatedly delayed, due primarily to focusing limited resources on Annexation and the related appeal.
After a late start, resident input was solicited and the OCP is now in draft form, as is the related Zoning Bylaw. It’s expected this will receive more focus later this year and early 2025, including opportunities for the community to review the documents and the proposed changes.
2020 Priorities:
Pedestrian and Traffic Safety: Speeding, irresponsible drivers, enforcement
2024 Update:
After many challenges, White City implemented a Community Safety Officer (CSO) program to enforce various traffic laws as well as local bylaws. Key to this program is a focus on education, rather than ‘hard line’ enforcement – though recognizing there are times that tickets and enforcement are warranted. While there is still much work to be done, Indications to date are that this has been a successful program.
We continue having a strong relationship with White Butte RCMP. The Town’s CSO and RCMP have a very good working relationship.
The Town has initiated a ‘Community Watch’ program – a collective effort by residents in the community seeking to enhance neighbourhood safety by working together and collaborating with local law enforcement to reduce crime and enhance their quality of life.
This program gives residents the power to get involved in preventing crime and making their community a safer place. It's not just about keeping an eye out for trouble; it's about actively doing something to prevent it.
Town Council passed a revised curfew bylaw, giving the CSO a mechanism to be used in situations when youth gather late at night in public spaces, allowing the CSO to direct youth to go home.
The Town implemented an Outdoor Security Camera Registry Program, allowing residents and business owners in White City to voluntarily register their outdoor surveillance cameras for the purposes of: a) assisting law enforcement in conducting investigations; b) deterring crime in the community; and c) enhancing public safety.
2020 Priority:
Water and Sewer: Rates, improve water quality, investigate reverse osmosis
2024 Update:
Along with an external financial consultant, the Town has been reviewing the rates it pays for potable water. The Town continues with its position that rates should be lowered but has so far met with resistance by SaskWater.
One of the difficulties encountered in making changes to the rates is the fact the agreement between SaskWater and White City contains no dispute resolution clause. Without such a clause the Town must use other means to convince SaskWater of the rationale for reducing rates. This work continues, but at times it’s frustratingly slow.
Despite the challenges noted above, White City was able to work with SaskWater to twin the raw water pipeline from its 3 wells to the water treatment plant. This was a $2.1M capital project that significantly increased capacity for growth without impacting water rates. In addition, having 2 pipelines allows for the simultaneous use of wells in both the north and south zones of the aquifer, significantly reducing the hardness fluctuations previously encountered when switching from one wellfield to the other, required with a single pipeline.
Reverse osmosis (RO), as used in some nearby communities, has been considered. The conclusion is that implementing RO in White City would be a multi-million-dollar capital expenditure and would increase rates for both water and sewer. RO systems utilize significantly more raw water as input than they output – in the range of 30% – this additional water goes ‘down the drain’ into the sewer. That additional flow in the wastewater system would also require another multi-million-dollar investment in wastewater treatment capacity to handle the additional volume. The net of the assessment is that point-of-use RO systems make more sense for White City than a town-wide RO implementation.
While many residents (including members of Town Council) have concerns about the cost of sewer and water, in 2023 Town Council implemented a Sewer Infrastructure Fee of $33.58 per month due to higher costs. The alternative would have been to subsidize utility rates through taxation, but practice conflicts with the ‘best practice’ model of operating utilities as ‘self-funding’.
The chart below shows how White City's rates compare to other municipalities in the province based on 10, 20 and 50 cubic metres of usage. Compared to other municipalities in the province, White City is close to average. The dashed lines show the average bill cost for each level of usage.
2020 Priority:
Recreation Facility: Continue plan on an “as needed / affordable” basis
2024 Update:
With the Town’s growth slowing in recent years, the development levies from that growth which will pay for a large portion of the Multi-Use Recreation Centre have been significantly less than anticipated. While the planning work has developed to the point where the plan is essentially ‘shovel-ready’ regardless of which phase proceeds first, there’s currently no plan to proceed until things change.
2020 Priority:
High School: Work with Ministry of Education to build new school in WC area
2024 Update:
Both Emerald Ridge Elementary and École White City schools are over capacity, and population growth estimates indicate this problem will get worse before it gets better. Council has had several meetings with both Prairie Valley School Division (PVSD) and the Minister of Education.
It has become apparent through these meetings that the modeling tool used by the Ministry and PVSD alike is a ‘one size fits all’ model that doesn’t fit White City’s rapid growth and demographics, nor that of any other ‘high growth’ community. There’s no ability for the model used to accept quality, valid, external data which we have provided to both PVSD and the Ministry. This has been communicated to both PVSD and the Minister, and the Ministry is unwilling to accept their model is being inappropriately applied to our community and its needs.
Work continues on this front and will continue until such time as approval has been given for these schools to be built.
2020 Priority:
Taxes: Rationalize taxes while maintaining services to residents
2024 Update:
Property taxes have been maintained at competitive levels with other municipalities.
The Town aims to be competitive with regional property taxes while maintaining quality service levels. The following chart applies an average tax assessment of $443.1K to the tax rates of neighboring municipalities and municipalities throughout the province. The highest discount available for early payment has also been factored into the calculation for comparison purposes.
As Figure 2.1 below indicates, the Town is one of the lowest on the scale for residential municipal property taxes. To ensure an accurate comparison in this chart, tax comparisons include levies which are included in the Town’s taxes such as refuse collection, recycling and street-light levies.
Average municipal taxes in White City remain lower than those in 11 of the comparison communities in this chart from the 2024 Budget Book.
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