Town of Vegreville Council Meeting

Town of Vegreville Council Meeting

Manufactured Home Community Bylaw Hearing, Alberta Recycling Management Authority Award, and more from the September 9th, 2019, meeting of Vegreville Town Council.

Emily Mailhot Reporter – Vegreville News Advertiser

On September 9th, the Vegreville Town Council meeting got off to a heated start with the public hearing in regards to Bylaw No. 14-2019, or, the Assessment of Designated Manufactured Homes in a Manufactured Home Community Bylaw.

The bylaw, if instated as-is, will designate the owner of a manufactured home community as the assessed person for a designated manufactured home on a site in a manufactured home community and any other improvements located on the site and owned or occupied by the person occupying the designated manufactured home. When Town Manager Cliff Craig clarifies that this would designate the owner of the manufactured home community to receive tax notices, and then collect taxes for homeowners in the community, some concerns were brought forward by members of the gallery.

One homeowner from a local park said that a big concern for her was one of privacy. “Why does he need to know how much my taxes are? We go through roughly five managers per year, so will they also become privy to my tax bill? I don’t think that makes sense.”

Other concerns brought forward included the potential for elevated rent costs, payment schedule, and “opening a can of administration fees.”

A petition handed in which was signed by more than 50% of Vegreville’s manufactured homeowners was not accepted due to unclear wording, but the second and third readings to mark the bylaw’s approval were postponed for the appropriate 60 days from last printed notice (August 28+7) for another petition to be written and signed.

After the regular council meeting was called to order by Deputy Mayor Ann Waters (in Mayor MacPhee’s absence), an encouraging award was presented to staff from the Vegreville Materials Recovery Facility by the Alberta Recycling Management Authority. The VMRF was chosen to be the recipient of the Medium-Sized Community Collection Site Awards of Excellence, along with large community winner ARMA Chair Caroline McAuley presented the award which mainly consists of “bragging rights, signage to display, and the awareness that your facility is top-notch.”

“Since we started the awards in 2008, we’ve seen a huge sense of pride from different sites who have won, as well as improvement of waste collection throughout the province.”

In correspondence, Alberta Municipal Affairs approved a grant to the Town for the 47A Street and 49 Avenue project, which was completed this summer. The total grant funds came to $351,190.

Presented by Community Services Director Phil Rowe, the Regional Recreation and Culture Master Plan was approved and is available to the public on the Town website. The Plan documents comparisons throughout the aria, as well as the current status and goals of recreation and culture in Vegreville.