Changes made to grant program
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, June 28, 2016
By Eoin Devereux
Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
Neepawa Town Council Tuesday, June 21
Neepawa has made changes to its community grants program. The revised document has created six varieties of grant availability; Direct Award, Strategic Plans, In-Kind Contributions, Special Events, Community Events and Micro Grants. Mayor Adrian de Groot said Town Council agreed to the revisions, which it believes will clarify which organizations are eligible for the program and in which category.
“What we had before, was basically one category; Apply for the grant. So what we’ve got now, I believe, are categories that break it down into a little more specific details. It tries to clarify, as well as, fill some of the gaps that were in the old policy, because we got into those debates. You know, and those assumptions that were made over years. So now those assumptions are clarified, within that new policy, so that it’s not just a matter of ‘Well, I got [a grant] last year, so we get it again next year.’ The policy clearly states that that’s not the case,” said de Groot. “What we’ve also tried to do with the new grants policy, is it tied to our vision, our strategic plan. Taking a look at that, is it aligned? Is the community or the community organizations following that kind of a vision? That kind of a strategy? So, now we can start to take a look at the forms. We don’t want to make it tie people’s hands, but we also want to make sure there’s performance, accountability, best use of tax dollars and resources. All this goes into this grants policy.”
Mobile Home Fees
License fees for mobile homes have been updated. The annual fee to be charged will change by the percentage increase or decrease of the municipal and school tax budgeted revenue. The age and square footage of the mobile home will also be a factor.
Sewer work completed
Phase one of the trunk sewer project on the former CN property has been completed. Dig-All Construction, a Winkler-based company, was selected to do the work and began the massive infrastructure project back in early May. Mayor Adrian de Groot said the work was completed right on schedule.
“We’re pleased on two fronts. [Firstly] it came in under the estimated cost. We had one unfortunate incident, which is going through the insurance companies right now. But things went fairly well. Especially, the underground drilling. They didn’t hit any rocks. That was good, because sometimes that happens. Certainly now, getting on to the next phase is exciting and we look forward to it, because there’s a lot of implications and getting this done, it’s nice to get out of the way,” noted de Groot.
The “unfortunate incident” de Groot referred to was an accident caused a back flow of sewage into just under a dozen homes. De Groot said he’s optimistic the situation will be looked after.
“It is in the hands of the insurance. It was an unfortunate incident. Those things do happen. I know it’s inconvenient now and whenever you are dealing with insurance companies, sometimes you don’t know which way that’ll go. [At this point] we’re really hands off as far as our administration is concerned, because it is being handled by the various insurance companies.”
The official wording of the town by-law for its limited liability for utilities or services states that:
Where a municipality operates a utility or provides a service, it is not liable for loss or damage as a result of:
(a) - the breaking of a pipe, service line, conduit, pole, wire, cable or other part of the utility or services; or
(b) - the discontinuance or interruption of a service or connection;
by reason of
(c) - accident
(d) - disconnection for non-payment or non-compliance with a term or condition of service; or
(e) - necessity to repair or replace a part of the utility or service.
As for phase two, the engineering is being done and it appears that administration is hopeful that by the end of July, they will have the documents ready to go out to tender
Houses removed from properties
A pair of houses which did not meet Neepawa’s zoning requirement have been removed from their properties. The structures, one located at James Bay and the other at the corner Fifth and Brydon, were found to be non-conforming structures for the lots on which they were placed. Both buildings were built off-property and moved to the lot and as such, did not comply with the by-law. Had the exact same buildings been built on the land, they would be compliance.
A 30-day notification was forwarded to the building owners without reply. Once the 30 days passed, the town moved ahead with removing the structures from the land on Wednesday, June 22 and Thursday, June 23 respectively, with the associated cost to be born by the property owner. The structures will be stored at the town yards for 60 days, for the owners to pick up. If they are not removed within that time frame, the town will weigh its options on what to do with those buildings.
