Letter to Council, Letter from Council

MEGI sent the following letter to the mayor and council of the Resort Village of Manitou Beach on August 6th, 2008:

Dear Council Member;

Further to your letter dated February 21st, 2008, where you state, “ At this point there is nothing to report for the lagoon expansion as it is in the early stages of development”.

Our organization understands that there is a lagoon expansion time frame already established in order to comply with Saskatchewan Government regulations. So our question remains, what is the specific time frame that you must comply with, in order to keep the village lagoon within government regulations? Even if council is in the early stages of development with the lagoon plans we would like a report of what the plan is. Surely some decisions have been made by now. Our interest in this issue stems from our mandate to maintain and monitor the long- term ecological viability of Little Manitou Lake.

Please respond at your earliest convenience. We do look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Manitou Environmental Group Incorporated Board

MEGI received this response to our letter on August 21st, after their most recent meeting:

Aug 21, 2008

Re: Letter dated August 6th, 2008 - Lagoon expansion

The following statements are for your information as requested.

The 2007 Audited Statements show that $224,250.00 was kept for future
development, part of which was for the lagoon expansion. The 2008 Approved Budget contains $60,000.00 that will be spent on Engineering costs for the lagoon design and assessment requirements. The approved Five Year Capital Works Plan that is submitted to the Sask. Municipal
Board along with the Annual Budget, by accordance to the Municipalities Act, shows the $60,000.00 for the Lagoon expansion in 2008 and
$350,000.00 planned for 2009.

At the Villages request Catterall & Wright submitted a letter of upgrade recommendations and cost estimate in April 2008.

The following motion was passed at the May 7th, 2008 Regular Meeting of Council:

“119/2008 Davies That a PO be issued to Catteral & Wright to cover future engineering commitment on lagoon initial upset limit $50,000.

CARRIED”

The purchase order was sent to Catteral and Wright on May 20th, 2008.

A planning meeting was held June 6th, 2008 in which Bill Wright from Catterall & Wright explained the details of the lagoon design and fielded any questions and concerns Council members had.

An agreement provided by Catterall & Wright for Geotechnical service was signed on July 16th, 2008 with Machibroda Engineering Ltd. to perform Geotechnical tests required for the design and construction.

In August of 2008 Machibroda site inspectors reviewed the area and made arrangements with Keith Polley to ready the site for their investigation early fall.

Sask. Environment, Sask. Government Community Planning are kept up to date with our plans and are fully aware of the steps taken by the Village in this project. Every possible grant that can be applied for is being undertaken as well.

Any inquiries by the public are addressed when requested and it is the Village Administrations position that the majority of the population whether it be seasonal or permanent residents are fully aware that the lagoon expansion is in the works and that the project estimated timeline is to be finished completely by October 2009. (You can read about the Lagoon Expansion in the web site as well).

Any correspondence, contracts, purchase orders or minutes pertaining to this matter or any other is available for inspection by the general public. Please don’t hesitate to contact the office if you have any other questions or are interested in any further information.

Bobbi Crittenden
Administrator