A request was made to Bobbi Crittenden, administer of Resort Village of Manitou Beach, for the Village to hold an open public forum to discuss what plans, if any. are in the works to expand and/or upgrade the Village sewage lagoons. Here is the response from Ms. Crittenden to the request.
Attached is Sec 129 of the Municipalities Act regarding the process to have a public Meeting.
Administrator
Resort Village of Manitou Beach
Box 1 RR#1 Watrous SK S0K 4T0
(306) 946-2831 phone
(306) 946-2017 fax
manbe@sasktel.net
www.manitoubeach.ca
Page 78
cm-36.1
Municipalities Act
Public meeting
129(1) The mayor or reeve, when authorized by resolution of the council, may call a public meeting of the voters for the discussion of any municipal matter.
(2) The mayor or reeve shall call a public meeting to be held within 30 days after the receipt by the council of a petition requesting that a public meeting for the discussion of a municipal matter be held, if the petition is signed by:
(a) in the case of a resort village, 8% of the voters; or
(b) in the case of a municipality other than a resort village, the greater of 20 voters or the number of voters equal to 5% of the population of the municipality.
(3) The administrator shall determine the sufficiency of the petition and that determination is final.
(4) The council shall give public notice of the meeting.
(5) If a public meeting is held pursuant to subsection (2), the council may refuse to receive any further petition on the same or a similar subject filed within one year after the date of the public meeting.
2005, c.M-36.1, s.129.
Is a petition in order?
Thoughts?
Posts
4 comments:
Here are my thoughts on this.
You should try the first option, write council asking them to hold a public meeting. Write every member plus mayor. Include an agenda for the public meeting: what will happen at the meeting, why have a meeting, what we hope to accomplish, etc. Follow that up by attending the council meeting to hear the discussion.
The advantage of this is council will meet in 6 days and the meeting could happen within 30 days. Council may be on side with the meeting, since they will be the ones calling the meeting. Also, if you go the petition route, you will antagonize council, and they are the ones we want to make some important decisions.
If this fails, and council ignores us, then by all means go with a petition. You can use the press to your advantage, and quote things said at the council meet of Aug 20. They will be hoisted on their own petard. Going this route only costs us a week.
peter
The issue I want to raise is that there are things besides bacteria that pollute the lake. I'm thinking: detergents, oils, drugs, etc in the sewage. There's no doubt in my mind that the town sewage is changing the lake, but maybe its other pollutants that we need to focus on. If they are going to fix the lagoon, they need to divert the runoff into a different water system, like Long Lake. This last sentence is something to bring up at the town meeting.
peter
Have you you decided on a particular route to take on this issue? If you have decided on the petition route, let me know and I'll sign up and spread the word.
Gene
Thanks, Gene. The board has a meeting this evening and the issue of a public mtg around the lagoon issue is on the agenda.
I ran into Ken Dalgleish yesterday at the mail boxes here at the beach (he was busy measuring them for some reason) and politely asked him if we could count on his support to put a good word in to Council about hosting a public forum to discuss the sewage lagoons. He said "it has nothing to do with me" and then said "there will not be a public meeting". I asked him why not and he just said "Fuck you!". I was a bit surprised at how he reacted. I asked why, as our elected mayor, he was saying the project had nothing to do with him. To which he replied "Fuck you!". I then suggested to him that he wasn't simply talking to an individual, he was speaking to a larger group of concerned citizens, both members of MEGI and all of the rate-payers. I was very calm, knowing that this group has facts on it's side in this discussion. He replied "You heard what I said. Fuck you!" So I just walked away, shaking my head.
Anyway, doesn't sound too promising that the present mayor is willing to come clean with the Resort Village's plans (or lack thereof) regarding the sewage lagoon upgrade/expansion through a public discussion. Which leads one to ponder...why all the secrecy? What have they got to hide? If there actually is a plan in place, why are they not eager, excited and proud to share it with the rate-payers?
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