***Original published in South Mountain Press, November 16, 2018***
New RM Councils Tackle Thorny Local Issues
As voters are well aware, there was an almost wholesale changing of the guard in the Rural Municipalities (RMs) of Harrison Park and Clanwilliam-Erickson with this last Municipal election. After the dust settled, it was obvious that a change in leadership had been called for.
The new Councils will be facing a steep learning curve as many of the fresh faces at the table have never previously been involved in politics. But the job of running an RM does not pause due to inexperience. At the Harrison Park October 30 Regular meeting, the new Reeve and Councilors held a brief swearing in session conducted by the Chief Administrative Officer, then it was straight down to the responsibility of governing the municipality.
The first major order of business was to decide on and divvy out the numerous vacant committee positions. A municipality has a surprising amount of organizations that require representation from Council. Rest assured that the rate payers will be getting their money’s worth out of their representatives.
Then along with the mundane issues such as listening to routine reports or holding conditional use hearings on such things as lot resizing, the new Councils will have some pressing contentious issues to cope with. High on the agenda will be decisions regarding the proposed Four Winds Waste Management facility that was to be located on PTH 250 between Newdale and Sandy Lake.
The interested parties are wasting no time on the Four Winds file. In fact, a special stakeholders meeting was already held at the Erickson Crossroads Community Centre on November 2. The main stakeholders that make up the Four Winds Waste Management Group are the RMs of Harrison Park, Clanwilliam-Erickson, and the First Nations communities of Keeseekoowenin and Rolling River. Riding Mountain National Park’s Town Site manager was also in attendance as the Park will act as a customer of the Four Winds facility.
The intent of the meeting was to have representatives of the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER) and Manitoba Sustainable Development bring the new members of the Councils up to speed on the project and to gather input from the various stakeholders as to its disposition.
The process of building the new waste management and recycling site had reached the stage of tendering for a business plan. According to one of the former Four Winds management team, the tender was put on hold until the results of the election were known.
The meeting was amicable and the representatives of Keeseekoowenin and Rolling River First Nations reiterated their desire to continue a working, mutual aid relationship with the RMs with regards to their shared waste management issues. But as the Keeseekoowenin Band Chief stated, since there was so much new leadership, it would be good for everyone to huddle up in their corners and then determine what changes may be needed in order to go forward.
The new Reeve for Harrison Park, Jason Potter, agreed with the Chief’s sentiment. He understood that there was a substantial sum of money available from Indigenous Services Canada to get a local waste facility up and running and if there was too much delay, then that money would probably end up off the table. But in his opinion, when you are dealing with tax dollars on a major project like this, you want to ‘hit a homerun’ for the tax payers. He acknowledged that many of his constituents had significant concerns particularly with the proposed siting of the waste facility.
So for a short period of time, the disposition of the Four Winds Waste Management and Recycling Facility will be up in the air. The Councils will go back to their communities, see what positions they want to take, and then return in early December to hash out a plan on moving forward on the issue.
Meanwhile, regular Council meetings and the important task of governing RMs and listening to the concerns of their citizens will continue. For those people interested in attending to observe local government in action, Harrison Park Council meets every third Tuesday at the Onanole Municipal Office with the next regular meeting scheduled for November 20 at 9:00 am. The new members of the Clanwilliam-Erickson Council will hold their first regular meeting at the Erickson Municipal Office on November 14 at 9:00 am. Their meetings are held on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month.
News regarding the RMs, meeting dates, upcoming events, and contact information for your local representatives can be found on their respective websites: http://www.harrisonpark.ca/ and http://www.ericksonmb.ca/
Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.