A regular public council meeting was held in Niverville on the morning of Tuesday, April 2. Here, council gave second and third reading to a sewer rate increase that will come into effect in the current quarter. Based on a report provided by the Public Utility Board (PUB), the change will result in a rate increase on utility bills during the periods of April 1, 2019, January 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021. Rates will increase by $28 per year, or $7 per quarter.

“We have to submit a report [to the PUB] every four years saying, ‘This is how our budget looks and this is where the numbers come out,’” says CAO Eric King. “They review it to make sure that we are being reasonable.”

King adds that these rate hikes are a direct result of PUB advisements and were not requested by council.

On another matter, the town has submitted an application to Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation for speed changes on the east and west ends of the community.

“Council recognizes an urgent need for increased safety for vehicles travelling through the intersections of PR 311 and Krahn Road and PR 311 and Sixth Avenue respectively,” the motion reads.

Council’s concern on the west side of town centers around the increased vehicular and pedestrian traffic soon to be realized as the new high school opens its doors. King adds that such an initiative by the province will likely not happen quickly, but the request will simply be added to the province’s queue of similar requests from other areas around Manitoba.

Mayor Myron Dyck also indicated several important meetings he’s attended in the past weeks. Recently, Dyck met with Jim Carr, the federal Minister of International Trade Diversification, regarding the federal budget and the flow of monies to municipalities.

Last week, Dyck attended a meeting with the Premier Brian Pallister to address flood readiness. He then facilitated a tour of Niverville’s dike system and equipment with the Minister of Infrastructure, Blaine Pedersen.

“We are ready,” Dyck says, “[but there were] a couple of suggestions [that had] more to do with things in terms of smaller equipment for our public works department just to help facilitate them in the closing of gates as needed.”

The town office will be coordinating volunteers who are interested in helping out neighbouring municipalities in flood preparation, such as sand-bagging efforts.

Council gave first reading to a request by a local commercial developer for the closure of a back lane between Main Street and First Street North, including the section running from the BSI Insurance building to the residence just east of Corner Car Wash. The developer is required to be in contact with all property owners affected by the potential closure. Council voted in favor of first reading. The matter will be brought to a public hearing on May 7.

Council continues to make forward progress toward the construction phase of the shared parking lot between the high school and proposed Community Resource Centre (CRC). In order to get the project ready for tendering, council voted in favor of awarding a further $89,950 to engineers at WSP Global to complete their portion of the process.

Another approximate $22,800 was authorized to be paid to Aecom Canada Ltd. for the final review of the CRC drawings, in order to likewise ready that project for tendering when the moment arrives.

“As we continue to [wait for] a [government grant] announcement… this is money that we’re spending with our fingers crossed,” says Mayor Dyck. “We’ve been told they’ll have a decision for us one day soon, but the work must go on and, if suddenly we are successful, we’re ready to go.”

Council discussed upcoming public meeting date changes, which will include moving the May 21 meeting to May 28 in order to accommodate councillors wishing to attend a conference. As well, council will be eliminating the morning public meetings of July and August to account for busy summer schedules.

The Niverville Olde Tyme Country fair committee has made two formal requests of council for their upcoming June 7–8 event. The first request was for the complete closure of Main Street to vehicular traffic on those days. A second request was made for the operation of a beer garden at the fair site on Friday and Saturday nights. Council voted in favor of both requests subject to a list of specific conditions to be met by the fair committee.

Conversation was given to a waste management meeting attended by Councillor Chris Wiebe on March 2. At that meeting, round table discussions took place between representatives of the south quadrant of the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region. Municipalities involved in this quadrant include Niverville, the RM of Ritchot, the RM of Tache, Roseau River First Nations, and the RM of Morris.

The topic of discussion included ways to reduce landfill waste in the region, primarily in terms of single-use plastic bags. After a thorough examination of the problems associated with plastic bags, the team produced a proposal which they intend to submit to the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM). It is their hope that the AMM will, in turn, make a formal request of the province to eliminate the use of single-use plastic bags across the province.

Wiebe says the group realizes that such an initiative requires a much broader scope than just banning plastic bags in the municipalities south of Winnipeg.

“We could ban plastic bags in Niverville or in Morris or in Ritchot,” Wiebe says, “but the problem is Winnipeg. The few garbage bags that are generated locally is a drop in the bucket in comparison to what comes into our communities from Winnipeg.”

Wiebe anticipates that this request will be on the table at the AMM’s fall general meeting. As for providing alternatives to plastic bag use, Wiebe says that was not a part of his team’s agenda.

“If you eliminate the problem, the solution will come,” Wiebe concludes.

Wiebe also imagines that pushback to such an initiative is likely to come from larger city supermarkets that charge for plastic bags since they’re a commodity that add to the company’s profit margin.

“It’s just cowboy math,” he says. “They’re paying [a fraction of a cent] for something that they’re selling for [a few] cents a bag… You sell a million bags, and what other kind of product can they make that kind of margin on?”