Regular Meeting of the members of Council of the Rural Municipality of Minitonas, held in Council Chambers, in Minitonas, Manitoba this 29th day of January, 2014 A.D. at 7:00 pm.

Present: Deputy Reeve, C. Eisner
Councillors: Pacamaniuk, Klekta & Rinsdorf
CAO: Carolyn Gordon

Present By Electronic Communications: Reeve, M. McIntosh

Delegations:
7:30 pm Minitonas Town Council re: CAT Repairs/Replacement

Additions to Agenda:
4.6 Crown Land Exchange Update
6.2 Village of Winnipegosis – District Bonspiel

Reeve McIntosh left the meeting at 7:45 pm.

1. E. Rinsdorf – W. Pacamaniuk
RESOLVED THAT the Bank Reconciliation for the month ending December 31st, 2013 shall be adopted as presented.
Carried.

2. E. Rinsdorf – D. Klekta
RESOLVED THAT the Council of the Rural Municipality of Minitonas does hereby appoint Burnside & Ferriss as Legal Counsel for the municipality and agree to payment of $1000.00, plus taxes for the 2014 General Retainer as requested on their invoice No. 124283 dated January 22nd, 2014.
Carried.

3. W. Pacamaniuk – D. Klekta
WHEREAS the Municipalities of the RM of Minitonas, the Town of Minitonas and the Village of Bowsman will be amalgamated and elections will be held on October 22nd , 2014 for the newly amalgamated municipality, and;
WHEREAS Brandie McDuff has been appointed as the Senior Election Official for all three partners and Carolyn Gordon has been appointed the Chief Administrative Officer for the new entity;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Council of the Rural Municipality of Minitonas does hereby authorize the attendance of the SEO and the CAO at the Election training Seminar to be held in Dauphin on March 25th, 2014, with all costs associated with the attendance at the seminar to be paid in accordance with the current municipal policies and by-laws, and;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the costs for said attendance shall be borne equally by all three municipal partners.
Carried.

4. W. Pacamaniuk – E. Rinsdorf
WHEREAS the RM of Minitonas Council supports local organizations and appreciates the time and energy the Tent Town Garden Club puts forward in beautifying the Municipal Office Property and several green spaces in the Town of Minitonas;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Council hereby agree to make a grant in the amount of $400 toward the services provided by the garden club and continue to offer the Council Chambers at the Minitonas Municipal Office free of charge for daytime meetings in 2014.
Carried.

5. W. Pacamaniuk – D. Klekta
WHEREAS the Engineer’s Flood Damage Report for Site # 37 – 2013 was approved for funding under DFA Program and the RM of Minitonas Council agreed to hire the services of Stantec Consulting Ltd. for all aspects of management of the project on behalf of the municipality, and;
WHEREAS the members of the council of the RM of Minitonas have reviewed and approve the contents of the agreement for flood site management services and outlined in the contract received on January 14, 2014;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the CAO, Carolyn Gordon and Deputy Reeve, Clint Eisner are hereby authorized to sign said contract agreement with Stantec Consulting Ltd. and shall direct the company to manage said repairs under the costs and conditions outlined in the Engineer’s Flood Damage Report dated November 26th, 2013 and in accordance with the requirements of the Disaster Financial Assistance Program.
Carried.

6. D. Klekta – E. Rinsdorf
WHEREAS the Council of the RM of Minitonas objects to being forced to amalgamate when there are no clear benefits to the municipal residents and ratepayers, in fact the last several months of discussion have resulted in the realization that there could be a tax shift causing an increase to rural taxes to subsidize the urban area due to their much lower assessment values, and;
WHEREAS under Bill 33 the Province of Manitoba has mandated that the Rural Municipality of Minitonas must seek out a partner municipality with a common boundary and amalgamate, solely because the municipal population according to the 2011 Census was less than 1000, and;
WHEREAS, despite their objection to forced amalgamations, the RM of Minitonas Council met with the councils of the Town of Minitonas and the Village of Bowsman for extensive discussions regarding the completion of the ‘Draft Amalgamation Plan’ in Part B, Structure of Council in an effort to determine a way to fairly represent all residents and ratepayers while protecting said tax shift, and;
WHEREAS there is a way to ‘Lock In’ the taxes collected from each of the Service Areas which will be set in place to ensure fair taxation of all areas of the new municipality and ensure that rural ratepayers taxes do not increase as a result of the amalgamation, and;
WHEREAS the members of Council strongly feel that the Rural Area, having the largest population, almost 6 times the assessment, generating almost 6 times the total taxation revenue that is generated by the two proposed partners combined, and having the largest physical area, will only have fair representation by elections under a Ward System;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT ‘Elections by Ward’ should be set as the Structure of Council in Part B of the Draft Amalgamation Plan for 2 terms of 4 years, and;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the ‘Ward Boundaries’ should be defined with the same boundaries as those of the existing municipalities as described in Part A, ‘Service Areas’ in the Final Draft of the Amalgamation Plan with Ward #1 being the Bowsman Ward 1 with a Councillor, Ward #2 being the Minitonas Ward with 2 Councillors and Ward #3 being the Rural Ward with 4 Councillors and a Reeve to be Head of Council and elected At Large, and;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the attached Amalgamation Plan, being the fairest proposal for the RM of Minitonas residents and ratepayers, under the Provincial Government’s Forced Amalgamation Plan (Bill 33) shall be submitted to the Minister of Local Government as approved by this council.
Councillor Daniel Klekta asked for a recorded vote:
McIntosh absent
Rinsdorf yes
Klekta yes
Pacamaniuk abstained
Eisner yes
Carried.

7. E. Rinsdorf – W. Pacamaniuk
RESOLVED THAT we do now adjourn at 9:45 pm to meet again for the next regular meeting of Council on February 12, 2014 at 8:00 am.
Carried.