This month, the Municipality of North Cypress-Langford looked at municipal crime statistics, land and environmental issues around a new lagoon, and various repairs on municipal properties.

Representatives from the Spruce Plains Detachment, which covers the northern portion of the municipality, presented an update to Council covering the past six months between May and November. Of the 417 reported occurrences, 356 of those were traffic violations and only 5 were crimes against persons. He also outlined the new Immediate Roadside Prohibition program, which can be used after a roadside screening for alcohol or cannabis and carries many of the same penalties as a DUI but does not carry a criminal charge, getting the officer back on the road faster. Fall brings around the Safe Schools Program as well, where in preparation for any incidents within the school, detachments updated their contact lists, blueprints of the school, and photos of the interior. The representatives also addressed questions from Council around 911 response times, the legalities around drone usage, dealing with campers or squatters on crown land, and potential cattle rustling.

A second delegation from Nature Conservancy Canada brought Council information on a piece of land to the northeast side of the Langford Community Pasture that they have recently acquired. The process they take with new properties is to continue with historic grazing practices on the land for the first two years while they gather information about the ecosystem, and where they can, they continue those renter relationships. If the renter did want to release the land, they indicated that it would be a good candidate to become a part of the community pasture.

In planning matters, the main conversation was around a lagoon that has recently been constructed without the proper permits in place. This was brought to the planning district’s attention at the last Council meeting, and they have spent the last month assessing the situation and trying to catch the paperwork up with the already-completed project. As for how this happened in the first place, it looks like a case of miscommunication, where the landowner believed they had all the documents they needed to proceed. However, the project did not meet all of the municipality’s requirements, and so the lagoon cannot be put into use until the proper conditional use and variation orders are circulated for comment and passed. If they are not passed, the landowner is facing having to redo a substantial portion of already completed work.

Finally, a recent meeting of the Veterinary Board brought up an impending financial need, as the plumbing in the building is older and will probably need to be replaced in 4 to 5 years. Because that replacement would almost completely wipe out the current reserve fund, they’re recommending that each of the five partner municipalities in the facility contribute $1,000-2,000 a year for the next five years to fund the expense. On the flip side of funding, however, they report that there is a grant available right now for large animal equipment, and the vet clinic could use some outdoor handling facilities so they will be looking into it.

Also covered during this meeting are new fees at the Carberry Transfer Station, municipal shop repairs, gravel purchases, and directional boring versus open cuts when crossing machinery roads.