Rosedale Council: Long Overdue Policymaking Meets a Conflict of Visions

Once again Council is wrangling with complaints over the Rogers Communication Tower being erected near Eden. This time it was directed towards the planning district, so a planning officer from the Neepawa and Area Planning District and Rosedale CAO had a meeting with an ISED representative to review the procedures and validate that everything had been handled as per the regulations. The municipality has no bylaw that applies specifically to the erection of these towers, but even if they did, the federal regulations could supersede them. 

Council welcomed a delegation from Spring Hill Hutterite Colony, who wanted to “keep the lines of communication open” with the municipality and address a few questions they had regarding repairs to approaches and landfill access. The Eden landfill is converting to a transfer station as the landfill cell has been ordered closed by an environmental officer and the site has no space to expand. The municipality has no control over this decision. The question of supplying culverts to expand or repair approaches is more challenging.

Several similar requests have been received by the municipal office, often to replace or extend culverts, and there has been historic inconsistency over the years as to how they are handled. Council is now in the position of needing to develop a concrete policy to handle requests for approaches and culverts that will apply equally across the municipality. The cost is significant and is not recouped in tax revenue from the landowners, and they are balancing the competing needs of attracting new development to underdeveloped areas with ensuring the responsible use of taxpayer funds. This is work that will continue past this meeting.

Also covered at the meeting were health and safety work alone policies for landfills, mower use rates, landfill issues, equipment repair versus replacement decisions, and budgeting for staff training.