A lone resident was in attendance at the Village of Canal Flats’ regular council meeting on August 24th.

The village’s last summer meeting covered arena flooring, road maintenance and community pride.

Canal Flats received three applications for its arena flooring project. Affordable Floors, Cranbrook Flooring and Fitz Flooring Ltd. submitted bids for the project, each citing different budgetary requirements.

Chief Administrative Officer Brian Woodward put forward a recommendation that the contract be awarded to Affordable Floors, whose $10,489.81 bid was over $3,500 cheaper than its closest competition.

In response to a question by Councillor Karl Sterzer asking if the village has a policy to always pick the cheapest quote, Woodward said, “If it is for a sack of hammers, yes.”

“This is more complicated, so we do not necessarily have to go with the lowest quote,” Woodward said. “(Affordable Floors) came highly recommended.”

Affordable Floors was the only company to propose using ProBoard, rather than plywood, which is typically less expensive.

“It seems weird to me that we asked for a quote on plywood and they gave a quote on ProBoard,” Sterzer said.

Council ultimately decided to make its project requirements clearer in the future, and to accept Affordable Floors’ application.

Work on the arena was set to start on August 31st.

 

Ditching and maintaining

During Woodward’s financial report, council asked questions about the village’s expenditures.

Councillor Paul Marcil’s inquiry centred around Canal Flats roads.

“For the ditching, is that part of the budget for highway work? What are we doing there and why? It just seems like crews have been out there a long time.”

Based on Woodward’s report, the village has spent $8,812 on ditching since January. The budget calls for $20,000 to be spent by the end of the year.

“We are maintaining the ditching to make it look as though we care,” Woodward said.

According to Sterzer, this year’s roadside maintenance has not gone unnoticed by locals.

“People keep telling me they are hearing a lot less brakes squealing due to deer hiding in bushes along the road and creeping out,” he said.

 

Pride in the Flats

The village’s new Community Pride and Celebration Committee met for the first time, prompting a vote from council to approve meeting minutes, terms of reference and membership.

“Basically, we decided we would try to put on a fall fair that will include an artisan market (and) as many vendors as we can get,” said Councillor Erin Gornik, who was appointed chair of the committee. “So far, we have 11 vendors signed up. There will also be games for kids.”

Beyond the fair, Mayor Ute Juras, who is also a member of the committee, said the new group will strive to bring spirit to the village on a consistent

basis.

“After the fair concludes, the committee will meet to decide how we can put on more events throughout the year,” Juras said. “Not huge things, just fun community events.”

As approved by council, the committee’s members are Karen Flowers, Holly Pietrosky, Amber Byklum, Chris Breton, Sylvie Hoobanoff, Juras and Gornik.