Town of Picture Butte council meeting briefs from November 27

Posted on December 14, 2023 by Sunny South News

By Heather Cameron
Southern Alberta Newspapers
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The following are select briefs from the Town of Picture Butte Council meeting that was held on November 27, 2023.

Delegation from Southern Alberta
Kanadier Association

Dan Doerksen from the Southern Alberta Kanadier Association gave a presentation to Council about what the Kanadier Association is and how it works. The Association, Doerksen says, is an umbrella organization, that is pretty much across Southern Alberta and is a group of community service providers that works to improve the health and wellness of the Low German Mennonite population in Southern Alberta. Doerksen says that as an organization, the Kanadier Association meets five times a year, plus the AGM, and has been meeting via Zoom since COVID. Doerksen also briefly recapped highlights from the year, stating that the big event that happened was on June 6, 2023 and that event was the SAKA Conference for Service Providers of the Low German Community. That conference, Doerksen said, was held at the College for people who work with the Low German School families, featured two speakers from Ontario, and a number of service providers were in attendance along with a little over 100 in attendance from various backgrounds, all of them wanting to learn more about working with Low German School families. Doerksen also highlighted an event that happened on October 27, 2023: an information evening intended to present information from various organizations to families that get translated into Low German. Doerksen talked about the schools in the area that have Low German students, the Kanadier Association’s work in trying to help Low German speaking individuals with their English reading and speaking skills, as well as the YouTube Channel that is coming in 2024 that is intended to have Low German resources on it. Doerksen said that FCSS is graciously going to cover the setup costs associated with that. Council asked Doerksen what the main advantage was to having a representative on the board and Doerksen said that he thought it would be helpful for the whole in the sense that they are able to represent needs in the area or the surrounding area. The Council, Doerksen added, said a lot of it is to for the Low German Community to have an extra connection through the Town, as that community does have a high population. Doerksen added that it could be helpful for citizens to be aware of what’s going on in the Low German Community and Kanadier Association and also help and to know what the needs of citizens are in regards to Low German values.

Amending Bylaw 862-17 to allow credit card payment to pay Property Taxes

Council discussed a Request For Decision that would allow people to pay their property taxes on their credit cards. After a brief discussion about it, Councilor Fiest made the motion to amend Bylaw 862-17 and Council proceeded with all three readings and carried each, allowing the bylaw to be amended.

Modified Council Meeting Schedule

Council discussed a recommendation that the Council Meeting scheduled for December 11, 2023 be cancelled, the Committee of the Whole Meeting scheduled for December 18, 2023 be cancelled, and the Council Meeting scheduled for December 25, 2023 be cancelled and schedule a Council Meeting for December 18, 2023 instead. A motion was made to agree to the schedule adjustments and carried.