The Dauphin City Council met for their first meeting in over a month tonight. City Manager Sharla Griffiths spoke about a trip that three city employees took with Parks Canada, to the site of Edwards Lake and Edwards Creek, where the City of Dauphin gets its water.
Griffiths says the city has been using the water source for over 90 years, and since the formation of Riding Mountain National Park has been working with Parks Canada on the project. The City and Parks Canada are currently working on a new agreement about the use of the water, as the original agreement has expired.
"On August 24, the Director of Public Works and Operations, Utility Foreman, and I joined six Parks Canada employees on a hike to Edwards Lake and the control structure that channels water from the Lake to the Creek, to gain a better understanding of the City’s use of the water, the existing control structures, some abandoned City infrastructure, potential impacts of continuing to divert the water through the control structure, and precautions that must be taken to ensure the health of Edwards Lake."
Griffiths says the agreement has been coming along, and the city is now waiting for more details.
"As part of the Agreement, the City will have to perform an impact assessment but we have not been told the details of the assessment, so this part of the work may be done later in 2022 or into 2023. Right now, from this review, parks Canada is taking the information back and working again on the draft of an agreement. It’s been a very long process to get to the Agreementstage, and we continue to work diligently with our partners at Parks Canada toward that end."
Griffiths also spoke about the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan Memorial Project, which came to fruition during an unveiling ceremony on August 27th.
The council also discussed Curbside Giveaway Weekend, which is taking place this Saturday and Sunday. People are to place unwanted, reusable household items at their curb and are told to make sure they're labeled with a "FREE" sign so people know they're part of the giveaway weekend.
Items are to be removed by 7 a.m. on Monday, September 19th, or they'll be removed by the city with a minimum fee of $50.
Today's council meeting was streamed to the City of Dauphin YouTube page and can be found here.
