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News for October 26th
Update from the Mayor
I was pleased to participate in Waste Reduction Week on Monday, October 19, 2009, where children from Earl Oxford School gathered at City Hall after school. A display has been set up in the Main Foyer throughout the week which has been an excellent demonstration of the many types of recycling and packaging in our society and the impact of waste on our environment.
The Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention held its conference here in Brandon this week. I was pleased to bring greetings on Wednesday, October 21, 2009, at the conference and I also spoke at the Awareness event on Thursday, October 22, which involved a walk from Princess Park to City Hall culminating in a short program of acknowledgement.
On Friday, October 23, 2009, I participated in a News Release in the Main Foyer where Premier Selinger was present to announce that Brandon will receive up to $1.275 million in provincial funding for the construction of a facility to capture methane gas at the Eastview landfill site, potentially eliminating 50,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas from the air.
On Thursday, October 15, I was pleased to bring greetings to the Annual Emergency Services Conference which took place at the Centennial Auditorium.
The Maple Leaf Lunch and Learn session was held at the Riverbank Discovery Centre on Wednesday, October 14. I was pleased to be able to participate in this very valuable and interesting information update.
Police Station Update
The closing date for the Police Station tender has been extended to October 30, 2009 to allow potential bidders time to review information contained in an additional addendum.
The Municipal Conflict of Interest and Campaign Financing Act
The City Clerk attended a meeting in Winnipeg on Wednesday this week to review and discuss the above recently enacted legislation that will apply for the 2010 Municipal Council Election. The meeting included representatives from Manitoba Intergovernmental Affairs and the City of Winnipeg. Reviewed were drafts of a corresponding by-law, related documentation and a guide for candidates. The Campaign Expenses and Contributions By-law required under this legislation must be passed 180 days prior to the October 27, 2010 election.
Tax Sale
All properties that were subject to tax sale were redeemed prior to the sale date and the 2009 Tax Sale scheduled for October 21, 2009 was cancelled. The tax sale process will start again in February next year with the first letter going out to all property owners with properties subject to tax sale.
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
Linda Poole attended a stakeholders meeting at the head office of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities in Portage la Prairie. Discussions included fire department responses to motor vehicle accidents.
Construction Update
* The pavement repairs for the watermain replacement on Brandon Avenue from 18th to 20th Streets are finished, except for some minor curb repairs.
* A new sidewalk on the east side of the 1300 block of 9th Street between Queens Avenue and Brock Avenue is currently being constructed. Work is anticipated to be complete by October 30th.
Water Treatment
The recently awarded water treatment improvement, which was awarded to Wescan Electrical Mechanical Services Ltd., has commenced activities. The contractor has submitted a work schedule which calls for the improvement work to be completed by March 2010.
WASTEWATER TREATMENT
We have modified how septic wastewater is being handled in our Wastewater Treatment Facility. Currently wastewater delivered by septic wastewater trucks is delivered to our wastewater lagoon cell. As part of our wastewater strategy, the use of the lagoon cell will be eliminated and septic haulers will be discharging to a new septic wastewater handling facility at the Municipal Wastewater Treatment Facility on Victoria Avenue East. This new facility is expected to be activated in mid-November and all septic haulers who currently use our service have been advised of the changes including the new rates they will be charged. These new rates, which will be included in the Rates By-Law that will be going to City Council in November, will reflect the costs associated with providing this new service such that it is a user pay system. Rates will ramp up over 2 or 3 years to allow the marketplace some time to adjust to the new costs. The types of wastewater collected and discharged by septic haulers to our Wastewater Treatment Facility range from household septic systems to commercial grit and oil separation units.
Economic Development Update
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) released a ranking of Canada’s Top Entrepreneurial Cities, with Brandon ranking 31 out of 96. CFIB assembled a list of 12 indicators drawing from published and custom tabbed Statistics Canada sources as well as direct perspectives from CFIB’s membership, which numbers more than 105,000 business owners across Canada. The twelve core indicators were placed into three major group categories: presence, to indicate levels of entrepreneurial activity; perspective, to indicate their levels of optimism and business expectations; and policy, to indicate the influence of local governments on business decision making. More weight was applied to presence and policy indicators.
Presence: net business start-ups, businesses per capita, self employment intensity, industry employment diversity
Perspective: future business performance, future full-time hiring expectations, overall state of business
Policy: cost of local government, local government sensitivity to local businesses, local government regulation, local government tax balance and bizpal.
Additional information is available at www.cfib-fcei.ca/cfib-documents/rr3091.pdf
On October 14th, 2009, The Economic Development office and Maple Leaf Consumer Foods hosted a lunch n’ learn session. The session included a presentation followed by a lengthy question and answer period. There were over 50 people in attendance from a broad cross section of the community. Attendees received an overview of the plant, how staffing needs are determined and managed, employee demographics, future hiring plans and an overview of the foreign worker component including settlement and orientation processes and family reunification projections.
Fire & Emergency Services Update
Chief Dane travelled to Portage la Prairie for a meeting with Manitoba Public Insurance regarding claims for Fire Departments on Thursday, October 22nd.
Chief Dane met with Gloria Kelly, the Communications Advisor for the Department of Defence to discuss opportunities to partner in future initiatives on Tuesday, October 20th.
Deputy Bell will attend a Manitoba Association of Fire Chief’s (MAFC) Board of Director’s meeting on Saturday, October 24th in Portage la Prairie.
Members of the department attended the 23rd Annual Manitoba Emergency Services Conference this week.
Deputy Romanik attended a multi-stakeholder forum on Pandemic Preparedness being co-hosted by the Office of Disaster Management, Emergency Measures Organization and the Brandon Regional Health Authority on October 15th.
One of our ambulances is currently out of service for repairs, and MB Health has temporarily taken back the Sprinter Ambulance. We have received a spare ambulance from Swan River to utilize during this time.
Fire Historical Update
On Monday, October 19th we met with six of our retirees to show them some of the history that we have at the fire hall. We have secured commitment from all of them to come in and volunteer their time to help us with the work involved in preserving, reproducing and coordinating a display in the new fire hall. We also have an additional administration staff member coming in for the entire month of November so we can commit a significant amount of time to this project.
In the hallway at #1 Hall we have a framed “Roll of Honour”. We only recently discovered the significance of this document (which is currently held in place in the frame by EMS tape). It lists 10 individuals who served in World War 1. There is very little information on the document, but it does state “Pro Patria Roll of Honour for King and Empire with Canadian Expeditionary Force”. Of the ten names listed there are very faded notes next to five that state “Killed in Action”, and one “Died in Training”. Four names have no notes associated with them, so we assume that they returned. We believe all ten of these members were firefighters associated with the department, however there is no indication on the document that indicates one way or another. These are the types of documents that we want to ensure are digitally copied and reproduced for display. In time hopefully we will be able to cross reference the names on the document to staff records to confirm whether or not they were firefighters within the department.
Human Resources Update
Sandra Wallace, Monique Carriere, Donna Harrowen and Brenda Bussey attended the HRMAM workshop "Expedition for HR" on October 20th in Winnipeg. The presenter/speaker James Robbins was very informative on the subject of leadership and creating engaging workplaces.
Greg Brown attended a teleconference on Wednesday presented by the Occupational Health Center discussing the past four year’s serious workplace incidents from across Manitoba and the subsequent convictions and fines. The incidents’ investigations discussed were provided by The Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health Inspection Division. The main message from these serious incidents was the importance of maintaining machine guards, to supply competent supervision, and the development and delivery of adequate training systems including safe work procedures.
Police Services Update
Chief Atkinson attended the Crime Prevention Lunch on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009.
Chief Atkinson attended the Parents Care – Know the Risks Conference held on Saturday, October 17th, 2009 at Crocus Plains High School. This conference was hosted by the Brandon School Division and Parent Liaison Committee and touched on important topics including bullying and drug and alcohol use. Guest speakers, Reverend Dale Lang of Taber, Alberta, gave a presentation on Freedom through Forgiveness as well as Karen and Floyd Wiebe of the T.J.’s Gift Foundation of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
City Managers Update
I attended a MUSCH meeting this week, along with the senior Administrators and senior Financial Officers from our local Municipal, University, School, College and Hospital organizations. Information was shared on a number of issues, including H1N1 and the community strategic plan.
Chief Atkinson attended the Pandemic Preparedness Forum held at the Royal Oak Inn on October 15th, 2009.
This meeting was held to provide information, ask questions and collaborate on ways to collectively prepare for a possible pandemic.
The City of Brandon campaign will kick off on Monday, October 19th, 2009 and run for six weeks.
The campaign will consist of 50/50 draws, a Steak, Spud & Bud Night, Casual Fridays, great prizes and other fun filled events. Stay tuned for further details.
New E911 Client
Duck Mountain Provincial Park is now receiving E911 services effective October 15th, 2009.
Meetings with Rolling River
As City Council is aware, the lands between the Airport and the Trans-Canada Highway, which are in the RM of Elton, are in the process of being purchased by Rolling River First Nation. Division staff have been meeting with representatives of Rolling River with regards to the easement which runs through the land within which the water and sewer mains to the Airport are located. The easement currently in place is in the name of the Crown and dates to 1945. Current legislation (the Indian Act) and the Manitoba Treaty Land Entitlement Framework Agreement (May 1997) suggests that the easement (being a third party interest in the land) be replaced with a permit through the Indian Act.
Fire Hall Update
The structural steel is the main task that is currently ongoing on the fire hall portion of the building and will be nearing 30% completion by the end of this week. Hollow core for the second story of the fire hall building is scheduled to be installed late next week. All five site light standards were cast this week. Site excavation and backfill for the south apron was ongoing this week but was interrupted by the weather. The concrete apron sections that were scheduled to be poured this week have been delayed by the weather as well, we anticipate that we will proceed with this later in the week. These two items are not considered critical path on the overall project schedule.
Healthy Brandon in motion
Even a cold and windy day couldn’t stop 3956 individuals in Brandon from participating in the 3rd annual Walk the Talk challenge. Walk the Talk challenged citizens of Brandon to walk for at least 30 minutes on Wednesday, October 7, 2009. Individuals then called, emailed or faxed their results to Healthy Brandon in motion. Last year, Brandon claimed the title “Walking Capital of Canada” by going ‘foot to foot’ with Brantford, Ontario for the largest number of people participating in a 30-minute walk.
Michael Blatherwick, co-chair for Healthy Brandon in motion made the announcement Thursday at the Healthy Brandon Workplace Forum. “We’re very excited with the support that Brandon residents gave this challenge,” says Blatherwick, “We look forward to continuing Brandon’s success as a community in motion.”
Healthy Brandon in motion was established in October 2006, with the ideal of becoming “The Walking Capital of Canada.” At the October 2006 kick-off event, the committee had hoped 5,000 Brandonites would come out and walk for 30 minutes.
For more information contact Perry Roque, Chair, Healthy Brandon in motion at (204) 729-2472. Healthy Brandon in motion is only possible with the generous support of Manitoba in motion, Healthy Brandon, and our many dedicated volunteers. Learn more about Healthy Brandon in motion and get involved by visiting www.brandoninmotion.ca.
Household Hazardous Waste Day
Household Hazardous Waste Day was held at the Civic Services Complex at 900 Richmond Avenue East, on Saturday, October 10 from 10am – 2pm. We were able to put through 411 vehicles and once again, saw many first time residents at the event. We were able to capture approximately 12 – 45 gallon drums of liquid, 2 – 45 gallon drums of solids, and 2 drums of fluorescent bulbs from entering the Eastview Landfill. We would like to thank The Brandon Rotary Club and the Brandon Air Cadets for their help. Special thanks to all the environmentally friendly people of Brandon for their support at the Household Hazardous Waste Day. Next Household Hazardous Waste Day collection event will be held in the spring of 2010.
News for October 12th
City Clerk's Update
Deputy City Clerk Heather Ewasiuk and City Clerk Con Arvisais attended the above course last Friday in Winnipeg. This training was sponsored by the Manitoba Municipal Administrators Association and saw participants from all over the Province.
Karen Meelker, Senior Policy Analyst with the Information and Privacy Policy Secretariat of Manitoba Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Sport spoke on access to information; Irene Hamilton, the Manitoba Ombudsman gave an overview of the Ombudsman’s role in responding to complaints; and Orvel Currie and Travis Webber of the law firm of D’Arcy & Deacon gave a presentation on common legal problems facing a municipality in relation to the FIPPA legislation. They also spoke on severing certain information under the disclosure requirements of the Act and new amendments to FIPPA.
On September 24 and 25 Sheila Carlisle and Ian Richards from the Records Office attended an Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA) seminar in Winnipeg entitled “Establishing and Managing Successful Records Management Programs.” This was the final seminar of a three-part six-day certificate program that Sheila Carlisle and Ian Richards have now completed.
The seminar provided information about managing records retention and the published resources available to assist in the process of determining retention. More importantly, the seminar provided several suggestions for ways of balancing legislated records retention requirements with the needs of efficiently operating offices. Also discussed at the seminar were approaches to simplifying corporate classification systems and how to perform cost/benefit analyses of departmental transitions to electronic recordkeeping.
Emergency Communications
Rural Police Agencies have begun discussions with the E911/Police Communications Centre for dispatch and call-answering provisions. Services will be available after the relocation of the E911/Police Communications Centre into the new Firehall/Emergency Services building.
City Lands at 1st and Veterans Way
The consultant retained to carry out the conceptual design and site evaluation for the City lands at 1st Street and Veterans Way has progressed to the point that stake owner involvement will be needed. The stakeholder meeting will take place in late October or early November. If council members are aware of groups or individuals who have expressed interest in being involved in the planning for the lands, please provide contact information to Angie Veilleux in the Planning Department (729-2113).
Economic Development Update
The property section continues to work with Conoco-Philips with regard to their lands adjacent to the City cemetery on 18th Street and south of Aberdeen Avenue. We are in the process of securing a consultant to assist us in evaluating the risks to the City acquiring the land given the levels of contamination known to exist and the City’s expected use (cemetery and land drainage) of the land.
With the sad news of CKX’s closure, Brandon Tourism and the Economic Development Office were concerned with what would happen to the years of footage CKX had amassed. Discussions with CKX management have confirmed that they are awaiting instructions as to what to do with existing footage. Anything that is not taken by CTV will be going to Assiniboine Community College for archiving purposes. Nothing will be destroyed. This is comforting news, as our two departments have called on CKX’s footage many times over the years when working on a variety of projects.
Fire & Emergency Services Update
Chief Dane took part in a Brandon Regional Health Authority accreditation survey focus group interview on October 7th.
IT IS FIRE PREVENTION WEEK!
Fire Prevention Week is this week from October 4th through to October 10th. The theme for this year is “Stay Fire Smart! Don’t Get Burned”. Despite the fact that fewer fire losses are reported in Canada, still, on average, eight Canadians die from fire every week. Most of these fires are preventable and caused by careless behavior. That is why it is critical to educate Canadians and incite them to act. During this week, Fire Departments across the nation promote public awareness of the dangers of fire and the ways we can protect ourselves from fire.
The events that BFES put on this week included:
Meet and Greet - Canadian Tire Fire Safety Day
Members of BFES were on-hand to answer questions regarding fire safety and distribute Fire Prevention Week information.
Fire Chief for a Day
BFES, Grand Valley Mutual Aid District and McDonald’s Restaurant hosted this event. One lucky Grade 4 Student from each school in the Brandon School Division as well as students from Souris, Carberry, Shilo, Wawanesa, Douglas and Forrest spent the entire day between BFES and the Manitoba Emergency Services College for tours and activities.
Fire Prevention Week Olympics
This year’s event was held at J.R. Reid School. Celebrity Fire Fighters were teamed up with four Grade 8 Students from J.R. Reid to take on the gruelling “Fire Prevention Olympic Obstacle Course”. The celebrity Fire Fighters included a member of the Brandon University Bobcats, a local media personality as well as the crowd favorite - a teacher from each of the participating schools. 4 teams competed in 5 events; the fastest time won the big event.
Fire Hall Construction Update
Structural steel has started this week and will be ongoing for the next 5 weeks. We have completed the first story of load bearing masonry. The exterior apron slabs are being prepped and are ready for casting next week. Backfill inside the admin building is ongoing. Site electrical trenching and conduit installation is ongoing.
Historical Fire Hall Information
Our history project has attracted some media attention. We were recently featured on CKX news as well as the Brandon Sun and CBC Radio on October 8th. It seems there is significant interest in the history of the department that has been recently rediscovered.
We have a meeting set this week with two of our retirees and one of our current staff members who have all expressed interest in aiding us with the project. An invitation has also been extended to all of our retirees to come in and see what we have on October 19th. We hope to recruit some of them as volunteers to help us fill in the blanks as there are a lot of pictures that have no names, dates or information of any type associated with them. Without the story behind this history the value would be greatly diminished.
Two small professionally printed booklets ( 5.5” x 3”) have been found that outline the “Rules and Regulations Governing the Fire Department of the City of Brandon”. They are from 1912 (30 pages) and 1956 (8 pages). They outline the rules of the department at the time. This is in comparison to the 500 page General Operating Guideline book that is in use today. These books were approved and authorized by Council. It is interesting to note that even though there was little restriction on smoking in the 50’s, BFD did have a non-smoking policy in 1956. It read as follows “Smoking while in uniform while on active duty or public streets, or on vehicles going to or from a fire is strictly prohibited.”
Some interesting rules from the 1912 book are as follows:
Duties of the Chief
3. He shall have the custody, subject to the direction of the Fire and Light Committee, of the engines, hose wagons, trucks, ladders, horses and all other property and equipment belonging to The Fire Department.
Captains
6. They shall not allow any person not connected with the Department to ride upon any apparatus in going to or returning from a fire.
12. They shall inspect all Hay, Straw, Oats, Coal and Wood proposed to be supplied to their respective Companies, and receive none that is not in accordance with contract.
21. They shall not allow members or visitors to speak disrespectfully of superiors.
24. They shall once every day (Sunday excepted) practice hitching, and train their horses; the harness shall be pulled down, all collars and lines snapped every time the gong rings, and for alarms, all horses shall be kept hitched until the return signal is sounded.>
Drivers
1. It shall be the duty of the driver to attend properly to the horses committed to their care.
2. It shall be the duty of the drivers to exercise their horses one hour each day (the weather permitting and Sundays excepted) when horses have not performed any work within 24 hours next preceding.
Members
16. Members shall conform to and promptly and cheerfully obey all laws, by-laws, rules, regulations, circulars and orders whether general, special or verbal, for the government of the Department, or individuals, be strictly punctual, and their obedience must be prompt.
Human Resources Update
On Wednesday, October 7 the Human Resources Department participated in the Walk the Talk Challenge that took place downtown. Healthy Brandon in motion has conducted a number of walking events since 2006, such as, the World Record Walk held in 2007, where Canada broke the world record for the most people walking 1 km at the same time. There were 575,000 people participating in the world record walk across Canada and 50,000 of those participants were from Manitoba. In 2008 Brandon won the Brandon Vs. Brantford walking challenge and was proclaimed the Walking Capital of Canada. The 2008 challenge saw 7,310 people from Brandon participating whereas Brantford only had 4,161 people participate. The goal for this year is to get 9000 people out walking.
Wheat City Golf Course
With the change in weather and low participation numbers, the Wheat City Golf Course will be closed to the public starting Tuesday, October 13th. Like past years, the Wheat City Golf Course will stay open for the Thanksgiving weekend.
Overall, it turned out to be a good season at the course. The poor spring made portions of the course unplayable and there was extreme damage to a few of the greens from over the winter. With the installation of the new irrigation system and the hard work by all maintenance staff the condition of the course improved immensely. This transformation from the start of the year to the closing time has been remarkable and has once again made The Wheat City Golf Course one of the premiere golf courses in the Westman area.
With the momentum that the course has gained in the past few months and the proper maintenance needed to put the course to bed for the winter, we are all extremely excited for the 2010 golf season. Building on this momentum will be vital in 2010 and we are anticipating a great year. With the hard work of all employees The Wheat City Golf Course will once again become a recreation facility that all of Brandon can be proud of.
Olympic Torch Relay
In just 91 days from today, the eyes of the world will turn to our city as the Olympic Flame arrives in Brandon as part of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay, presented by Coca-Cola and RBC and supported by the Government of Canada.
The torch relay will arrive at approximately 5:45 PM as part of a convoy of vehicles, which will include torchbearer shuttles, media vehicles, relay support vehicles and police cruisers. Temporary rolling road closures will ensure the safety of the torchbearers and spectators lining the relay route. The crowd will see a new torchbearer carry the flame every 300 metres through the community as it travels on its 45,000-kilometre-long journey across Canada — the longest domestic torch relay in Olympic history.
To celebrate the arrival of the flame, the community is planning a celebration at The Brandon Riverbank Discovery Centre. The celebration will be held from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM, where there will be interactive displays, food and great entertainment on the large traveling stage. More information on the entertainment line up and exciting events will be released in the coming months.
The 106-day Olympic Torch Relay will visit more than 1,030 communities and places of interest in every province and territory. On February 12, 2010, the Olympic Flame will make its way to downtown Vancouver to light the Olympic Cauldron in a magical and awe-inspiring moment before a television audience of three billion people worldwide, signalling the kick off to the start of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
For more information on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay visit www.vancouver2010.com/torchrelay. Detailed street-level route details will be available on the website approximately two weeks before the Olympic Flame arrives in the community.
Police Services Update
Chief Atkinson traveled to Saskatoon to attend this conference. This committee is a strategy of Correctional Service Canada to promote information sharing between Police, Corrections (Federal and Provincial) and Prosecutions.
Inspector Grant and Staff Sergeant Thompson attended the Criminal Intelligence Service of Manitoba operating meeting on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 in Winnipeg.
News for October 5th
Manitoba Launches Modified Start To Its Seasonal Flu Campaign
Manitoba Health and Healthy Living advises it will launch a modified start to its seasonal influenza vaccination campaign this fall, focusing first on people over 65 years of age and personal-care home residents. Following the H1N1 vaccination campaign, it's expected the seasonal flu shot will also be recommended for other eligible Manitobans.
The seasonal flu shot will be initially recommended primarily for eligible Manitobans who are considered at greater risk from seasonal flu and would be expected to benefit the most,
specifically:
- Manitobans age 65 or older, and
- people who live in personal-care homes or other long-term care facilities.
A preliminary draft of an unpublished Canadian study has suggested an association between previous seasonal flu vaccinations and H1N1 flu. Manitoba is taking a cautious, phased-in approach to seasonal flu vaccination this year while the study's findings are assessed and other information is analyzed including Manitoba's own data. The Public Health Agency of Canada has stated that an expert panel is reviewing the study.
Manitoba Public Health continues to encourage vaccination for individuals of any age who are considered by their health-care providers to be at high risk of complications related to seasonal flu. Manitoba has increased its surveillance for influenza and other causes of flu-like illnesses this year so the flu strategy can be adapted appropriately. The province will continue to provide Manitobans with updated public health advice.
Regional health authorities across the province will be focusing their seasonal flu campaigns and considering which approaches will increase outreach to seniors to ensure the vaccine is accessible.
Manitobans aged 65 and over are also eligible to get a pneumococcal shot at the same time they get the seasonal flu shot, if they have not already received it. This vaccination can prevent pneumonia, blood infection and meningitis caused by pneumococcal bacteria.
The H1N1 flu virus is expected to be the main flu strain circulating in Manitoba over this fall and winter. In general, seniors have been most at risk for complications from seasonal flu, while younger people have been more at risk for complications from H1N1 flu. People if all ages with chronic or other health conditions of concern should consult with their health-care provider about whether they need one or both vaccines. Manitoba's H1N1 vaccine prioritization list will be released soon and it is expected the vaccine will be available this fall.
Information about seasonal and H1N1 flu and the provincial vaccine campaigns is available at www.manitoba.ca. Manitobans who have questions about whether the seasonal, H1N1 or both vaccines are right for them should contact their health-care provider, visit an upcoming seasonal flu clinic, or call Health Links–Info Santé at 788-8200 or 1-888-315-9257 (toll-free).
Update from Mayor
On Wednesday evening, September 30, I attended the 2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup Kick-Off Presentation. The purpose was to unveil the event and launch the volunteer recruitment drive.
On Friday, October 2, I brought greetings from the City to the 39th MB Federation of Labour Convention at the Keystone Centre. This year marks the 90th anniversary of the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike and the convention theme is focused around the message “celebrating 90 years of history”.
Brian MacRae and I attended the “Fundraising Business Persons Luncheon”, at Shilo’s RCA Museum on Friday, October 2, where we met the new Base Commander, LCol. Luc Généreux and listened to his vision for CFB Shilo.
City Manager Update
I toured the Convergy’s building this week with members of the General Museum and Archives Committee (GMAC). The purpose of the tour was to review whether the building would be suitable as a potential location for a general museum and archives.
With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, City Hall and the Planning Department participated in a Dress Down Day and Bake Sale on Friday. The table was full of cakes, tarts, cookies, pies and donuts and all items were sold within 10 minutes!! A total of $270.00 was raised for breast cancer research.
Heritage Coordinator Contract Position
Ken Storie has been hired as the Heritage Coordinator for the Brandon Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee on a contract basis. Ken will start his new duties on October 5, 2009 and will be responsible for coordinating and implementing the programming plans and policies of the Brandon MHAC as part of the City of Brandon’s overall heritage conservation management plan. He will provide administrative and marketing/promotional support to the Brandon MHAC.
Ken brings with him a wealth of experience as a consultant/contractor for the Historic Resources Branch of the Province of Manitoba and has worked with various municipal governments and heritage committees throughout Manitoba. He has a solid background in writing and research, communications technology and management and leadership which will be a definite asset to the Brandon MHAC as the committee strives to heighten the heritage profile in the City.
Information Technology Update
Last week, the Information Technology Department replaced our main firewall. The old firewall was over eight years old and well past its life cycle. Colin Craig spent a great deal of time and effort researching and programming the new firewall. This new firewall will let us take advantage of newer encryption protocols, which will make transactions with outside networks more secure. The upgrade of the firewall was one of the steps that we are taking in I.T. to safeguard the City from external security threats.
We can use these new protocols to create site to site network connects over the internet. This gives the remote site the appearance of being plugged directly into our physical network. Incoming and outgoing traffic is inspected with higher efficiency, thus giving us more information should our network be attacked from viruses or hackers. The interfaces on the new firewall operate at the gigabit speed, making them a much higher through-put than the old ones.
Economical Development Update
A reporter from the Toronto Star will be in Brandon the week of October 5th, 2009 to conduct further research for a series they will be running on the temporary foreign worker program, policy implications and the Brandon story.
Fire & Emergency Services Update
We would like to announce that Kyle Jones, one of our senior firefighters has joined us back at the department after twenty months away with an injury. It is great to have you back Jonsey!
Building Update:
They have now poured 3 of the 12 concrete apron sections to the East of the building. The base preparation for the asphalt paved parking areas is ongoing and we hope to get a base lift of asphalt in this fall. The masonry at the elevator shaft and stair #3 is installed to the underside of the second floor and will continue after the erection of the steel structure which is scheduled to start at the beginning of next week. The interior backfill is complete in the Fire Hall building and backfill is ongoing in and around the Administration wing. Site electrical services trenching and installation is ongoing through to the end of next week. The Cold Storage building slab is prepped and will be poured next week with the wood framing to follow.
Fire Historical Information
Currently in storage at #1 Hall is the bell that hung in the tower for over 60 years. Next year this bell will finally come out of storage to be put on display outside of the new Fire Hall.
Inscribed on the bell is “Benely & Co. West Troy, New York. Coronation Bell. Erected by the City of Brandon in honor of the Coronation of Edward VII by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, of Great Britain, and Ireland, and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India, Anno Domini: One Thousand Nine Hundred and Two.”
It was placed in the tower of the first station in 1902 by block and tackle and a team of Dray horses. It was taken down and replaced in the new fire hall in 1911. The bell weighs 4,400 pounds, is 77% copper and 23% tin. The bell’s tone is in the key of “C” and the diameter of the base is 62 inches.
It was removed by crane in 1971, as it was uncertain how much longer the tower could sustain the weight of the bell. Before the telephone and radios were utilized, the bell was used to notify the firefighters as to what Fire Alarm Box an alarm had originated at. If there was an alarm at Fire Alarm Box #52 (located at 18th Street & McDonald Avenue) they would ring the bell 5 times followed by a pause and four more rings. That was also a signal for all the kids in the neighborhood, who also knew the location of the Fire Alarm Boxes to race over and watch the action.
Human Resources Update
Last week Vicki Fifi, Brenda Bussey and Jaclyn Turner attended the 2009 Western Cities Conference held in Regina. The three day conference provided a great opportunity to learn and network with a dynamic group of HR Professionals. Strategies that Support a Diverse Workforce, Duty to Accommodate Disabilities and Return to Work Guidelines are a sample of the sessions attended. The theme of this year's conference was "Accelerating Excellence in Turbulent Times."
Household Hazardous Waste Day
Household Hazardous Waste collection has been confirmed for October 10th at the Civic Services Complex, 900 Richmond Ave. East from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Please enter off Douglas Street and watch for signs. This being the last collection for 2009, we ask that residents please be patient as there could be well over 600 vehicles passing through this collection event. The next Household Hazardous Waste collection will be in the spring of 2010.
Recycling Study
The Department has been approached by a Brandon University student by the name of Katy Singleton who has requested to do a study on our current Recycling program in order to proceed with her studies. Katy is undertaking the recycling study for an “Advanced Research Topics in Environmental Science” class, which is necessary for her to complete her degree in Environmental Science.
Katy will be compiling information through surveys as well as hands on experiences with residents throughout the City on their knowledge about our Recycling program. The information from Katy’s study will be very useful in moving forward with the new program.
Police Services Update
Fourteen Officers participated in the Cops for Cancer Fundraiser at the Brandon Shoppers Mall. Over $5,000.00 was raised for the Cancer Society.
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