Wordy Debate About A Single Word Floods Council
“Words, words, words.” William Shakespeare - Hamlet.
It was not the message but rather a word and any potential legal ramifications of a single word which led to some discussion at Monday night’s meeting of Moose Jaw City Council.
In discussion surrounding the report from the Municipal Planning Commission, Councilor Brian Swanson raised legal and semantic concerns regarding the use of word “direct” when it came to not providing water and sewer services for a proposed subdivision of property outside the city.
The property in question is located at N.E. 1⁄4 26-16-27 W2 within the RM of Moose Jaw and owned by Nicole Masuc. It is approximately 340 meters west of the city limits adjacent to an area designated as development constraint in the City’s Official Community Plan due to an Intensive Livestock Operation just to the north.
The City was asked if they had any comment by the Ministry of Government Relations due to the property’s proximity to Moose Jaw’s City Limits. The proposed subdivision of 1.5 acres of land is from an already existing acreage which receives its water services from a water cooperative.
“These recommendations with respect to RM subdivisions have become fairly common place in the last few years and it took some time to get where we would add the condition where the City of Moose Jaw would not provide water and sewer service for this development and now we have added the word direct,” Councilor Swanson said adding he did not feel it was “a wise thing to do and we should simply state we will not provide water or sewer service.”
“If you start adding adjectives and adverbs to your motions and the next thing you got nothing but problems with legal issues.”
Councilor Swanson then moved an amendment to remove the word direct to the response to the Province.
In further discussion Councilor Swanson said having the present agreements in place to provide services did not preclude properties in the future accessing services from the City and by using the word direct what the City was doing was “setting up legal challenges and things like that and we want to be as direct as possible, we will not provide water and sewer service…by adding things we just open ourselves up for something we did not anticipate.”
“I just think we need to be very clear that if we are not careful we are going to be providing all of the City amenities at great cost to the rural areas and we are stuck paying and we know the huge bill,” Councilor Swanson stated.
Mayor Fraser Tolmie said he did not see the potential legal ramifications/
“I think this is just a response to the provincial government I don’t think this is a legal contract that we are writing right now…so that is my understanding of it and I don’t see why the word direct would be taken as a legal position for us. We are obviously explaining to the the Provincial Government that we are not going to be providing water or sewer services,” Mayor Tolmie said.
The Mayor went on to explain that recently the City had been looking at water users outside of the city due to the changes in water rates. In two previous meetings Council approved increases to water supplied to users outside the city to pay their “fair share” of infrastructure costs.
SEE RELATED
Water Rates Going Up For Rural Users
Commentary on 15 Wing Water Rate Increase
City Manager Jim Puffalt confirmed the City is presently looking at the agreements they have with customers outside of the city and sending out notices to them.
“Once budget is completed and then talking about the increase of rates. We are also looking at the agreements themselves in regards in where the (rural) water lines can go and if there is any control that the City has right now,” Puffalt told Council.
Councilor Swanson disagreed about it not having legal ramifications because it was a higher level of government, the Province, asking for the City’s input.
“I don’t know if you want to call that legal of not but by putting in words direct in there you are certainly opening up the opportunity for someone to come back on you. I do not understand why we not do as we have done for probably the last seven or eight of these…then we give a very clear position…by adding adjectives you are starting to make things fuzzy,” Councilor Swanson replied.
Councilor Heather Eby, chair of the Municipal Planning Commission, said she likewise had wondered about the word direct when the issue was before the Committee and she should have brought it up at that time.
Councilor Eby asked “If we take the word out nothing is going to change for them?'“ when it came to the rural user accessing water.
Puffalt responded typically, but not about the Moose Jaw agreements specifically, agreements with water coops bring water to the provider’s border and then it is up to the water coop to provide further service and where the water would go to. He said at the time there is a review of the specifics of this regarding Moose Jaw’s agreements.
“I don’t know if we have the power right now to dictate where the rural water coops send lines to. It is certainly something we need to review and take a look at,” Puffalt said.
“If we are changing the wording of these and Administration is bringing a report to the Planning Commission and really not clear of what the implications of that are I wonder what is going on. That is why we should stick with what we have been doing,” Councilor Swanson said.
The issue of supplying rural coops and other users and where the water is used was a topic at a previous Council meeting where the discussion also centered around development happening outside of the city and the City not receiving tax benefits from the development but providing services.
SEE RELATED - Respond to Proposed Subdivisions
The amendment and the amended motion passed unanimously.
The City will now send the Province its comments which include:
The non-provision of water and sewer services
The location near an industrial area and an intensive livestock operation and
“ Generally, the City is concerned about development on our boundaries which
benefit indirectly from City services, but do not pay City taxes.”
A similar subdivision request of 15.80 acres involving property legally described as N.E. 1⁄4 3-17-27 W2 within the Rural Municipality of Moose Jaw No.161 - about 1.6 kilometers west of the City Limits - and owned by Chris Christmann will also receive comments to the Province by the City.
The comments are the City will not provide water and sewer services and “generally, the City is concerned about development on our boundaries which benefit indirectly from City services, but do not pay City taxes.”