Grey Highlands council will hold a town hall style meeting to gather public input about the municipality’s proposed water and wastewater allocation policy.
At its meeting on Feb. 7, council voted to schedule a public meeting about the policy in the near future.
Coun. Nadia Dubyk brought the issue to the council table. She said she had heard from a number of residents who asked for more input on the proposed policy.
“The community feels it should be more involved. They’re a stakeholder,” said Dubyk.
Council agreed, with Deputy Mayor Dane Nielsen suggesting the public meeting be held at the Markdale arena. Nielsen said it would be important to let the public know the meeting would be about the proposed allocation policy only.
“It should be communicated that (the meeting) will not be on the (water and wastewater) rates. That will be later,” said Nielson, who said the meeting would be an opportunity to share the draft policy with the public and outline the reasons for why it’s needed and the benefits. “We want to focus on the policy.”
A date for the meeting will be announced in the near future.
The municipality is implementing a formal allocation policy as it nears its total available capacity at the Markdale sewage lagoon. The new policy would apply in areas of the municipality where water and sewage services are available - Markdale, Kimberley/Amik and Flesherton (sewage only). The policy would govern how the municipality allocates its water and wastewater capacity to new developments coming online.
Council discussed the proposed policy at a recent committee of the whole meeting.
