LMT_May_08_2022_Vol_116_issue_20

6 lmtimes.ca • Last Mountain Times • Monday, May 8, 2023
RM agrees to go to mediation and votes to
invite a former councillor to represent RM at
mediation
RM McKillop votes former Councilor Gary Dixon
best suited to represent RM
- BY JENNIFER ARGUE, Local
Journalism Initiative Reporter
April 25th, 2023
The Council of the RM of McKillop
has voted to comply with the letter
sent by Don McMorris, the Minister
of Government Relations, stating that
both the RM and the resort villages
go to mediation over the long-standing
dispute around the maintenance
of the RM-owned access roads into
resort villages of Glen Harbour,
Island View, Pelican Point and Sunset
Cove.
The Minister
wrote the
“I think we
should have
somebody
from council
representing
us.”
February 24th
letter to the RM
as a result of the
Saskatchewan
Urban Municipalities
Association's
request to
the Minister that
he authorize the
Saskatchewan
Municipal Board
(SMB) to make a
decision on the
matter. He wrote,
“I feel this is the first step in working
towards a suitable resolution in this
matter…If the dispute has not been
resolved through mediation, legislation
provides an opportunity for the
matter to be referred to the SMB for a
decision..”
The RM says they are doing what the
Act requires to keep the road safe by
grading, mowing the ditches, and removing
snow. They have also slowed
the speed down to 30 km/hr. The
resort villages take issue with those
claims.
After the meeting, LMT reached out
to Tom Fulcher, the spokesperson
for the Resort Villages. He wrote,
“In reply to the discussions recently
held by the RM council, we believe
that the RM is continuing to provide
misinformation to their ratepayers
over this matter.
Our resort villages have made a
formal request to the Minister to
have this long standing issue formally
resolved by the Saskatchewan Municipal
Board. If an agreement cannot be
reached though the upcoming dispute
resolution process, the Minister will
then direct the Saskatchewan Municipal
Board to put forth a binding decision
on this matter. We are extremely
pleased with this outcome. Therefore,
out of respect towards this process,
which we initiated, we feel that any
further public comments would not
be appropriate at this time.”
Council voted to invite former
Councilor Gary Dixon to head to
the mediation table with Reeve Bob
Schmidt. Dixon was formerly the
Division 4 councillor who lost his
2023 re-election bid at a vote of 90 to
22 to newcomer Mark Strong. Reeve
Bob Schmidt said, “Now our big thing
is, who are we going to appoint? I
don’t think it's in our best interest to
appoint anybody on council.” When
a councillor asked, “Who?” Reeve
Schmidt responded, “We have a councillor
who has been through this all;
Gary Dixon can go on our behalf.”
Gary Dixon also holds the position of
President for the lobbying group Provincial
Association of Resort Communities
of Saskatchewan( PARCS),
a position he held while on council.
Their website describes the organization
as “ an independent lobby organization
and continues to represent
resort village and organized hamlet
issues with all levels of government as
well as with SUMA and SARM.”
Councilor Bondar said, “I think we
should have somebody from council
representing us.” There were
suggestions of sending more than
two council members and possibly
including the Public Works Manager,
Travis Herman. This will be the first
time the two parties have met at the
mediation table, despite negotiations
for the past two years.
Schmidt said the Minister’s letter
referenced a list of issues from the
Resort Villages. “At no time did they
send us this list…so we are going to
go blind into mediation.” Council
decided to ask for the list of issues
provided to the Minister.
Councilor Gary Gilbert suggested
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