The Town of Saltcoats had its regularly scheduled council meeting on November 17, 2021. Due to weather conditions the newspaper was not able to attend the meeting. Thankfully, Mayor Gordon Barnhart was willing to hold an impromptu interview to update us and the public as to what the council is up to.
The council had a larger than usual task with the new water treatment plant coming on to fix the water and sewer rates for the town residents, but passed the bylaw at this last council meeting.
It is legislation to charge for utilities in a pay as you use and therefore Saltcoats will be changing things up with new water meters and the implementation of the new water rates starting January 1, 2022.
Paving in the Town of Saltcoats has had a 10-year plan. This plan started 5 years ago with the paving of the school area and the school bus routes in town. It was discussed to carry on with the 10-year plan by doing the rest of the streets starting with the worst until all streets that have a house on it had been paved; this was defeated in a 4-3 split vote.
The water treatment plant has had the reverse osmosis machine installed. Progress is being made but the council is unsure of the finish date, possibly in the early new year. The council is pleased it is still within budget at this time, even with having to drill 2 new wells but these new wells seem to be clear of sand.