You are invited to this year’s 4th annual Sustainability Fair. It’ll be great.
council
Proposed sewer rate increase
Before Black Diamond Town Council are some amendments to Bylaw 18-01, the Water and Sewer Bylaw.
The most significant change is to Schedule A sewer rates, and they are going up or down depending on your situation. Should Council pass this amendment, the rates would be in effect starting January 1, 2019.
Let me explain using my own utility bill.
Currently, everyone with a water meter pays an $86 flat fee for sewer charge. The change would be a new flat fee of $43 per billing cycle (every 2 months) for buildings with a 15mm (5/8″) and 20mm (3/4″) meter. It’s mainly residential buildings that have those meter sizes. Those customers would also begin paying $2.35 per m³ (cubic meter) for sewer use based on water consumption. So charged for 100% in and 100% out.
Residential Customers
My family uses about 20 m³ of water per billing cycle. Last bill I paid was $207.91, all in.
I did the math and if you use 18.29m³ you will pay the same as before. If you use less, under the proposed amendment you will save money. My sister, who uses between 5m³ to 7m³ per billing cycle stands to save under this proposed rate plan.
In my opinion, the silver lining in the rate increase is this could encourage residents to use less water and in turn less sewer. If the thought of paying twice to water your lawn doesn’t sit right with you, there are easy rainwater catchment systems you can install. Then you wouldn’t be paying for water or sewer for your garden at all.
Commercial Users
Commercial users will be paying more. Those with 15mm (5/8″), 20mm (3/4″) and 25mm (1″) meters would pay $43 flat fee. For buildings with a meter size of 40mm (1.5″) and 50mm (2″), these being the more common commercial meters so I’m told, the rate is going from $86 to $215 per billing cycle. Up $129 every two months. There is also a section in the bylaw that allowed for 36.37 m³ of sewer use before customers are charged $2.35/m³. This allowance is removed under the amended bylaw. Users would pay 100% of use in and out. There are larger rate increases for commercial buildings with meters of 75mm (3″) to 150mm (6″) but I’m told there are very few 3″ and 4″ meters and no 5″ or 6″ meters in use.
Multi-Family
Multi-family is where it was explained to Council that the current bylaw is most unequal in terms of billing for use. Right now, residential buildings all pay $86 for a sewer hook-up regardless of how many units are within the building. So a single family dwelling pays the same as a 20 unit condominium. Under the bylaw amendment, this would change based on meter size; 15mm (5/8″) and 20mm (3/4″) meters would pay $43, 25mm (1″) would pay a $107.50 flat fee, 40mm (1.5″) would be charged $215 and 50mm (2″) would owe $344 per billing cycle. This is going off the assumption that the larger the meter, the more units are being fed water and the more capacity for water and sewer use. As with commercial and residential, the charge for m³ of sewer use will be $2.35m³ based on water consumption with no allowance of 36.37m³.
Why the change you ask?
- Residential users, specifically residential customers who use less than the average of 22 m³ per billing cycle, are subsidizing the higher users. This new rate plan will alleviate that.
- Both the water and sewer rates had not seen a change since 2015. Council was advised, based on inflation and increasing costs of operations in general, this is unsustainable. They just have to go up.
- So the theory goes, buildings with a larger water meter could conceivably use more water. There is a clause in Schedule B in the bylaw that allows for a change out of meters and downsizing. The fee is $600. Commercial users would recoup that cost in 4.6 months.
The only other thing that is changing is Section 2 of Schedule B. This stipulates bills are due on the 15th of the month and late payment is now subject to 5% of the amount outstanding.
The bylaw is still in draft stages and I urge residents and utility users to read it and comment under the Town of Black Diamond’s public consultation policy.
We want you…
To give us your opinions.
On the Town of Black Diamond’s website, you will find a page for public participation. All current surveys, open houses and draft bylaws (those that do not get passed all in one meeting) are listed there.
If you have any thoughts, questions or you want your opinion heard, please email, call or snail mail the Town of Black Diamond before the next meeting of Council.
You can also reach me by email at v.kloiber@town.blackdiamond.ab.ca or by phone/text at 403-921-2811.
Calling all entrepreneurs
As an elected official with the Town of Black Diamond, I participate on several committees. My term-length position is with Community Futures Highwood.
Prior to being elected I knew of Community Futures but would have been hard pressed to describe what they do. Now I know they do a lot. Here’s an excerpt from their website:
Community Futures Highwood is a community driven, non-profit organization staffed by business professionals and guided by a volunteer Board of Directors. They provide a wide range of small business services and business management tools for people wanting to start, expand, franchise or sell a business. They also run a number of specialized business programs, organize exciting business events and actively work with community and business leaders to foster rural economic growth.
Community Futures Highwood also offers business coaching and training and they put on many business programs throughout the year. These programs are designed to either build skills, provide networking opportunities or help your business start or grow. The staff at Community Futures are incredible. They are kind and want to see you succeed.
This summer, Community Futures Highwood is offering three programs for our local youth:
1. Loans – kids can get help creating a business concept and starting up a business. Up to $10,000 per loan is available with no interest until October. Community Futures is there every step of the way to offer support and guidance.
2. Job search – for those who just want to be an employee for the summer, Community Futures Highwood has partnered with McBride Career Group to get youth into the workforce. Community Futures is also posting jobs on their Facebook page.
3. Mentors – Community Futures is seeking local business people to mentor student on topics such as advertising, networking, invoicing and day-to-day operations.
This program and Community Futures Highwood is funded by your federal tax dollars, so make use of this amazing opportunity and all of the knowledgeable people at Community Futures who want to share their expertise with you. If you know a local youth who could benefit from this creative self-employment program, contact Community Futures Highwood at 403-995-4151 or marisaa@cfhighwood.net or billiec@cfhighwood.net
Poster for Community Futures Highwood’s creative self employment program.
Feed me Seymour!
At my house we eat a lot of tomatoes. We’ve been growing our own for years now and each spring we forget how a few small plants morph into a jungle of leaves and stems in a few short weeks. A downside to growing plants and gardens is the amount of water and time spent watering to get a decent yield.
This year we’ve finally got our watering system figured out. We purchased four rain totes from Dusty Williams and set them up under the deck. From there we have two pumps; one for a solar powered automatic waterer and the other is a remote controlled pump that moves water from the front of the property to the back so we can water the rest of the garden.
Our four rain totes.
We have the tomatoes on a timer and lines running from the totes and up to the plants on the deck above. Each plant gets a dripper head all of its own. No more watering by hand morning and night, the plants get a steady drip, drip, drip of water whenever the timer in the solar powered pump kicks on. The beauty of a timed release of water is the soil remains moist, allowing less water to be used than if it dried out completely. Kind of like a dry sponge will take a lot of water to get it wet as opposed to a damp sponge that will easily soak up any water with which it comes in contact. There is a name for this phenomenon but it escapes me, it’s something like capillarity or capillary action. Feel free to correct me.
Close up of a dripper.
This year our tomatoes are ridiculous. We bought nine plants back in May and planted them in a raised bed on our south facing deck. They are now so big they threaten to cover the kitchen window. I highly recommend this automatic watering system. Last year it was a huge job keeping up with the plants’ water needs and this year we are just sitting back and watching them grow.
Tomato babies; May 23rd.
Monster tomato plants, nine weeks later.
On Council’s agenda for July 18th is a draft of a new bylaw concerning Water Use and Water Conservation; Bylaw 18-06. I’m sharing our set up to hopefully educate and inspire you to design your own water harvesting and automatic watering system. It really wasn’t too hard; I just had my husband do it.
Jokes aside, the system works and all the parts were easily purchased through Lee Valley. I would love to hear from others about how they’ve designed their watering systems.
The solar pump.
Welcome
Welcome to my blog site. This is where I will share my thoughts and insights on life as a small town councillor. Please scroll through my past posts.
A bit about me: I was elected as a first-time councillor in 2017 for the Town of Black Diamond, Alberta. I have a family; my spouse and I and our son. We own a duplex with my sister and share a front and backyard. We try not to argue too often. I am self-employed. I like dogs and horses. I try to do as much of what I enjoy in life as opposed to what I hate. Speaking of my dislikes: I try not to waste, I don’t like olives at all and crowds make me nervous.
I look forward to sharing more about myself and what I see and do about town. Please feel free to contact me or leave comments. This blog is a place not just for me to ramble but for you to present your ideas, complaints, queries and thoughts.
I’ll end this introduction with one of my favourite thoughts, and I think a great way to look at life:
Spend the afternoon. You can’t take it with you. — Annie Dillard
Councillor Kloiber 