Athabasca's tennis players are getting a helping hand to give them a place to relieve themselves a little closer to the courts.
Town council voted unanimously during its June 19 meeting to have public works help tennis players get a secure portable toilet installed by the tennis courts near Cornwall.
Marie Esterhuizen and Andries Esterhuizen presented before town council to discuss the proposal. Andries Esterhuizen said tennis is booming in Athabasca, with Marie Esterhuizen teaching a tennis class of 35 children. But this has made the lack of washroom facilities at the tennis courts an issue, he said.
"If you have 35 little ones for a week rotating through a tennis court, it doesn't matter what you do, there needs to be a bathroom break sometime," he said during the meeting, adding the kids right now are walking over to the hospital to use washroom facilities there. "Quite a walk for some of these little ones. Plus, you expose them too. We want to keep children out of hospitals as much as possible."
However, Andries Esterhuizen admitted there had been an issue with a portable toilet previously installed here being vandalized, causing sanitary waste to get dangerously close to the water treatment system nearby.
Public works utility operator Terry Kosinski said there should be a way to secure a portable toilet there to prevent vandalism.
"I wouldn't be against putting a port-o-potty there and securing it so that can't happen," Kosinski said.
The council motion also said permission would be given for the tennis groups to install a public notice board near the courts.
Remuneration policy approved
Town council unanimously approved a new council remuneraiton procedure and expensice polciy during its June 19 meeting.
The procedure and policy comes from an external council remuneration committee, who recommended bumping up basic mayor and councillor pay by $100 a month starting January 1, 2019. The policy also states any councillor going to a meeting requesting payment by the town should have a resolution from council approving it.
Getting council approval for a meeting is departure from how things previously worked, mayor Colleen Powell said during the meeting.
"That's pretty standard most places, but we've never done that," Powell said.
Powell also suggested council consider tying council salary increases to staff salary increases, meaning a one per cent council pay increase would equate to a one per cent staff pay increase.
However, Traynor said council should probably stick with the recommendations from the committee, which was made up of members of the outside public.
"We asked members of the public to come in and take their time and look over what they thought was effective payments and approvals for our pay," Traynor said. "I'd just like to go with what they have for now."
The pay bump means the mayor's pay will increase from $1,500 per month to $1,600 per month while councillors will increase from $1,000 per month to $1,100 per month, all beginning January 1, 2019.
New Helipad
Town council said it is supportive of an intiative to install a new helipad in town for use by the STARS Air Ambulance.
A delegation presented before council to propose a location for a new helipad to be built near the Athabasca Healthcare Centre, after NAV Canada said the current one could no longer be used.
Brian Scott represented a group of volunteers putting the project together and said the location, the optimal one for local medical staff, is partially on town property. The location will also require some work, he said.
"The ground there is hilly," Scott said. "Ground there has to be levelled and thatr is going to take a fair bit of money."
Council voted unanimously in favour of a motion to direct administration to ensure the proposed location is acceptable for use.
Coun. John Traynor said he the town should do as much as it can to support the project.
"I really appreciate the work that's gone into this already," Traynor said during the meeting. "It's something I think we're greatly lacking for our town and I'm highly in favour of it."
