City Of Dauphin Attending AMM Convention

City of Dauphin representatives are attending the 20th Association of Manitoba Municipalities convention.

The three days are some of the best times to speak face to face with provincial ministers.

“The premier and all the ministers will be in attendance, where we get to ask ministers firsthand the questions, and they respond to us. Joe Massey, of the AMM, said that as far as he understood, this is the only entity, in Manitoba, that gets access to all ministers at our conference.”

Sharla Griffiths shares some of the more significant topics she expects will get covered.

“I think there’s going to be some infrastructure funding programs that are going to be covered. As well as a code of conduct and speaking to council member’s actions. “

Dozens of municipalities from across the province have sponsored a resolution calling for Manitoba Municipal Relations to undo changes to its road and bridge program.

Speaking about day one, “It has been great! We had three council members come into the new council members orientation. I attended it as well as our deputy city manager.”

Some of the breakout sessions during the convention are on the Traffic and Transportation Modernization and the Sustainable Watersheds Act: An update on the New Streamlined Process to Provincial Drainage Approvals and the Evolution of Conservation Districts into Watershed Districts.

The RM of Dauphin is putting forward a resolution that asks the province to enhance rural transportation programs for seniors and the mobility disadvantaged, and tie funding to inflation.

Details: Contributed by Josh Sigurdson; Published: Nov 27, 2018 - 5:00 am

Concerned individuals worried about the effects of climate change came together over the weekend to discuss the problem.

They held a meeting in the Watson Art Centre on Sunday.

“I just find it so interesting that so little is said about the solutions to climate change. Climate change is science, it’s fact, it’s coming. It’s coming fast, and it will mean big changes to our lives. It’s already costing the economy, I think they said 5 percent to fix up the floods and the damage from the wildfires, and all that. We just think we should be proactive. Our government should be proactive in turning those costs towards mitigation before the damage happens.”

Kate Storey, an organic farmer around Dauphin, organized the meeting and says the trend is towards a cleaner economy led by urban youth.

“We see a lot of change coming in the consumer goods that we buy. Right now, the short warranties, things wear out. You would think that governments would be starting to improve consumer standards or manufacturing standards so that things would last longer. That would be a really simple way to reduce our use of resources and save on the pollution.”

Storey hopes to organize another meeting to discuss climate change sometime early in the New Year.

Details: Contributed by Josh Sigurdson; Published: Nov 27, 2018 - 5:00 am

Being on the ice right now could lead to a situation where you fall in.

Christopher Love, Water Smart coordinator for the lifesaving society Manitoba Branch, says if you are near the water you should have a water safety plan that should include taking a friend, keeping children within an arm’s length, and alcohol or other intoxicants are huge factors in drowning deaths in Manitoba.

Brian Kotak, managing director of the Manitoba Wildlife Federation, says it’s a good idea to have an emergency kit when ice fishing or hunting. The kit should include a waterproof bag with something to start a fire such as a match or lighter, a signalling device in case a search team is looking for you such as a mirror, and a blanket or something to keep warm.

Love says the top 3 activities people are involved in before drowning are land, ice, or air transportation, the second one is boating, and the third is non-aquatic. All three categories have people that are not intending on getting in the water.

Those three categories cover 70 percent of drowning deaths in Manitoba.

Details: Contributed by Isaac Wihak; Published: Nov 26, 2018 - 2:23 pm

The City of Dauphin is removing 88 Elm Trees this year.

The city is contacting Brandon Busy Beaver Services, of Brandon, with a bid of $30,450.00 to complete the work.

The contracted company has until March 4th to remove and properly dispose of them.

Manitoba Sustainable Development identified the diseased trees.

This year’s numbers are down from 95 trees cut down last year.

In 2017 50 trees were removed in the city.

Details: Contributed by Josh Sigurdson; Published: Nov 26, 2018 - 11:01 am

There is a Christmas tree at the Dauphin Market Place Mall for the Angel Tree.

Each angel on the Angel Tree represents a child, people can pick from the tree to buy a Christmas gift for the child.

They are looking for any kind of gift for any gender and age. They are accepting monetary donations as well.

They are also looking for more volunteers. You can call the Dauphin Friendship Centre to sign up if you would like.

Robin Gambler, the coordinator of Angel Tree, says Angel Tree is going on until December 16^th.

Details: Contributed by Isaac Wihak; Published: Nov 26, 2018 - 6:36 am

Roads are being brought up during the Association of Manitoba Municipalities annual convention.

“The one that has been the most hot topic is the elimination of the municipal roads and bridge program. A lot of municipalities relied on the funding that was provided by that. Now the government is switching to a federal program.

There hasn’t been a lot of details provided on that yet. So there is a little bit of hesitation from a lot of municipals as to what does this mean. But the AMM has presented a resolution on that as well. So, we’re hoping that we will be able to get some answers and hopefully the new program will suffice.”

Nicole Chychota says this is an excellent opportunity for our representatives to network and get a better understanding of what others are doing in their own areas. Using what they learned, they'll take the information back and see how they can improve things here at home.

“We’ve been preparing for the last few weeks. Looking into what is going to be discussed at the convention. We’ve had input from our local fire department on our resolution that’s being presented as well. So, we’re a little bit informed on their opinion on the matter. “

The convention takes place over the next three days in Winnipeg.

Details: Contributed by Josh Sigurdson; Published: Nov 26, 2018 - 5:03 am

The RM of Dauphin received two awards recognizing their municipal roads.

Nicole Chychota says they received the Armtec Shield for Best Maintained System of Municipal Roads and the Hitrac Ltd. Shield for Most Improved Municipal Roads, both for District 5.

“Our public works staff is amazing! It’s not an easy thing to do, marinating our infrastructure. We have a lot of roads in the Rural Municipality of Dauphin. it takes a lot of hard work and dedication from the public works staff to make sure that roads are at a good quality.”

The awards were given out by the Manitoba Good Roads Association.

“This is the first time in a long time that it happened. Long before any of our staff was here, I think, was the last time. So it’s quite an honour.”

“I think ultimately, them winning this award just demonstrates our commitment and our public works department commitment to providing quality work to our citizens.”

Details: Contributed by Josh Sigurdson; Published: Nov 24, 2018 - 7:06 am

At this point in the year, the ice is not strong enough to be on. Falling through the ice and drowning is a very real possibility.

Before going on the ice there needs to have been a long steady freeze, which means no fluctuating temperatures, snow or flowing water under the ice.

In an area without moving water, you will have to wait at least 5 or 6 days with the consistent freezing weather before its safe.

Christopher Love, the Water Smart Coordinator for the Life Saving Society Manitoba Branch, says 70 percent of drownings occur between April and September.

Between 2009 and 2015 only 3 percent of all drowning deaths took place in the Dauphin area, which is a total of 5 people.

Details: Contributed by Isaac Wihak; Published: Nov 24, 2018 - 7:08 am

An open discussion about Climate Action is taking place in Dauphin tomorrow.

“We plan on having presentations on different aspects — for instance, housing. Home heating is a big user of energy. We’re bringing in somebody who is passive houses where no heating energy is required. So he’s all up on the latest on that. I’ll talk a little bit about the economy in general. We have somebody else talking about agriculture,” said Kate Storey, the prospective candidate for the Green Party in our riding.

They are holding an open discussion and inviting everyone in Dauphin and around the Parkland to come out.

“We’re talking about things that affect everybody. The changes that come with climate change will come slowly. But they are expected to have a big effect on our kids. The kids we have right now will be hugely affected. So we should be talking about ways that we can know what’s going on and we can help.”

Storey says it's taking place at the Watson Art Centre, in the old Firehall at 2.

“We would love to hear from people who are worried about how this might hurt what they do now. People’s jobs are important, and it’s good to get everybody there and talk about your fears and talk about the opportunities, and just have a discussion.”

The International Panel on Climate Change predicts that soon we will experience significant changes in the global economy.