Stirling council schedules Road Rehabilitation and Oiling Program

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Jeremy Appel
Westwind Weekly News

Stirling village council voted at its June 6 meeting to approve its Road Rehabilitation and Oiling Program that is scheduled to last from this summer into 2021.
“Our plan is to do most of the community over the next four years,” said Mayor Trevor Lewington.
“That means building up the base on most of our roads, adding oil — basically a cold mix, tamping it down — because some of our roads are in need of repair.”
The plan is to do eight blocks for each of the next four years.
“The first chunk is tentatively scheduled for the end of June,” Lewington said, adding that it’ll be followed by another in September.
Village administration is hoping to have the rest of the rehabilitation done by the end of 2019, but made a four-year plan due to the uncertainty surrounding the provincially-funded Municipal Sustainability Initiative.
“We’re trying to split up the work as our budget allows,” said Lewington. “MSI capital is what we’re using primarily.
“We have to be careful that we don’t commit to a grand master plan that there will be no funding for.
“The province has said something is coming, but we don’t know the amounts, the details and what that might look like.”

Fire chief resigns

Stirling is looking for a new chief for its volunteer firefighting force, due to the resignation of Thomas Hodder after five years at the helm.
“He’s indicated that he wants to say as part of the fire department,” said Lewington, who’s meeting with the department on June 11 to see if they have a particular nominee in mind to be the new chief.
“Although the chief is appointed by council, we typically respect the nomination of the Fire Department Association.”
The association will present its plans for the future to village council at its next meeting on June 20.

Property tax auction scheduled for Aug. 14

The village is slated to auction off a vacant, unfinished basement whose owner is delinquent on their taxes.
Under the Municipal Government Act, if someone doesn’t pay property taxes for two years, that property gets auctioned off to the public to make up for lost revenue.
“When people don’t pay their property taxes in the second year, then it rolls over to the ability for us to commit a tax sale,” said Lewington.
The owner of the property in question has until Aug. 14 to pay the taxes they owe, otherwise it’ll go up for sale.
“If they pay all the back taxes and all the interest, even right up to that moment on Aug. 14, then it’s theirs,” Lewington said. “No harm, no foul.”
The bidding starts at the reserve price of $40,000, which is based on the assessed value of the property.

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