The Cranbrook Snowmobile Club recently asked the city to consider donating some surplus grader equipment it has. The problem is that the city had already put the equipment up for tender by the time it received the letter. The club hoped the 1972 Cat grader could be used for grating in the Lumberton area.
Mayor Wayne Stetski noted that by the time the letter had been received, bids had already been tendered and received. Stetski said the highest bid was $9,600, which was higher than anticipated. He said that in terms of cash there is a limit for donation of around $500.
"This is different in terms of it is a piece of equipment that is surplus to the city," he said.
Coun. Bob Whetham said that he thought that since the city advertised the equipment for sale, obtained bids and found them acceptable it is honour bound to accept them.
There is some fine print in the tender that says the city has the right to accept or reject the bids, but it could be challenged.
Coun. Denise Pallesen said she didn't have a problem donating the equipment, but felt it also wouldn't be fair to the bidders.
Council received the letter for information.
Sustainability plan
The Integrated Community Sustainability Plan committee submitted its report to council with some recommendations. Chris Ayling, chair of the committee, noted in the summary that it had essentially fulfilled its purpose of developing a sustainability plan and recommended that the role of monitoring the community's progress towards being sustainable be taken up by city staff. Ayling also recommended using left over committee funds of $61,737 for a multi-year survey tracking fiscal, social and environmental sustainability. He envisions the city using the data from the survey to develop new goals to respond to future challenges.
Coun. Pallesen suggested contacting the College of the Rockies to see if students there would have an interest in conducting the surveys.
Coun. Sharon Cross added that University of the Calgary and the University of British Columbia may also be options to look into.
Coun. Diana J. Scott said she was disappointed to see the committee splitting up, since she thought it could look into other aspects of the community like energy use or economics.
City staff will come back with a report on what the costs would be to develop a professional survey.