Council adds to centennial celebration budget

The Village of Burns Lake (VBL) council is allocating $25,000 from the Comfor reserve to the 100 anniversary celebration 2023 reserve, for the delivery of the centennial celebrations next year. Burns Lake turns 100 years old on Dec. 6, 2023. Since 2013, the village has been allocating $2,000 to the celebration reserve account annually.

According to a report from VBL staff, the request to increase funding reflects the expense of delivering a large community celebration. By committing to increase the budget, council is providing the funds to deliver events throughout the year. The increased financial commitment will also provide leverage funds for the committee to seek other funding sources.

In addition, $10,000 is allocated from the 100 anniversary celebration 2023 reserve and put towards VBL tourism staff wages to organize and deliver the celebration, as they have indicated to council that they are willing to take the lead to form a centennial committee, and to oversee events leading up to the celebration throughout the year.

READ MORE: Village of Burns Lake council applies for grant

Village council upgrading technology

Council has approved an allocation of funds to improve technology in the the council chambers. A total of $16,230.47 was allocated from COVID-19 relief funds for the upgrades, which will improve council’s ability to conduct meetings over zoom.

In addition, $7,700 was allocated from the same fund for the implementation of eScribe, which is a cloud based meeting and agenda management tool. It’s built to have help governmental, educational and health care institutions maintain records and handle all stages of the meeting life cycle. For meeting participants, it has features such as agenda management, session management and meeting logistics.

READ MORE: Arts council next show coming up on Feb. 25

Council opens up in-person meetings to public

A decision was made to allow council meetings to be attended in person by the public once again. “I fully support this idea. I feel like there’s a disconnect with the community from what goes on in these meetings and it would be great to give people more of an opportunity to understand how decisions are made,” Councillor Charlie Rensby said during the meeting.

Members of the public who wish to attend the meetings will be required to wear masks, but will not be required to show a vaccine passport because local governments are considered essential. For those who don’t wish to attend due to fear of the spread of COVID-19, there is also an option to attend the meetings via a zoom link.

In every council meeting, there are two public comment and question periods which take place at the beginning and end of the meeting. Persons from the audience my address council on a matter for no more then two minutes. Meetings take place every other Tuesday, and a full meeting schedule can be found on the Village of Burns Lake website.