Council hosted two delegations at their first public meeting of 2025, held on January 7. First to report was the RM’s emergency measures officer, Harold Schlamp.
Coming in remote from his vacation, Schamp reported that stakeholder conversations will continue to take place by phone until his return in March.
At this stage, he awaits the upcoming provincial environmental conditions report, which is due in February, which will look at the snow accumulation and how it may influence springtime flood forecasts.
In the meantime, Schlamp says he sees great potential in the currently unused portion of the civic building that once operated as council chambers.
“When we had the opening of the facility, I went and toured it like everyone and it struck me that this would be a great location for a municipal evacuation registration centre for us,” Schlamp says. “It has literally 24-hour access, it’s key-fobbed, and it has infrastructure. We’ve discussed that and it’s been written into our emergency plan.”
Only in large emergency situations, he says, would this kind of facility be needed.
The next report came from the municipality’s economic development officer, Ryan Faucher, who recommended that council proceed with the approval of an electrification study.
Ritchot has been invited to collaborate with the RM of Macdonald in this study in order to determine how the costs should be apportioned.
The study, led by Eco-West, will assess Ritchot’s current gas-powered municipal equipment inventory, including trucks, mowers, tractors, Zambonis, and heavy equipment.
“It’s just to get a really good measure on how much we use them, how much fuel we use, and which equipment is potentially replaceable [with EV] based on what’s on the market,” Faucher told The Citizen. “For example, there is a Monarch tractor that replaces a 45-horsepower tractor that is completely electric. It works particularly good in groundskeeping.”
Ritchot’s investment into this study will come to around $15,000. It is anticipated that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) will cover the first 80 percent with the final 20 percent shared by the RMs of Ritchot and Macdonald.
Results of the study will help Faucher determine how best to apply for funding from the Green Municipal Fund (GMF), a program run through the FCM. The two EV trucks currently owned by Ritchot were obtained through this program.
This isn’t the first such collaboration between the two neighbouring municipalities. Faucher says they have, in the past, purchased equipment at the same time in order to benefit from quantity pricing.
It’s been one year since Ritchot invested in its first EV vehicle, now in use by the works and operations department.
“We have about 45,000-plus kilometers on it and it’s working out for us,” Faucher says. “We’re again optimistic that this [fund] will provide other savings opportunities.”
