The RM of Ritchot held their regularly scheduled council meeting on March 1, 2022. Councillor Ron Mamchuk was not in attendance.
The meeting included a discussion regarding a bylaw entitled “Use of Municipal Resources During Election Period.” According to CAO Mitch Duval, this issue was not yet ready to be put to a vote, but he wanted to explain the situation to members of council in preparation for the eventual vote.
Duval explained that this bylaw was created as a result of the province passing Bill 25.
“The intent of the bill is to provide an equal and more level playing field for all municipal candidates when it comes time for the elections,” Duval said. “The assumption is that there have maybe been some municipal candidates in the past who weren’t quite playing by the rules, leading the province to implement some kind of safety procedures or regulation to help control this matter.”
A template was provided to the RM by the province in order to ensure that rules are followed to the letter.
One notable aspect of the new rule system is that candidates running in municipal elections cannot use the municipality’s logo in their advertisements.
The aspect of this bylaw that will be voted on in the near future revolves around the enforcement of the new code of ethics.
Duval says that he has spoken to the province about this matter, as it puts council in a bit of an awkward position.
“We are supposed to be enforcing what could be our future bosses,” Duval says.
The province has not provided specific examples of how to enforce these rules, so Duval hopes that a little more information can be given before they get to the vote.
Council had several relevant points to bring up in regards to this matter and Duval indicated that he would discuss the entire issue with his fellow CAOs of other Manitoban communities.
Next on the agenda, Duval spoke about the Taché-Ritchot Boundary Realignment Study, which had been previously commissioned. The next stage of this study will now be undertaken for an estimated cost of $85,000.
The cost for this second phase will be split with the RM of Taché, and Taché’s council has already passed their motion to continue moving forward with the plan.
Ritchot’s council unanimously voted to pass the motion as well.
Finally, Duval pointed out that there had been a significant uptick in Public Works hours and overtime due to the large amount of snowfall this year and the need to remove it and keep the municipality’s roadways safe.