Earth Day Encourages Environmental Action

April 2015

The controversy surrounding ownership of Brandon’s street railway is quite similar to what municipal politicians struggle with today when embarking on major capital projects. While City Council generally agreed that a street railway system would benefit Brandon, where the money and employees to operate the system should come from was a more complicated issue. On November 6th, 1911, Brandon City Council passed a resolution endorsing municipal ownership of the street railway system, as councillors feared the granting of a privately owned franchise “would practically take away from the City the control of its own streets.”

Brandon’s citizenry was divided over who should be responsible for operating the street railway system. On November 9th, 1911, a plebiscite was held to determine whether municipal ownership or a private franchise should control the street railway system. The citizens of Brandon voted for a private franchise to operate the street railway system, and ownership of the franchise was put out to tender. Several companies bid on the franchise, but the City ended up placing the street railway system under municipal control anyway. In spite of the ownership controversy, the Brandon street railway system was completed in time for the Dominion Fair. Unfortunately, operating a street railway system in Brandon proved impractical in the long run, and by 1932 the system was being shut down and rails were being removed from Brandon streets.

~Source: City Council Archives~

From The Vault:

The Rise & Fall Of The

Brandon Streetcar

Connections

Earth Day is celebrated each year on April 22nd. It was founded by U.S. Senator

Gaylord Nelson in 1970 to bring environmental issues to the national agenda. It has

grown from 20 million Americans celebrating Earth Day in 1970 to more than one

billion people celebrating it worldwide.

For the past few years, the City of Brandon has joined with the Brandon

Environment Committee to celebrate Earth Day and promote

environmental stewardship—however

the spring weather has been

somewhat unpredictable.

So this year, the City and Brandon

Environment Committee are

partnering with the Brandon Global

Market to host a kick-off party in

celebration of National Environment

Week. This will take place at the

Global Market (12th Street & Rosser

Avenue) on Saturday, May 30th.

Activities will include local entertainment, giveaways, and local vendors—be sure to

check out next month’s edition of the Connections newsletter for more information!

ADOPT AN ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION INTO YOUR LIFE!

Compost your organics (Get a Green Cart)

Purchase fair trade products

Donate unwanted items to a local thrift store

Conserve water and energy

Use reusable grocery bags

Commute to work by carpooling or active

transportation

Find more tips from the Brandon Environment

Committee here!

Above: Have you celebrated Earth Day with us before?

The City of Brandon’s Community Development Department is always busy, but the

month of March saw some very interesting news and events.

The Community Development Department

successfully received $25,000.00 from the

CN EcoConnexions grant that will go

towards “greener parks and pathways”

throughout the City of Brandon, as well as

development of the green space along 6th

Street and Princess Avenue, adjacent to the

new A.R. McDiarmid Civic Complex.

Community Development was also the

successful recipient of a $15,000 grant from

the TD Green Streets program, funding

which will also be dedicated to the

development of the greenspace next to the

A.R. McDiarmid Civic Complex.

March was very busy with the first ever Seniors Summit ever held in the City of

Brandon. The event took place March 11th and 12th at the Keystone Centre. The

event had over 200 registered participants from across Manitoba. The Summit was

opened with a keynote address from renowned broadcaster Lloyd Robertson, with

several breakout sessions covering many different topics held throughout the two-day

event. The Summit concluded with keynote speaker Meg Soper, whose address was

opened up to the public to attend, including many employees from the City of

Brandon. The feedback from this Summit has been phenomenal.

The Community Development Department is also pleased to be the host site for the

“Stomping Out Stigma” youth event, which will take place April 20th at the Youth

Centre located at the A.R. McDiarmid Civic Complex. Students from across

southwestern Manitoba will attend this event to learn about mental health issues and

how to cope with them and help others.

If anyone is interested in participating in any upcoming tree planting events taking

place this summer or fall, please contact Rachelle Levesque at

r.levesque@brandon.ca or call 204-729-2145.

Many readers may be like me and

have attended more than their share of

strategic planning sessions destined to

create mission statements, vision

statements, or a SWOT analysis. I’m

usually the facilitator’s worst night-

mare; I want to go too fast and “jump to

solutions”. However that was not the

case at City Council’s recent planning

session. Council came well-prepared

with numerous ideas and issues that

members have gleaned over the past

months from their constituents. We

were expertly lead by a qualified

facilitator who helped us through a

process of honing the ideas and

gradually pulling together a solid set of

priorities. Council will meet soon to

finalize details and establish time-lines.

I, along with every Councillor ,wish to

ensure the work gets legs and not sit

on a shelf. While final details will soon

be released, some of the prominent

priorities include: Keystone Centre

governance and long-term funding;

Infrastructure, drainage & water quali-

ty; Accelerating economic development

opportunities; Planning and action on

recreation facilities such as field sports,

golf course and other projects; City

involvement on social issues such as

housing, homelessness and urban ab-

original projects; and further review of

municipal taxation and alternative fund-

ing sources. Councillors were extreme-

ly engaged and passionate about the

process but were very collegial and

came together as a real team. I’m very

proud of the efforts of our new Council

and I thank each of them for making

such a significant contribution to the

process. Stay tuned for the final

release of the Strategic Plan soon!

Council Connections

By Mayor Rick Chrest Spring Has Sprung For Brandon Community Development!

Above & Right: The first ever Brandon Seniors Summit,

held March 11th and 12th at the Keystone Centre, was

very well-attended.

Above: Volunteer to plant trees with us!

Each year, the second week of April is recognized across North America as National Public Safety

Telecommunicators Week and is dedicated to the women and men who serve as public safety

communicators. Originating in the USA, Canada has adopted the theme as well.

Within the City of Brandon, public safety communicators are employed in the Emergency Communications

Department. Located within the No.1 Fire Hall on 19th Street North, this department provides three very

distinct public safety communicator services.

As one of two Public Safety Answering Points in Manitoba (the other the responsibility of the City of

Winnipeg) the Department takes all 911 calls from outside of the perimeter of Winnipeg. It is the

responsibility of the 24/7 team to determine the location of the caller and the nature of the emergency. With that

information, 911 operators will determine the appropriate response:

If a call is of a purely emergency medical services nature, it will be transferred to the ambulance dispatch service

operated by the Medical Transportation Coordination Centre (MTCC) who will take over the call to completion.

If a call is a policing matter, the 911 operator will determine the appropriate police service to respond and will transfer

the call.

If a call requires a fire department response, the 911 operator will determine the appropriate fire department to

respond.

If a multi-agency response is required, the 911 operator notifies all appropriate 1st responders or transfers calls as the

situation demands.

The Department also provides police dispatch service for

the Brandon Police Service and Dakota Ojibway

Police Service. Though both dispatch relationships are

different the core of their responsibilities include the

monitoring of police resources and systems with

computer aided dispatch and monitoring systems.

Responding to police service members requests for

information on vehicles and individuals. In addition,

police dispatchers respond to public requests for police

assistance. They are the point of contact with people who

have called for police assistance.

The third service delivered by the department is as

Manitoba’s Fire Dispatch Centre. In this capacity, after a

911 operator has determined that a fire department

response is appropriate for the callers situation they then

dispatch fire departments.

This requires an intimate and comprehensive knowledge of Manitoba’s geography and the various fire departments’

capabilities and response areas. To dispatch, fire chiefs are notified via a paging system and verbal instructions are given to

provide the fire departments with relevant information in an expeditious manner. Fire Chiefs will work with the dispatcher if

additional resources are required on scene. To do all of this, the Emergency Communications Department has an approved

staffing level of 4 rotating shifts of 6 people.

The second week of April is intended to recognize those people who work as the “first” First Responder. On a daily basis,

these 911 operators and dispatchers deal with the misery of life that is encountered by our less fortunate people. They deal

in a professional and caring manner regardless of incident, the caller, or the circumstances.

During National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, please remember those City of Brandon employees who

work at the Emergency Communications Department! They are the essential first link in getting the right response to

any emergency, virtually anywhere in Manitoba.

April 12th—18th Is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week

ABOVE: The Emergency Communications Department at the No.1 Fire Hall.

The City of Brandon offers a wide range of career options for people interested in

making a difference in their community. To apply for a job with the City, check out our

website at http://jobbank.brandon.ca/. All of our opportunities which are open to

external applicants can be found there.

Once you’ve found a posting that is of interest to you, take a look through the

posting’s Mandatory Qualifications & Experience. The job description (check out the

link in the upper left hand corner of the posting page) provides more details on the

duties and responsibilities of the position as well as the required skills, knowledge and

abilities.

Your application should include a cover letter, a resume, and an online application.

In your cover letter be sure to include information about how your qualifications are a

match for those of the position and highlight other skills you have that may be relevant.

Your resume should list your education, training, and work experiences, as well as

details about prior responsibilities and abilities that would be transferable to the City’s

position. In order to ensure your application will be considered for the selection

process, your cover letter and resume should tell us that you have the qualifications

requested— for example, if the job requires a driver’s license, include in your

application somewhere that you have one.

The next step is to submit your application to the City of Brandon online. If you need

access to a computer, or would like the opportunity to talk to our Human Resources

staff about the competition, bring your printed resume and cover letter into the Human

Resources office, located on the 2nd floor of Brandon City Hall, 410-9th

Street.

To access the application form, select the “Submit Application” button found at the top

of the posting page for the position to which you are applying. There are two boxes at

the top for attaching documents (i.e. your cover letter, resume or certifications). Next,

fill in your personal contact information and select “Submit”. (When filling in your

information, please do not leave spaces between your postal code and phone number.

Ex: R7A6A2.) The next screen should confirm that your application has been

received. To send more than two attachments, confirm your application has been

received, or to ask about the competition, please contact Human Resources at

204-729-2245 or by email at hr@brandon.ca.

In 2014, the City of Brandon welcomed 151 new hires to serve and build our

community. Good luck to all applicants and thank you for your interest in employment

with the City of Brandon!

Mon, April 13th, 2015

“On The Edge of Disaster!

Brandon’s Assiniboine

River Story”

~7 p.m., Western Manitoba

Centennial Auditorium~

Join the City of Brandon &

the Brandon Emergency

Support Team in an evening

of personal stories,

spectacular photos, and live

music, all combining to paint

a behind-the-scenes picture

of Brandon on the edge of

disaster as we fought the

rising Assiniboine River

waters in 2011 & 2014.

Tickets are $10 each & are

available at the Western

Manitoba Centennial

Auditorium Box Office, by

calling 204-728-9510, or

visiting www.wmca.ca.

Connections Calendar

Connections Contact Info

City of Brandon Corporate Communications

410- 9th Street

Brandon, MB R7A 6A2

P. 204-729-2590

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Visit the

City of Brandon’s

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Calendar Here:

http://www.brandon.ca/

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