Dauphin city councillors got together for their only meeting of July last week.
Added to taxes
Councillors opted to add two outstanding water accounts to the tax rolls in the amount of $334.44. That total is comprised of $206.80 outstanding at 224 5th Ave. SW and $127.64 at 7 Jackson St.
In both cases a final water bill was not paid.
Recycling
Council received the 2025 annual report from Multi-Material Stewardship Manitoba, outlining recycling statistics for the year. The report indicated the City of Dauphin recycled 525,589 kilograms of material in 2025, amounting to 62.8 kilograms on a per capita basis. That result is down seven per cent from 2024 when 567,041 kilograms, 67.8 kilograms per capita, was recycled.
Property bylaw
Deputy city manager Lisa Gaudet updated councillors on the progress of a new comprehensive property enforcement bylaw package. The process involved refinement of the property standards bylaw, general enforcement bylaw, administrative penalties bylaw, vacant and boarded buildings bylaw, derelict buildings bylaw, and amendments to the fees, fines, and charges bylaw.
Gaudet said the overall package has been reviewed by the city’s lawyers and represents “one of the most significant updates to the city’s property enforcement framework in many years and will provide clearer, more consistent, and more effective enforcement tools.”
The new bylaws will be reviewed by council at its next planning and priorities meeting.
Accounts approved
Council authorized the issuance of 84 cheques totalling $1,026,386.71 to cover outstanding accounts. Also authorized were 27 electronic transactions totalling $242,959.19.
Building permits
Councillors were informed there were five City of Dauphin building permits issued in June for work totalling $218,200.
There were also two Department of Labour permits issued with a total value of $842,117.
That brings the year-to-date totals to 20 City of Dauphin permits representing $1,539,710 and eight Department of Labour permits valued at $11,318,210.79.
When other City of Dauphin permits are considered, there has been $12,857,920.79 in valued added construction in Dauphin so far this year.
Funding agreement
Given an increase in provincial funding for the development of Prairie Park Place Early Learning Centre council agreed to the mayor and city manager signing a new funding agreement related to the project. The amended agreement was necessary when the province increased its contribution from $6,561,116.66 to $8,074,527.14.
State of emergency
Council passed a resolution accepting as information the circumstances of the State of Emergency declaration made on July 1, by mayor David Bosiak pursuant to the Emergency Measures Act. City manager Sharla Griffiths said the resolution was prepared with an eye toward public transparency as the declaration was not made through a formal council decision.
Municipal letter
Also related to the flood event, council accepted as information a joint municipal letter to provincial and federal representatives requesting continued support for disaster recovery, enhanced flood forecasting and river monitoring, improved emergency communications, infrastructure renewal, agriculture recovery, strengthened emergency management resources, and the timely restoration of full services at the Dauphin Regional Health Center.
The letter was the product of a recent meeting between municipal leaders, CAOs and municipal emergency co-ordinators from affected communities to discuss the ongoing impacts of the flood, identify common recovery challenges, and establish shared priorities for regional advocacy.
Financial assistance
Council passed a resolution formally requesting disaster financial assistance from the province to assist with eligible public sector response and recovery costs incurred as a result of the flood. The resolution also called on the provincial government to extend DFA benefits to eligible residents, businesses, agriculture producers, and property owners who have incurred eligible losses and expenses. The resolution is procedural step, Bosiak said, which kickstarts actions at senior levels of government to get mony flowing.
“The City, right from July 2 or July 3, has been in contact with DFA,” Griffiths added.
“They know that this resolution was coming, so there should not have been any delays for any residents creating a DFA claim and we’ve heard anecdotally that the province is accepting those applications.”
Better monitoring
Council passed a resolution calling on the province to install additional flow an water level monitoring stations upstream and within the city of Dauphin and provide riverbank elevation data to improve flood forecasting, emergency preparedness, and long-term flood resilience.
Currently there are only two such stations on the on the river in the vicinity, one at the Vermillion Dam and the second where the rivers crosses Hwy. 20 north of Dauphin.
Diversion
Councillors called on the province to work collaboratively with the City and neighbouring municipalities to evaluate the feasibility of a Vermillion River floodway to reduce future flood impacts while avoiding adverse conditions for those downstream. The resolution called on the Province to commit to the necessary hydrological studies, engineering assessments, planning, design and construction of a potential Vermillion River floodway.
“One of the things that we also discussed with EMO was the concept of a floodway for the Vermillion River,” Griffiths said, most people’s idea of a floodway relates to the Winnipeg floodway or the Portage diversion.
“However, talking to EMO, there’s communities that have 78 residents that the river is diverted if it goes up above certain levels. So, um again, when we look at Dauphin being a city, and it’s the largest urban concentration in the Parkland, I think it’s valid for us to ask the province to entertain a discussion about this.”