Area municipal leaders are looking ahead to 2021, with all hoping to see local businesses and community organizations thrive coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although when the pandemic itself will end remains to be seen, the leaders are all hoping it will be sometime in the new year.
Didsbury mayor Rhonda Hunter says she hopes to see the town continue to grow its business community and to support existing businesses.
“We are working hard to find ways to offer reasonable and inviting incentives for our current businesses and citizens base,” said Hunter. “The development expansion over in Shantz Crossing is also exciting.
“For all the businesses that are working so hard already, we want to see them survive and thrive coming out of the pandemic. We want to make sure that they are going to be OK too.”
Construction of the new skatepark will get underway in June and “we are certainly excited about the library expansion and that is going to be part of our discussion going into 2021,” she said.
Carstairs Mayor Lance Colby said supporting and promoting local businesses in town will be a priority in 2021.
“I’m hoping that in 2021 this COVID is going to be handled and take a back seat and not a front seat again and because all the problems that it has created,” said Colby. “I’m hoping that the businesses will be able to survive this in Carstairs.
“We are looking forward to have a year of development. We have some good prospects for next year and I’m looking forward to seeing our population increase.”
Bruce Beattie is the reeve of Mountain View County.
“For 2021 let’s try to keep the boat stable and straight forward,” said Beattie. “We’ve certainly got notice from the province that MSI (municipal sustainability initiative program) is certainly on the table and whether cuts will be made there. So we are very uncertain what our revenue stream is going to look like in 2021.
“We’ve worked hard to make sure that our staffing levels are right and our priorities are right. We are looking at every aspect of our operations to make sure we are operating efficiently.”
The county is “not planning to get rid of employees” in 2021, he said.
“We’ve reached a level (of staffing) where we can deliver the service most efficiently and at the same time provide economic activity in the county,” he said.
Completing the Bergen Road upgrade paving project will be a priority in 2021, he said.
