CREMONA - Municipalities in the district continue to work together to promote tourism and business development, says the Village of Cremona's chief administrative officer.
In his monthly report to council, Rudy Friesen said a recent meeting in Sundre brought economic development officers together to work on common goals.
“We are working on combined methods to drive business and tourism in the region, for collective benefit,” said Friesen. “We have some website sharing and linking ideas that we hope to implement in the coming months.”
Economic development officers from Mountain View County, Carstairs, Sundre, Didsbury and Olds all attended the meeting, he said.
Friesen also reported on the recent Mountain View Regional Emergency Management Association spring meeting.
“We reviewed the training schedule for emergency management in the region,” he said. “Portions of this schedule include group municipal training and individual municipal training exercises, additional individual training for each community’s director of emergency management, and some regulatory updates from the province.”
The meeting included directors and deputy directors of emergency management from each community in the county, as well as RCMP, Alberta Health Services representatives, and peace officers, he said.
Friesen also reported on a recent meeting with the provincial Minister of Transportation.
“At an invitation from MLA Nathan Cooper, I attended a luncheon with our minister of Transportation, Rajan Sawhney” he said. “When questioned, she said that municipal collaboration and support needs to be a priority for the province.”
CAOs from the district municipalities also recently met at the county office.
“We discussed variances in population numbers used for certain requisitions, as well as some agenda items for the upcoming MAP (municipal area partnership) meeting,” he said. “We welcomed Brent Williams to the group as the new CAO of Olds.”
Friesen also updated council on recent planning and development activities.
“There has been a lot of activity this spring, regarding subdivisions, rezoning requests, and development applications,” he said. “Some of the items are now before council. This is a positive sign of continued interest in the village, both from a residential and from a commercial perspective.”
