DIDSBURY - Town council has approved $9,000 in new funding to help the Didsbury Lions Club’s shuttle bus service meet financial challenges.
Club members appeared as a delegation before the recent council meeting, held in person and on YouTube.
The Didsbury Lions Club owns and operates the shuttle bus, which provides transportation for local seniors and others.
“The Didsbury Lions shuttle bus program, which is a well-used service, is experiencing financial difficulties since the COVID pandemic,” chief administrative officer Ethan Gorner said in a briefing note to council.
“Expenses such as insurance, inspections, fuel, maintenance costs and wages have gone up considerably. Previously the Didsbury Lions Club was able to use members who volunteered to drive; however, they now have to pay drivers.”
Mayor Rhonda Hunter says the service is invaluable to local seniors.
“There is ongoing need for rural transportation,” Hunter told the Albertan in a follow-up interview. “We allocated $9,000 for 2023 through the community grant program.”
Council passed a second related motion: “That the strategic planning committee, in their review of the community grants policy, focus specifically on ways to enhance it to prioritize funding to critical service providers that don’t already receive funding from the town.”
Mayor Hunter added that, “We furthered that motion to pursue this with the transportation minister of our provincial government and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.”
The Alberta Municipalities association, which Didsbury is a member of, is calling for increased support for rural transportation funding.
Livestreams will now saved on website
In other news from the Jan. 10 meeting, council approved having the livestream recordings of future council meetings posted on the Town of Didsbury website.
In October council directed the policy and governance committee in its review of the procedural bylaw to implement the principle of keeping and posting the livestream recordings of council meetings on the town’s website.
The committee discussed the matter in December and recommended that the recordings be saved and shared on the town website.
Previously, council meetings were broadcast on YouTube but not saved for future viewing.
“We want citizens to be able to go back to the livestream recordings and refer to them and listen to them if they missed the meeting or if they want to listen to them again, whatever the case may be. That is council’s wish,” said mayor Hunter.
She noted that the town is examining ways to address some conductivity problems experienced during recent livestream broadcasts.
“We apologize for that and we are working on it,” she said.
