BOWDEN – Mayor Robb Stuart says cutting the crime rate in Bowden will be a big priority this year.
Stuart is hoping to get an organization like Citizens On Patrol (COP) going in Bowden – hopefully in tandem with COP, which was recently revitalized in Olds. If that doesn’t work, he says Bowden will have to go it alone.
However, he’s a little concerned about what the uptake will be.
"I heard there were 50-some who said they’d be interested. Now they’re starting to have an organizational meeting and three people said they’d actually sign up to do it – out of the 50,” he said during an interview with the Albertan.
Stuart says the depth of the concern in town about crime really hit home for him during the civic election this past fall, as he knocked on residents’ doors.
"I was shocked by how many people had video surveillance on their house now,” Stuart says. "You push the doorbell and the camera lights up.”
Another priority, like last year, is to cut down on the cost of sewage processing, billed via the South Red Deer Regional Wastewater Commission (SRDRWC).
"The sewer’s killing us. We’re treating a third more sewer than what we’re buying for water and we’ve got to find out why that is,” he says.
But that won’t come cheap, Stuart warns. He says it costs about $100,000 to send a camera down into the sewer to check for leaks, etc.
He says in total, the sewage system is costing the town about $300,000 a year. That’s a big jump from what it cost when the town operated its own sewer system.
"It’s ridiculous,” Stuart says. "My utility bill, we used to pay 60 cents a cube (cubic metre), roughly, to send it to the sewer lagoon. And that included maintenance of the sewer and all that stuff. Now it’s two and a quarter to send it to (Red Deer).
"We really need to talk to Red Deer to try to get the cost down, because they weren’t supposed to charge us as much as they are. That was in the original concept. And then all of a sudden it went up 30 per cent,” he adds.
Interestingly, Stuart is now chair of the SRDRWC.
Stuart is also looking forward to obtaining taxes from land the town plans to annex from Red Deer County. He believes the town’s application to annex the land southwest of the current town borders goes before the province’s Municipal Government Board in March.
"I don’t know why they can’t fast-track it a little quicker. But as soon as that goes in, we’ll get the taxes from the seed cleaning plant there on the southwest corner,” he says.
Stuart is also hoping construction of the new Paterson Grain Terminal, now under construction at Highway 587 and Rge. Rd. 12, just outside the town boundary will spur the economy.
He says the company appears to be a good corporate citizen, having bought a table at a fundraiser for the new community hall, which is expected to be completed later this year.
Stuart would like to see efforts to beautify the town continue, although he warns that too, costs money.
"All the (trees) that are growing on the boulevards are getting pretty rotten and old and overhanging the streets and that. And it costs $2,000 or $3,000 minimum take a tree out, or even trim it,” he says.
"So that’s part of our budget too. We do put $5,000 a year into beautification.”
He says a local resident, along with town staff made a big difference in the look of the town during the past year.
"Those planters along (Highway) 2A in front of the old hotel there, they looked really nice this year, the first time in about 20 years,” Stuart says. "But the concrete in them is getting really bad. Some sections of it are falling out. So if we’re going to keep the planters, then we have to fix (that).”
Stuart is looking forward to working with the new council, acclaimed during the October civic election.
Three new councillors -- Carol Pion, Kerry Kelm and Randy Brown – joined incumbents Sandy Gamble, Paul Webb and Wayne Milaney.
Stuart notes the three new councillors are much younger than the incumbents and councillors who were on council previously.
"Our average age dropped by probably 20 years. And I think they’re going to work out well. They’re very energetic and seem to want to contribute,” he says.
Stuart is very grateful for the contribution made by the three people who are no longer on council – Sheila Church, Lloyd Lane and Earl Wilson.
Mayor Robb Stuart
"I was shocked by how many people had video surveillance on their house now."
