The municipal inspection report on the affairs of the Town of Penhold will be released soon.
“Typically the report is presented by an inspector at a public meeting that is scheduled and advertised by the municipality,” said Municipal Affairs spokesperson Magharita Reghelini-Griffiths. She said in most cases the report is presented to council shortly before the public meeting.
The consultants hired to do the inspection got their work underway in late January. Municipal Affairs decided to do the inspection after receiving a petition spearheaded by resident Ken McCarthy last fall.
Reghelini-Griffiths said the report's release date hadn't been set yet but it could be expected in the coming weeks.
Community needs assessment conducted
Earlier this summer, Penhold residents got the chance to give some feedback about what kind of services and programming they'd like to see in future.
Chief Administrative Officer Rick Binnendyk said about 15 per cent of the 1,000 surveys got a reply, which could be completed online or by paper. He said anything above a 10 per cent reply rate is considered a good one.
“The whole idea of community needs assessment is to reestablish direction,” Binnendyk said. The results will be used for strategic planning with the new council that will be formed after October's election.
Penhold's been growing and the demographics are shifting.
“What we're trying to do is be ahead of the curve…to start identifying what some of the needs are in the community,” Binnendyk said.
The reply deadline was July 1 but Binnendyk said “stray” surveys would still be accepted because it is important to get the information.
The survey came out of the town's community services department and focused on “soft-services,” he said.
