With the new Mountain View County council scheduled to be sworn in Oct. 30, councillors are anxious to get down to work, says reeve Bruce Beattie.
There are four incumbents – Beattie, Patricia McKean, Al Kemmere and Duncan Milne – and three newcomers – Angela Aalbers, Jeremy Sayer, and Ken Heck – on council for the 2013-2017 term.
Addressing concerns with roads and planning for improvement will likely be one of the first things councillors will want to look at, he said.
“Roads was a major discussion during the election, so I know the new councillors will be interested in looking at what our plans are for the road system,” said Beattie, who was acclaimed on Sept. 23. “We will be reviewing some of the plans around roads.
“We have a new master plan that is close to completion. We've received the interim report, so we will be moving forward with that. We want a good overall plan for how we are going to deal with some of these ongoing issues with the roads.”
Starting work on the 2014 budget will also be an early-term job, he said.
“We'd like to have the capital portion of the budget done before the end of the year because that provides us with the opportunity to put out any contracts. We always do better with pricing if we get those contracts out early in the year,” he said.
“The operating side isn't quite so critical because it hinges a lot on the provincial budget and they don't do that until February and their year end is March. So it's not quite as critical.”
Over the new term the county will be working with area towns and villages on new inter-municipal agreements, he said.
“We have various memorandums of agreement (MOA) that will expire in 2016-17 so we will be working on those and seeing where those can go. We have MOAs with each of the towns,” he said.
Working with Mountain View Seniors' Housing and other stakeholders on the new Sundre lodge project is another job facing council, he said.
As well, the county will be continuing work with the Town of Olds to address concerns with the intersection on Highway 2A just south of Highway 27, he said.
“We met with the Town of Olds last week and talked about the intersection, how we are going to deal with some of the traffic issues around the new residence,” he said. “The intersection impacts the movement of agricultural equipment, so we want to make sure we have some input on how that is designed. Some of the new equipment is pretty large so it creates issues, even with the current configuration.
“We are going to examine it and see whether we want to have it changed or do we just have to make some minor changes.”
Like Beattie, incumbents Patricia McKean and Duncan Milne were also elected by acclamation, while newcomer Angela Aalbers was acclaimed in Division 5.
During the Oct. 21 election, incumbent Al Kemmere was re-elected to a fourth term, defeating challenger Steve Algra.
Kemmere garnered 263 votes to Algra's 118.
Kemmere echoed Beattie's comments, saying he is keen to get back to work on a number of projects, including working to improve the county's road network.
“Roads are an ongoing issue so that needs to be dealt with, and the financial part of the county too and that spills over into roads,” said Kemmere. “Land use planning is also an issue, and communications with the towns and the Olds College and the provincial and federal governments. We got to keep working on those things.”
In Division 1, Jeremy Sayer defeated Brent Buschert to take the seat left vacant by incumbent Kevin Good, who chose not to seek re-election.
Sayer garnered 172 votes to Buschert's 159.
“I am looking forward to getting down to work,” said Sayer. “I am going to be listening to the people. We've got the budget that we are going to have to deal with right away. That will be our first order of business.”
“I think we've got an excellent mix of people on council,” he added.
In Division 6 Ken Heck has defeated Ron Vogel for the seat left vacant by incumbent Paddy Munro, who chose not to seek re-election.
Heck garnered 248 votes against Vogel's 228.
“I am looking forward to getting at it and getting my bearings,” said Heck.
He said addressing concerns with county roads will be an early priority for him.
Steve Algra, who lost out to Kemmere in Division 7, said he was pleased that many local people took time out to hear candidates during the campaign.
“It was a good experience to go out meeting people and hearing what matters to them,” said Algra. “We are fortunate to live in a place where ordinary people have the opportunity to form our government. Thank you to everyone who came out and voted, even if it wasn't for me.”
He wished Kemmere success over the new term as the Division 7 councillor.
During the Oct. 30 organizational meeting, councillors will be sworn in and committee memberships will be selected.
The election of reeve and deputy reeve by sitting councillors may also take place.
Beattie says he will let his name stand for another term as reeve. The reeve sits on all council committees and is the chief spokesperson for the municipality.
As with all races in the 2013 provincial municipal election, candidates in Mountain View and Red Deer counties have until Nov. 9 to file for judicial review of the results.
