The past year has seen many challenges and highlights for local municipalities and their respective councils.
For Didsbury, a whole new council along with a new mayor learned the ropes together, while in Carstairs and Cremona it was pretty much the status quo with only one new councillor in each town following the last election.
The Gazette spoke to each town's/village's mayor about what they thought were the highlights of 2018 as well as what they think will be the challenges moving into 2019.
For Lance Colby, mayor of Carstairs, the past year has been busy with plenty of projects going on around town.
"Streets and sidewalks replacement and repairs were completed," said Colby. "We have the new waterline installed and now just have to wait for the rest of the line to be completed. Once completed it will give Carstairs a more secure water supply."
Colby, who returned as mayor, led a council with five returning councillors. The only new face was Shannon Wilcox.
"It is always nice to have a majority of the council members return as they are familiar with how councils and committees work," he said. "They also know what council's roles and responsibilities are and have historical knowledge which makes for better discussions and decisions."
Colby said the town overall is doing fairly well economically.
"The Alberta economy is struggling right now with the downturn in oil prices and lack of pipelines to move our oil to other markets," he said. "We have seen a drop from 60 to 39 new home starts but we are still doing well considering the downturn.
"So far this year we haven't seen businesses close and we are getting a Tim Hortons and it is possible we will be getting a Wendy's some time in the new year."
Colby said he doesn't think the new Tim Hortons will hurt the downtown coffee shops and restaurants.
"I do not anticipate that there will be a negative effect on any of the other businesses in the town as people will still go to their favourite spots for coffee and a snack or meal," he said. "We will know better after Tims has been here for a year."
For the coming year, Colby doesn't think there will be too many big challenges to deal with.
"Right now, we as a council and administration do not see any big issues coming in 2019," he said. "We have very good infrastructure and our street and sidewalk program is coming along nicely. We will in the near future be looking at a new tri-services build and a water reservoir but those will depend on future development and growth.
"The challenge will be the recovery of Alberta's economy so both people and businesses will be willing to invest in our town."
Colby said they continue to be in discussions with Chinook's Edge School Division about a possible school expansion/new build in town.
"Like all communities we will have to wait and see what the 2019 elections bring to the table," he said. "I believe most projects like schools will be on hold until after the elections take place."
Cremona mayor Tim Hagen returned for another term leading an experienced council with only one new face, Bonnie Scribner.
Hagen told the Gazette that the village has had many accomplishments in 2018 including several infrastructure improvements and a library expansion.
"We did a small stormwater project," said Hagen. "Some of the pipe we have underground was leaking and just not working right. So we upgraded that and got that accomplished which helped some of the businesses prevent flooding."
Hagen said they weren't able to get any big grants so the work had to be done through municipal sustainability initiative funding and gas tax money.
"We also got about 50 per cent done on a bulk water station that we are putting in," he said. "We've always sold bulk water but it was always coming from in front of the fire department hall. So if there was a call they'd have to move and get out of the way.
"That just added time to the fire department reacting to a call. We got that about 50 per cent done and the ground started freezing so we'll get that done in the spring."
The village also received a grant with the help of Mountain View County to erect cement barricades around water wells, said Hagen.
"They were in a flood area," he said. "We got that completed, which is nice. In 2005 we had a big flood and the water basically covered our wells. At that time, Alberta Health Services was looking after the wells to make sure it was drinkable.
"They wouldn't let us use the water from the wells for almost two months... This will prevent that from happening."
Hagen said the village is doing OK economically thanks in part to the expansion at the Aurora Cannabis facility north of the municipality.
"The businesses seem to be hanging in there," he said. "With the addition to Aurora to the north of us the bar and hotel and restaurant and gas station seem to be holding their own. The workers will often come down for lunch so that's helping businesses for sure."
The village also worked with the Cremona/Water Valley Chamber of Commerce to put up some new highway signs.
"We've got two on Highway 22, one going each way and one coming in on 580 welcoming people to Cremona," he said.
Hagen said the library expansion, which took place in the summer, was a big success.
"I was going through the numbers and it looks like the library visits have increased five or six times with the expansion," he said. "It's not huge but it was a lot, lot smaller before."
As far as the 2019 budget goes, Hagen said that council adopted the 2018 budget for the interim. He said they will be looking at the new budget in January.
"All our big capital projects depend on grants," he said. "We've got a few small projects that we'd like to get done. We'd maybe purchase some equipment but we'll have to talk about that in council. We'll take a close look.
"We know things will be going up with the (Mountain View Regional) waste commission and seniors' housing. That'll affect everyone. That'll be a big challenge."
Hagen also said the village had a visit from Municipal Affairs recently and has some work to do.
"Municipal Affairs came down and talked to our CAO and looked at our bylaws and came to a council meeting and that kind of stuff," he said. "There's a few things there we have to do. Nothing major but I think they showed 20 items that we weren't up to par with.
"So we have to look at those. We got most done but there are still a few we have to correct."
Didsbury mayor Rhonda Hunter is pleased with many of the accomplishments of council in her first full year as mayor. She said it was important early on for council to make things happen through focus and commitment.
"We committed to considering all possibilities, removing obstacles, simplifying processes, policies and procedures, exploring all information and options for customers, residents, clients," said Hunter. "Administration has been tasked with consistently presenting through information, pros and cons, so as to ensure council makes the best decision possible in making things happen in the best interest of ensuring our community thrives, grows and prospers."
Some of the highlights Hunter pointed out were having an economic development investment readiness workshop in November; establishing a policies and priorities committee to deal with council priorities; strengthening council's relationship with the Didsbury and District Chamber of Commerce and other community groups; and increasing communications initiatives to increase resident awareness of town events and issues.
Another highlight was creating criteria for identifying and ranking capital projects, said Hunter.
"This will enable council to make more informed decisions based on the priority ranking for the town's 10-year capital planning," she said. "We expect to see this criteria come to council in early 2019."
Hunter said that council and town staff are working hard on moving Didsbury forward from a development perspective through business attraction and retention, filling empty buildings and reviving abandoned projects and properties, removing barriers, and adding to the current amenities.
As for future projects, Hunter identifies several including the library expansion and skateboard park project.
"The library expansion project is on our 2019 capital budget and council is looking for ways to ensure that this is a viable project from a financial point of view, while at the same time, meeting the needs of our town library for increased space for current use and future growth," she said.
