Employees from the Town of Olds will be aiding the Town of High River at some point in that community's flood recovery effort.
Norm McInnis, chief administrative officer of the Town of Olds, said the Ministry of Municipal Affairs put out a general provincewide call for volunteers to aid communities affected by flooding. About a dozen town employees have indicated they would like to go and help out in various capacities once municipal services in High River are close to being restored.
“For example, once their water treatment plant gets to a point where they can start operating it, they may need some experienced operators to come in and help,” McInnis said. “What Municipal Affairs asked for is, if any of our municipal employees were interested to let (the ministry) know what times would work for (Olds employees). We compiled a list (of people) that felt a need to go and (employees) provided the skill sets that they had and the times they are available, and we submitted that back to Municipal Affairs,” he said.
The Town of High River remains under a provincial state of emergency.
Town employees that do volunteer will be paid their normal wage for their time in High River, but not for travel or overtime. McInnis said while the town is allowing employees who expressed interest in volunteering to go to High River, the Town of Olds must first determine before those volunteers leave that there will be enough staff in Olds to operate various services while the employees are gone.
