The year 2017 has been a year of transition and new beginnings for Penhold. Thanks to all those who let their names stand in the municipal elections out of a desire to make Penhold a better community.
Special thanks to our long-serving council representatives Dennis Cooper, Julia King and Kathy Sitter. We so appreciate your many years of service.
Exciting opportunities are opening up for our community as we move into 2018.
Your newly elected council has been very busy catching up on projects underway in Penhold, meeting new provincial training requirements, working on the 2018 budgets and setting some strategic priorities based on what we heard during the election campaign.
We have compiled what we heard into five key areas that you as a community identified as most important.
1. Maintain a safe community -- create a strategy to ensure we keep this as a focus.
2. Economic readiness strategy -- look for ways to work together with our businesses and grow our community.
3. With our neighbour, Red Deer County, find ways we can work together in a collaborative partnership for both our benefits.
4. Look at ways to develop new growth areas in Penhold.
5. Review our parks and playgrounds and continue to enhance our recreational areas.
The priorities chart is on the town's website if you wish to see all our corporate priorities and operational strategies. In the new year we will be looking for ways to involve the community as we fine tune and move these strategies forward.
In closing we mentioned that we have been working on the municipal budget. We have finished the operations aspect of our budgets and once again this year we are pleased to tell you that we have held the line and you will not see any increase for taxes.
From everyone here on Penhold town council, I wish you a wonderful holiday season, a relaxing time with family and safe travels.
Mayor Yargeau is the mayor of Penhold.
