Hello, and welcome to summer!
Our weather has gone straight from winter to summer, and I've got no complaints about that.
Our yard waste pickup has started, so let's get those yards in shape and beautify our town. Large item pickup will start in May, and we also have our Hazardous Waste Roundup taking place May 7. All of these initiatives help keep our town clean. If you've got questions about any of them, please contact the town office at 403-227-3376.
The town is moving ahead with plans for a new skateboard park in Innisfail. An open house is scheduled for April 28 at the Innisfail Library/ Learning Centre, beginning at 6:30 p.m. If you're a skateboarder or a parent of a skateboarder, please come along. We need your input to ensure that we design the park properly for you to use and enjoy. The local Kinsmen, Kinettes, Legion, Lions Club and Rotary Club have all showed interest in partnering with the town for this project. Needless to say, we're excited to get the park up to date and fully modernized.
We've begun hosting Coffee with the Mayor once a month to give you, the citizens, a chance to engage with your elected leaders. These are held in informal settings that you can come to, bring forth issues pertaining to the town, or just enjoy a coffee and tell us what we're doing right or wrong. The next one is scheduled for Wednesday, May 18 at the Innisfail Dairy Queen from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Come on out!
The economy of our province is suffering at the moment as world oil prices are depressed. The Town of Innisfail is mindful of this, and we factored that in to our decision to keep residential taxes the same this year with a zero per cent increase in our mill rate.
We have a very diversified economy in our town, but a lot of our citizens are directly or indirectly employed in the energy sector. In an economic period such as this, we should more than ever before try to shop locally and keep our local businesses and jobs viable. Most of these business owners live in town, employ our neighbours, sponsor our local sports teams, and contribute greatly to our economy and tax base. It's up to us as a community to now support them.
Council earlier this month agreed to lend its support to two awareness campaigns taking place this week. The first is national Public-Rail Safety Week, which runs from April 25 to May 1. With Innisfail being a railway town, it's never a bad thing to highlight such initiatives, and to bring awareness to the measures necessary for ensuring we remain incident-free.
For more information on that campaign, visit operationlifesaver.ca. The second is the Workers' Compensation Board's (WCB) National Day of Mourning, in remembrance of workers who have been killed or injured on the job. To commemorate, town hall will fly its flags at half-mast on April 28.
As always, if you've got questions, complaints or comments about the town or council, my door is open. I'm at town hall on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and can be reached via email at [email protected].
