Most east side property owners on the north side of Highway 27 have paid the controversial $7,000 connection fee for the new multi-million dollar water and waste water service but their deep anger and sense of mistrust has not eased.
As the Nov. 14 connection fee deadline has come and passed, many property owners are expressing frustration over the town's admitted communications blunders on a newly created Facebook site. In the meantime, Mayor Annette Clews – who publicly apologized to east side residents earlier this month over the town's poor communications - is urging citizens to begin a healing process.
“I really hope healing can start to take place. I want to reach out to residents who are upset and meet them and talk to them one on one. It would be nice to meet them directly. I want to try to understand where they are coming from,” said Clews, who said last week she was aware of the Facebook site, “A Voice in Sundre”, that has attracted more than 350 members since being launched last week. “I have no hard feelings about them expressing their concerns. It is their right.”
But Clews' call for healing may face a skeptical response as many east side property owners are still furious over the town's announcement last month that residents had to pay the $7,000 connection fee by the end of business day on Nov. 14 or else the cost would jump to $15,000. Property owners say there are still many questions about the town's implementation of its east side payment policy that have not been fully answered, leaving many confused and frustrated. As well, the timing of the town's sudden and unexpected connection fee announcement in October left many east side property owners scrambling to find the means to pay the $7,000 connection fee.
“Yes, there is a lot of anger and a great deal of fear, mistrust and speculation as to why this was pushed through the way it was. It looks to me that the town is scrambling for money, if this fee increase and the pocket park ideas are any indication,” said Nikki Burns, an east side property owner who created the Facebook site on Nov. 14, the deadline day for citizens to pay the $7,000 connection fee.
“Yes, the deadline has come and gone to pay the $7,000, but it's far from over. What happens to the residents who couldn't come up with the money? They are now on the hook for $15,000,” said Burns, who left Sundre earlier this year to live in Langdon, Alta. with her fiancé Brad Laberge. “Our goal is just to make people, especially those of us on the east side, aware of what happened and what the bylaw states. Even though the deadline has passed we don't feel that this is over.
“If we can help other people along the way, that would make me very happy. That's why “A Voice in Sundre” has members outside of the community,” said Burns, adding her goal is to ensure similar controversies never happen again. “All the information we need is available but it's wrapped up in so much legal jargon, we need to decipher it in order to understand it. We must make sure this doesn't happen again.”
Meanwhile, town officials are aware of the Facebook site although Clews said last week she had not read its contents. Dean Pickering, the town's chief administrative officer, declined to comment on the Facebook site.
Pickering said the town received a total of 41 deposits before the deadline came and passed last week. He said the deposits generated a total of $287,000.
Pickering said deposits on five properties were not paid. He was unable to say why they were not paid, or who owned the properties.
Since last month, Pickering, knowing there was growing concern and controversy over the connection fee policy, has been attempting to work with local banks to help the east side residents who feared they would not be able to raise the $7,000 deposit.
He said the Nov. 14 deadline date was chosen by council, and that it was not decided upon by either administration or council for any particular budgetary reason.
Like Clews, he is hoping the controversy will now begin to ease, and residents can move forward.
“I am hoping to work on a positive relationship with east side residents so that we can move on to other projects,” said Pickering, adding service through the new water lines on the north side should be fully operational for residents by next March.
While there have been some concerns raised by east side residents that property values have dropped over the recent construction of the new water and waste water lines, Pickering counters that properties will become more desirable as they can be presented in the market as being fully serviced.
Clews added that while healing the divisions in the community is a priority she is pleased the current phase of construction on the east side is coming to a close. She added the town will soon have to deal with the south side of Highway 27, including securing the necessary funding to begin servicing that area's more than 120 properties, many of them commercial.
“It is a priority to find a way to make it as affordable as the north side,” said Clews. “Yes, we do have to investigate grants as it is not affordable as a local improvement.”
