Town of Sundre councillor Myron Thompson believes that $128,065.76 set aside from a provincial grant for the town to spend on fish mitigation should be spent on flood prevention.
“I'm sorry, the fish will survive, but the town may not if we don't get some flood protection,” said Thompson.
“Which is more important? The fish or the town? Get your priorities straight and look at the possibility of being able to use that money to help enhance the strength of our town.”
The money is committed to providing habitat for fish in the Sundre area, as part of a $2.4-million provincial grant the town received last year for the Red Deer Riverbank Stabilization project.
The project, which was completed in July of last year, included the building of eight rock structures (referred to as spurs) protruding into the Red Deer River near Riverside RV Village. The spurs were built to help alleviate overland flooding in town.
Part of the deal for receiving the grant was for town officials to set aside $100,000 of it specifically for the fish mitigation plan. The fish mitigation plan was a condition that the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) placed on its approval of the bank stabilization project. Town officials are planning on completing it before the end of the year.
Thompson said he believes the fish will be fine.
“I think it's a more important purpose,” said Thompson. “They (provincial government officials) need to go in and do some dredging and do some cleaning and do some armouring the banks, and looking at building a berm and bring us some protection.”
He made the suggestion during the Aug. 6 council meeting and Mayor Annette Clews said she would like to see the province's money spent on flood protection, rather than the town's taxpayers' money. She directed administration officials to contact the DFO to look into the possibility.
Ron Baker, the town's director of operational services, said DFO officials consider any work constructed in the river to be destruction of fish habitat.
“As part of working in the river, part of your commitment is that you will work on increasing fish habitat in that area or somewhere around it,” said Baker. “It's (the money reserved) committed to be spent on fish habitat, but I don't know if you could spend it on anything else or not.”
