Sundre’s mayor expressed a positive outlook for growth during the year ahead and into the future as the community continues to recover from the economic downturn that created a challenging ripple effect throughout the province.
“We are very optimistic that we are coming out of a recession and we will see growth in Sundre and district,” said Terry Leslie.
“When we have growth, we are just like a business. With greater economy of scale, we can be more efficient, and keep the tax rate close to the rate of inflation. Our four-year budget will give better predictability to businesses and residents in the future.”
Among the major anticipated plans and projects for the coming year is the effort to prepare for an expansion to the wastewater treatment plant. That involves outlining timelines and costs, as well as negotiating with the provincial government for regional service status to maximize the potential for grant funding from both provincial and federal government programs, said Leslie.
“If you can’t flush the toilet, that’s an issue. That’s a big one,” he said.
“It’s not one of those things that’s front and centre in the minds of people in the community but it’s certainly front and centre in the minds of council, administration and staff.”
Another major priority is to begin fleshing out details around the possibility of constructing a tri-services building to house emergency services including the fire department, RCMP, EMS as well as the community peace officer, “which would technically be a quadra-services building,” he said.
“We have talked about the need to upgrade all of our emergency services facilities for the next generation. We need to do a business case analysis with all stakeholders to determine the need and how we might partner with the RCMP, Mountain View and Clearwater counties, and the feasibility of a joint venture to build a very significant facility for our future as we grow — or not,” he said.
Cost is certainly a major factor to consider on such a project, but he said a question council is mulling over is, “if not now, then when?”
“In the next year we need to have a group examining options to consider so that we can move this project forward with a coordinated approach to building a building — or perhaps other stand-alone type options with renovations and upgrades as needed.”
On the heels of a successful third annual Sundre Hospital Legacy Gala and the celebration of the Sundre Hospital and Care Centre’s milestone 50th anniversary, the mayor also said the municipality must work with Alberta Health Services to identify what brick-and-mortar building options could meet the goals of future health care in the community as well as securing a suitable location for the future facility.
“Questions about west side of the river, east side of the river, or another location, have to be considered so this project can move forward,” he said.
“We already know with experience in the community, if we’re going to do something and want to be serious, we need to put together some serious business cases and plans.”
Another focus for elected officials and administration is developing strategies to help local volunteer organizations remain sustainable, he said.
“There has been some impacts to many groups in the past year and council is regularly being asked for more money to assist. We have no more money without increasing taxes,” he said.
“And downloads from the provincial government shouldn’t be picked up by adding taxes to property tax. There is only one taxpayer and one level of government cost cutting can’t be pushed on to local governments in the lead-up to an election,” he said.
“We got to come up with ways to assist that involve something other than writing cheques.”
Staff are also always exploring ways to provide services as efficiently as possible, he said. They will be aiming to do in-house vehicle and equipment repairs as well as examining processes to reduce contracted snow removal by using the municipality’s own recently purchased equipment, which can be used for multiple purposes throughout the year, he said.
Discussions and negotiations are also ongoing to sign new agreements with Mountain View County towards mutual future growth development as well as land use planning, recycling and waste management, he said.
The goal is at the very least to maintain, but ideally and preferably to improve, the level of service to residents, he added.
