New Ideas

I've been very busy generally, and have absorbed a great deal of information and been engaged in planning for the town.

I was privileged to attend a Low Impact Development Conference in Cochrane. It was the best municipal educational opportunity I have had yet because the subject is dear to my heart, and because of the wide variety of attendees. I met developers, builders, planners, municipal staff, environmental experts, and a few politicians. I gained new, or further information about the following: xeriscaping, stormwater control, permeable paving, by-laws to protect wetlands and water courses, natural landscaping by-laws, Natural Step program, Leeds buildings, differential water pricing, suggestions for residential developments, and the use of shale on pathways.

Many of these ideas will remain dreams for a while, but I have brought up our water pricing at council retreat and I am gathering data. The general idea is that heavy residential users of water should pay more. Our present policy punishes the conserver. Look at your water bill, and you will find out what I mean. I am still pushing for low-flow replacements in our public buildings.

Xeriscaping may come naturally as we agree to mow less of the town land. Permeable paving is more expensive that ashphalt, but more environmentally friendly and more attractive.

Council and staff disappeared for our annual retreat. Here we make our business plan which is our general direction for the year. Everyone can bring up their "wish" list, which gets discussed and explained. It will be negotiated when budget is done. Some of the items we discussed were: review of finances and our last business plan, 10-year capital funding strategy (required), a new system of accounting - tangible capital asset accounting - this last will be a bureaucratic nightmare in terms of staff time!!

More lively items were: community development officer, visions of recreation organization when the multiplex comes on stream, staff recruitment and retention, trail development, the daycare crisis, our tree farm, new street lights, water conservation, train station, paving projects, campsite, riverfront (you get the idea.) The process is fascinating and we manage to obtain consensus on all the really important things that keep the town running smoothly and well.

I attended the first joint meeting of the three economic development committees that were formed in 2005. Present were members from the Athabasca Regional, Grassland, and Boyle committees. It was good to share our ideas and some of our frustrations with development issues in our region. Housing, of course, is turning out to be a major problem in our communities.

Daycare is another development issue. I was pleased to meet with the daycare society and encourage them to present to both councils. A delegation approached town last week, and their problems are out in the open. This is a good thing - the more we all know about our community, the more we develop a sense of place. This includes social issues such as family violence which will be the topic of a seminar tonight.

Politician at Work

One of our debates was enlivened by an editorial in the local newspaper, "The Advocate" which referred to myself and others on council as "blissfully ignorant". I prefer the term "stubbornly principled". I do believe that as municipal councillors, we have no right to be spending tax dollars on fundraising for any political parties.

As regards being a politician, I was busy doing just that by attending AUMA (Alberta Union of Municipalities). This is a yearly conference at which many things are done:
1. we have an opportunity to vote on resolutions which decide the direction of the organization when it deals with other levels of government
2. education sessions are offered
3. councils can meet with officials from government departments
4. municipal politicians are given a chance to meet with MLAs and ask questions
5. this year, the PC leadership candidates were at a forum
6. opposition leaders speak to the assembly

Needless to say, it was a busy couple of days. Our council did meet with Environment, Infrastructure, and the RCMP. The first two were in regards to our regional water project. Alberta Environment is very much in suppport of regional water proposals, but the money has to come from the Infrastructure department. The latter is having difficulty coming up with funding rules, and setting priorities, because regional water systems is a very popular idea whose time is long overdue. We also asked about 813, the interchange, and the bridge.
I attended a land-use planning session which keeps me up-to-date for my role on the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board, and a wonderful session on "Engaging the Community" by Janice Johnston who started Imagine Chicago. I do wish our public to be engaged, and interested in what happens in Athabasca.
In the meet the MLAs session, Councillor Powell was able to ask the Minister of Advanced Education, Hon. Denis Herard, about the AU expansion. His answer will probably lead to more lobbying by your council.
The resolutions sessions were very interesting. One of the most important, to me, was a resolution to urge the Govt. of Alberta to freeze all developments within an 8 km zone from all borders of every urban municipality, until a Land Use Policy framework is legislated. The resolution did not pass, but there was substantial support for it. That is a statement of how municipalities are seeing the need for "a plan".

A Tentative Beginning

With this site, my purpose is to share some of the work that I am doing as your councillor. In addition, I may share information about events and issues related to my portfolios or my general interests. Any opinions expressed are my own, and I am not attempting a community-wide newsletter.
LAST MONTH:
I attended a Land Use Framework Forum for municipalites. Sponsored by Muncipal Affairs, this workshop was designed to receive input on what should be in a Land Use Framework Document for Alberta. There was general agreement that this initiative is important to municipalites and concerns ranged from infrastructure development to access to water. I hope to receive a copy of the draft document and will pass on more information.
A Northeast 7 Child and Family Services meeting brought together individuals from various occupations to provide input on the three-year plan for our area. It was a great education for me to learn about the mandate and difficulties encountered by such an organization. We average citizens have very little idea about the work going on to protect our children.
LOCAL COUNCIL
Rather than recap everything, I will just announce that council will be holding a public forum to decide on the location of the new campground. I have a strong opinion about this, and will be pleased to have community input.