Spring is Here - NOT!

I am writing this during the near blizzard of April 21. Town Clean Up had to be moved back a week because it looks like this snow will still be here on Friday, and if not, it will be cold.

An update on three of my main goals for this term:
1. Housing - a thorough study was done by an expert in the field. The conclusion was no surprise - it stated that at a conservative estimate there will be 340 housing units needed in the next 5 years. We await possible government funding.
2. Transportation - council decided to investigate the cost of carrying out a feasibility study. We are awaiting results.
3. Riverfront - this will be discussed at budget. The engineering study is finished. Last week I drove over the brow of the hill from the east to see the entire downtown enveloped in a huge cloud of dust from the "parking lot" on the riverfront. I'll let you know what happens.

There have been some fine development proposals, some are announced and some are still in the planning stages. The multiplex opened with a great ceremony, and a new ambulance contact is being negotiated.

I spent two days last week at an Athabasca Watershed Planning and Advisory Council Workshop. That mouthful means that this was the first small step to begin to assemble a council of representatives who will have an adivsory capacity in management of the watershed.

Thank you

Thank you to all those who voted for me. I am pleased to represent you once again. Please feel free to e-mail or call me to discuss any issues. The new council is becoming familiar with their new assignments. Progress is being made on the housing study which is our first step in working on this issue. Two committees, Athabasca Regional Development and the new Ad Hoc Housing Committee are communicating with each other and investigating different ideas. The momentum is there - and I will do my best to maintain it.

Election Time

A quick update is in order. The suggestion for solar technology did not get accepted. One can only keep trying. However, the great news is that AU got provincial money for a new building!! PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY DOES WORK! We should keep that lesson in mind. Also, the first tentative steps towards beginning to solve some housing issues was made at an ARDC meeting last week. That is all for now - I'm busy campaigning.

Fall Update

I attended an information meeting with a provincial government official who explained the newest guidelines for grants for affordable housing. the grants are generous - 70% of the capital costs would be covered by the province. It is a great disappointment to me that we have not had the will to be ready to take advantage of this opportunity. There have been several other issues that have concerned me greatly since my last post, but I'm letting my calmer persona prevail, and will not comment here.

There is a still a great deal to communicate. Councillors toured the multiplex, which, though unfinished, appears much grander inside than it looks from the outside. The views are fine! I certainly hope an innovative and capable person can be found to run it. Hiring and keeping municipal employees is a problem we have in common with many businesses in Alberta. I am hopeful we can add the kitchen and the floor in the field house. Putting back the walking track in the field house is a personal wish. Of course, I do not want this building to take the spotlight completely away from many other areas of community life.

The three councils now have a community economic development officer who is starting work soon. This took less time than I expected, and I'm please to be wrong. In addition, the Regional Water Commission has been approved by the province and the project is moving ahead. I hope this level of cooperation can be continued with the new councils.

The skateboard and spray parks were finished early enough to show how much they will be used. It was a pleasure to see so many families at the riverfront spray park on a sunny day. This makes finishing the riverfront even more of a priority. Having walked the whole riverfront quite a bit lately, I conclude that the whole area needs to be planned well, including west of the stage, and east of the Twatinaw.

Some great library news from the recent NLLS meeting is that the system has now made it possible for library patrons to obtain VHS, CDs and DVDs on interlibrary loan.

A Nothern Alberta Recycling Conference was held in Athabasca last week. The theme was sustainability, a concept that I have always been deeply committed to. So, I'm going to suggest that the three councils use the Municipal Sponsorship Grant to apply for a small grant to install solar technology on some public buildings. Wish me luck!

To Everything There is a Season

The website committee has commented that the councillor's blogs are not up-to-date. I plead guilty.

The past months have been a slow time, but spring is coming with all its new energy. This is best seen by the wonderful work being done to lobby for the AU expansion. HAVE YOU SENT YOUR LETTER TO PREMIER STELMACH YET? I've been hatching some plots of my own to help with this initiative. I'm really curious to see if grass-roots democracy will work with this provinical government.

Other good things:
1. First reading of the water-saving appliances by-law for new construction has passed.
2. I'm working as a volunteer with the Athabasca Fringe and many enthusiastic members working hard to continue producing this great event.
3. The sewer break is fixed, snow is removed, our facilities are cared for, and town employees continue to see that the whole operation runs smoothly. I have to remember that the basics are important, and not to be taken for granted. Thank you to the staff.

Some frustrations:
Our enthusiasm for a Community Development Officer has been dampened by a decision to work jointly with the County and Boyle. It is not that there is much inherently wrong with a regional approach, but the 6 reps have not met yet, so the whole process will proceed with molasses speed. Some progress has been made on multiplex governance, in that research will be done to see if we really choose to govern it as a society. It is important to have a facilities operator in place to market the building well before it is open. The campground location open house is still awaiting information which for unavoidable reasons has taken about 6 months.

Many of the requests that we have received lately have been tabled to budget. That is necessary, because we don't want to make choices unless they are based on final financial figures. However, it removes the immediacy of the issues, and some debate will not be public.

I am concerned about social deficit. Our daycare lost the after-school program, and is still under capacity for this community. Also, no progress has been made on affordable housing. I'm hoping that the province's affordable housing study will produce some initiatives that will move this issue forward.

Please feel free to contact me at evans866@telus.net

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".