Suzanne Oel – Division 4
Highway 762 Concerns: A variety of topics are crossing my desk these days. While some residents are planning to build out their dreams on their properties, some are experiencing the challenges associated with living in a beautiful and popular area for touring. The Highway 762 area continues to be a challenge, especially during the days of good road conditions, due to some travelers creating unsafe conditions with their speeding, stunting and noise. Recently a meeting was held with local community representatives and municipal, provincial and law enforcement representatives. Along with monitoring of the traffic and speeds, follow-up actions will be taken, including planning education and police presence initiatives. Because Highway 762 is a provincial Highway, much of the action will be taken under the lead of Alberta Transportation with MLA Rosin. Councillor Castell and I have raised these concerns with Foothills County Council and will follow through with coordinating the efforts of all our agencies.
Ambulance issues continue to be in the news: We are grateful that the Province is coming to the table with a ten-point plan to address issues related to ambulance availability, waits times, staffing issues and rural service disparity. This complex problem has been studied under a number of governments, over many years. We are hopeful that the amount of interest in this situation will now equal some results. The Foothills Regional Emergency Services Commission, which owns and operates our Foothills Regional 911 Dispatch Centre, has written a letter to the Health Minister, on behalf of our 25 municipal members, that we are interested to participate in any reviews and would be happy to supply our experiences and proposed solutions. We await this opportunity and will let you know if there are any newsworthy updates.
Property Rights: The Province is inviting comments regarding property rights through a special committee review and engagements. I recently observed a virtual meeting chaired by MLA Sigurdson. I thought the proceeding to be professionally done and welcoming of all submissions. While many aspects of property rights concerns were presented, I learned that there is considerable interest in removing “Adverse Possession”. From the municipal perspective, through recent years, we have also strongly advocated to our MLAs for the elimination of the Calgary Region Board and the Regional Growth Plan. This Board and Plan create a disadvantage for rural landowners and developers, who want to build businesses and develop larger projects. All these projects, as you probably know, must be approved by this unelected Board, i.e. the Calgary vote. Currently, the Municipal Affairs Minister is listening to all 10 CMRB members and will be providing direction to the Board regarding the Regional Growth plan approved in May 2021. We have also raised this issue in the light of property rights review.
Review of Policing: Many events and discussion are being held about the viability of an Alberta Provincial Police Service. Recently, many municipal representatives attended RCMP-held information sessions, where RCMP shared their perspective on the studies and aspects of policing. The scope of this potential Provincial policing service includes the rural municipalities and Towns, which currently contract RCMP services. Next up, the Province is holding engagement sessions, which we will also attend. We will be asking questions and awaiting information about costs and logistics.
Legal Seminar: The municipal world of today includes numerous aspects which require legal involvement or opinions regarding liability, business, insurance, enforcement, procedures, inter- governmental compliance and more. In an effort to stay current and benefit from legal expertise and the experiences of other municipalities, our Council and Admin recently attended a virtual seminar, which provided an interesting overview regarding municipal legal topics. We gained some great insight into: serving as Directors, the Freedom of Information and Protection Act, municipal tax powers, efficient managing of legal budgets and regarding recent case law updates.
Water Matters: Water approvals and projects are quite slow-moving in the municipal realm. Costs, impacts and approvals need to be carefully considered. Some projects that are currently in the works include: potable waterline planning with the Town of Okotoks in our central area, updating water-use agreements with the Town of High River, moving forward with a water treatment plant in the Aldersyde area and working with watershed planning groups. A State of the Watershed report has been created by the Fish Creek Watershed Association, with next steps to work with stakeholders on further learnings and actions. The Highwood Management Plan – Public Advisory Committee recently met to discuss work being done in the Sheep and Highwood upper-watershed and in the Frank Lake area. We look forward to gaining a greater understanding of the groundwater/ surface water interaction component of this watershed, through applying new science and through stakeholder collaboration.
For Other News & Updates:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CouncillorSuzanneOel/
Email: Suzanne.Oel@FoothillsCountyAB.ca
With Best Regards,
Suzanne
