Councillor’s Update – Rocky View County – Kevin Hanson – Apr 2023

County Strategic Plan – Further Developments

Last year Council took the 2019 RVC Strategic Plan, and through a series of workshops put together 9 priority projects that required significant resources and budget to be able to execute well and in a timely manner. We invested about $1M in these Council-initiated projects to help improve the County’s governance. I have discussed the plans for this work in my prior articles. Most of the projects carried into 2023’s. Review: www.rockyview.ca/strategic-plan for the 2019 strategic plan and corresponding 2021 annual report from the Mayor. The 2022 Budget can be found at: www.rockyview.ca/budget-finance for additional insight.

At our March 7th Governance Committee, as Agenda Item D-1, Council received a comprehensive update on the progress these projects. The full agenda and a video recording of the meeting is posted on our meetings page if you are interested in the details: www.rockyview.ca/meetings-hearings. To save folks from digging, a direct link to the single administrative report for Item D-1 “Priority Projects Update” is here: pub-rockyview.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=9580

The report provides a concise overview and update on the 9 projects including timelines and tracking to budget for:

Service Excellence

• Strategy Refresh
• Service Capacity Project
• Governance Improvement
• Organizational Excellence

Financial Health

• Long-term Financial Forecast
• Economic Development Strategy
• Soft Levies

Responsible Growth

• Area Structure Plans (ASPs)
• Solar Farms

The “Strategy Refresh” (project #1) is just over 80% complete. We have a second round of one-on-one interviews with each Councillor in late March, and 2 more working sessions with Council and Administration in April. The purpose of these last sessions is to provide a little more visionary reach as a tune up of our 2019 Strategic Plan. It is important work for Council to continue the drive to define what Rocky View will look and feel like years from now, how the quality of life will be improved, how we took care of the environment we live and play in, and how we shaped development for fiscally responsible growth.

Division 1 Open Houses / Town Halls

With budgeting and taxes finalizing in April, I promised to schedule Rocky View County open houses for Division 1 residents. These are resident meetings that RVC Administration will be hosting along with Division Councillors. These will likely be more drop-in style department information and Q&A, rather than formal a Town Hall format.

The first event will be a combined Division 1 & 2 event. It will be at the Springbank Heritage Club in late May, with Don Kochan and I hosting. Following that will be a second event in June in Bragg Creek. Administration is still working out timing with the BC Community Centre for dates. I am also exploring something closer to home for Elbow Valley at the Resident’s Club, likely with an early fall time frame.

Notification will be by “Safe & Sound” e-mails by the county, in the Rocky View Weekly, and with road-side signage closer to the event dates.

Calgary Municipal Region Board

I recently was elected by my municipal neighbour peers on the CMRB to fulfill the vice-chair position for this coming year. This continues Rocky View’s strategy of working collaboratively with our all of our neighbours.