Kevin Hanson – Division 1
Quick Bits
Council terminated our CAO on August 14th, after only 18-months of service. Along the way getting to that point, I did not agree with the reasoning, but it was a unanimous decision by Council in the end. I believe Mr. Wandzura brought to Rocky View’s administration a new degree of analytical sophistication, level and depth of critical thinking and reporting, and broad- minded approach; to the point where we were seen to be and being treated as leaders in the region. I wish Dorian well in his future endeavours.
Economic Development Workshop
Council participated in a consultant-led Economic Development Visioning activity on July 6th. I was curious what a workshop focused on Council would entail, as Councillors are typically not exactly business development experts. I was quite surprised at how well it turned out, and educational from a County Governance perspective.
We covered a number of topics:
- Review our plan for developing a complete economic development strategy.
- Review potential approaches relevant to Rocky View County; understanding the impact Council wants the strategy to generate and tools available to drive those outcomes.
- Linkage to the broader Rocky View County Strategic Plan; Economic Development is a major component of the County “deciding where to play” in competitive terms.
- Explore Sectors of Focus / Areas of Opportunity:
a. Many municipalities are crippled by limited resources and desire to ‘chase every opportunity’ or engage in highly generalized economic development activity.
b. For success, agreement is needed on where we see the biggest opportunities, and where we think we have the tools necessary to land those opportunities. - Contemplate Service Delivery Options:
a. What services, capabilities, and tools are needed to execute properly.
b. Review Service Delivery Models that have found success in similar regions as best practice, and gain insights into what might work best for Rocky View.
c. Explore Council’s ideas, and assess the appetite for using planning, policymaking, and decision- making powers to ‘create the right conditions’ for economic development success.
The final Economic Development Strategy report is due back to Council this fall and should help us define our competency needs and capability requirements in that area, just in time for next year’s budget discussions. To put this much effort into Council understanding and overseeing our Economic Development efforts is breaking new ground at Rocky View. As the economy of the region continues to diversify, we should be in a great position to make the most of it and continue our grow with it.
Water Shortage Advisory for Elbow River Watershed
There has been news lately about Calgary mandating outdoor water restrictions due to the Bow River’s flow being at is the lowest since records were first kept in 1911, while the flow of the Elbow River is at its slowest in 23 years. This motivated me to check out rivers.alberta.ca to see how our Elbow River data looked. Sure enough an advisory was issued back in mid June due to low flow condition:
Low Flow Condition.
Flow is below Instream Objective and Water Conservation Objective. Licensees are advised to review the conditions of their licences. No further surface water TDL applications accepted for the Elbow River basin.
The current status indicated a Water Shortage Advisory…
Water Shortage Advisory
Stream flows and/or lake and/or reservoir levels are lower than normal, and are either approaching or are currently below key water management thresholds. Depending on the severity of the conditions, water conservation measures may be recommended, or management actions may be invoked relating to angling, temporary diversion licences, or licenced water withdrawals.
Above is a graph from the Bragg Creek station. Having a water licence is one thing, having the water physically available to withdraw is quite another. I have been told this is negatively impacting licence holders already this month, so we will see what transpires into the fall.
Contact: KRHanson@RockyView.ca or call 403.463.1166.
