Suzanne Oel – Division 4
Greetings! Sharing my News Update…
2025 Events – Please mark these dates in your calendar! As mentioned in my January article, I am working with County departments and community groups to set-up and host some informative events in 2025, which I hope you may find interesting and attend. Please mark these three dates, below, in your calendar as planning continues.
High Country Rural Crime Watch Association (HCRCWA) AGM: Mark your calendar for Thursday, March 13, 2025, 7pm, at the Priddis Community Hall. The HCRCWA will hold a short AGM followed by a presentation + Q&A session with our local Diamond Valley RCMP Detachment representatives, including the Staff Sergeant. Topics of interest to our area will be discussed: more police visibility, road safety, rural patrols, speeding enforcement, cyclist and “share the road” issues. Bring your questions along and join in the conversation.
Wildlife Co-existence Workshop: Mark your calendar for Tuesday, April 8, 2025, 7 pm, at the Priddis Community Hall. Foothills County and Alberta Environment departments are collaborating to provide presenters and are teaming up with local community associations and HCRCWA to host this Wildlife Coexistence Workshop. We are planning to include these topics: introduction to our Agricultural Services Department, wildlife species awareness, conflict-reduction strategies, managing the local Elk situation, recognizing invasive species, and Q&A with presenters.
Chainsaw and Tree Safety Workshop: Mark your calendar for Tuesday, May 6, 2025, 7 pm, at the Priddis Community Hall. Foothills County will be connecting us with an accredited instructor so we can learn some safety tips on dealing with our west country treed properties. Again, this event will be a collaboration of guest presenters, County departments and community groups. Whether its seasonal clean-up, clearing a treed area, pushing back the tree growth to FireSmart around buildings, or responding to the dead-fall of a windstorm, tree management is required every year. We hope to include these topics: safe chainsaw use, understanding tree dynamics, how to approach a clean-up, and Q&A with presenters. The focus of our meeting will be education presentations and discussions with residents, along with an introduction to our Agricultural Services Department. Tools will not be used by residents. More in my next article.
Rural Foothills Policing Committee update: In an effort to keep communications open and encourage the best possible policing services for Foothills residents, the County continues to hold Policing Committee meetings with board members, administration and our local police service agencies. We are grateful for the attendance of representatives from our three RCMP detachments (Diamond Valley, Okotoks, High River) and the Alberta Sheriffs District 5 Manager and team members. Each policing agency provides updates, plans, and a review of their crime and traffic statistics.
Foothills Enforcement Services adds the County’s perspective, including department activities, such as types of bylaw responses, planning, and project presentations. During our January meeting, the County’s Traffic Safety Plan was presented and coming up soon we’ll be reviewing the Policing study. Next up in the meetings, we hear from our three local rural crime watch representatives, encourage discussion on all relevant topics from municipal to provincial to federal. At our November meeting, the Provincial Rural Crime Watch executive members were on hand to provide an update on their services and partnerships with the local Rural Crime Watches. Through a collaborative approach, this committee will dive into issues, service level evaluations and strategies, and then bring recommendations to Council for consideration of actions toward our goal of providing the best policing service level to residents.
2025 Budget Book: Foothills County Council approved the 2025 Budget in December. A Budget Book was created to provide residents an outline of both Capital and Operating budgets by department. It also includes an overview of 2025 plus the 2025-2028 Capital plan for Foothills County. This PDF book is available for download or viewing on the County’s website: www.foothillscountyab.ca/government/taxes/budget
Foothills County Job Opportunities: In case you are interested to know about local employment options happening at the County, you can find the latest postings on the County’s website. To view the jobs currently available, please visit: www.foothillscountyab.ca/careers
For Other News & Updates:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CouncillorSuzanneOel/
Email: Suzanne.Oel@FoothillsCountyAB.ca
Visit High Country News online for my previous articles.
With Best Regards,
Suzanne
