Reeve's Message
May 21, 2009
On behalf of Council I would like to welcome you to our website. Communication with the public is of great importance to us and this is one of many steps being taken to provide valuable and timely information.
We intend to keep this page up to date and well managed and have trusted this to Chad Anderson of New Harvest Media who has proven his effective and innovative measures for accomplishing this on numerous other sites.
As Councilor Stan Bzowy continually states, “our MD may be small but we are mighty”.
Our little Municipality has been around a long time. We were incorporated November 8, 1916.
With a long standing Municipality we may have become set in our ways and therefore we have undergone a number of major changes this past year. Council initiated an independent Governance Review, major policy review, and are now trying to move forward positively and confidently knowing that we are doing right by our ratepayers.
I believe that we are a community no matter where are boundaries may end. I find it quite promising that we and our four closest neighbors; Birch Hills County, Saddle Hills County, the Town of Spirit River, and the Village of Rycroft are continuing to work together in areas of mutual concern. We are joint owners of the Central Peace Health Center (Clinic), and we are continuing to pursue, with the Alberta Health Services Board, the security and expansion of our Health Complex and the construction of a new clinic. We are also undergoing a study of each of our individual needs and abilities to determine what we may be able to share to pass any savings onto the communities we live in. This could lead to other shared services and operational efficiencies which will benefit all of us. In 2008 we were able to replace two older graders (1974 Cat and 1995 Champion) with new 946 Volvos by using the added buying power of Saddle Hills County. We were able to save our ratepayers thousands of dollars while it cost Saddle Hills ratepayers nothing to accommodate us. This is the type of thinking we are encouraging to sustain our communities.
We as Council are given the responsibility to hire a CAO to hire staff and manage the day to day operations using an approved budget. As Councilors we are challenged with setting a vision for the future of our Municipality but we cannot do this in absence of the people we serve. As I stated, communication is very important. I would encourage everyone to think about what is important to you. Is it hard services such as gravel, snow removal etc… or soft services such as Family Community Support Services? I believe it needs to be balanced and the cost has to be bearable. As with any community we need to support ventures and activities that will attract people to live fulfilled lives and stay in our communities. Our MD has continued to support recreation facilities, economic development and even cemeteries but we recognize that roads, bridges, and other infrastructure are your primary concern. We have heard such things but please continue to voice your thoughts. I would encourage anyone interested in municipal service, such as committee or board membership, to please come forward to help set the vision of our municipality.
It is our Council’s goal to serve you as best we can.
Kelly Hudson, (Past Reeve)
