Special Areas Advisory Council Holds Spring Meeting
Special Areas Advisory Council held their spring council meeting on March 30 and 31 in Hanna. Advisory Council’s first meeting of the year, the group reviewed planned 2023 projects and provided direction to administration on issues impacting residents and businesses. Regional projects were discussed, including phase two of the regional irrigation feasibility being completed with MD of Acadia, Canada Infrastructure Bank, and the Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation. Special Areas is working with municipal partners in the region to support sustainable health care services, including supporting health care worker recruitment and retention efforts at the Big Country Hospital in Oyen. The group heard an update on the AHS partnership project in Oyen which will construct new dementia and assisted living beds. The project is focused on delivering a project design designed that fits within the project budget while reducing long term operational costs for the proposed facility.
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Advisory Council reviewed Special Areas 2022 financial statements and 2023 approved budget. The group discussed how improving cashflows in oil and gas positively impacted 2022 tax collection. Despite this overall improvement, the group heard how uncollected taxes and bad debts from oil and gas continue to be an issue. Difficulties in supply chains and securing large capital items like heavy equipment resulted in lower than budgeted expenditure levels as these purchases had to be deferred or delayed.
Representatives from Palliser Regional Municipal Services (PRMS) joined the meeting to provide an update on work being done to update the Special Areas Board Land Use Order. PRMS, along with Development Officers and administration, have been updating the Land Use Order document to help make it easier to use and understand. The Land Use Order is a planning document Special Areas is required to have under provincial legislation. It establishes rules and regulations for land development and establishes a system of issuing development permits. The group reviewed the draft document and discussed the need to ensure areas around airports were developed appropriately. Recent challenges at the Oyen municipal airport were discussed, with the group providing direction that the Land Use Order be revised to ensure any development around airports does not negatively impact airport operations. Engagement with the public on the draft document is planned to take place from June to September and includes both online and in-person activities. Advisory Council confirmed how important it is to hear from the public on this draft document. More information on this public engagement will be shared in June.
Shaune Kovitch, Director of Municipal Services, reviewed the 2023 road program as it had been taken out to local road committees earlier in 2023. Advisory Council reviewed a recycled asphalt paving program being piloted in hamlets this season. The pilot project is designed to test whether previously milled asphalt could be used to surface main service roads in hamlets. Advisory Council approved the pilot project, indicating they look forward to hearing how the test projects performed at December’s meeting.
Ongoing drought conditions and the impacts were discussed, with updates on water system projects shared by administration. Investigations related to improving water security in the region are being completed, along with investments into water pump systems for producers to rent. Reductions in planned allotments at community pastures were discussed, along with work being done to improve water security and improve water infrastructure. Advisory Council heard more about alternative management approaches being proposed by one of the pasture groups, and directed administration to work with the group to ensure a fully developed proposal is brought back to Advisory Council for discussion.
Advisory Council welcomed representatives from ATCO Electric to the meeting. Nick Peelar, Regional Manager for SE Operations, shared a summary of ATCO’s response to January’s ice storm which impacted approximately 295 outages in the Special Areas region. Mr. Peelar highlighted the high volume of calls received during this event, and the resulting long wait times. Alternative ways to report an outage were shared by ATCO, along with a request to help increase public awareness of the My ATCO Electricity App.
Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) representatives Gerald Rhodes (Executive Director), Paul McLauchlin (President), and Amber Link (Director – District 2) joined the meeting to hear directly from Advisory Councillors on which local issues need to be addressed by RMA. Advisory Council thanked RMA for their work on unpaid oil and gas taxes, and shared concerns about how tax holidays for oil and gas are negatively impacting Special Areas. Concerns with how renewable energy projects are managed by the province were also raised, with the group highlighting the concerns residents have with provincial development and approval processes. Renewable projects on public lands were discussed, with the group sharing their perspective that native prairie is an important resource that should be valued and protected.
The focus on finding efficiencies and controlling costs was a consistent priority for the group, as well as ensuring sustainable requisitions levels for municipalities in the region. Upcoming ratepayer meetings were confirmed for June 2023. Information about local ratepayer meetings, including reports from administration, will be shared on the Special Areas website later this spring. The next meeting of the Special Areas Advisory Council will be held summer 2023. To learn more about Advisory Council, visit www.specialareas.ab.ca.