ATHABASCA — Representatives of the Hamlet of Rochester and the Rochester and District Ag Society had two specific asks for Athabasca County council last week.
At the June 14 regular meeting Dwayne Rawson and Tanya Savage appeared before council to ask for help on behalf of the ag society to demolish the old Rochester Curling Rink and for consideration of the extension of the water line to the hamlet.
“The first thing that we're bringing up is water to Rochester,” Rawson said. “In the last few months, as you're well aware of, we had a real threat on the school closing, and as an ag society we did attend a few meetings … lots of people have moved to the area due to the school and we feel if we had potable water brought to Rochester, we would have lots to offer there.”
He noted the proximity of the hamlet to St. Albert and it would be selling point for people willing to live in the country and commute to work if they could be assured of access to affordable, quality water.
“What we’re asking for is to do some research on this and can we get the water there,” he said.
Rawson added he’s been in contact with Lakeland MP Shannon Stubbs as well as Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken who said it must be Athabasca County who spearheads the project.
“I do believe there is a program, provincially funded, which is 90 per cent covered by the Water for Life grant,” he said. “However, there's always that however, there is no distribution system in Rochester.”
Council passed a motion directing the administration to investigate the history of any feasibility studies regarding connecting water to Rochester and to investigate if a Water for Life grant might be available.
The second request was due to heavy snow on the roof of the curling rink creating a hazardous situation Rawson said.
“What we're looking for is, we're a small group, only a handful of volunteers,” he said. "This is beyond volunteers.”
He asked for some equipment and labour to help tear the building down, noting the small group would not have the financial resources to put it out to tender if Athabasca County doesn’t help them.
“The condition of the curling rink right now is the roof is caved in and there's lots of children in the Rochester area that could be possibly going into the rink,” said Savage. "We were going to fence off the curling rink but it's kind of on a bank so the fencing would be impossible for us to keep people out of the building. So, it's kind of a situation that we need to deal with sooner than later.”
Council also made a motion directing administration provide equipment and labourers for up to two days for the demolition and removal of material from the Rochester Curling Rink site if the Rochester Ag Society pays the tipping fees and no hazardous materials would be hauled by county resources.
