Athabasca County's Tourism and Economic Development (TED) Committee seeks to find a new direction as it awaits to find a new officer.
The committee discussed wanting to redo its strategic plan during its June 20 meeting while it aways the hiring of a new TED officer. The committee voted unanimously in favour of a motion to have committee administration provide a list of projects to be used in the development of an action plan at its next meeting July 18.
TED Committee member Tamara Yurchak said the current strategic plan may not be usable and the committee must develop an action plan to be ready once a new TED officer is hired.
"I don't know if we can even use these goals. They're not specific, they're not measurable. To me, these mean nothing," Yurchak said during the meeting. "We need an action plan. What is our action plan for the next 12 months?"
The TED committee hosted a strategic planning meeting April 18 and 19 at Athabasca University, according to the June 20 meeting agenda. A plan created at the meeting was attached for discussion and recommended for approval in an administrative report written by former TED officer Robert Buckle.
The goals in the proposed plan included connecting with Athabasca University to become rural Alberta's education centre of excellence and to promote and enhance recreational opportunities in Athabasca County.
Another goal under the draft plan was to "address the economic development challenges through pro-active measures to include, promoting economic development connections with industry and support to the business community through improvements to the attractiveness of local goods, and services, improvements to service quality and supporting the enhancement of entrepreneurial support of the community."
Director of planning and development Shirley Moerman said she was not sure how to move forward on a goal like that.
"It's not specific, and it's just kind of general. How do you measure whether or not you've achieved it?" Moerman said during the meeting.
TED committee member and Boyle Mayor Colin Derko said it would make sense to take another look at the strategic plan.
"Is this something we want to continue on with?" Derko said during the meeting. "It's probably wise for all of us to step back to maybe look at what we've got."
However, Derko added the information from the current draft of the strategic plan will still be useful.
"We're going to find a direction and we know maybe it's not exactly what this is. There is good information that came out of this," Derko said.
TED committee member and Town of Athabasca Coun. Robert Balay also said the information has potential.
"It's just maybe the framework has to be different than what's presented," Balay said during the meeting. "I see opportunity we could take advantage of. I don't want to lose that going forward."
TED committee chair Warren Griffin also agreed the information should be used and added work should be done with the strategic plan before a new TED officer is hired.
"It could be quite some time before we find a suitable replacement. To then say we don't have direction and we don't have a plan in place because we're waiting until we have a TED officer, then we're really just doing nothing," Griffin said during the meeting.
Robert Buckle out as TED officer
The June 20 TED committee meeting was the first since the exit of former TED officer Robert Buckle, who was employed in the position since April 2016 according to a LinkedIn page under his name. Although his name is listed as writing all of the administrative reports in the June 20 TED agenda, he was not present at the meeting.
Athabasca County communications co-ordinator Karl Kopan said Buckle is no longer employed with Athabasca County. He also declined to comment as to the reason behind the departure.
"Athabasca County does not comment on personnel issues, and a search for a new TED officer will be underway shortly," Kopan said in an email. "This does not change any projects that Athabasca County or Tourism and Economic Development are currently working on."
