Another year has passed in Barrhead County, and for reeve Bill Lee, it was much like any other year, marked with a series of ups and downs.
“I suppose the real highlight for this county, and it wasn’t so much a positive one, was the flooding that went on,” he said. All three of the rivers that run through the county flooded to some degree this past year, which impacted many ratepayers, some of whom “quite heavily.”
However, as every cloud has a silver lining, Lee said the flooding did yield some benefits for area farmers, who saw their crops produce fairly high yields because of all the moisture the floods left behind.
“That moisture did work in our favour,” he said. “Sure, the farmers had a hard time getting the first cut up, but … the grain guys were happy.”
Those solid crop yields will hopefully affect the community as a whole as well, he said.
“That means the farmers made some money, and they’ll be spending money in our towns,” he said.
However, Lee said he’s concerned about farming in 2012 because so far the autumn of 2011 was quite dry, as has been the winter in which we find ourselves. He said farmers are in desperate need of moisture soon or else the crops in 2012 will be at risk.
“You’re better off to have a wet situation than a dry one because we went through that in 2002 and you don’t want to do that again,” he said.
Of course, looking back on 2011, it would be hard to forget the June 13 death of Coun. Gerald Nanninga, Lee said.
“That was one of the disasters … I didn’t want to forget that,” he said. “That was a bad deal.”
Not to downplay the bad side of 2011, Lee said it’s important to remember all the good that happened in the county over the past 365 days.
One of those major pieces of good news was in May when Barrhead and Westlock were awarded the privilege to host the 2013 55-Plus Summer Games. Not only was that good news in the moment, but it also gives both communities something to look forward to and work towards, he said.
Lee is also looking forward to continuing the county’s road construction plan. After completing several road projects in the Neerlandia and Manola areas in 2011, he said the county is eager to put its new buggies and graders to work in 2012.
On the other hand, that new equipment necessitates a change in the county’s money management, he said.
“For 2012, we have to make sure that we put money away for all those graders and stuff that will come up (for renewal) again in five years,” he said.
All in all, Lee said everything looks good both in the rear-view mirror and up ahead.
“Overall, I’m very happy the way the year went,” he said. “I think we did well. It was a good year and a good council. We get along well.”
