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Woodlands County enters into West End Busing agreement

County’s contributes $25,000 to busing service for seniors in Anselmo, Blue Ridge and Goose Lake
Woodlands County Sign
Woodlands County council had previously approved entering into the West End Bus agreement back in September, but it came back to council on Dec. 1 because some changes had been made to the agreement.

Woodlands County councillors voted 6-1 during their Dec. 1 meeting to enter into a revised agreement with the Town of Mayerthorpe and Lac Ste. Anne County to provide busing for seniors living in Anselmo, Blue Ridge and Goose Lake, as well as seniors in the other two municipalities. 

Woodlands County council had previously passed a motion at their Sept. 15 meeting to enter into the West End Bus agreement. However, CAO Gordon Frank indicated there had been some minor changes made to the agreement since then. 

While the financial contributions from all three municipalities remains the same — a maximum of $25,000 from the Town of Mayerthorpe and Woodlands County, and a maximum of $50,000 from Lac Ste. Anne County — the agreement now states any surplus accrued at year’s end will be placed into a dedicated capital reserve for the eventual replacement of the bus. 

Frank said this change was made “so that in the future, when that bus is replaced, the respective municipalities don’t have to … receive requests for capital money.” 

In the past, Woodlands’ annual contribution to the West End Busing service has been between $18,000 to $20,000. 

Coun. Bruce Prestidge said it was Woodlands County that suggested the extra funding because the municipality had previously been asked to put in around $4,000 to $5,000 for a new van. 

This way, “we wouldn’t have them coming back asking for money. It would be capped and that’s it,” he said. 

Woodlands’ participation in this service is limited to a financial contribution; the agreement states that the Town of Mayerthorpe is responsible for all personnel matters except for administration. That falls under the purview of Lac Ste. Anne County, along with ownership of all three vehicles used to provide transportation. 

Another change to the agreement was the removal of a clause that would allow any participating municipality to get a portion of any capital contributions back if said municipality withdrew from the agreement within five years of entering into it. 

Coun. Ron Govenlock voted against entering the agreement on the basis that the service didn’t accommodate seniors living in Whitecourt. 

“On that basis, it would be difficult for me to support this increase in funding,” he said. 

Prestidge noted that while Lac Ste. Anne contributes $50,000 for busing in the west end of the municipality, they also have to contribute $50,000 for another busing service on the east end. 

In other words, for this service to be expanded to other areas in Woodlands County, the budget would need to be significantly bigger, he indicated.

Kevin Berger, TownandCountryToday.com

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