For Westlock County’s first-ever female reeve Lou Hall, the highlight of 2017 is easy.
“Being elected to council and becoming the reeve, that was probably the biggest event of my year,” she said. “The six councillors, administration staff and I have spent a lot of time together in the last two months. It’s been wonderful, everybody has a really good outlook. I think we’re off to a good start.”
While she only has a short frame of reference for the year, having been elected to office Oct. 16, Hall said the learning curve was steep, but fascinating.
“I’ve learned a lot about the county operations in a very short time,” she said. “We went line-by-line through the budget, so we were able to see how and why things are done.”
In addition to the regular county meetings, Hall has been busy with budget deliberations, representing council at functions and ceremonies around the region.
Going forward, she said she was hoping to keep a steady pace on the county. She flagged the future of the Tawatinaw Ski Hill as one of the bigger challenges facing council.
“There’s a lot still to be done on that, that will be a big focus in the New Year,” she said.
While voters elected to sell the ski hill during the Oct. 16 plebiscite 1,028 to 866, the county still holds an operator’s agreement with DK Consulting to maintain and run the facility until September 2018. Part of that agreement includes completing needed repairs on the hill and facility, including installing air conditioning in the chalet and repairing sink holes in the hill’s half-pipe.
A few projects, including paving the parking lot and repairing the water system are finished.
Hall added that the new council had already worked through a lot of the county’s more immediate priorities.
“Wiesel Creek is on the books for 2018. The website will be updated with new infrastructure information,” she said, adding that council was also working on responding and implementing recommendations from the municipal review that was concluded in July.
One of the biggest challenges in her mind is finding a way to navigate the increasingly murky conflict around the Westlock Regional Water Services Commission, which defeated a motion to build the long-awaited Phase 3 of the regional water line to Fawcett. Hall said that decision influenced the county’s decision to begin work on the Jarvie Water Plant, which is due for $1.9 million in upgrades.
She said that the next big step for the county are strategic planning sessions. Once those are in place council will have a better sense of where it is going for the remainder of the four-year term.
“Keeping in mind that the plan is flexible as well, but at least we can identify where we want to be in three years,” she said. “We’re definitely a planning group.”
Her other big goal is improving communication with ratepayers. In addition to work on the county’s website that will provide up-to-date information on road conditions and maintenance, council is working on other ways to improve communication.
“We’ve identified communication and getting citizens involved as a top priority,” she said. “I hope everyone remains happy and healthy in 2018.”
