WESTLOCK – “Unforeseen staffing challenges” at Westlock County have led to a pair of hot-button issues, the shifting Tawatinaw Valley Ski Hill chalet and the burgeoning business of Bitcoin mines, being deferred until March.
At the county’s Feb. 15 governance and priorities meeting, interim CAO Pat Vincent asked for and received unanimous approval from councillors to move both items, although the issue at the Tawatinaw chalet was to be discussed during a CAO briefing following the Tuesday-morning meeting — a full report on the hill is now slated for the March 17 GPC meeting.
As for Bitcoin mines, Vincent said it’s “a priority” and when they get the report done, he’ll circulate it to all of council prior to the same March 17 meeting and “if necessary, make a recommendation to consider a special meeting if that’s in order.”
Chalet issues
In January, council learned there’s been “significant movement” of the Tawatinaw Valley Ski Hill chalet this winter, a fact that prompted the municipality to begin reaching out to engineering firms to explain why it continues to move and what remedies are available.
Councillors received that news as part of the recreation and community services report delivered by community services coordinator Adrienne Finnegan at the Jan. 18 governance and priorities meeting. “Building continues to move. Considering structural engineering report to be completed. Contacting companies to potentially provide quotes. Repairs will have to be completed,” her report reads.
She also told councillors at that meeting that a county-hired contractor, who’s not a structural engineer, had done “several” measurements and adjustments to the screw jacks under the chalet Nov. 29 and Dec. 22.
“The idea that we are making alterations to what is the foundation and we’re not doing it under specific direction does concern me somewhat,” said Coun. Stuart Fox-Robinson at that meeting.
Ultimately councillors asked for clarity on what the municipality is on the hook for at the hill and voted unanimously to get administration to bring the old and new agreements with the Tawatinaw Valley Ski Club, the business-case study for municipality-run ski hills presented by CAO Kay Spiess in June 2021 and any additional information to the Feb. 15 GPC meeting — those documents will now be presented March 17.
Westlock County is paying $175,000 annually to the Tawatinaw Valley Ski Club to manage the hill for the next six years. The contract between the two, which was negotiated exclusively during in-camera discussions last summer, was approved following a closed-door session at council’s Aug. 10 meeting — the yearly financial commitment by the county and length of the deal were not made available until council’s Sept. 14 meeting.
Vincent told councillors he met with Finnegan Feb. 11 and due to Spiess being on an “unexpected” six-week leave starting Feb. 5 she was “unable to connect with her before she left.”
A new chalet for Tawatinaw was first talked about in 2012 and built in 2014 but had to be physically moved due to flooding after an initial engineering report that suggested a suitable location was ignored — it finally opened to the public in 2015.
The chalet had an initial price tag of $2 million, which according to reports in the intervening years ballooned to as much as $3 million, while the $1.5 million debenture on the facility is slated to mature in 2023, leaving roughly $344,000 left to be paid — then-CAO Leo Ludwig said in a past interview that as of the end of 2018 there was approximately $860,000 remaining.
Bitcoin regs promised
With nearly a half-dozen ‘Bitcoin mines’ currently operating in the county, administration promised new land-use bylaw regulations and a detailed report on them in mid-February, a deadline Vincent said they were unable to meet.
At the Jan. 18 governance and priorities meeting, manager of planning and development Ted Traikovski told councillors his department has been “inundated and overloaded” with questions, concerns, complaints and even proposals and applications on Bitcoin mines. He went on to say that there were five facilities operating in the municipality as they “pop up like dandelions” and noted they only became aware of the third, fourth and fifth ones Jan. 14.
Vincent told councillors last week that Sturgeon County has “been a leader” in dealing with Bitcoin mines, while Traikovski previously said he’s viewed Sturgeon’s new regs and will use it as a template. Sturgeon County councillors debated and gave first reading to new data processing facility regulations under its land-use bylaw Jan. 25 with a public hearing now slated for this month.
While deputy-reeve Ray Marquette appreciated why there’s been a delay saying, “Rome wasn’t built overnight” he asked admin what he should be telling ratepayers when these operators are “in their backyard and the generators are howling by their house.”
“I would ask for their patience for a very short time. It’s not like we’re ignoring it. I do empathize with them and if I was in their shoes I would be as annoyed as they would be,” said Vincent. “We are endeavoring to respond as quickly as possible. It is in the works and will be in front council shortly.”
Marquette said he’s gotten a handful of complaints on the mines, while Coun. Sherri Provencal said she’s also gotten at least three calls from residents angry that these operators are “squatting per se on these well sites that we haven’t even been able to collect taxes from.”
Coun. Isaac Skuban said while he appreciates those concerns, he believes they need to “keep an open mind and remain positive” as the county needs to “remain friendly to investment.”
Reeve Christine Wiese also noted an upcoming bitcoin mining company delegation that’s coming to the county which should help shed some light on the industry.
“This is a discussion that needs to be had, it’s just probably not the right time as we don’t have enough information or people here to answer the questions,” said Wiese. “But it has got to get resolved.”
Bitcoin background
According to a variety of cryptocurrency websites, Bitcoin mining is the process required to update the Bitcoin blockchain and through cryptography, miners use computing power to attempt to solve very complex mathematical problems that involve things called “hashes.” The solution to the problem is a function of the computing power held by the miner; the more computing power they have, the sooner they can find the correct solution.
Ultimately these mines, like the one announced last spring located by Hazel Bluff which is owned by Link Global Technologies, use generators fueled by dormant natural gas wells to run the computers that mine the currency — Traikovski told council that site is currently pending AUC enforcement proceedings.
Link Global also generated headlines in the fall when the AUC announced more than $7 million in penalties against the company for setting up sites in Sturgeon County and Kirkwall in Special Area 3 in southern Alberta without proper approvals.
Despite those astronomical fines, the payoff can be huge for miners as the first to find the correct solution earns the right to choose the transactions and add it on the next page of the ledger or, equivalently, the next block in the blockchain. As a reward for adding valid transactions to the blockchain, the miner earns 6.25 Bitcoin, as well as all the transaction fees in that block — the value of one Bitcoin as of March 4 was $51,153.78.
