WESTLOCK – Newly-minted Westlock County reeve Christine Wiese is looking forward to 2022, highlighting a zero per cent tax and a commitment to “action” saying the coming year is “time to start achieving some results.”
Wiese, who won Division 7 in the October municipal election, is one of five new councillors and defeated incumbent reeve Jared Stitsen for the position following a secret ballot at the municipality’s Oct. 26 organization meeting. Wiese, who won Division 7 by a 130-vote margin, is the second woman to serve as reeve following Lou Hall who chaired council from 2017-2020.
“We know businesses and residents in the county are watching their pennies and we recognize that hardship, so we’re proud that for the first time in many years to approve a zero per cent increase to the mill rate. And with the prediction of lower assessment, it will hopefully mean a decrease in the 2022 tax notices,” said Wiese in a year-end interview.
At their Dec. 14 meeting county councillors locked in a $5,288,240 capital budget for 2022, roughly $1 million less than what was originally proposed by administration and directed the lion’s share of those dollars to the gravel program, which has been doubled to just over $2 million. And although they only passed an interim budget of up to 50 per cent of the administrative and operational expenses for the coming year, councillors made it clear they expect no mill rate increase in 2022. Council also turned down a policy-mandated 4.7 per cent pay increase — not taking the wage hike will save the county $11,304.
“We have to start bringing in new businesses. The loss of oil and gas is hitting us hard. It’s difficult when you have a lot of services and a lot of area to cover, but we just don’t have the resources to fund it. We don’t want to keep looking to residents,” she continued.
“It’s not been a great year, we had a lot of things … environmentally, economically, the global impact of the pandemic. I think every municipality has felt the effects of that.”
Wiese said in January council and admin will sit down to craft a new strategic plan for the municipality to “establish a collective vision.” That said, Wiese said councillors will be focusing on action.
“We need a plan, something that entices growth and maximizes our resources. We need to form some specific goals and objectives,” she said. “I’m thankful that we’re all eager to get to work. We have new councillors, a new CAO and many other new staff. And I may be biased, but I think the new council is doing a wonderful job and we’re trying to build a great foundation and keep the lines of communication open.
“And I realize that success takes time and I’m thankful that we have a group of councillors who won’t be complacent. But we need more than just a vision, we need action and 2022 is the time to start achieving some results.”
The county’s industrial park will also be a focus in 2022, as the previous council agreed to allocate $110,000 from the municipality’s industrial park reserve to fund a study on the 18-year-old park. In addition, $500,000 is tabbed in the 2022 capital budget for the Highway 44/county industrial park intersection project — although slated for 2022, it’s probable the intersection won’t be done until 2023.
The park has a checkered history that started with the county spending $1 million to purchase the land in 2003, to the fact they’ve never been able to secure town water and sewer service, to questionable land transactions over the years including the 2015 deal with Horizon North Camp & Catering Partnership — a shady deal authored by then-CAO Peter Kelly and singled out in the 2017 Municipal Inspection Report that wound up costing the county an estimated $200,000.
Those facts aside, the park has seen moderate success and is home to the municipality's public works shop, as well as high-profile businesses like CropMaxx, the Alberta Trappers Association, Emcom Services, Wild Rose REA and Pentagon.
“We’re really hoping to entice new businesses to the industrial park area. We even set a little bit of money to put a sign up … a lot of people come through our area and they don’t even know that there are lots available to purchase,” she said.
Looking forward, Wiese talked about improvements to emergency and fire services, with $101,038 in 2022 set aside to get the county on to the Alberta First Responders Radio Communications System. She also noted the replacement of the Village of Clyde tender, pegged at $275,000 ($90,000 less initially budgeted) in the 2022 capital budget as a highlight, while she also hopes the addition of a second peace officer for the municipality “will improve safety in our hamlets.”
“These spends improve safety and four-corner protection for all of the county which I think is very important. We haven’t gone through anything like the Slave Lake fires, but we know how quickly things can change,” she said.
“We’re also so grateful for our volunteer (firefighters), we’re so proud of them. Just look at Jarvie, their new fire hall was built by volunteers and it’s a great addition for that community.”
Wiese also talked about the new compost facility at the region landfill and said they’re also hopeful that the Echo Lake Campground will be sold this year — councillors were forced via the Municipal Government Act to reject a bid on the campground following in-camera discussions at their Dec. 14 meeting.
“It’s nearing completion, so we’re excited to see who ends up with it. It might become a possible new attraction for Westlock County,” said Wiese.
