BARRHEAD-The community of Barrhead has pulled together during the coronavirus pandemic.
And the same collective effort that the community has taken to combat the virus and keep infection numbers in the area relatively low is what is going to put Barrhead in good stead in the years and decades to come.
"Our community truly has held together really well throughout the pandemic. Residents have been supportive of local businesses," said Town of Barrhead mayor Dave McKenzie, adding the business community has also risen to the challenge.
"Sometimes people in small towns can get into the mentality that if it isn't a big box store, a small, local business will not have what they want or that it will be so much more expensive," he said. "Our merchants have done a wonderful job and gone out of their way in ensuring they have good products and pricing as competitive as it can be and many residents, because of the pandemic are seeing that for the first time."
The Barrhead Leader spoke to McKenzie asking him to elaborate on what some of the challenges and successes of the past year and what residents can look forward to in the New Year.
"The community as a whole has done a good job during COVID," McKenzie said, adding that council passed a mandatory face-covering bylaw, but because of the efforts of residents they did not have to enact it due to the low number of active cases. That does not include the most recent provincial restrictions the government put in place starting on Dec. 8, which in part includes an Alberta-wide mandatory mask requirement.
According to the province's geospatial map, active coronavirus cases in the County of Barrhead region had peaked at 10. As of this writing, on Dec. 22, the map shows that the area has three active cases.
Unfortunately, although he understands the need for the province and public health officials need to act quickly, McKenzie said it would be beneficial for municipalities to be given a "heads up".
More often than not, he said, municipalities receive information about public health orders the same way the public does, by listening to the daily provincial COVID briefings.
Which can be problematic when the order impacts recreation facilities, McKenzie said, noting they often need a lot of lead time to enact the order.
Using the example of the Barrhead Regional Aquatics Centre, McKenzie said when the province gave the go-ahead to reopen recreation facilities after the first shutdown, it took a considerable amount of time for staff to prepare the swimming pool for reopening. The last shut down also impacted roughly 38 recreation department staff, mostly casual aquatic centre employees.
"We do our best to try to reassign people and keep them employed. Sadly it isn't possible in all cases, but I know administration does its best to mitigate the impact," he said.
Non-COVID related challenges
Of course, the coronavirus is not the only challenge the municipality is facing. Like its residents, the municipality faces difficult decisions on how to use its limited financial resources.
One of the challenges facing all rural municipalities is how to continue to provide services residents expect while receiving less provincial money. In the fall of 2019, the province announced that it would be reducing the Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) funding municipalities receive.
In 2020-21, the government reduced MSI funding by $94 million and in 2021-22 the reduction will hit $142 million, with an overall reduction of $236 million or nine per cent.
Municipal Affairs minister Tracy Allard in November sent a form letter out to municipalities stating that due to reduced provincial revenue and higher expenditures dealing with the pandemic, the government "may not be able to sustain our current levels of infrastructure and operating spending" inferring the result is potentially less money for municipalities.
In the same vein, rural municipalities with populations under $5,000 will now have to contribute towards the cost of policing.
"We are still waiting for more information from the province on the reduction of [MSI funding]" McKenzie said, adding the reduction was part of the government's plan to transition MSI to a new program, Local Government Fiscal Framework, starting in the 2022-2023 year.
"It looks like there may be other funding opportunities to backfill where MSI leave off but there is no doubt that we will have to be prudent about what projects we approve and what our priorities are," he said.
McKenzie said they are also waiting for more information about the government’s rural policing strategy and if they will have any input on how local detachments use the extra resources.
However, he said on that front council isn't too concerned.
"We have had a good run of detachment commanders in Barrhead. They have all been extremely receptive about what the community's priorities might be," he said, citing the Barrhead and Area Crime Coalition (BARCC) as an example. "It was a community-driven initiative and the RCMP quickly put their support behind it ... I think a lot of that has to do with the personalities at the detachment."
BARCC is a partnership between Woodlands County, the Town of Barrhead and the County of Barrhead, as well as the Barrhead RCMP and Rural Crime Watch.
It was formed in the spring of 2018, in part due to discussions Peace River-Westlock MP Arnold Viersen had with all parties to come up with initiatives to combat rural crime.
Included as part of the initiative’s BARCC's software-based system that allows the municipalities, Rural Crime Watch and the RCMP broadcast messages via automated phone calls, e-mails, and texts, about items of public interest.
Looking forward
Although he was not at liberty to speak in much detail, McKenzie said in the New Year residents can expect to see some action regarding the municipality-owned Schnieder lands, on the west side of town — just north of the apartment buildings along 53rd Street and south of the Shepherd’s Care facility.
"People are going to see some movement there," he said.
On Oct. 13, after an in-camera session councillors approved the sale of a three-acre parcel of the approximately 14-acre property.
McKenzie said council hopes to take more advantage of the municipality's rebranding efforts.
In June 2019, the municipality began its rebranding effort when council approved a $70,000 contract with Ion Brand Design, a Vancouver, B.C. based marketing firm, to create a new municipal logo and associated materials. The bulk of the funding, $54,000, came from an Alberta Tourism Growth and Innovation Fund (TGIF) grant, while the municipality chipped in another $18,000. In January, the bulk of the new marketing package, including a colour scheme, logo and tag line, were unveiled. In November, councillors decided to forgo the use of a tag line and approved the use of a modified logo, which included a blue heron in flight, in certain circumstances.
"Residents are going to see more and more of that as we go forward," he said, noting once events start to take place again, community organizations will be able to make use of a lot of the rebranding material. "Barrhead is a very unique community that has stood the test of time. Barrhead is our brand and focus our marketing efforts on showcasing what we have to offer ... because we have some very unique amenities and we need to promote that and celebrate our successes."
