“I am a man who walks the walk” … “Our object is to find the path of least impact or disturbance” … “We will be as generous as we can” …
These are the words of Dan Fouts, general manager of Stony Valley Contracting, a Fort McMurray company behind plans for a $12 million gravel operation in Barrhead county. Taken at face value, his comments should provide reassurance to people likely to be affected by a 30-year project to transport aggregate from a 640-acre site to the Edmonton area.
They may also offer hope to Barrhead County and Town councillors who want Stony Valley to become a good corporate partner and sponsor, if the project proceeds as expected.
At last week’s county council meeting, acting Reeve Doug Drozd raised the possibility of Stony Valley contributing to such projects as the new aquatic centre.
Financial assistance of this kind would go a long way to generating goodwill with Barrhead and, perhaps, making the noise and nuisance of trundling trucks more bearable.
The 64 million dollar question is this: Can we take Fouts’ words at face value?
Anyone who attended last month’s open house meetings on the project would have seen a man apparently passionate about doing the right thing. He does not fit the stereotype of a ruthless businessman ready to trample on people in a stampede for a fast buck.
He is not the Gordon Gekko of the gravel business, he is not a corporate raider, he is not a shark. Movie buffs may recall the anti-hero of 1987’s “Wall Street” declaring: “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works...”
Nothing could be further from Stony Valley’s professed ethos of building long-term mutually beneficial relationships with the communities in which it operates, of being prepared to listen to concerns, of working with people to identify initiatives it can help sponsor. Of course, it wants to make a profit, but not at any expense.
The only possible similarity Fouts has with Gekko is a capacity for hard work, although we have no idea whether they share a belief that “lunch is for wimps.”
What we do know is that Stony Valley has been involved in many projects in Alberta and Saskatchewan and lays claim to corporate values and ethics that are based on accountability and doing what it says it will do. So far Fouts and his business partner Wayne Woodhouse appear to match words with deeds. As sons of Alberta soil, they appear keen to leave a positive legacy, even if Barrhead only derives minimal economic spin-offs from the project.
For the past two years they have met residents and landowners face-to-face seeking input and feedback on the proposed project and haul routes.
As a result of consultation, the company modified its plans so that the routing option went through grazing reserve and protected sharp tailed grouse habitat.
After last month’s open house meetings the company is planning more tweaking to potential routes to meet concerns of residents living nearby. Fouts intends to meet those living on the escarpment near the development site. All of this points to a man and a company ready to walk the walk, as well as talk the talk.
We believe in giving Stony Valley the benefit of the doubt. We believe Fouts is someone with whom Barrhead can do business.
Time will tell whether such confidence is justified.
