Despite it being relatively quiet, Town of Westlock mayor Ralph Leriger said 2015 was a good year for the municipality.
“I think it was a very positive year,” Leriger said. “I think we advanced our community in many respects. I think people pulled together.
“A lot of planning went into 2015 on the legislative side. We redid our municipal development plan and land-use bylaw.
“All that significant planning will help us in our growth plans for the future.”
Highlighting 2015 for Leriger and the town were two major developments.
“A couple significant announcements that are going to help up advance are, of course, Kiewit relocating their Winterburn operations to Westlock. I was really pleased to see them use local contractors and businesses in their yard build. That’s a really welcomed influx of cash for several of our local businesses,” Leriger explained.
“And the other is the Telus announcement. Them investing $9 million, or approximately that, into wiring our community for fibre optics is very significant.
“I understand that only 10 per cent of North America is connected to fibre optics, so that should create a much bigger competitive advantage for our community than many people realize.”
The mayor cited economic growth as a key driver for the town in the past year with several new businesses opening up.
“Two significant new retail outlets opening up shop with Giant Tiger and Red Apple. And Red Apple locating downtown helps us keep our downtown vibrant and active,” Leriger said.
Well-planned and well-attended events including a revamped Canada Day celebration, a firefighter’s ball, mayor’s business breakfast and Christmas light-up also added to the success of the year, Leriger said.
Council also picked up a new member along the way as Murtaza Jamaly won the town’s Oct. 5 byelection.
“I was really encouraged, we had three good candidates, lots of participation and we have an excellent new councillor,” Leriger noted.
Looking ahead to 2016, it will be a milestone year for the municipality, which celebrates 100 years.
“It’s going to be an exciting year. We’re going to be celebrating 100 years of incorporation,” Leriger said.
“We’ve also landed a couple of major events for 2017 that we’ll have to prepare for in 2016 with the men’s provincial curling playdowns and the North Central Alberta Baseball League’s 50th anniversary celebration.”
The town will also begin a major infrastructure project in the Southview area that council OK’d last year.
“We approved our first major road project since the building of the Spirit Centre and that’s the rebuild of the infrastructure in the old part of Southview,” he said.
“It’s going to be a major project and there will be disruptions and certainly we have to do a good job of project management. It will likely be a two-year project, as I understand.
“We have to address our infrastructure deficit … there are a number of different projects in the hopper that we will have to figure out how we’ll fund and continue to address.”
Council will also continue to push through its strategic plan in its last full year before the October 2017 municipal election.
“This economy, both provincially and federally, has changed significantly with the downturn of oil prices and of course changes in government at both levels,” the mayor said.
“But I think and I believe and I certainly hope our council believes that opportunities exist in any kind of economy.
“It will be up to us to anticipate what that new economy looks like and where we can participate.”
