New Westlock County reeve Bud Massey is ready to take what he has learned in his two months on council and apply it to where he and his fellow councillors want to take the municipality.
With the possible dissolution of the Village of Clyde and the amalgamation of the town, county and village being discussed, Massey is keen to improve the working relationship between all three municipalities, as well as those farther abroad.
“Our plan is, early in the spring, to have a conference held in Westlock, inviting all of the neighbouring municipalities to come in and we’re going to talk about best practices,” he said.
The idea is to look at what the different municipalities are doing that might be innovative or progressive, and how those things could be incorporated into what Westlock County is doing.
Massey said he views amalgamation as something that, “if it does happen, it’s a long ways off.” Regardless of what happens, he said it’s important the town, county and village all work together, something that already happens with the Westlock Regional Water Services Commission and the recreation portfolio, to name a few.
However, in order to take that next step, he said the county’s foundation has to be solid.
Fortunately, councillors in 2013, both before and after the election, have left the municipality in such a position by keeping its finances in order.
Overall, the county and its residents had a year of ups and downs, Massey said.
“It’s been a difficult year,” he said. “People were expecting much larger crops than what they achieved.”
Adding in the rain that laid a beating on the roads, and the heavy snowfall, it was an interesting year.
On the personal and political side, 2013 was also an interesting experience, albeit mostly positive.
“After getting elected, I have had such a positive experience with the people I’m working with and the people I’m working for — the taxpayers, the shareholders of the county,” Massey said.
“For myself personally, it’s been a trying year in that the learning curve is so steep. I came in thinking I had some issues I wanted to deal with, not even understanding the number of issues council deals with on a regular basis.”
Chief among those issues, at least in Massey’s eyes, are the county’s roads. One of council’s biggest accomplishments since the last election was increasing the amount of gravelling done on county roads by 25 per cent, but doing so at a “substantial” saving.
From a broader perspective, the county is well placed to redo its 10-year plan, he added. The previous council had managed to achieve 60 per cent of its plan in only 40 per cent of the time, setting the new council up for further success.
