WESTLOCK – Westlock County continued to take strides forward in 2022, with the hiring of a new CAO setting a “strong foundation” for the municipality for the next half-decade.
In a year-end interview, reeve Christine Wiese agreed that signing Tony Kulbisky to a six-year, $190,000 contract in August puts to bed the seemingly never-ending turnover at the CAO position in Westlock County since the turn of the century. In addition to at least eight interim CAOs like Rick McDonald and Pat Vincent, who filled the role at the county from Feb. 10 to Aug. 3, plus assorted senior county admin, the seven permanent CAOs since 2000 are: Wyatt Glebe, Jim Squire, Edward LeBlanc, Peter Kelly, Duane Coleman, Leo Ludwig and Kay Spiess, who tendered her resignation March 7 after less than a year at the helm.
“It’s huge and something that we were lacking at the beginning. He’s (Kulbisky) the foundation and we’re building and growing on top of that and it’s been wonderful. He provides the stability that the municipality needs going forward,” said Wiese. “We’re getting through our meetings smoother and having better debates. But I really want to thank Pat (Vincent) who was a breath of fresh of air and allowed us to get moving in the right direction. I think council regained a lot of faith in the jobs that we were doing and I thank him for that.”
Wiese, who was unchallenged for the reeve position at the October organizational meeting, said council is also proud of the $20,614,338 interim budget passed Dec. 13, a document she’s previously called “bold.”
It touts a five per cent cut to expenses, double-digit decreases to the farm and non-residential mill rates to “further business development”, plus a “reasonable” 1.01 per cent increase to the residential mill rate which “allows service levels to be maintained.”
Tax-wise, the 1.01 per cent residential mill rate increase means an “average homeowner” will pay about $22 more in 2023, while the farm mill rate is touted to drop by 10.7 per cent, which adds up to a reduction of $70 per year, per quarter section. Finally, the non-residential mill rate is slated to drop by 12.6 per cent and will provide the “average non-residential property” a reduction of $1,800 per year and gets the county in compliance with the 5-1 non-residential to residential tax rate as dictated under the Municipal Government Act.
“The budget is definitely an achievement but it also gets us back in compliance (with the MGA) and that was huge as well,” she continued.
The Div. 7 rep who’s only the second woman to be reeve of Westlock County, also touted the community standards bylaw passed in 2022 as a key towards building a better sense of community in the hamlets and the new advertising policy as a way of looking for new sources of revenue and not just “using ratepayers as the sole resource for funding.” She’s also looking forward to the completion of the municipality’s strategic plan which will help guide councillors in their decision-making going forward for the remainder of their term which expires in 2025.
Wiese, a rookie politician who handily won her seat on council in the Oct. 18, 2021, municipal election by 130 votes, followed up by claiming the reeve’s seat following a secret-ballot win at the Oct. 26, 2021, organizational meeting.
“We’re excited as a council to be moving forward. We’re ready to work, we’re ready to move forward and not being overlooked and getting on the radar again,” she concluded.
