Town council has approved an administration request to support a grant application to the province from the member municipalities of Parkland Community Planning Services (PCPS) to fund the preparation of a marketing strategy and a business and strategic plan.
Craig Teal, the town's director of planning and operational services, told council on March 10 that PCPS has requested the Town of Innisfail be the managing partner for the grant application on behalf of the 17 member municipalities, which include Bowden and Penhold.
He said the total funding request to the province's Regional Collaboration Program will be about $300,000, with the work taking about two years.
PCPS is an agency established in 1995 to conduct various planning services for the 17 municipalities. Teal said in order to maintain its success more members are being sought to utilize its services, which is the goal behind the marketing strategy and business plan.
“The more of us that participate the lower the cost to all the participants in terms of having a resource available to help us with our planning responsibilities,” said Teal. “The idea is to look at what is happening financially and how are we going to get more members in.”
Meanwhile, the town is entering into a new three-year contract with PCPS to provide planning services beginning April 1.
At its regular meeting on March 10, council approved an agreement with the agency that was created in 1995 on a not-for-profit basis providing 17 municipalities – including Innisfail, Penhold and Bowden -- with planning services.
The new deal will see hourly rates for a PCPS planner go up from $100 per hour to $120, and an increase from $75 per hour to $90 for a planning technician. The last time rates went up was at the start of the past three-year agreement in 2010.
As well, there will be an increase in the amount of expected spending on planning services by the town, from an average of $65,000 in the past contract to $85,320 for the new three-year term.
“In the three-year contract we are expected to do planning and make use of the resource,” said Craig Teal, the town's director of planning and operational services. “Otherwise they can't fulfill their mandate and have a budget in existence. To give the agency some certainty we have been committed to a certain level of planning investment every year.”
In a report to council, Teal said the nature of work undertaken on behalf of the town varies from year to year depending on the type of projects and priorities identified. Between 2007 and 2012 about 2,100 hours of planner time was provided to the town, as well as 1,300 hours of planning technician time.
