DIDSBURY - A representative from the Central Alberta Economic Partnership (CAEP) gave a presentation at the regular council meeting on May 8.
Kimberley Worthington, executive director for CAEP, talked about what she says are the many benefits of belonging to the organization.
Worthington appeared at the request of council.
At the April 28 meeting, Coun. Bill Windsor, council's municipal representative on CAEP, stated that council should discuss and evaluate the value of the town's membership in CAEP.
Joining Worthington at the meeting were CAEP's practicum student, Megan Fitzpatrick, from Red Deer College, and John Vandermeer, reeve of Clearwater County and vice-chair of the CAEP board, who also spoke favourably about CAEP.
Worthington told council the mandate for CAEP is to facilitate regional economic development and serve as a vital partner in the diversification and sustainability of the region's economy. CAEP is currently an alliance of 35 member communities including Red Deer, Lacombe, Wetaskiwin, Didsbury, Olds, Carstairs and Cremona, and 11 associate members.
"We're here to empower you to advance economic development at your level, the local level," said Worthington to council. "We're not a transactional organization although we do have a program for that. We are a strategic organization. We provide tools, resources and training for you to do your economic development. We also provide connectivity. We have a great line to the government of Alberta, the economic develop and trade minister, amongst others. We are your voice at the upper level of government."
Didsbury mayor Rhonda Hunter said that council has not had the chance to discuss their thoughts regarding the presentation, but that the item is likely to come onto their agenda in the next few months.
Meanwhile, Didsbury RCMP Staff Sgt. Chad Fournier appeared before council to give his report for the first quarter of 2018.
Fournier talked about the statistics for personal crimes, such as assaults and harassment, and property crimes.
"These are the number stats that cause us the most concern, of course, person crimes, we want everyone to be safe and feel safe, but property crimes is what seems to get the most attention from the public in the last couple years," said Fournier.
"Break and enters is down, it's the lowest it's been since 2015. Theft of motor vehicles are down. All these numbers are too high but we seem to be going in the right direction. Theft under $5,000 is about half of last year."
Fournier encouraged people to call the police if they see any suspicious activity.
He also spoke of some of the major investigations over the past several months and talked about goals and plans for the upcoming months.
"Overall, the numbers are good," he said. "We're pretty good for staffing well. Of course, I'd like to have more positions, more officers, but the positions we have are doing good relative to staff."
Meanwhile, after some discussion, council accepted the policies and priorities committee terms of reference as amended.
The policies and priorities committee meetings will resume the 4:30 p.m. start time on regular council meeting dates, the second and fourth Tuesday of each month.
"Council was satisfied with these dates and times," said Hunter. "Council directed administration to keep council's priorities as we have identified, while sorting through the list to get the easily addressed items dealt with, which will provide more meeting time to manage and set direction for the more complex priority items and initiatives."
