The new year is stacking up to be a busy time for Mountain View County, with numerous projects started in 2015 continuing in 2016, and other new projects getting underway, says Reeve Bruce Beattie.
“We have some exciting things on the horizon as we look forward to 2016,” said Beattie. “We are well aware of the fiscal restraint that we are all going to be facing in terms of the impact of the oil prices. We are well aware of that as council, but by the same token it is not a time to shut everything down and stop working.
“We are required to have a balanced budget, but we still have our capital programs that we have underway.”
Forging a constructive partnership with the new NDP government will be an important task in 2016, he said.
“I'm looking forward to building a relationship with the new provincial government,” he said. “It is a new era for us. One of our goals is to make sure that the regulations that govern Bill 6 respect the farm community and are well constructed so they don't have a negative impact. That's really going to be a major push and I'm hoping we will be involved in helping with the regulations being drafted.”
Working with the various other municipalities in the county on new inter-municipal agreements will also be an important 2016 task, he said.
“Developing the growth strategy with Olds is a key part of the new year,” he said. “Building those relationships with the municipalities is very important.”
The county will be giving increased support to tourist information booths in area towns in 2016.
“We recognize that a lot of the tourism that is attracted to the towns is also benefiting the rural areas as well,” he said.
The county will be continuing with its multi-year solar energy pilot project in 2016.
“We will be taking applications for producers to put these units on their operations. We have $50,000 set aside for 10 pilot projects,” he said.
The county will be continuing its partnership with the alternative land use society (ALUS) on land preservation, he said.
“We developed a partnership with ALUS in 2015 and we are already seeing some development in that area with agreements being signed with producers, as well as some workshops our ag department will be putting on to educate people about the possibility around alternative land use,” he said.
Other projects continuing in 2016 include the new agriculture shop and the third year of the three-year re-gravelling program, he noted.
"We have some exciting things on the horizon as we look forward to 2016."Bruce BeattieMVC Reeve
