OLDS — Council has agreed to provide a total of $2,310 to the Community Lifestyles Committee (CLC) of the Olds Institute for three funding requests.
Rita Thompson and Erica Sweetman of the CLC outlined those plans during a Sept. 14 council meeting.
The first request was for $160 to create and print brochures regarding a memorial garden which will be created in Centennial Park.
A flowerbed will be dug, winding alongside the pathway and in the area of the cenotaph. Tiles that residents can purchase for memorials will be inlaid among the flowers.
Through the community lifestyles legacy fund, 300 tiles have been bought for that purpose via money provided by the Olds Institute.
Sweetman said the flowerbed and tiles will be installed by town employees. They’ll also maintain it.
The purpose of the brochure is to let people know about it and how to buy the tiles.
Thompson and Sweetman said money raised from the sale of the tiles will go directly into the community legacy fund.
That way they said, more money from that fund can be disbursed back into the community to assist not-for-profit groups.
“Especially during these times, that money is quite important, so we’d really like to get at that,” Thompson said.
The second request involves setting up a focus group to discuss transportation issues in the community and potential solutions to those problems.
"From our age-friendly survey that we did, transportation was a huge issue," Thompson said.
The plan is to house that focus group at the Olds Royal Canadian Legion, hopefully in mid-October. That cost is pegged at $1,247 to cover obtaining the room and provide refreshments.
The third request was for $900 to finish the committee's age-friendly engagement process.
Council was told the Alberta Rural Development Network is contributing $500 towards the cost of that effort.
A draft report was expected to be completed by the end of last week.
After that, the committee planned to undertake telephone consultation to make sure they've got the community's priorities correct.
Then a community consultation will be held by the end of November so members can look at recommendations in a proposed strategic plan.
"We think it's very important that the commuinty take ownership of it and go forward," Thompson said.
It's expected that the entire action plan, including a cost/benefit analysis, will be ready for council to review in January or February.
Council voted 6-0 in favour of providing the money.Coun. Mitch Thomson recused himself, due to his position as executive director of the Olds Institute.
“Thank you so much ladies for your presentation,” Mayor Michael Muzychka said. “We look forward to all your continued work. You’ve done such fantastic work for our community over the past years.”
