IN THE NEWS

County passes motion for review. 

At their June 14th meeting, council passed a motion by a 4-3 vote to request a municipal review. In conversation with Municipal Affairs on June 28 we learned that this procedure may involve different types of activities and results depending on the type of request made. Basically there are two possibilities:

Municipal Corporate Review. If the request is made for this type of review, the inspection is usually done by municipal advisors from the Department of Municipal Affairs. It focusses mainly on the internal workings of administration and council. There is limited opportunity for public input in this procedure. 

Municipal Inspection. This request involves Municipal Affairs hiring a 3rd party for a full investigation into county operations. There is more opportunity for public input and is a more thorough investigation into all aspects of the county’s operations. This is what is/has been taking place in the town of Rocky Mtn. House.

Currently we do not have information on what type of request has been formally made. Whatever the case, it will take almost a year to receive the results.

Land development status. 

Following the May 30th meeting at Dovercourt a joint town/county open house was held on June 15th at the Rec. Centre in Rocky. It was hoped that information on, and/or copies of, the joint municipal development plans might have been available but they weren’t. Most of the information presented dealt with the need for the town to annex property to the north and for the county to proceed with their development in order to “stimulate economic diversity”. Subsequently, in the June 28th county agenda package, information was noted with the following timeline for further action: 

Late July/early August. The Intermunicipal Development Plan committee will meet to review comments from the open houses. 

Late August/early September. Joint Development Area plans and a Joint Service Agreement will be provided for councils’ reviews. 

It is county staff’s opinion that the JDA and JSA should be approved before a next open house is scheduled.

Note:  This means that the public would not have input into the JDA and the JSA until after their approval by town and county councils.

ROSES:  This month’s roses go out to everyone involved with Market Place on Main.  It is a great community effort and huge bouquets go out to the organizers, the booth participants, the entertainers, the parking supervisors, and of course the attendees.  Everyone can be extremely proud of this very special summer time activity.

RANT:  This month’s Rant focusses, again, on the county’s development plans for their land north of Rocky.  It has recently come to light that town residents may, potentially, be drug into the fracas through water/sewer development proposals.  It is suggested that the town help cover these costs as this infrastructure would go through lands that the town may annex.  Consequently there may be a future benefit as development takes place on the annexed land.  When asked if a feasibility study or an economic development plan had been done to evaluate the economic need and/or return on investment potential for this north development, the answer was no. It is inconceivable how councils (both town and county) can think of spending taxpayer dollars on something that has not had an extensive evaluation as to its economic return.  What citizen would ever contemplate investing hard earned dollars without considering the amount of risk and return in a specified time...but then I guess if you’re spending someone else’s money the standards may be different.

COMING EVENTS:

September 8, 2016--- Regular meeting of the CCTA, 7:30PM, Leslieville Elks’ Hall

October 13, 2016---Regular meeting of the CCTA, 7:30PM, Leslieville Elks’ Hall

• Watch for future open house meetings on the county’s land developments
• We will do everything we can to keep you informed on both the municipal review and land development plans.

QUOTE:  A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. George Bernard Shaw.