NewsMLA Bruce Rowe was a guest of Trochu Council at their March 25 meeting. He advised that he has his research team working on developing questions regarding the Provincial budget. "We, along with all the opposition parties have a total of five hours to ask questions. The MSI grants for municipalities has been frozen again. You will receive the exact amount as you did the last couple of years. The Premier has said she wouldn't balance the budget on the backs of communities but our community was used to getting six to seven STEP students every summer. They helped with programs of non-profit societies, and it served as an opportunity to find a job. I found the Premier to be flippant in regard to this, saying there were lots of jobs out there for students, which may be true for large centers, but not small, rural communities." He briefly touched on the troubles for the Village of Cremona, whose residents signed a petition asking the Minister for a dissolution study. "The Mayor, a councilor, and CAO have resigned and there have been threatening letters."
On a positive note, Bruce is still amazed with FCSS in this area. "Blew me away how well it works." Council asked if grant applications, such as CFIP ever came across his desk (from the Trochu Community). He said he hadn't seen any. "There used to be some discretionary funds for our constituency but not anymore." Council advised Rowe of three main issues they wanted him to know about. The first being the need to update the community's lagoon and cells and the Town is waiting on the results of their grant application. "We can't do any subdivision expansions until the lagoon project is done." Bruce said he would look into finding out. The second big issue would be the 'Continued Care' facility for 72 or more beds. The project and major proportion of funding was by Covenant Health. "We had good relationships with the Ministers on this but there has been some shuffling and we are never sure anymore who we should really be speaking with to keep this going. There is the Minister of Health, then the Minister of Seniors. We get close and then we get left behind. Where do we go as a community, how do we proceed so we don't lose ground." Bruce felt that a meeting of all of the players at one time would be a good route to go and Bruce would try and set it up. The third item the Mayor wanted Bruce to know about was a video documentary entitled "A Place to Grow - Alberta's Rural Development Strategy". The Mayor advised Bruce that he would not regret watching it. That it contained a lot of viable dialogue on how to fix some of the bigger issues, like transportation, and develop and encourage more growth into the rural areas.
Council discussed the potential of investing more in its own community via a cooperative group, entitled 'Unleashing Local Capital', funded by Rural Alberta Development Fund. It is advertised as "an exciting new project' and empowers communities to invest in itself. It is presently accepting applications for the second round of pilot communities.
There was some discussion on the representation Trochu receives from Arts Alive. The group made the request for a donation of $1000 but a motion for this was defeated. There has been a $10,000 reduction in funding for Doctor Retention and Recruitment and Council gave its approval to the formula. There was also some discussion on what budget amount would best suit an item for donation from the Town of Trochu to benefit the Three Hills Victim Services annual Steak and Lobsterfest on June 8, 2013. Council also moved approval for a 'request for proposal' for the Arboretum 'House', with a mid-April deadline. There was some discussion on how the tea house is definitely bringing in more people but these guests don't always understand that the restaurant and the arboretum are two different entities and therefore, the donation box for the arboretum isn't reflective of the number of guests eating at the teahouse. Council wasn't sure how to make the public more aware of the need for generosity with regard to the Arboretum itself.
Clr. Wagstaff was concerned that the FCSS program of Community Volunteers for Income Tax may be finding it a bit more difficult to fill the volunteer spot if the government changes over completely to electronic filing. There are usually around 100 people looking for help filing their returns. Clr. Warnock advised that a place may have been found to take asbestos. There would be a tipping fee and with asbestos falling into two separate categories, there is a definite protocol in place for disposal.
On a positive note, Bruce is still amazed with FCSS in this area. "Blew me away how well it works." Council asked if grant applications, such as CFIP ever came across his desk (from the Trochu Community). He said he hadn't seen any. "There used to be some discretionary funds for our constituency but not anymore." Council advised Rowe of three main issues they wanted him to know about. The first being the need to update the community's lagoon and cells and the Town is waiting on the results of their grant application. "We can't do any subdivision expansions until the lagoon project is done." Bruce said he would look into finding out. The second big issue would be the 'Continued Care' facility for 72 or more beds. The project and major proportion of funding was by Covenant Health. "We had good relationships with the Ministers on this but there has been some shuffling and we are never sure anymore who we should really be speaking with to keep this going. There is the Minister of Health, then the Minister of Seniors. We get close and then we get left behind. Where do we go as a community, how do we proceed so we don't lose ground." Bruce felt that a meeting of all of the players at one time would be a good route to go and Bruce would try and set it up. The third item the Mayor wanted Bruce to know about was a video documentary entitled "A Place to Grow - Alberta's Rural Development Strategy". The Mayor advised Bruce that he would not regret watching it. That it contained a lot of viable dialogue on how to fix some of the bigger issues, like transportation, and develop and encourage more growth into the rural areas.
Council discussed the potential of investing more in its own community via a cooperative group, entitled 'Unleashing Local Capital', funded by Rural Alberta Development Fund. It is advertised as "an exciting new project' and empowers communities to invest in itself. It is presently accepting applications for the second round of pilot communities.
There was some discussion on the representation Trochu receives from Arts Alive. The group made the request for a donation of $1000 but a motion for this was defeated. There has been a $10,000 reduction in funding for Doctor Retention and Recruitment and Council gave its approval to the formula. There was also some discussion on what budget amount would best suit an item for donation from the Town of Trochu to benefit the Three Hills Victim Services annual Steak and Lobsterfest on June 8, 2013. Council also moved approval for a 'request for proposal' for the Arboretum 'House', with a mid-April deadline. There was some discussion on how the tea house is definitely bringing in more people but these guests don't always understand that the restaurant and the arboretum are two different entities and therefore, the donation box for the arboretum isn't reflective of the number of guests eating at the teahouse. Council wasn't sure how to make the public more aware of the need for generosity with regard to the Arboretum itself.
Clr. Wagstaff was concerned that the FCSS program of Community Volunteers for Income Tax may be finding it a bit more difficult to fill the volunteer spot if the government changes over completely to electronic filing. There are usually around 100 people looking for help filing their returns. Clr. Warnock advised that a place may have been found to take asbestos. There would be a tipping fee and with asbestos falling into two separate categories, there is a definite protocol in place for disposal.
