Crowsnest Pass Corporate Review

Interesting comments from the Crowsnest Pass Corporate Review


Council’s focus on day-to-day management and lack of attention to long range planning and bigger picture issues.

Aging infrastructure, lack of maintenance and planning

Planning for future growth and development

Dysfunction in Council. This issue, often defined in terms of personalities and personnel conflict, has continued on even though a number of members of council have changed. In fact, it has been recorded as a legacy over the life of the Crowsnest Pass, from its creation some twenty years ago.

There is currently a perception of block voting by the Mayor and other councilors, with many items receiving the same split vote.

The absence of longer range planning by Council is reflected in the administration. Management is distracted from its planning and evaluation functions by the effort required just keeping the ship afloat.

Concern over the increasing reliance on the residential tax base.

Concern with the lack of vision for the future

Another area of concern for the Crowsnest Learning Centre is the lack of financial reporting and abilities of the Society staff to do the necessary accounting work. The last annual financial statements are for 1997 and the current financial records are not considered adequate for the auditors to review. There is no budget process evident, including no Business Plan or no current operating budget for the Centre.

For the reader if you have not noticed yet all of these comments were taken from the Corporate Review of 2000, available on the Municipal Web site.

The more I read the present report and compare it to the previous report the more I realize that they are the same. The only thing that as changed is the cast, with one exception our leader, the Mayor.

Now it comes clear to me why the Mayor was so opposed to the Corporate Review!

Municipality of Crowsnest Pass Corporate Review now available.

Got a couple of hours to spare, go to the address below and have a read of the Corporate Review conducted by George Cuff and Associates. If you would like a paper copy they are available at the municipal office.
The report was presented to Council and Administration on Oct 29th, and then at a public meeting that same night. It as not been formally accepted by council yet, because it takes a formal council meeting for that process to happen. Next council meeting is Nov 3 at 7pm in the council chambers.


http://www.town.crowsnestpass.ab.ca/

TORIES’ OPEN UP COMFORTABLE LEAD; TORY VOTERS “MOST COMMITTED”

Interesting poll on the EKOS web site, check this story out and follow the direction of Canadians opinions on the various political parties.

TORIES’ OPEN UP COMFORTABLE LEAD; TORY VOTERS “MOST COMMITTED”

Also available on the side under Interesting Blogs or Web Sites

2009 Infrastructure Crowsnest Pass

2009 Infrastructure Crowsnest Pass

As of August 4 2009 we have available for Infrastructure the following $3,933,696 that is made up of the following grants;
AMIP-$2,389,635
MSI Cap-$723,052
New Deal-$328,032
SIP-$492,977
We will also be receiving an additional $3,245,195 from the AMWWP program


We will be spending the following: $9,069,330
Blairmore/Coleman Water Connect $127,124
Lagoons $4,553,600
16th ave Blairmore Waterline $6,000
27th and 227st Bellevue $439,288
226st Street Bellevue $188,816
225st Bellevue $193,620
23 ave 207 street $857,294
27ave and 29 ave $1,844,283
223st 29th ave to 31 ave $861,305

So that calculates out to the following;

$9,069,330 infrastructure spending
$3,933,696 in the bank Aug 4th
$3,245,195 from the Amwwp program
$13,306 from the municipality

which leaves a short fall of $1,877,133, which is to be covered by the short-term loan, how do we pay that off?

In March, we will be receiving the following;
AMIP $1,028,662
MSI Cap $578,669
New Deal $344,082
SIP $344,940

Total of $2,296,353

The only municipal dollars of this total of $9,069,330 that we are spending is $13,306 which means the work above is funded 99.85% by provincial/federal grants.

Regarding Lines of Credit the municipality as had in place each year a LOC of $1,000,000 this line as not been used in 2008 or 2009.

I will not publish certain comments

Today I received a comment that without using a name, clearly identifies a person that has belonged to two groups that have experienced financial difficulties over the years. To the best of my knowledge this person as not been charged with any offence, let along convicted so I will not be posting the comment or naming the organizations to give any sense of who this person is.
I have no problem 99% of the time allowing any comment even attacking myself, or anybody else that has stepped in to the public arena to be published on this site.
But I will not publish this comment or similar types of comments.

Dean Ward
Crowsnest Pass Home

Harper Government Invests in Four Projects to Create Jobs in Rural Alberta

The Crowsnest Pass Economic Development Board is developing an implementation plan to provide recommendations on establishing a Discovery Centre for the Crowsnest Pass area. The implementation plan is considered an essential step towards the development of the larger initiative, which will generate new employment opportunities and increased economic activity for the region.

“The implementation plan will identify how the Crowsnest Discovery Centre could have a significant economic impact on the community and outline how the facility will reduce the footprint on the land by incorporating adaptive re-use of an existing structure,” said Shar Lazzarotto, Manager of Community Futures Crowsnest Pass. “We expect the facility to provide employment opportunities and economic generation to the community, and fit in well with the developers plan for the property and the community’s heritage theme.”

http://news.gc.ca/web/article-eng.do?m=/index&nid=482059

Budget parameters have been set in the Crowsnest Pass

Typically budget process in the Crowsnest Pass has gone along the following lines.
Department heads, and all outside groups present their list of priorities and financial requirements for the coming year to our Chief Financial Officer by the end of September. The first draft of budget is presented to council usually in late October with numbers driven by a huge tax increase.
Everybody comes in front of council and justifies there requirements with typically good arguments. But everybody understands that we cannot pay for and do everything so we spend the next two to three months and numerous meeting getting close to a realistic number.
Then the political maneuvering begins where the very vocal minority attempts to ensure that their pet projects are looked after. Suddenly we realize that we are in the month of April and panic sets in because the municipality is getting very tight on cash. So everybody takes a big gulp and passes a budget that they may not be totally satisfied with but its done.
Typically hate to use that word again but because we hold municipal elections every three years and politicians rely on the public having a short memory, the first year is a large increase (11%), the second year a moderate increase (3.8%) and the last year a low one (?%).
Well thanks to having a number of councilors that would prefer to do things differently this year, last night (Sept 15th) the majority of council voted to direct administration to present to council prior to Oct 30 a budget with a maximum increase in expenditures of 3%.
Certainly a good start should shorten the process up by a number of months which only makes sense when your budget year starts Jan 1.

While we are talking about money, we should take a look at municipal reserves. Came across some very interesting information in the last few days. The municipal reserves for the Crowsnest Pass are roughly $1.3 million we have 5700 residents that works out to $228 per person in reserves. How does that compare to the rest of the province?

Broken down by the various types of categories recognized in the province of Alberta here are the numbers.

Cities-$1199 per person
Special Municipalities-$3090 per person
MDs and Counties-$7300 per person
Towns-$1977 per person
Villages-$1257 per person
Summer Villages-$3068 per person