Town hall meeting my views

In response to several comments on my previous post (10:12 and 12:45).
With that post I attempted to let my readers know what happened at the meeting.
No I did not provide my opinion on the likely hood of these announcements being successful.

So here goes; first of all I will state I hope every one of them comes true because I believe every one of them would be good for the Pass. Some to greater degrees than others but all good for the growth of this community.

1/Economic Development Committee and Economic Development Officer.
First of all the committee it will be very interesting to see the make up of this committee, it needs to be a mixture of different types of expertise. With a combination of both old and new blood, if the committee does not have that mixture it will start with a lack of credibility. There is already a perception of "outsiders" ramming change down the throats of the locals. 
The Economic Development Officer this community only needs one if he/she is going to actually bring something here, yes we are talking results which can only be ensured by having somebody on a short term contract that is looking to impress quickly. If they use this community as a stepping stone who cares as long as we get the benefit while they are here. Do not for a minute think that we are going to get somebody cheap it will cost us a minimum of $100-150K a year to get anybody decent.

2/River Run
Wouldn't it be great to see something happen on that site. But seriously I think we would be lucky to get 10-12 units at the east end in the next two years. (Proximity to water/sewer) Do I think  anybody is going to spend $10-15 million doing all the infrastructure on that site in these economic times? good luck.

3/Gaining tax base from MD of Ranchlands.
This is a political issue the only way this will happen is if  municipal affairs decides it should. There are not many great examples in the province of  poor municipalities gobbling up wealthy municipalities. Keep in mind this is not a problem unique to the Crowsnest Pass, Cold lake as fought this fight for years, and at least they had the argument that they were providing services and facilities to the surrounding areas. How many of those 80 residents of the MD of Ranchland do you think count on the Crowsnest Pass for services or facilities. Maybe the present Mayor can carry more influence in Edmonton than the previous Mayor time will tell. This really will come down to a political decision, does anybody think that the Town of Pincher Creek with its struggles will not be casting it eyes to the MD of Pincher Creek, think of all the money that Shell plant and Windmills bring in.

4/Crowsnest Centre Demolition and Development
Wow the building gone by first snow fall? I was told today that it's a 4-5 month job considering the asbestos that needs to be taken out of there, realistically it will not be done in winter months I think we will see it gone next year. Today I requested a breakdown of the bidders and their quotes on that job I would be very surprised if the majority of the bids came in, below or at $600,000 and I will be surprised if there was more than 3 or 4 bidders that place is going to be like a pandora's box when they open it up.
The hotel before we get too excited keep in mind that council only passed a motion last week (June 18) to "begin" negotiations with the developer. That will not happen over night if the developer is going to demolish the building that cost will be brought into the selling price of the property, the Mayor stated last week that the hotel sounds like a "Best Western" well keep in mind that there is one going into Sparwood right now and the  District of Sparwood is offering tax breaks to new businesses. That will be a topic of discussion during these negotiations, don't kid yourself does anybody think this community is bargaining from a position of strength with this developer. Off site levies they were only put on hold for the rest of this year, they will also be a topic of discussion. Time frames, the developer is going to want to have the flexibility to take as long as possible to fill that property the municipality is going to want it filled up as quickly as possible.
The other question that nobody as asked, will this hotel have an impact on the rebuilding of the BCMI in Blairmore? I hope not, I would hate to see us lose a 50 room hotel to gain a 75 room hotel.
Yes I believe there will be a hotel on that property one day, it is a prime location with a lot of traffic going by every day of the year. I do not think it will happen as fast as people are hoping.

Just to add to my early comments I hope every one of these announcements comes true very quickly. My dream for 2013 is to see an Economic Development Officer bringing many small businesses to town, to be able to drive by River Run and see it developed has fast as Iron Stone. To receive  my tax notice in April with a decrease due to gaining a decent chunk of tax base from the MD of Ranchlands. And finally to drive by the former Centre Site to look at the new hotel going up. That would be a great year for the Crowsnest Pass.  

Crowsnest Pass, Investors in Bridgecreek, Good News

Here's your chance folks, all of those people that have had so much to say about Bridgecreek, River's Run, Trouts Landing over the last number of years.

Somebody is looking at doing a big story on this, it will not happen unless people step forward, want to be anonymous that's fine. Call the following number 403-563-0425 if you have information, step forward now is not the time to go quiet.

We all know there were people around here that were on the inside of this thing maybe now is the time they will step forward and do the "honest" thing.

On the good news side I was reading Brian Gallants blog available at http://www.briangallant.ca/index.php

Paying special attention to his comments regarding the AUMA convention:

"All I can say so far is “wow”! I am having a great experience at the AUMA convention. Beyond the educational component we are all making great connections and contacts. Here are just a few of the highlights for me."

"We had the opportunity to talk with the Minister of Transportation regarding the ongoing issues with Hwy 3. He did not have much time as every MLA had 100 people trying to get their ear but he did say that he understands our challenges as a community. He wants to meet with us in the near future."

" I made a number of contacts from a variety of industries. One of our education sessions talked about a potential revenue steam and one particular company is perfectly situated to help us make it happen. A win-win arrangement and I am keen to know more. More to come once I have the details. I have a pile of brochures to deliver to our administration. There are people out there who can help us save some money. "

I felt the same way at my first AUMA convention, but after a couple I started feeling like they were a waste of the taxpayers money. Its true when an MLA or Minister comes out on the floor they are swarmed by many different people looking for something. Have a discussion today with a hundred different people and see how many you remember tomorrow.

The highway 3 situation, over the last six years if they had paved one foot of highway for ever meeting we had the road would have been done by now.
Anyway not that long ago we met with Darryl Camplin and another senior manager from Alberta Transport, they committed to putting traffic lights at the turn off into Blairmore by Tim Hortons, and at the Highway 40 turn off in Coleman in 2011.
In 2012 they were going to deal with Intersection in Frank by the Industrial park and the Intersection by the Volker Stevin shop in West Coleman.
Both of these projects were subject to dollars coming forth from the province at the time we last met with them there was no money approved.

On the new contacts with industries and generation of new revenue streams, I and a lot of other residents are looking forward with great anticipation to new industry coming into town, and anything that will lessen the burden on the residential taxpayer.

My responses to the Crowsnest Pass Promoter

These appeared in the paper on Friday Oct 8th



1. What do you think council’s three top priorities should be for the next term?

Increased tax base by attracting new Business and development.
Keep Tax Increases to a minimum by being more efficient
Rebuild our financial reserves so that the municipality as the options to look at new initiatives in the future

2. What specific actions need to be taken to expand our tax base?

We need to look at the option of hiring a person to market our community, attracting business is not that simply ever community in rural Alberta is looking to attract business, if we don't have professional help we will not suceed.
Second if a business looked at our community that required a large piece of land, along the highway, that's serviced and flat. What do we have to offer? we need to clear the land that the old hospital stands on if we want to attract commercial business.
Tax Breaks for new businesses do not work, past experience shows they leave when the tax breaks run out.
How do you think our thirty tax paying local restaurants would feel if we gave a big name restaurant a tax break to compete with them?

3. Describe your ideal land use plan for both residential and commercial development?

The province is planning to have the South Saskatchewan regional land use plan in place next year, which our Municipal Development plan must conform with. In 2011 we should review our Municipal development plan with the input of the public the present plan is ten years old. Future growth will happen, the municipality and its residents must decide where and what type of growth. We need to create a balance between increasing our tax base, preserving the environment, and increasing the density of development where services such as water and sewer are accessible.

4. The municipality has an $18 million budget. What experience do you have to manage this?

Six years on Council, where I have always attempted to be aggressive in encouraging both Council and Administration to come up with ways of been more efficient with the taxpayers dollars. More can be done, I am hopeful that the next Council will take the opportunity to put out for tender our engineering something that as not been done in eight years, an area where substantial dollars are spent every year.

5. How will you define success for the governance of Crowsnest Pass?

A council that works as a team, one that starts with the Mayor being a leader not a dictator. One where people come to a council meeting looking to make decisions based on facts, information, numbers, debate etc. A Council that three years from now can say the Crowsnest Pass as achieved tremendous positive change.