Elnora village councillors made the decision has been made to start up Committee of the Whole (COW) meetings to dive deeper into important subjects regarding the village.
Several communities across the province utilize this extra time to discuss pertinent issues and listen to resident concerns if put on the agenda.
No decisions are made at these meetings, being left for the regular meetings held each month.
Elnora will begin their first COW meeting on Jan. 27.
CAEP presentation
In the same vein as public participation spurred by COW meetings, councillors are interested in bringing in more economic development initiatives.
They asked administration to set up a time to have a presentation with CAEP (Central Alberta Economic Partnership) to explain what their role in economic development would be and how they could help the village as a resource centre.
Administration shared that they have been a paid member with CAEP before but felt it ‘wasn’t feasible to continue’ as they were not getting what they needed out of it at the time.
No decisions were made but council asked to have the agency send more detailed information for them to mull over.
Parkland Foundation levy
Elnora council approved the Parkland Foundation levy for 2022 in the amount of $419.
This amount encompasses municipal requisition rates requested annually.
Eavestrough quote
Council received a quote and images of damage on the Medical Centre from Chris Reeds Construction.
He found while repairing hail damaged areas of the building that the eavestroughs and downspouts in one spot of the building were in bad condition.
Reeds gave a quote of $824.25 which council approved of.
Correspondence
The Village of Delburne sent a letter to Elnora council alerting them of a recent change in leadership.
Delburne now has a new mayor, Tim Wilson. Bill Chandler was the former mayor.
Correspondence was also received from Xplornet who has shown interest in building a 45 metre 5G internet tower within Elnora.
The company was originally looking at a location behind the library as the tower would be close to internet cable connections but it was determined to be too close to the library, opting for a location beside the public works building.
The community should expect to hear updates soon on engagement and information sessions.
Terri Huxley
ECA Review