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Mayor Leriger looks back on 2018

It’s been a year of transition and laying the groundwork for the future, says Westlock mayor Ralph Leriger.
new ralph leriger 2
Town of Westlock mayor Ralph Leriger.

It’s been a year of transition and laying the groundwork for the future, says Westlock mayor Ralph Leriger.

A number of personnel changes over the course of the year has seen new people take over in several leadership positions within the town, which is always a challenge, but one that has gone rather smoothly.

“It was a year of transition for the town as an organization, especially in our leadership positions, we have a new CAO, Dwight Dibben, a new leader of public works, new Aquatic Centre manager, a new manager at FCSS, so there’s lots of new leaders in our organization,” he said.

The biggest dollar project of the year, at $6.33 million, was the construction of a new water reservoir and the subsequent demolition of the 49-year-old Eastglen Water Tower.

“It’s the biggest project we’ve undertaken in a long time and it has gone well ... The good part is that now we have modern underground storage. I would suggest the capacity of the new system likely gives us 15 years of growth capacity,” said Leriger.

Smaller dollar items like asphalting and cement work also went quite well, said Leriger, as the town made an effort to communicate with residents about upcoming projects on the town website. Communication with residents will continue to be a high priority, he said.

“I’ll give a shout-out to that public works crew because they were without a leader, they were short handed, Bill Mills didn’t come on until the fall.”

A lot of work was also done at the cemetery, with general beautifications and ditching along Pickardville Road completed.

“These are smaller dollar items, but ones that are important to the community. If that place falls into disrepair, I hear about it quickly.”

Last year was also the year when “ the rubber hit the road” as far as asset management went.

“All the data that’s been collected and catalogued has now been incorporated and vetted into the storm and sanitary master plans, so now the data collection is becoming useful in the planning process. That’s exciting,” he said.

One area he is particularly proud of is the municipality’s finances.

“In finance I think there’s a lot of milestones there. We completed our budget earlier than in previous years ... I think the relationship we’ve established with administration really, really helped that,” said Leriger, pointing out that finding efficiencies was key in bringing the tax rate down from an initial five per cent to only 2.8 per cent.

Leriger also noted the municipality is sitting at about 40 per cent of its debt limit and paid off $1 million in debt over the course of the year.

“That’s pretty healthy. Lots of municipalities would be quite envious of that position. We’ve had philosophical talks as a council as to our comfort level in terms of how much debt we carry and for what. Our council has tried to focus on replacing infrastructure, improvements in core services and growth.”

Another highlight of the year included hosting the Alberta Trappers Association Rendezvous at the Rotary Spirit Centre.

“That was probably the biggest conference we’ve ever hosted ... We need to continue to use those facilities to attract,” said Leriger.

The mayor also made mention of the new entrance signs at the four corners of town, which provide the town with a “modern look,” which is one of the things communities need if they wish to attract new residents and business.

As for 2019, Leriger sees a lot of work to be done on the intermunicipal development plans and intermunicipal collaboration frameworks with the Westlock County. He said he looks forward to those discussions, as well as continuing joint council meetings with the county.

Continuing work on the economic development front will also be a priority for 2019.

“The chances of its finding a leprechaun riding a unicorn are not great. Economic development happens from within — 90 per cent of it comes from existing businesses. We’re an agricultural town so I’d like to collect some data on just how many jobs in this community are a result of agriculture.”

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