Shannon LeClair

Times Reporter

 

The Town of Strathmore has been an accredited agency under the Safety Codes Act for 15 years and recently received its first Municipal Safety Recognition Award.   

“The award started in 2003 and it’s to recognize excellence in the permitting process under the safety codes act. So this year the Town of Strathmore was being recognized for our compliance monitoring and permitting process,” said Linda Nelson, Strathmore’s Deputy Chief Administrative Officer. 

The town has a quality management plan, which describes how the permitting process should be implemented and how to ensure the permits are being followed up, deficiencies are being corrected, the permit is actually being inspected and there are no deficiencies and no life safety issues. 

“In about 1998 Harry Salm and I set up this monitoring system, and we’ve been using it ever since,” said Nelson. 

Salm was the development officer at the time they set up the monitoring system, and Nelson said he is now employed with the Town as a building inspector. 

Every two years the town is audited for compliance monitoring and Nelson said they have been getting 100 per cent every year on their process. She said many people come to Strathmore and job shadow to learn how to do the process. 

“It’s kind of a neat thing to finally get recognized for that,” said Nelson.

“It means that the systems that we have in place for compliance monitoring are working very, very well.”

Shannon LeClair

Times Reporter

 

Chinook Credit Union hosted their first annual Charity Golf Tournament in support of the Foothills AIM Society on July 8. Bill Crawford, branch manager for Chinook Credit Union, and Craig McKenzie, program manager with the AIM Society, paired up to bring the fundraising event to town. The event exceeded the expectations of both men. 

“It was excellent, it was a good turnout. The weather was good, a bit windy but overall everybody had a good time,” said Crawford. 

“I have heard some very good reports from different people who attended, and everybody seems to have had an excellent time, it was a huge success.”

There were 100 golfers who signed up to take part in the tournament, though only 94 of them actually played.

“To get 100 golfers, we sort of weren’t expecting it, it was very nice to see it. To get that kind of money was great as far as our first year goes, and all the feedback was positive,” said McKenzie. 

Crawford’s hope was to bring in $10,000 from the event, but felt he wasn’t being realistic. In the end the tournament netted just under $9,500. McKenzie said everyone was having a good time, and just made the best of the wind, which was the only downside in the weather that day. 

There isn’t much the two men think would need to be improved on. 

“Basically we can just build on this, I think we’re doing well. There’s just a few things, minor things that we talked about after that we would look at trying to improve, but for the most part I think everybody’s feedback has been great,” said McKenzie. 

“We really want to thank everybody who contributed, all the sponsors and all the players, because without them there’s no way this thing would have been the success that it was,” said Crawford. 

The charity golf tournament will be back again next summer, though the date is yet to be determined. 

Times Reporter

 

An early centennial celebration took place for 4-H Canada members at the Calgary Stampede grounds on July 13. The upcoming milestone will be in 2013, and it affects 4-H clubs across Canada, including the eight clubs in the Strathmore area. 

“In 2013 it’s a great opportunity for us to say we’ve been around for 100 years, but what we’re really getting excited about is what the next 100 years has in store for the 4-H program in Canada,” said Ken Lancastle, communications and marketing manager Canadian 4-H Council and Canadian 4-H Foundation.

Enbridge Inc. announced their partnership with 4-H Canada at the Stampede grounds, which includes committing $260,000 to help support the centennial celebrations. 

“Our pipelines go through a lot of rural communities in Canada and the 4-H Clubs are such an important part of those communities. Supporting 4-H is really an opportunity for us to contribute to helping young Canadians achieve their full potential,” said D’Arcy Levesque, Vice president Public and government affairs Enbridge. 

“Our excitement level is through the roof right now. We’ve been talking about this for five years now about what 2013 is going to have in store. It’s two years away…we’re just so excited, and what a better place to do it than the Calgary Stampede,” said Lancastle.

He said there will be celebrations across Canada, and they are planning a gala in the middle of 2013. 4-H Canada is also working on an international conference. They are trying to bring people in from around the world to the conference in Olds, AB.

“What we’re really trying to do is get the word out that this is a big celebration, the dreaming is big right now and we can’t wait to get it started,” said Lancastle. 

Times Reporter

 

Heritage Days is almost here and, as much as everyone looks forward to the rodeo and midway activities, many are excited for the parade. The parade begins at 9 a.m. July 30 but participants need to be at their marshalling area and ready for judging by 7:45 a.m. when the judging begins.

“We’re changing things up a little bit. We’ve got two marshalling areas, one for the floats and open for the mounted entries and we’ll merge them together,” said Marcy Field, the 2011 parade committee chair. 

The theme this year is ‘Strathmore 100 Years Young,’ and parade participants who incorporate the theme into their entry will have a chance to be judged on how well they did. There are a number of different categories, which can all be found on the Strathmore and District Chamber of Commerce website. 

“The theme is Strathmore, 100 years young and I think that they can focus on youth, they can focus on the history of the town. We want to see Strathmore go really strong for the next 100 years. We’ve made it this far, but you don’t get any place just looking in the rearview mirror, you need to look ahead,” said Field.

“We need to acknowledge our past, and learn from our past, but we need to focus on our future to look ahead, and it’s a great town to be doing that in.”

The parade committee is still looking for volunteers, Field said, particularly teenagers who may be interested in being in the parade as banner carriers.

“We’ve had banners made that will inform the people watching the parade where the first place winners were in each of the categories. We’re looking for young people that could walk the parade route and do that,” said Field. 

There will be T-shirts and a thank you gift given to the banner carriers.  Last year there were over 100 entries in the parade and Field would like to see at least that many again this year. Thanks to generous donations from Chamber members, Field said there will also be breakfast sandwiches served to parade participants this year. 

To enter into the parade, or to find out more about volunteering go to www.strathmoredistrictchamber.com or call 403-901-3175.

Shannon LeClair

Times Reporter

 

Members of the Strathmore Seed Cleaning plant were at the Wheatland County council chambers on July 19 to discuss their plans for the new plant, and ask the county to assist financially with the cost of building an access road. The request for decision was approved and the county will provide $76,900 to help the seed cleaning plant when they are ready to begin construction, as part of an endeavor to assist. The hope is to begin work this fall, and possibly have the new plant running by next summer. 

 

Encana hoping to cost share

Encana would like to begin trucking out Liquid Natural Gas, LNG, out of their Ferus Road Building. They are hoping to cost share with the county, and see the county pay approximately $245,000. The hope is to begin construction next spring, and David Churchill, Manager of Transportation and Infrastructure for the county, said it would be possible to add it to next year’s budget. County councillors would like to see the road paved now to help battle against future possibilities of higher truck traffic. A letter has been sent to Encana to invite them to the county to further discuss the details of the road, and their proposal. 

 

Rural Address Signs 

The tender for placing the new rural address signs has been granted to Alberta Traffic Supplies. Originally the plan was to have them GPS the signs. The cost of doing so would be $68,000, so Churchill said they have opted to do the GPS themselves, which will cost approximately $20,000.