Low Turnout at County AGM
Amy Gregson – Times Reporter
A gold medal hockey game and cold weather may have kept people away, but it isn’t unusual for the Wheatland County to have a low turnout at their annual general meeting.
This year, only five people showed up Jan. 5 to voice their concerns about what is happening in the county.
“The ones that are concerned about issues come to the annual meetings and if they have no issues I guess they choose not to come,” said Shirley Reinhardt, deputy reeve.
“It was admirable that even five people came out on a cold night. They had issues and they brought them to the table and they put an effort into coming and telling us. I give them credit.”
Reinhardt said they have tried various techniques to try and get people to come out to the meetings.
This included changing the time of the meeting from the fall to January, bringing the meeting to different communities, focusing on one single issue, such as the road programs and having everyone make a presentation.
“We went back to the old fashion format where you just put it in the paper and who comes, comes,” said Reinhardt.
Reinhardt said she has been going to county meeting for 25 years and it’s lucky if more than seven people show up.
“If there’s a hot issue, they’ll show up, like the time to build a new county office.”
The “hot issue” at this year’s annual general meeting was fragmentation of land, especially farmland.
Two attendees were very concerned about the ongoing issue of residents separating their quarter pieces of lands into parcels or smaller subdivision.
The County is currently in the process of getting a growth management study done that will look at land planning in the future and the increased demand for residential development as industry and commercial sectors keep growing.
“The expectations is that the study will lead to a strategy and direction for change in a manner that respects the local character of the community while supporting sustainable growth,” said Jennifer Deak, CAO.
“We want to diversify the local economy, enhance our agricultural roots, protect our environment and basically, bottom line, create a more balance community,” added Deak.
Recommendations by the residents were made, such as only separating parcels of land so they cannot be divided again, will be looked at going forward said Reinhardt.
The other issue was the reallocation of Highway #1. Two residents were making their point again that this road should not be changed.
“Both of them have 100-year farms or more. As they leave it to their children and their children’s children, they are flabbergasted that the province would look at going through prime agricultural land,” said Reinhardt.
Wheatland County has sent a letter to the provincial government expressing their views on why this road should not be changed.
Along with discussion on issues in the county, councilors delivered their committee reports.