Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune • Monday, January 2, 2012
December 2011 In Review: DECEMBER Lights up
County budget
After years of lobbying by the County of Grande Prairie, Alberta Transportation has completed the installation of traffic signals at the Highway 40 and Highway 668 (Correction Line) intersection. The county and the Municipal District of Greenview hadlobbied Alberta Transportation for the lights for several years. “I’m working on my eighth year of council and it was one of the platforms I started when I was actually campaigning,” said Deputy Reeve Leanne Beaupre, who represents the area. “To see those lights come to fruition has been a major accomplishment for that area.” It was a sigh of relief for Jason Reilly, the president of Reilly Transfer Ltd. “It’s a weight off everyone’s shoulders knowing that people are stopping and we can get out without too many worries,” he said. Reilly Transfer straddles what could be considered one of the county’s most dangerous intersections. Reilly said about 70 of his semi trucks travel through the intersection one to two times a day. Since 2007, at least two people have died and a slew of other collisions have occurred at the Highway 40 and Correction line intersection. “We had one of our residents in Grovedale die in an accident last year. We are very pleased that those lights are there. It makes it a far safer trip home for our residents,” said MD of Greenview Deputy Reeve Lesley Vandemark. The provincial government was slow to act on the installation of the traffic lights. Alberta Transportation conducted a number of studies to determine if the lights were necessary. •••
County residents will see no changes to property taxes in 2012 after council adopted its $113 million budget. The adoption of the budget will mean that an average residence assessed at $297,900, which had a 2.5% increase in assessment due to market value, will remain the same as last year. The tax rate for non-residential properties will remain the same in the New Year. The impact to individual properties will vary based on market-value changes across the county. Farmland taxes are proposed to remain the same. Council rectified a projected $2.8 million shortfall by adjusting road projects, shuffling around money, and turning down requests over the two-day budget deliberations. The interim budget includes estimated expenditures of $52 million for general operating and $61 million for capital. The total represents an operating increase of $1.7 million, which is a 3.4% increase over last year. A major percentage of the capital budget is $23.3 million for road construction, down from the projected $27.7 million. The road construction includes work on 12.4 kilometres, with five kilometres receiving new pavement, 4.2 km getting surface overlay and 3.2 km undergoing reconstruction. To help cover the costs, the county is expected to receive $6 million in provincial grants and $2.9 million in federal grants. •••
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Multiplex opened
With the ribbon cut and visitors in the building, the Multiplex is officially open for business – with the exception of the aquatics area. The aquatics area is to be tested again. Aside from the pool setback caused by a power surge on Dec. 1, Multiplex marketing manager Cheryl McKenzie says that everyone in attendance has been pleased with the facility. “Nobody has said much to be me about it honestly,” said McKenzie, who was on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony Dec. 10 at the Multiplex. “I think people are just excited to get in here and do their thing – certainly the pool affects people with children, but the membership is much more than just little children.” Dec. 10 marked the third day of operation for the $110 million facility, just the second it had been open to the general public, with more than 1,000 going through the doors during the VIP and members day two days earlier. •••
No nukes
O ntar io’s Br uce Power announced it will no longer
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advance the option for a new nuclear plant in Alberta that has been under consideration by the company since 2007. The project’s initial target site was along the shores of Lac Cardinal near Grimshaw, about 30 kilometres west of Peace River; that later changed to the Whitemud site along the banks of the Peace River, 30 kilometres north of the town. Both options created storms of both optimism and controversy, as pro-development and anti-proliferation factions battled for public opinion. Bruce Power and the Alberta government both refused to shut the door on any future nuclear-based power projects in Alberta or more specifically the Peace Country. •••
Beetle bucks
The province announced that the County of Grande Prairie will receive an early Christmas gift of $442,460. The government’s FireSmart program will fund a total of $1.2 million to 22 forested communities across the province. The money is designated to help protect property and
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people from the impact of wildfires. While the County of G ra n d e P ra i r i e re c e i v e d nearly half-a-million dollars, the remaining 21 grants are up to $50,000. The other communities that received the grants are looking at education or prevention measures, said Duncan MacDonnell the public affairs officer for Sustainable Resource Development. While the County of Grande Prairie is in the process of creating a firebreak •••
Surgical waits
In a report released by the Fraser Institute, wait times for surgery in Alberta are average for the rest of Canada, but a local surgeon says much more can be done in the Peace Country to help patients. The statistics for Alberta have improved drastically over the past year, with the gap between appointments with specialists and treatment, in total, 2.4 weeks more than the reasonable gap, compared to 5.8 in 2010. The reasonable wait time has also increased to eight weeks in 2011 from 6.4. •••
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Dangerous #6
The numbers are in and according to Maclean’s magazine’s yearly national crime rankings, Grande Prairie is the sixth-most-dangerous city in the country.
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Prince George, British Columbia, took home first place again this year, with Red Deer in fourth place and Edmonton, which is experiencing a tough year for homicides, ranked 19th. “Ultimately, I think the rankings really don’t reflect how people feel on the streets of Grande Prairie,” said Mayor Bill Given. “ I think you’d b e hard pressed to find anybody in the city who feels that we’re the sixth most dangerous community in Canada.” This year the city moved up from seventh place to sixth and statistics from the recent Vital Signs report show that residents rank Grande Prairie’s “safe feel” as a moderate strength of the community. Still, Cpl. Carol McKinley, media relations officer with the local RCMP detachment c au t i o n e d p e o p l e a b o u t putting too much stock in the numbers. The rankings factor in crime rates for homicide, sexual assault, aggravated assault, robbery and breaking and entering. Overall, Alberta ranked seventh in both violent and nonviolent crimes, while rising instances of automobile theft were flagged for Grande Prairie. It’s an issue that McKinley said the RCMP is aware of and working to prevent. “It’s a combination of enforcement and education, so we address those spikes in different ways. It can be the arrest of a prolific offender or an educational project to address vulnerable targets,” she said. One of those educational programs includes partnering with the Alberta Motor Association for their “All Valuables Removed” campaign, which involves placing placards on vehicles that fit that description. RCMP have carried out campaigns twice in the city during the summer.
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