A Foothills councillor is determined to continue looking for cost savings and opportunities for a second term.
RD McHugh said his first term representing Div. 7 was frustrating with membership in the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB) detracting from municipal business with duplicate work.
“Ninety per cent of this is all existing and the point here is that it (the CMRB) just keeps sucking from our resources, from administration, council time, and there hasn’t been a lot of time to get into policy in the first term,” said McHugh. “We’re short the resources to take care of our own business.”
A challenge in the next term will be to find solutions to the CMRB, like the petition to withdraw from the growth plan and board, while staying focused on what Foothills needs.
Creating policies for the municipality is difficult with limited resources, as so much time and energy is spent poring over and fighting against the CMRB, he said.
That is not going to be made any easier by the aftermath of the pandemic.
“It’s going to be tough in the environment we’re in, looking at the economics going forward,” said McHugh. “The economic recovery is not going to go back to normal tomorrow – basically I see stagflation ahead.
“We’re going to have increasing costs and reduced revenue resources. ”
He said Alberta and the Foothills could get a boost if there’s an uptick in oil, but the Province has already indicated there will be less funding moving ahead, with Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) funding set to reduce over the next two years as it transitions to the Local Government Fiscal Framework in 2024-2025.
It means municipalities will have to be more financially responsible, and that’s where he intends to focus in a second term.
“I’m a nuts-and-bolts guy and I want to just stay focused on how we’re spending taxpayers’ dollars and making sure they’re being allocated evenly and fairly for services for the entirety of the municipality and stay focused on where we’re spending taxpayers’ dollars responsibly,” said McHugh. “That’s my main focus.”
Other issues centre around transportation, especially on Highways 2 and 2A around Div. 7, where collisions and near-misses continue to occur regularly.
Foothills County and the Town of Okotoks have been working with the Province to see intersections closed at Highway 2 and 306 Ave., 338 Ave. and 370 Ave., and an interchange is planned at the 338 Ave. crossing, but to date no movement has occurred on any of these initiatives.
“We need to get a solution in place to Highway 2 and get something on Highway 2A set up that is more indicative of the traffic that is out there,” said McHugh.
The regional water pipeline in conjunction with the Town of Okotoks has been a hot-button issue. It would help bring potable water to the industrial corridor on Highway 2A.
McHugh said the tough question is whether it’s the right time to be investing capital into the pipeline, while the treatment plant has not broken ground.
“We don’t have the water plant in place yet, so it would be very nice to see that Aldersyde water plant get up,” he said. “That would bolster our industrial corridor and industrial revenue helps offset residential taxes, so that’s where the focus needs to remain.
“It comes down to being financially responsible and making financially responsible decisions for the municipality moving forward.”
