Though a pandemic changed things up in 2020, the Town of Okotoks was busy as ever.
Mayor Bill Robertson said while it may be a year many people want to forget, it’s also a year to be remembered for a number of reasons.
One of the main coups for the Town was a partnership with Foothills County resulting in a memorandum of understanding, project scope and funding being approved for a joint regional water pipeline project that will bring water from the Bow River to both municipalities.
“We were just getting nowhere with going with City of Calgary water, with the roadblocks put up by, in particular, the provincial government,” said Robertson. “We had to try something else, and this was a great alternative.”
While the project is shovel-ready, he said the devil is in the details because applications have been submitted but grant funding has not yet been committed. With COVID-19 looming over the Province, he said the Town isn’t expecting to get news of a funded project in the near future.
“We know the provincial government has far less money, so we don’t expect great progress on the water pipeline funding, but everything is in place,” said Robertson.
He said he was especially pleased with council’s ability to maintain a flat budget and issue no tax increase on the municipal portion of property taxes over 2019, due to savings being realized with closed facilities and limited operations.
However, there’s a downside to savings incurred by having facilities closed, he said.
“There’s extra costs because we didn’t generate the revenue we normally would,” said Robertson.
Another highlight for the Town was commencing construction on the $18.3-million Arts and Learning Campus, something approved in 2019 and moved forward with a six-way partnership between the Town, Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools, Foothills School Division, the Okotoks Public Library, Community Futures Highwood, and Bow Valley College.
While the partnership has been positive and construction is going well, Robertson admitted the Town would handle communications differently if given the chance.
“That was a little controversial as it was being rolled out, and I think that the Town would do things a little differently in terms of public consultation and communication,” said Robertson. “There was some public consultation, but then when it was happening people said they didn’t know anything about it, so if people aren’t getting that message we need to look at that.”
In December, the Town adopted its new Municipal Development Plan, which Robertson said was a monumental occasion. Coined Uniquely Okotoks, the overarching document provides direction for future growth and development, planning for a population of around 80,000 people by 2080.
Affordable housing is a focus of that document, as well as the current council, which is considering recommendations from the Affordable Housing Task Force to address the issues in Okotoks.
Robertson said they’re also excited about Westwinds Communities’ proposal to build a 60-unit facility with 45 affordable housing units and 15 market-housing units in town.
“That’s a great partnership with Westwinds,” said Robertson.
The Town made some progress with green initiatives in 2020 as well, he said. One of the project was a $1-million solar installation at the Okotoks fleet building and Eco Centre that includes 509-kilowatt photo-voltaic solar system, 1,272 solar panels and four inverters on the roofs of the buildings.
“It came online on April 29, 2020 and a grant from the provincial government will refund over $400,000 of the total purchase and installation costs,” said Robertson adding the Town is set to see $30,000 in savings from electrical consumption costs and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by about 400 tonnes.
In 2021, Robertson is looking forward to seeing some project like the Arts and Learning Campus completed, the municipal election in the fall, and what he hopes will be the end of COVID.
“I think we all are,” he said.
As for this year’s COVID-19 response, he said the Town did a great job of balancing service levels and keeping money in residents’ pockets as much as possible by reducing its budget to a zero per cent increase and deferring utility and tax payments.
Changing up annual events like the parade in June and Light Up Okotoks allowed residents to find some sort of familiar community connection while being safe, he said.
While some still fight the mask bylaw put in place in August and now the provincial restrictions, he said overall the people of Okotoks have been compliant throughout the pandemic.
“I like to think the Town has done very well,” said Robertson.
