Town Council Review
Amy Gregson – Times Reporter
Dog Park
The Town of Strathmore is currently looking for a more permanent area to let your furry friends run free.
The town doesn’t currently have an official off-leash area.
“We are quite serious on this because there are lots of dogs in town. We need an off-leash area,” said Dwight Stanford, CAO. “We have the money in the budget and council wants to get it done.”
In the past, people have taken their dogs to the ball diamonds at Kinsmen Park which were turned into an off-leash area during the winter months.
“It was awkward because there were lots of dog droppings there when the ball groups came in the spring,” said Stanford.
Recently, people have been taking their dogs up to land on the north side of the Ag Society, but Stanford said they have never encouraged that.
For about a year, the town has been looking to build an off-leash area for dogs, and they’ve looked all over town.
“We’ve had a hard time trying to find a location,” said Stanford.
The town finally located three pieces of land they are seriously considering, including some areas owned by the WID.
One area is just south of the Glenwood community, but the town is more seriously looking at two different locations at the end of Slater Road heading west.
“We’d like to get it picked and put a chain link fence up first thing in the spring,” said Stanford.
He said he hopes to have everything finished by the end of April, but this depends on the frost.
Street Cleaning
With spring-like conditions already here, the gravel on town streets is more prevalent than usual.
Councilor John Rempel brought up, at the council meeting March 17 that residents are concerned about the amount of gravel that is currently on town roads.
“We’ve never done it [street cleaning] this early, but some of the councilors felt we should be getting it done now because it’s been good weather and the dirt is blowing all around off the streets,” said Stanford.
The town used to clean streets at the end of May, then it became early May and is now done at the end of April.
Normally, the town tries to clean residential streets twice a year and downtown and industrial areas more often.
“If we clean it all now and it snows and we have to put sand out again then we are going to have to clean it again in the spring,” said Stanford. “That would mean two cleanings in the spring instead of one that is budgeted for.”
Even so, the town will still look into whether they will clean up the gravel sooner than usual.
Brentwood Pump Upgrade
An upgrade to the water pumps at the Brentwood Station will have an effect on the water pressure residents will see at the taps.
Jesse Parker, engineering and operations for the Town of Strathmore, said the water pressure is not consistent, and the intention is to make the system equal throughout town.
“The current pumps that are in there are not sufficient for the growth the town has experienced over the past few years,” said Parker. “We need to increase the pumps to increase the pressure through town and the distribution system.”
Parker said the pressure decreases during high demand periods, especially during the summer on water days, and the new pumps will eliminate that problem.
“With the demand on the system it tends to drop the pressure on the lines,” said Parker. “These pumps regulate the pressure and the capacity to make it what it needs to be.”
The first pump is scheduled to be in place by May 11 and the second one to be installed in mid-June. Two more pumps will be installed at a later date.
The one new pump will equal the pressure of the two pumps currently used and once the second pump is installed the pressure will increase, said Parker.