Village of Rockyford Candidates – Week 2

The three key issues in Rockyford would be;

School – Over the past number of years there has been great discussion over rural schools in east Wheatland.  The time has come for the community of Rockyford to take the necessary steps to ensure we have a school in our community for the long term.

Regional Water – Council has identified the need for replacement of our current water treatment plant.  As with all smaller communities in Alberta the financial burden of replacement costs and ongoing maintenance costs are at a point that it is unaffordable.  I have been an advocate of regional water because of the financial savings of these systems to local residents.  Rockyford is currently looking at two options and in the near future will have to move to a design and implementation phase.

Residential Subdivision – A number of years ago council made the decision to move forward with an expansion of our boundaries for residential expansion.  During that process Alberta Environment implemented changes to the time frame of how long our sewage lagoons need to hold effluent before it can be released.  These changes then made our lagoons to small for any more expansion.  Council has had our engineers design the expansion and has set aside our 25% funding for this project.  As to date Alberta Infrastructure has approved the application for funding of the other 75% but is unable to fund the governments portion at this time because of the economy.  It will be my priority to continue to work with Alberta Infrastructure to secure this funding and move forward with the sewage lagoon expansion and then the residential subdivision.

 

Julie Gaudet

There are many local issues that I feel need to be considered a top priority. A school in our community is an absolute must and this is the one that needs to be dealt with FIRST! Our school must remain open and steps must be taken immediately to ensure that this does happen. The idea of having a school out in the middle of nowhere is ludicrous to say the least! How can we invite young families and businesses to make the move to Rockyford if we do not have a school?

I live on 1st Avenue West, which I believe is one of the most traveled streets in our Village, and, yes, paved streets would be great, but …..  In years gone by there was funding for paving streets and other communities applied for grants and received funding to have their streets paved. Why did not Rockyford do so at that time? What kind of costs would we be looking at now to have this done? Can our tax dollar cover this now?  

In order to upgrade, the sewage lagoon and the water reservoir are being worked on positively as we are waiting for funding with respect to the sewage lagoon and a feasibility study on the reservoir. Meetings have been held with our neighboring communities with respect to a regional water line. In order for our proposed subdivision to move forward we need an upgraded sewage lagoon and a water supply.  

We need to have a strong, hard working council promoting development and growth in our Village.

VOTE JULIE FOR COUNCIL!

 

Gerald Katterhagen

I feel that the key issues for the upcoming election here in Rockyford are to encourage growth in our community by having a new sub-division built, keeping the school open and to try to get new businesses to build here. The sub-division would bring in new families which would bring in revenue from the taxes and the sale of the land. Keeping the school open is definitely a big plus to encourage young couples with children to move here and having more businesses in town would bring jobs to the community and the tax dollars paid to the village would help hugely in any projects to improve the area. We’re a small village and though that’s part of it’s charm we still would like to be moving forward in some areas.

 

Dixie O’Keefe

Was unavailable as of press time.

 

Leah Smith

The three key issues would be….

Keeping a viable and productive school in our community.

Keeping up with being fiscally responsible to keep taxes as low as possible while improving our infrastructure and roads etc.

Economic development and always promoting our village as a great place to live and raise a family.

 

Pam Seeley

What are the three key issues for the upcoming election?

Three of the key issues we currently face within the Village of Rockyford are taxes, infrastructure, and economic growth. 

Some people have voiced the opinion that taxes are too high and as a fellow citizen I would love to see them lower, however, this is most likely not possible given the size of tax base with in the community. What I can promise is to look at where our tax dollars go and do my very best to ensure we are spending our tax dollars wisely. I would promote a visible, accountable and easily understood tally of all expenditures.

The second concern I wish to address is our aging infrastructure. As our community flourishes it becomes evident we need to identify not only short and long term requirements to stabilize out current infrastructure, but also our plan for future expansion as our economic success in the future depends on it. 

We have a responsibility and opportunity to promote our Village to both residential and commercial buyers and developers. We need to expand not just how we see our community, but how we present ourselves beyond our Village borders. 

These are only a few key issues that are currently a concern for our citizens, but these along with many others, if addressed in a timely, forward thinking, rational manner will ensure an even better Rockyford for all of us.