Council votes in favour of latest highway proposal
Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter
Council has made their decision to support the final re-alignment proposal for Highway 1. Councillor Blokland made a motion to support the proposal, and for administration to draft a letter of support. Concerns related to the control and maintenance of the portion of the highway which will remain within Strathmore are to be determined at a later date.
Council also directed administration to draft a letter to Alberta Transportation requesting the realignment to be expedited to allow construction to begin as soon as possible.
A council committee will also be formed with the mandate of researching areas of concern. A few of these concerns include installing signs at Gleichen 22X and the east side of town, prior to the bypass. They would also like to see signs before Highway 9 and west of town to advertise services in town. Another request will be for Alberta Transportation to pave Highway 1 and all service roads adjacent to it before the town takes over.
Walking around Jamaica
Graham Matsalla, Health Promotion Facilitator with Alberta Health Services (AHS), and Lisa Sader with Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) spoke to council about promoting walking in the community, and across the province.
“The reason why Alberta Health Services wants to promote walking within the communities within the province is the concern over obesity,” said Matsalla.
The newest challenge HEAL is promoting is walking around the island of Jamaica. It’s a virtual trek but participants have to walk, bike, run or swim around Jamaica and log their steps everyday. Anyone who gets to the end of the trek by the end of the 14 weeks will be entered to win a prize.
“I encourage you all to get out there and get moving,” said Sader.
“We’re hoping to start a walking school bus for Brentwood School because that’s a school most of the students should be able to walk to.”
To help give council a bit of a boost, Sader presented Mayor Steve Grajczyk with a pedometer so he can begin tracking his steps.
The chilly weather may have some not wanting to venture outside for a stroll, but there are options.
There is indoor walking on Monday and Wednesday nights from 6 p.m. to 6:50 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Christian Academy, and the town has indoor walking available at the Civic Centre in the morning. The contest starts Feb. 1 and will run until May 8, and anyone interested in finding out more information, or participating can go to www.healourfuture.com
Canadian Badlands
Council has moved to become a member of the Canadian Badlands for a trial year at .50 cents per capita. Councillor Earl Best was the only one who had objections to motion.
“I’m not behind this, I have never been behind this. I believe the cost doesn’t justify the means, they want to call us the gateway to the Badlands and yet we’re substantially a long way away from it, as well as most of the other towns who are with it,” said Best.