Cattle crossing
Sharon McLeay
Times Contributor
Wheatland County Council wants farmers to know that the county peace officers are available to help with cattle movement that needs to occur across busy roadways in the county.
“When they try to do so on their own, there is a risk of accidents. They stand out there with flags or flashing lights and the traffic still won’t stop. I would rather have staff out there to protect them and improve safety conditions,” said Councillor Ben Armstrong.
Sgt. Jeff Cyr said that peace officers could help with the problem, but asked council to consider approving overtime and discuss the liability that might be involved with a potential accident situation.
Council directed Cyr to develop a simple policy regarding movement of cattle and peace officer response, and bring it back to council on Oct. 28.
County Expansion open house
Wheatland Council approved an open house that will highlight the new expansions being done on the County Administration Building. It is set for Nov. 19, from 5-8 p.m.
“When they come in, we will have a nice picture and a breakdown of costs for them,” said Reeve Glenn Koester.
CAO Alan Parkin said a conceptual plan would be on display and design is anticipated to begin in January 2014.
Arts festival follow-up
Wanda Reinholdt, from the Regional Arts Collective, gave Wheatland Council a summary of the festival success in council chambers on Oct. 15.
“Thank you so much for your partnership in this event,” said Reinholdt.
She said funding from Wheatland County and the Town of Strathmore was part of what made the event a success. She said there were a number of donations in kind from other organizations in the community that also helped keep costs down. She said there were approximately 800 people in attendance and they gave out 400 printed programs. She felt it was a good opportunity for artists to distinguish themselves and the public to experience how an artist goes from a blank slate to a finished product.
“The quality and talent was exceptional,” said Councillor Berniece Bland, who attended the event. “We have a lot of unknown talent in this community.”
Council was surprised when Reinholdt offered to reimburse the county with approximately $400 of left over funds. Council directed her to keep the funds and roll them into the account for next year’s event.
Fire Ban
Councillor Brenda Knight questioned whether council should rescind the current fire ban that they imposed at the beginning of September. With harvest near conclusion and cooler weather coming, council discussed whether it was needed.
Several councillors had requests from residents to have outdoor bonfires over the Thanksgiving weekend.
“It is still dry out there and dry is dry. One of the worst fires we had last year was in the middle of winter,” said Councillor Ben Armstrong.
The vote was five members opposed to lifting the ban and two for taking it off. The Fire Ban is still in effect.
Survey results
An Alberta Transportation public survey on changes to the Hwy9/Hwy 21 intersection and Hwy 9/Hwy 56 intersections got good results. In both cases the survey supported establishing four way stop signs. There were 370 responses to the survey posted on the website that included good written response.
Alberta Transportation (AT) said that research shows that four-way intersections reduce traffic collisions by 48 per cent, and considered the measure far outweighs the alternatives in these two cases. The AT email said no overpass would be considered, but perhaps a circle roundabout access may be investigated. They were currently doing the final technical review on the two sites and further information would be provided in November, as to whether work could be initiated in the spring.
“I have trouble with this,” said Councillor Ken Sauve. “I think you need to keep the traffic flowing. You have to have a balance of safety and traffic movement.”