County seeking information on Oxbow annexation

By Sharon McLeay Times Contributor

Wheatland County planners are scratching their heads as to why more information hasn’t been forthcoming concerning the annexation of Oxbow properties by the Town of Strathmore.
“Wheatland County staff has been working to try to complete the annexation in line with the town’s initial request; however, we have not received any responses since spring 2018 and no progress has been made since 2017 in regards to the annexation,” said Colton Nickel, Wheatland County senior planner.
The area involved is about 326 acres in size.
In November 2015, Telsec Property Corporation had its planning company contact the county about an annexation by the Town of Strathmore. The annexation would allow a residential development around Oxbow Country Golf Course, to hook up to Town of Strathmore utility services.
In March 2016, Strathmore town council indicated that it was favourable to the move. Letters were exchanged back and forth and by June 2017, the Town of Strathmore proposed $54,000 in compensation to the county for lost tax revenue. But after review, the county considered that $92,558.10 would be needed. The county hasn’t heard anything since November 2017.
County staff said the delay might mean new public engagement is needed, and they sent emails to the town asking if they were still interested in pursuing the annexation.
“We were unsuccessful to date on receiving information from the town on moving forward with the annexation, until recently … there is a new manager of development services that has come in and reached out to us, and he noted that he is bringing an RFD to town council on Oct. 17,” said Nickel.
Wheatland County council will revisit the issue as soon as more information is received from the Town of Strathmore.

Wheatland County meets occupational health and safety standards
Wheatland County has passed its certificate of recognition (COR) with an overall 98 per cent rating.
For certification, the province requires at least an 80 per cent overall rating and a 50 per cent rating for each element reviewed. Not having a COR certificate means employers may pay 20 per cent more for their workers compensation insurance.
“Once a year we step away from our regular duties and conduct a health and safety audit on our health and safety at the county,” said Suzanne Hayes, audit team member. “Having a well-managed health and safety injury reduction system leads to a reduction in workplace losses, injuries and illness, and helps municipalities obtain discounts from WCB.”
They assessed 12 of 29 randomly chosen sites and evaluated them. Then the team develops an action plan to improve safety within county departments. They set eight elements for review; management and leadership, hazard assessment, preventative maintenance, inspections, competency assessment, emergency response, investigations and management accountability.

Fire services investigation update
A request by Wheatland County for the provincial fire commissioner to investigate three points surrounding the fire bylaw was addressed by an email received from the commissioner.
The points were to review and provide comment on the proposed procedural fire bylaw, assess the county’s ability to meet all liabilities and adhere to provincial and federal requirements, and assess the county’s municipal interactions regarding policies, bylaws and agreements with and in the fire associations and village fire departments.
“All three requests together will require significant dedication of times and resources from this office and yourselves, and may reach beyond our scope and/or current capacity,” stated Kevan D. Jess, Alberta fire commissioner.
He did commit to a joint effort with commission and regional technical advisor Tom Harnos to review the proposed bylaw in October and report back in November. He indicated that it would give them a better picture of what was needed for the other two requests.
“We have taken a review on this and we feel it is a logical process that the fire commissioner’s office has identified,” said Alan Parkin, Wheatland County chief administrative officer.
The email will be shared at the next fire committee meeting, and Parkin said he forwarded the email to village leaders and the various fire associations.

County road plan
The 10-year Wheatland County road construction, paving plan and three-year seal coat plan was introduced to council on Oct. 2. Mike Ziehr, Wheatland County’s transportation and agriculture general manager, said some adjustments may be made to the schedule for circumstances such as weather or budgets over the span of the 10 years.
“The paving program will likely be delayed this year, or not even started this year. The contractor has been delayed in its previous job … I don’t see them coming back until late October, so we are probably looking at a spring paving job,” said Ziehr.
Councillors put their pitches in for revisions they saw as necessary in their respective divisions.

Harassment policy
Recent activities in the news highlight the need for explicit harassment policies to be front and centre in any organization, even though there has been much debate in the public on where to draw the line.
Wheatland County updated their definitions and response to harassment on Oct. 2. The county defined harassment as any activity that occurs when someone is subjected to unwelcome verbal or physical conduct, forms of discrimination prohibited under the Alberta Human Rights Act, and actions or words based on race, religious beliefs, colour, gender, physical or mental disability, age, ancestry, place of origin, marital status and sexual orientation. Such things as verbal or physical abuse, threats, derogatory remarks, jokes, innuendo or taunts related to any employee’s race, religious beliefs, colour, gender, physical or mental disabilities, age, ancestry, place of origin, marital status and source of income, family status or sexual orientation can be interpreted as harassment.
The county has set up a reporting program that will not reprimand employees for reporting suspect actions and the supervisors will investigate all allegations. If a complaint is validated, offending employees may be terminated or suspended, with information placed on their employment files. If the allegations are determined to be unsubstantiated, the information will be dismissed and not placed on file.