County switches communication strategy

By Sharon McLeay Times Contributor

Wheatland County residents may have to look elsewhere than their local newspapers for some of the county notifications, unless they make their opinions known at a public hearing to be held on Sept. 17.
The Wheatland County Public Notifications Bylaw 2019-21 was approved for first reading on Aug. 20, to move notices from the local newspapers to postings on the county website.
“What this will allow us to do is instead of having our official notification in the newspaper, we can advertise electronically. This is within the new MGA,” said Brian Henderson, Wheatland County’s interim CAO.
“So what we currently do is we will post in the newspaper and also post on our website. The posting on the website is more of a convenience for people that wish to access that. With this bylaw the electronic notification will become the official notification and point of record,” added Henderson.
“We do currently advertise permit decisions, public hearing information, bylaw readings, etc. to our website for informational purposes,” said Mackenzie Soltys, communications specialist with Wheatland County. “This process will continue, but after the bylaw is passed, these notifications can be considered the official form of notification. We will still be utilizing the services of the Strathmore Times to advertise general communications, events, non-MGA required notices and to publish the County Connector.”
She said some of the provincial acts, such as the Water Act notices, do not allow municipalities the option of posting electronically, so they will have to continue to be posted in the newspaper.
The move is projected to save advertising costs and streamline internal processes. The county has paid over $52,000 in newspaper advertisements in the last year. Henderson projected that the county would save $15,000 to $20,000 per year in advertisement costs.
Henderson said he feels the new process will make information immediately available to residents, rather than waiting for the information to be released weekly according to newspaper deadlines.
The additional rationales for the move were that people who did not receive the newspaper would have to consult neighbours for information, whereas if the primary notification was on the website, everyone would have access on any device, anywhere. Also, landowners that live out of the county would not necessarily see notifications in the local newspapers.
There was no mention about where residents would get information if they do not have computer access or skills.