Area villages upgrading infrastructure

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Villages within Wheatland County have been upgrading infrastructure – or are planning to – with or without the help of new provincial infrastructure money.

The provincial government announced on June 19 that it would provide up to $200 million in infrastructure funding to rural municipalities. While some area villages have applied for this funding, they are still waiting on a decision from the province.

The Village of Rockyford has applied for funding to support its 10-year infrastructure replacement program, which is currently in year six, said Mayor Darcy Burke. Village council moved to authorize $40,000 of this year’s operations budget to fund engineering for a shovel-ready project, which would be the replacement of water, sewer and pavement on First Ave. East, he said. The project would follow last year’s upgrades of Second Ave., which cost the village about $726,000. 

“We want to be in queue,” said Burke. “Whether we get funding or not, we don’t know, but certainly as municipalities we have to go through these steps and get the proposal to Alberta Transportation and Infrastructure so that they can have a look at it.”

The province has not provided any information as to when a decision will be made. But the funding was allocated because the first step is getting the proposal in place and have the study work done for it to be considered, noted Burke. Should the project be funded, municipalities are currently required to accept the lowest tender and cannot necessarily use local contractors to perform the work.

The Village of Standard is considering applying for funding for a few projects, including developing some of its industrial lands, which would include the construction of roads and water infrastructure, said Mayor Joe Pederson. There is also a project in the village that has been scheduled in its 10-year plan for sewer, water and paving.

Upgrading Main Street is also a possibility. 

“That would be quite a touch, but our centennial is coming in 2022, and it would be nice to have everything pretty and done for that,” said Pederson. 

However, the village has not yet applied for grant funding. 

“We’ll see if they qualify for the shovel-ready (funding) – we’ll definitely be putting in for it. If we get our engineer to send some stuff back, and maybe get some tenders, we might be able to get the work done before the snow flies,” he said, adding the funding could also be a possibility for next year’s construction season as well.

The province reviews funding applications monthly. These projects are also dependent on usual funding sources, such as MSI funding, infrastructure money, which could change or have new incentives.

The Village of Hussar has not applied for any funding because its infrastructure projects have “been in the works for a while,” said Mayor Corey Fisher. “We had the money that was saved up through MSI funding and the federal gas tax.”

Hussar’s infrastructure project for this year was the installation of new water and sewer lines along Second Ave. between Centre St. and First St. East, which was completed in June.

The village’s next project will be replacing water and sewer lines on First Ave. East between First St. and Second St. 

“That could be two or three years from now, depending on when we have enough money saved up for it,” said Fisher. “All these projects that we’re working on came out of our viability review, as far as infrastructure capital projects.”