County ASB assigns committee members

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Positions within Wheatland County’s Agriculture Service Board and its associated committees were doled out during the Nov. 12 meeting in council chambers. 

Shannon Laprise defeated Glenn Koester via secret ballot cast by board members to once again serve as chair. Subsequently, Berle Hebbes was appointed to serve as vice chair. 

The Agriculture Service Board reviewed appointments for the ALUS (Alternative Land Use Services) Wheatland Partnership Advisory Committee, which is designed to have five voting members.

These are currently designed to be an Agriculture Service Board member, one alternate Agriculture Service Board member, two ASB members at large, and one non-ASB member who is to be appointed during the next ALUS meeting. 

Koester was ultimately appointed as the sitting ASB member for the ALUS committee after voicing his desire to continue from having previously occupied the role in the last council term. 

Laprise, similarly, will continue serving as the alternate Agriculture Service Board member on the committee. 

As there are currently two ASB members at large, and the ALUS committee requires two members at large to serve, both are required to continue fulfilling those roles. It was suggested that in the new year, this should be reviewed and potentially amended. 

Regarding the Scholarship and Awards Committee, which may be occupied by between three and five members, no vote was required. Laprise, Koester, Berle Hebbes, Ryan Grier, and Keith Clayton each put their names forward to serve and were appointed without opposition.

The ASB will be advertising the need to recruit a new member at large for its Summer Tour Committee. In the meantime, Donna Biggar will resume her service as ASB member, joined by Koester, Clayton and Laprise. Scott Klassen will serve as an alternate member.

“We are planning to hold a summer tour of 2026, so very soon … there’s a history of ag service boards who every year had been doing ag service board tours, which is a tour of your municipality and ag businesses, ag farming operations and anything that’s interesting for people from far away to come and see to showcase our municipality,” said Laprise. “The summer tour committee really is to provide some guidance but also boots on the ground for the day of and leading up to, to help coordinate and make sure that the event is a success. It could be anything from setting up tables to doing some speaking on the bus tours.”