The Flood of 2018!

It's been quite a week in Beiseker!  Village council declared a local state of emergency when flood waters started filling basements and crossing roads!  I was most impressed with Public Works this week.  That tiny force of less than a half dozen started battling flood waters last Sunday and they never let up until they won!  If you meet Public Works Foreman Dave, give him a hearty "well done!"  He and his crew deserve that!

I was also very impressed with the Emergency Management Team made up of many different agencies and departments who set up in Council Chambers on Tuesday and ran the whole operation under the leadership of Mike Richter!  Mike; you and your team were awesome!  Throughout the crisis our CAO and her staff, the mayor and councilors were very much in the loop helping out everywhere and maintaining a high profile!

We had our own crisis brewing at the Beiseker Airport!  Several hangars, and our meeting house were flooding and some aircraft were in danger!  The quick actions by volunteers who pumped water for countless hours saved the day!  At one point Rocky View County sent out a huge pump which moved a ton of water and gave us chance to get ahead of the situation!

Overall it was an incredible operation and one which saved our village!  Thank you all for your efforts.

Bad news:  Several homes ended up with flooded basements!  At one point overland floodwaters compromised our sanitary sewer and several basements were flooded with sewage!  All is well again now but these folks will need help to get their lives back to normal!  If you are one of those misfortunate residents please register with the village office as soon as you can!  If you know of someone who has been affected by the flooding please check with them to make sure they're ok and that they've registered.  Red Cross clean-up kits are available from the Beiseker Fire Department and the Village Office. 

Now is the time for us to help our neighbors!

Well done everyone!

p.s.  As you know, I'm retired from village council;  I stayed out of way, and watched.  I was curious to see how this council would react to this serious crisis.  They and our Village staff were incredible!  I was very proud of them all!

2014 AUMA Convention News

Last week, members of Beiseker village council attended the annual convention of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association in Edmonton.  The convention venue alternates between Edmonton and Calgary, and this year was Edmonton's turn.

There's a trade show, workshops, meetings with the Ministries, and get-togethers throughout the three day convention. 

Beiseker's meetings with the ministries were all on Wednesday.  First, we met with Environment and Sustainable Resource Development to discuss our flooding issues.  Our biggest difficulty with flood water is dealing with the huge volume of water we receive into the village from Rocky View County!  We asked Alberta Environment to help us deal with this huge volume of water, simply because we can't afford to do it alone.  We will be developing a plan to help alleviate the problem, working with the province and the County.

Next we were off to see Municipal Affairs.  To our surprise, the newly appointed Minister of Municipal Affairs, Diana McQueen was there to greet us.  We once again talked about our flooding issues and asked for their help, too.  We also discussed the difficulty small municipalities have with the new policy of depreciating Tangible Capital Assets (TCAs).

About three years ago, the provincial government decided that all municipalities should record ALL their assets.  That included all village owned buildings, vehicles, property, fire hydrants, water pipes and sewer pipes!  Then we have to depreciate all those things and include that amount in our yearly financial statements!  When we have an expensive year like 2013 (huge snow removal bills, water main leaks, etc.), and we include the TCA depreciation, it shows us operating very close to the wire!  This policy is not fair to small municipalities.  I think we made that quite clear.

Our last visit was to Alberta Transportation to talk about slowing down the traffic on North Road (aka Highway 72).  Vehicles are still exceeding the 50 km/h and the 30 km/h speed limits, some by a considerable amount.  A number of strategies were discussed. Stay tuned.

Councillor Karen, Assistant CAO Gail, MLA Bruce Rowe and I at the AUMA convention reception,
at Edmonton City Hall!
Councillor Dave is behind the camera!
(photo via Facebook)

Overall, I believe that our attendance at the AUMA Convention was a great success.  In the months following we'll see if our suggestions and requests took root in the provincial  ministries.

Next year's AUMA Convention will happen in Calgary in the fall of 2015.

Beiseker History: Floods!

Flooding on Beiseker's Main Street, 1914.
Glenbow Archives

T.L. Beiseker and his group of land speculators from the United States sold the land around what is now the village of Beiseker to eager settlers wanting new farmland.

When it came down to picking a site for the new town, they looked around at the options.  They needed a site that was adjacent to the then-new Canadian Pacific Railway right-of-way, and near the proposed Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (now, CN) right-of-way.  It had to be reasonably flat and preferably not saleable as farmland.

They chose here!  The site where the village now sits was a lowland, with small sloughs and wetlands.  It dried up every year, but it was sometimes too late to seed a crop.

Fill was brought in, buildings were constructed and the village grew. 

Unfortunately, the two railways interrupted the natural flow of water through the area, and on heavy run-off years (or after big storms) Beiseker always flooded.  There was many years where Main Street flooded.  In fact, there was a year when over a metre of water flooded Main Street in front of the King George Hotel, where the hardware store is today.

There is an myth of an unfortunate individual who staggered drunk out of the King George Hotel tavern, fell in the water and drowned, right there on Main Street.  I have yet to find any facts to back up this story.

In the 1950s, with the help of provincial funding, a drainage channel was built around Beiseker, just south of town.  That solved the severe flooding problems.  Because most of downtown Beiseker was built on a flat lowland, there are still some small problems with water pooling even today.  Practically every direction out of downtown Beiseker is uphill.  The only good flowing water channel is that one built over 60 years ago.  

Now that system is being burdened by water coming into Beiseker from Rocky View County lands, north of town.  If I had a chance to go back in time and talk to Mr. Beiseker, I'd advise him to build his town on higher ground!  

Small Turnout at Town Hall Meeting

Our annual spring Town Hall Meeting was held at the Community Centre, last Monday evening.  The turnout was quite small, but the concerns raised by those present were much appreciated.

Here are a few points I noted:

• The Bassano Station is still a big part of any discussion around town.  We had to remind everyone that the Village government has very little control or power over that stalled project.  Still we continue to work to see if we can't get this eyesore cleaned up!
• The mud bog at the corner of Second Avenue and Seventh Street is the result of an experiment gone wrong.  Public Works will be addressing the problem over the next few days.  Getting water to move from that corner has proven to be a major challenge.  Everyone has a different opinion as to what should be done there.  We'll keep working on it until we have a solution.
• Water flow and flooding was not such a big issue as I had expected this spring, however a few homes were severely affected.  Suggestions were made and remediation of these few spots will take place this summer.  The problem of the Village having to deal with runoff water from a huge portion of the County north of Beiseker was mentioned several times.
• It was brought to the attention of council that there is a sign in the Beiseker Campground noting "NO PITBULLS ALLOWED" even though we have no such bylaw to support that ban.  This sign will be removed.
• Concerns were raised over ambulance services into Beiseker.  These concerns will be investigated by village office staff.

Overall, a great meeting.  If you were unable to attend and you have an issue, please contact the village office at 403-947-3774 to voice your concerns.

Spring Flooding Issues

photo courtesy of the Rocky View Weekly

At our council meeting Monday night, we had the first of what I hope will be many residents coming to council as a delegation to discuss the water drainage problems in the village.

This resident's problem stemmed from the fact that all of the run-off water from County land north of Beiseker flows into the village!  We have had to deal with this problem for a few years now, but this year it was worse than before.

I think we made a good plan to keep this water off this resident's property, but we need an overall solution to the problem. 

I'm hoping that our council and the Rocky View County council will be able to get together and get a plan to help solve this problem permanently.

I said at the beginning of this post this was the first of what I hope will be many delegations to council about this issue.  If you had (or are having) issues with run-off water on your property, please call the Village Office (403-947-3774) and attend the next council meeting as a delegation.  We need your input and suggestions.

Most of this year's run-off water left town in an orderly fashion but some didn't!  We need to address all those incidents!

2013 Year in Review

This past year has been a good one overall for the Village of Beiseker.  We’ve had our share of problems - mostly with the weather - but we’ve managed to overcome those difficulties and move forward!   

Most fortunately, we did not experience the massive June flooding that inundated other towns and cities in southern Alberta.  Our flooding problems came after a few torrential downpours dosed the village in July.  It was quite alarming to see more than 6 inches of water on Main Street, in front of the medical center!

Our fire department came to the rescue, and did their best to encourage the water to leave town. Council is now actively looking for solutions to this flooding problem. 

The other major weather incident was the blizzard of December 2, 2013!  And again, during these adverse conditions our fire department and public works performed admirably to keep Beiseker moving and keep our residents safe.

But I think the good things that happened in the village far outweighed the difficulties we had! Here are some of the good things; 

• The creation of a Medical First Response Team: this group was formed to respond to medical emergencies within the village. They’ve already saved a number of lives! I think this is a great addition to our emergency services.
• The purchase of a Fire Truck:  I couldn’t have been more proud of our village when we put out a call for a fundraiser to buy a newer fire engine to replace our old one.  When the money from the sale of the old truck was put into the pot, we managed to raise more than half the cost of the new truck.  For a village of less than 900 people that was astounding! Well done Beiseker!
• Grasslands subdivision:  the stalled subdivision on the west side of town was restarted!  Events elsewhere in Alberta prevented builders from starting this year, but we are looking forward to seeing homes built there in 2014! One of our slogans is, “If you lived in Beiseker, your kids could walk to school!” 
• The Municipal Election: I thought the electors here in the village had a very good selection of candidates to vote for. The four incumbents were re-elected, and we welcomed Dave McKenzie onto Council. We said goodbye to Fred Walters who retired. We miss Fred on Council but we welcome a new viewpoint from Dave.  I was very proud and honored to be re-elected as mayor!
• The Bassano Station: Although Beiseker Village Council has nothing to do with this project, we were pleased to see it progress to a point where it’s almost ready to be slid onto its foundation. We look forward to its completion in 2014!
• The Beiseker Country Fair, organized by the Beiseker Lions Club was a huge success once again as was our first annual Santa Claus Parade held just a couple of weeks ago.  I hope both events continue to grow and prosper.
• A new commercial building on Main Street:  A new building opened up on Main Street just before Christmas, housing Beiseker Registries!  This new structure is a great addition to our business district!

Overall a very good year for Beiseker, and we’re looking forward to an even better 2014!  I’ll take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year and all the best in 2014.

Keeping Beiseker's Water Flowing

My second issue is water!  We in Beiseker have difficulties getting inexpensive drinking water into the village - and getting storm water out! 

Drinking Water

Beiseker is a member of the Aqua7 Regional Water Services Commission.  The commission buys treated water from the town of Drumheller, treats it again, then pumps it through to two rural municipalities and five urban municipalities from a treatment and pumping station at Kirkpatrick, in the Red Deer river valley.

Beiseker buys water from Aqua7, then treats it a third time, before pumping it out to our residents from a pumping station at the corner of 9th Street and 4th Avenue.

The price of water at our homes is controlled by four factors;

1. The price the Town of Drumheller charges Aqua7 for water.
2. The cost of operating the pumping station at Kirkpatrick.
3. The cost of managing the Aqua7 Regional Water Services Commission, including servicing their huge debt created during construction of the system.
4. The cost of re-treating and pumping water after it arrives here in the village.

Facts;

• The Town of Drumheller raised its price of water to Aqua7 twice in the last two years - totalling 10%!
• Rocky View County is a full member of Aqua7, but has not bought or sold any water!

I believe that Beiseker Village Council must keep working to lower our water rates by;

• Helping to find ways which Rocky View County can sell water.  The more water sold means a lower rate for all of us.
• Making sure all the water Beiseker buys is sold; no leaks or bypassed meters.
• Continuing to pressure the provincial government to help us eliminate our huge debt as they verbally promised to do when the project was first proposed.  They have done that for other water commissions set up after Aqua 7!

I have been very close to this water issue ever since Aqua7 (which was originally called the Kneehill Regional Water Services Commission) was first proposed.  I took over from past Mayor Dave Fegan as a member of the commission, twelve years ago.

With your vote, I will continue to fight for our right to have safe, plentiful and inexpensive drinking water here in Beiseker.


Storm Water

Beiseker was built in a low spot here on the prairie.  As a result, we continue to have storm water and runoff water issues.

The situation has greatly improved over the past few years but there are still shortcomings within our system.  Council has initiated a program to allow water to leave town as quickly as possible, by clearing drainage ditches and installing lift pumps at low spots.

With your vote, I will continue to work toward perfecting our drainage system so that floodwaters will drain more quickly from our village and the impact on residents will be lessened.

Emergency Planning

Lac-Mégantic, Québec rail disaster

In light of the widespread flooding in southern Alberta and the railway disaster in Lac-Mégantic, Québec, some of you are wondering if our village has an emergency plan. As a matter fact, we do.

It was created a few years ago, by a group of village officials and interested community members through a series of workshops held at the Beiseker Community Centre.  We were presented with different hypothetical scenarios, and we had to plan a course of action.  These "tabletop exercises" focused on keeping the people of Beiseker as safe as possible.

We reviewed scenarios involving blizzards, flash floods, railway problems, and highway accidents.

Copies of the plan we created were given to the fire department and to the village office.  We ran a couple of mock disasters to make sure our plan did work.

As part of the emergency plan, we stocked emergency supplies and provided an alternate power source for the Community Centre.  We made arrangements with local businesses to access their establishments after hours for emergency supplies if required, as well.  And finally, a mutual aid agreement was created between Beiseker and Irricana so that if one municipality needed to evacuate, the other community would accommodate them.

All of this took place more than five years ago.  Much has changed in Beiseker since then.  I personally believe that it's time we took this plan down from the shelf, read it over, and revise it to reflect what's happening today.

Would our existing plan work?  Yes it would, but it could work much more smoothly if it were brought up to date!

Kicking Someone When They're Down

I did hear another rumour about the flood victims in Southern Alberta which I was desperately hoping was untrue.  It turns out that it was very much true!

Apparently some individuals, posing as clean-up crews are going into flood ravaged areas and looting whatever they can.  This is low, very low!

If you've been helping out in a flood area in Southern Alberta try to remember if you saw anyone or anything suspicious.  Do you remember a licence number or even a name on a truck door?  If you do, I urge you to talk to the RCMP or Crime Stoppers. 

It's important to say that almost all of those working and volunteering down there in High River were wonderful volunteers and professionals.  A few, it appears, had far less noble reasons to be there!

Beiseker's Angels On A Mission

You will recall the other day, I mentioned on this blog that there was a rumour that some folks were forced to garbage the food they had prepared for the flood recovery volunteers, because it was not prepared in a commercial kitchen.  There was actually some truth to that;  Some folks were not permitted to distribute the sandwiches they had prepared.  I understand that most of that food was returned to the donors who took it back home.

But, here's the good news!  On July 7, a group of ten ladies from our village decided to help out.  The village let them borrow the commercial kitchen at our Community Centre - it is a full commercial kitchen, and it is inspected regularly. 

There, they prepared 180 sandwiches and some muffins.  These were properly packed up and taken down to High River where they were distributed to grateful volunteer workers!  Somewhere along the trail, those ten ladies got the name "Beiseker Angels On A Mission"! 

I like that!  In my opinion ladies you exemplify the true nature of Albertans, and of our village!  Thank you all from the rest of us!

Flood Recovery Rumours

There are many rumours running around about the difficulties and problems facing flood victims and those helping them.  Two rumours I've heard don't make much sense.

• I heard that many folks took time and their own money to prepare meals for the flood victims.  But when they arrived at one of the stricken areas it is rumoured they were told to dump their freshly prepared meals into the garbage unless they could prove they were prepared in a complete certified commercial kitchen.  I understand that food-bourne diseases are serious and precautions must be taken to prevent their spread, but there must have been a way those meals could have been used.
• There is another rumour running around that the Town of High River is actually charging flood victims for permits to clean up and restore their property damaged by floodwater.  

These are just rumours, and I hope they have little or no basis in fact!

Flood Help!

Photo via CBC

A few days ago, my son Rhys asked me if our village was doing something specifically to help flood victims in southern Alberta. I replied that we had offered our assistance to Calgary Mayor Nenshi, but beyond that we had organized nothing officially.

I have found out that local resident Carole Rowe has been driving down to High River unofficially to offer assistance. If anyone else wishes to donate time to the flood relief effort, Carole might be able to help you. Good on ya Carole! Thank you on behalf of all those you've helped!  You and your helpers are a credit to our community!

If you want to donate for flood relief in Alberta, please consider giving to either the Canadian Red Cross' Alberta Floods Fund) or to the Calgary Foundation's Flood Rebuilding Fund.  Both are doing good work to help people out!

Outstanding job by Beiseker's Fire Department!

There wasn't a fire anywhere to be seen, however our Beiseker Fire Department was there! The Beiseker Fire Department responded to a call for assistance after parts of the village were flooded early Sunday morning. They did what they could to comfort those affected by flood waters.

They made sure that the water was able to move freely into our drainage channels and they got to work moving water away from where it shouldn't be. This all happened between midnight and 4 AM Sunday morning! In my books they are all local heroes - again!

And the Rains Came!

Flooding on Beiseker's Main Street, 1915

That was quite a storm we had last night!

It dumped a whole bunch of water on the village early Sunday morning June 30. Once again, our drainage system was overwhelmed by the volume of water in such a short period of time. Lakes formed in front to the medical center, at the intersection of second Avenue and seventh Street, and in front of the village office, as well as a few other places in the village.

The pumps were working at capacity and removing a large volume of storm water from the village.

I know some of the residents in this village had flooding problems at their residences.  As I have mentioned before in my blog, Beiseker has always had a drainage problem between the two rail lines. Today, flooding is nowhere as serious as it was more than half a century ago.  I know that's not much consolation to those with flooded basements, today!  It is important for this Council and future village councils to continually address the flooding problems
.
I'm going to be asking Council at our next meeting to start a flood task force. This group will be charged with finding new ways to address the flooding issues primarily in the older parts of the village.

If you experienced flooding and flood damage during this past storm, I'm asking you to leave your name and address at the village office - either by dropping in or calling 403-947-3774.   We need this data to help formulate a plan.

Storms that used to occur every 100 years now appear to be occurring every few years! We need a new plan and we need it now!

Southern Alberta Flooding (and Drinking Water)

photo by Andrea Savoca, via Flickr

Our internet connection was lost there for a bit, but it's back up now!

It's been a very exciting few days in this part of the world, with the terrible flooding in southern Alberta. Before I go any farther, I would like to offer best wishes to everyone in Canmore, Calgary, High River, Medicine Hat, Drumheller, the Siksika and Stoney First Nations, and everyone else fighting the flood waters.  I wish them a successful cleanup and a speedy return to normal!

We here in Beiseker escaped the severe damage done elsewhere in the province. The constant rain caused a few floodings around town, but we fared pretty well. The extra moisture has caused the grass to grow and the mosquitoes to hatch! They're particularly fierce little devils this year!  It's hard to go outside!

As of tonight, Monday, June 24, our water system is safe and sound. The flood waters have not compromised the water treatment plant in Drumheller.  Clean, chlorinated and clear water is entering our pumping station at Kirkpatrick. From there, the water is chlorinated again and pumped up the hill to our communities.

I think every community on the water line chlorinates the water a third time before it enters their local distribution systems. I think the Aqua7 water system is probably one of the safest water distribution systems in the province!

Very Short Town Hall Meeting!

Lasting less than an hour, I think that was the shortest Town Hall meeting I've ever attended! 

We only had about a dozen folks attend our second annual Town Hall meeting at the Community Centre. The crowd was small, but the questions were good! We had questions about the repairs on Main Street, water rates, storm water drainage, and sidewalk replacement.  I think we were able to answer all the questions well.

Over the next few days, I will try and address each area of concern here on my blog.

And I want to thank those people who gave up part of their Monday evening to join as at the town hall meeting. I very much appreciate your participation!

Issue #6: Street Upgrading

Village Council has embarked on a program of street upgrades for many years. Funds are limited. Much of the funding for our street upgrades comes through a provincial Streets Improvement Program (2002 SIP) and there are other provincial grants which becme available sporadically. Usually the Village of Beiseker must add to these funds to be able to complete these projects. Sidewalks and paving are often done as a Local Improvement which means that a fee for a portion of the upgrade will be added to the property taxes for all the properties along the upgraded street. The whole process takes a very long time.

Residents can stop a planned street upgrade by presenting a petition to Village Council. This was the case on Seventh Street.

If re-elected, I will push to have council revisit the paving on Seventh Street now that the "cooling off" period has passed. Water flows better on paved streets! Once we get Seventh and Ninth paved we can work on the avenues. This will help rain and melt water exit town easier and faster.

Issue #2: Water, water, water!

Beiseker is built in a slight hollow which means we have a very shallow slope from one side of town to the other.  During heavy rains or a large melt, water has trouble exiting the village fast enough.  At times we also get swamped with water coming from the north into the village.  I intend to work on long term solutions to this water problem.  I will do everything in my power to make flooded basements in Beiseker a distant memory!

During this past term, Beiseker Village Council enacted legislation that prohibits the dumping of rain or runoff water into the sanitary sewer lines.  This water should be directed onto the surface and allowed to exit the village on the surface.  If placed into the sanitary sewer line it will overwhelm the force main pumps designed to pump only effluent. 

I will continue to work to make sure these two systems are operating correctly, separately and efficiently!