Retirement from Municipal Politics

Yesterday was Nomination Day for municipal offices across the province.  I did not submit nomination papers which makes it official:  I am retiring from municipal politics.

This retirement comes without any malice!  It is simply time.  I have had the honor and pleasure of working with some great people over my almost thirty years as a village councilor in Beiseker.  We have accomplished some great things for this tiny village!

Beiseker is not out of the woods yet as far as our finances go, but we have survived one of the biggest economic down-turns this province has seen!  The provinces answer to our fiscal issues is simple; just raise property taxes!  Council has resisted that, and I hope they will continue to do so! 

Here's some things this Council can take credit for:

• We have been very successful at reducing the amount of back-taxes owing. This was  accomplished through many different programs, one of which is the monthly pay system.  Unfortunately, we still have a ways to go here!
• We have reduced the amount of "lost water" by the village so that Beiseker is selling most of the water it buys.
• This council has spearheaded a program to upgrade the streets.  So far, Fourth Ave., Seventh Street and First Avenue have benefited.  Our sidewalk replacement continues, too!
• We have created a program to replace faulty water valves around the village also saving lost water.
• We have our Public Works Department running extremely well.
• As a member of the Aqua-7 Regional Water Services Commission we have seen that organization become much more viable.  We survived the provincial government reneging on a deal to help us out, and we are now "in the black"!
• We started a "Building A Better Beiseker" project by upgrading the first block of our Main Street business district.  Hopefully as the economy picks up the project to revitalize the rest of Main Street will resume!
• We finally will see some action on dismantling and removing the now defunct railway museum.  We were unable to convince the federal government get a good accounting on where that half million dollars went! Hopefully that site will be cleaned up soon.
• I think we finally have our fire department woes solved.  The Beiseker Fire Department in the envy of many small municipalities and it continues to thrive. 
• We are in the process of subdividing and selling lots at the airport.  This will ultimately generate even more funds for our airport and village!

To mention a few!

To my fellow councilors and the village's Chief Administrative Officer with her staff;
thank you for your support, your advice and your candor.  All have been most valuable to me over the past years.

Sincerely,
Ray Courtman
Mayor; Village of Beiseker

Good Town Hall Meeting

We had a good town hall meeting last Monday night.

Our official delegation were two members of the crew busily turning Beiseker into Eden Valley, Minnesota so it can become the backdrop to the third season of the television show Fargo!

They told us of their plan to turn the now-vacant hardware store into a general store along with some other modifications to our village so it can stand in for the U.S. mid-western town of Eden Valley.  Filming will start early in the new year.

Most of the story line for this season's episodes occur around Christmas time, so Beiseker will be decked out for Christmas for most of the winter months!  Those in attendance were very intrigued, and I think the Fargo crew will find Beiseker and its residents easy to work with! 

Questions from the floor on other matters included;

•  the burned out Bassano Station
•  sidewalk replacement priorities
•  the spread of foxtails from the Grasslands development
• the cleaning up at the Community Centre
• the price of water
• water quality in the village

I was most concerned with one resident's comment about the quality of water within our village. She complained that the water at her home faucets was grey in color and smelled bad.

I can find no evidence of this problem elsewhere in the village. Our water is settled and chlorinated at least twice before it reaches our homes. If the chlorine level of the water in our reservoir is lower than provincial standards it will be treated again by our public works staff here in the village.

I urge anyone who is concerned of the quality of water at their homes please have it checked out by a plumber, and then report those findings to the Village office.

I would like to thank all of the residents who came out to our annual fall town hall meeting, and I'm looking forward to to seeing you at our spring meeting in a few months time.

Confused Groundhogs and Cloudy Water

It's Monday morning, February 2nd!

In some places in North America the resident groundhogs forecasted an early spring, but in other places the knowledgeable little rodents declared six more weeks of winter.  If we had a groundhog here I think he would be calling for an early spring!  Yay!

I also just got word that a computer glitch at our Aqua7 Regional Water Services pump house in Kirkpatrick temporarily shut off the pumps, there.  They have been restarted, but water users may notice their water is a bit cloudy.  That's normal when we have a pump shut-down, then a restart.

The water is still safe and potable.  For more information, please call the Village office at 403-947-3774.

Question about Water Price Increases

I noted that Michael Robichaud asked a question about water fees on an Rocky View Weekly article which was posted to the Village of Beiseker Facebook page, yesterday.  His question was;

The last part regarding water consumption is a little confusing.
How do you implement increases because of a lack of consumption on allotted water ?

The Village of Beiseker buys its water from the Aqua7 Regional Water Services Commission (A7RWSC).  The commission is made of seven municipalities; Acme, Beiseker, Irricana, Linden, Carbon, and the Counties of Kneehill and Rocky View.  The Commission buys its water from the Town of Drumheller. 

The water from the Drumheller treatment plant is sent to the Aqua7 pumping station at Kirkpatrick.  From there it is treated then pumped out of the valley, first to Carbon and Kneehill County, then to Acme.  There's a "T" in the pipe at Acme. Water goes to Linden and water flows to Beiseker and Irricana.

When this system was set up, years ago, A7RWSC said that they would purchase a set amount of water from Drumheller.  But we've never come close to purchasing that much water!  There's a couple of reasons for that;

• The price of water; although the cost of water from Drumheller is relatively low, the cost of supporting the A7RWSC pumps, treatment systems, and pipes is expensive. 
• Water conservation programs have been effective in convincing people to use less water.
• Rocky View County, although they are full member of A7RWSC, has yet to buy or sell any water at all!

Drumheller claims that its system is geared to provide much more water than A7RWSC is buying.  Supporting that system to provide that unsold capacity is costing Drumheller extra, therefore they are passing that extra cost on to those who buy water from them, i.e. A7RWSC. 

We're expecting up to a 20% increase in the price of water from the Drumheller treatment plant.  That works out to about an 18 cents a cubic metre of water increase over the next few years.

The A7RWSC is trying to keep the price of pumping, treating, and transporting water to as low as possible.

How can the price of water go down?  The price of water can go down if the A7RWSC sells more water.  That means the A7RWSC  has to find more customers for its water! They're working on that.

Does the Water Smell Funny?

We have received a few questions at the Village Office about the smell of Beiseker's tap water.  Some of you have noticed an "earthy" smell or taste to the water these past few weeks. 

This can happen this time of year, especially in drier summers when the flow in the Red Deer River is at its lowest through the year. 

Our water is treated three times before it comes out of your home taps.  The Town of Drumheller treats it before it goes to the Aqua7 Regional Water Services Commission (A7RWSC) treatment and pumping plant at Kirkpatrick, where it is treated again. 

The Village of Beiseker then treats the water a third time before it enters our distribution system here in town.

As a result the water is perfectly safe to drink and use.  We did get a note from A7RWSC a couple of weeks ago mentioning that this odor issue might happen.  Our water is chlorinated at each treatment point, so it can sometimes have a "bleachy" taste, too.

Again, the water is safe.  If that status changes, Aqua7 will inform us right away and we will inform you. 

This recent rain will help the situation as the river flow increases.  Remember, Beiseker and Irricana are at the end of the line so, water changes which happen at the Drumheller site can take a couple of days or more before we notice a difference here.

The best advice I've heard is to draw your drinking water and let it sit in the piture for a while.to let the odors dissipate.

Village Updates: Fire Protection, Snow, Water & the Bassano Station

We had a great council meeting Tuesday night (November 12).  A number of issues and concerns were discussed.  Here's a few of the things we talked about.

• We reaffirmed our policy that all the village's fire hydrants will be systematically checked by our fire department, with consultation with Public Works. 
• We discussed our very icy streets and sidewalks, and suggested ways that we can make it easier for everyone to get around during the winter months.  We may have to look into how Public Works removes ice and snow from streets and sidewalks, especially at intersections.
• We talked about the placement (or not) of the Bassano Station on its foundation.  It appears work has halted again on the project and it sits there looking forlorn once more.  There doesn't appear to be much the Village can do about this project but we will endeavor to find out its status.
• We talked about a letter from the Town of Irricana to the Aqua7 Regional Water Services Commission, noting that the town refuses to pay the 10% increase in water prices levied by the Town of Drumheller.  I do not understand what they expect to accomplish with this move!  Aqua7, which includes Irricana, will have to pay the shortfall on Irricana's behalf.
• We decided to prepare a mutual aid agreement for fire protection, which we will present to our neighbour municipalities. 

Overall, a great meeting.  I think we addressed some very crucial issues in Beiseker.  Now we need to keep an eye on the solutions to see that they do what we hope they do!

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.

More Aqua7 Water Woes

At last Monday's Council meeting I voiced my concern that the Town of Drumheller had raised their water rates to the Aqua7 Regional Water Services Commission by 10% over the past two years. They have asked for part of this increase to start in July of this year, even though our contract with them stipulates increases must take effect in January of each year.

It appears everything costs more these days, but I'm wondering if such a huge increase in water rates from Drumheller is really necessary.  I hope that we will be able to meet with representatives from Drumheller in the near future to discuss these increases.  They need to explain to us why such an increase is necessary at this point in time.

I and the rest of the Aqua 7 water commission need to know that the increases in the water rates will be used to pay for upgrades in the water treatment plant and its supply line to our Kirkpatrick reservoir - and not to upgrade the water supply infrastructure within the Town of Drumheller.  We also need to know that we are getting a wholesale rate on our cost of water from Drumheller, and not a different retail rate.

It has been suggested (again) that Beiseker might be able to go back on its well water system if Aqua7 water becomes too expensive.  In my opinion, though, that possibility is totally out of the question.  The aquafer from which Beiseker drew its water from has been severely depleted by increased use over the past ten years.  Without drilling a series of new (and expensive) wells, I doubt we could pull enough water out of the aquafer to supply our growing community. 

We also signed a contract with Aqua7 at its conception that we would do our part in supporting the system and paying down its debt.  We would still be responsible for our share of the debt as agreed to in that agreement, even if we stopped using the pipeline.

I truly believe that Aqua7 Regional Water Services Commission will continue to grow and prosper.  I am sure Rocky View County will be able to buy and sell Aqua7 water in the future.  I am confident that the provincial government will one day finally wake up, smell the coffee and realize they treated the Aqua7 folks very, very badly and make amends as recommended in their own study made a few years ago!

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!

Water Rates in Beiseker

As you may know, the Aqua 7 Regional Water Services Commission received a grant from the Alberta government to refinance their loan about two years ago.  Most of that money went to pay the penalties for refinancing.

Aqua 7's loan has been amortized over a longer period of time, though, and the payments are far less than we had before.  Thus, the price of water to Beiseker (and other communities) from Aqua 7 has dropped by a small amount.

I made a motion in Council to pass some of that saving on to the water users here in the village, but my motion was defeated by council.  Other councilors felt that the decrease would be insignificant and lower the user-pay amount for water in the village.

Right now, it costs the village more money to provide water services than is recovered through the sale of water.  That shortfall is drawn from General Revenue.  Leaving our water rates where they are, will allow more money to be applied to our water services - and therefore less money taken from general revenue.

To put this whole thing in perspective, though, we're paying just over three dollars per cubic meter for water.  That means a tank full of water 1 meter high, by 1 meter long, by 1 meter wide, cost just over three dollars.  A cubic meter of water is about 1,000 litres, or over 260 gallons - so that works out to just a little over one cent a gallon.

But, it is true that many other communities in the province are paying far less than we are.

The Provincial Budget

A little over a week ago the provincial government came down with its new budget.

Premier Alison Redford had assured us that she would not be downloading any financial difficulties to the municipalities. I have examined the budget quite carefully, and I participated in a conference call with Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths and Transportation Minister Ric McIver the day after the budget was brought down. I disagree!

Here are some of my concerns regarding this budget and how it affects our little municipality.

• STEP (or, Summer Temporary Employment Program) was a grant so that we may hire students to work for the village over the summer.  It's been scrapped! This means that if the village wishes to hire students this summer, it will have to come up with the money itself.
• The Municipal Sustainability Initiative grants are continuing at their existing rate for this year, however the future of that program is in jeopardy. We used this program to upgrade the first block of our Main Street.  We were hoping that this program would continue so we may be able to upgrade the remainder of Main Street.
• I was unable to ascertain the future of the Seniors' Property Tax Assistance Program.  It will exist for 2013 but after that it's anyone's guess.  The program gave some tax relief to some seniors who have been caught by MVA (Market Value Assessment) and are, in my opinion, paying far more in property taxes than they should be.  Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths' office said they would find out what was happening here and get back to me. 
• Transportation Minister Ric McIver told us that almost all smaller projects have been put on indefinite hold.  Beiseker relies on those smaller projects!  But I hope the agreed changes to Highway 72 (North Road) will still go ahead this spring!
• The Water For Life program has been drastically reduced, but I understand the province will continue to fund accepted projects at the 90% level.  You will recall that Beiseker's regional water system (called Aqua 7 Regional Water Service Commission) was originally funded about 40% by the province.  Looks like there's not much money to help us out, there!
• There was no relief mentioned for small municipalities who have to pay their Education Portion of the property taxes in full to the provincial government -- even though they haven't collected that money yet!  Beiseker has around $250,000 owing in unpaid taxes but the province still yanks tens of thousands of dollars out of our account for the Education portion.  No questions, no comments, no deferral; nothing!
• I'm worried that over the next twelve months, other small programs and grants will be discontinued while the provincial government goes through its belt-tightening.  If Beiseker wishes these programs to continue, the money will have to come from our property tax pockets!

In my opinion, that's where we stand!  Most of these cuts are still in the "wait and see" file.

I hope we'll get more details in the weeks to come.

Water Under the Bridge

I think I was the Beiseker councillor referred to by former Irricana councillor Frank Dusome, in a recent post he made on the Irricana Ratepayers web site.  I do recall discussing with him the fact that our village was buying much more water than we were selling.

What happened, there?  First and foremost, our Public Works department found and repaired a number of major leaks in the village's distribution pipes.

We also found that there were many water users in our community who were not paying their fair share, through no fault of their own. Our water metering system at that time was old and corroded.  In some cases, the meter was reading inaccurately or almost not at all.

This meant that some water users were paying the minimum on their bill when they were using much more water.  Our billing system at the time didn't pick up on the discrepancies.

I am pleased to report that we have since replaced our water metering system throughout the village with new digitized models! These new meters are very accurate and automatically relay their reading to a computer carried in a public works vehicle as it goes around town. The new meters are also tamper-proof.

I don't know if some of the highest water users in the village had inaccurate meters, but I'm very confident today that all water users in the village are now paying for what they use.

2013 Outlook for the Village

Thank you all so much for those birthday wishes, yesterday.  I enjoyed reading them.

So far 2013 has rolled in quite quietly.  I'm looking forward to this year and getting some action and/or closure on some of the issues still clinging on from 2012. 

• The cost of water:  In order for all the communities along the Aqua 7 Regional Water system to thrive, I believe we must lower the cost of water!  I'm working on that.  We've managed to hold the water rates to their present levels.  I hope we can better that this year.
• Grasslands subdivision:  I and the rest of Beiseker Village Council are determined to see growth over there in our stalled residential subdivision during 2013!  And by "growth", I don't mean weeds!  Stay tuned.  UPDATE: Grasslands is a "GO"
• The Bassano Station:  Although it is officially none of our business, I think I speak for the rest of Beiseker Council when I say something has to happen there this year!  This project has been dragging on for years now.  Time to get it done!
• Taxes:  It is going to be a challenge to keep property taxes in line and offering the same level of services or better, given the increased costs and the amount of back taxes still owing.  I firmly believe we can do it with a little village belt tightening and a sharp pencil!

In my opinion, those are the four "biggies" for Beiseker this year.  There are a myriad of smaller problems and issues we'll have to address and I think all on council are anxious to tackle them!

Good News from Aqua 7

Last night's Aqua 7 Regional Water Services Commission meeting was full of good news!

• The price of Aqua 7 water to communities will drop on August 1, 2012 to $2.67 per cubic meter.  Each community will still have to charge something to pump the water around their municipality, but I'm hoping everyone will see a price-per-cubic meter drop on their water bills later this summer!
• The Town of Drumheller has reversed their earlier decision (which I blogged about here), and have now agreed to adjust the boundaries of the Commission to cover the north-eastern part of Rocky View County.  This means Rocky View County now has a chance to sell some of the water they've beeen paying for!  Wow! This is fantastic news!  Thank you to Mayor Yemen and Drumheller town council!
• The line repair we went through last month turned out to be far less serious and less expensive than predicted.  We did purchase a new valve but it wasn't needed so we'll keep it in storage.   
• The refinancing of our debt over a longer period of time has reduced our yearly payments by about $300,000 a year!

It was so refreshing to attend an Aqua 7 meeting and hear all that good news! More details will come out later but I had to tell you that things are looking up for the Regional Water Service!

Have a good weekend!

Water Line Repairs Completed!

All repairs to our water line have been deemed successful!  Over the next few hours the system will be returned to normal operation.  Our Public Works Foreman has cancelled further water hauling to Beiseker.  This afternoon, once the water starts flowing into our reservoir, tests will be done. We do not anticipate any problems with those tests. 

On occassion, the turning on and off  a water line stirs up fine particles which have settled in the line over the years.  This MAY result in slightly cloudy water for the first little while.  We will be double checking and letting you know if this might happen. 

Thank you all very much for your cooperation over the past few days.  This whole repair job turned out to be a very smooth operation thanks to all of you!

UPDATED:  I spoke to our water line supervisor an hour or so ago as he was doing the tests on the water coming into the Beiseker reservoir. The water is very slightly more turpid than it is usually. It's safe, nothing to worry about. You may notice this very, very slight color in your water over the next few days.

If anything changes we will let you know immediately, but we don't expect anything.

Our water supply issue is now officially over!

May 25th Water Line Repairs Update

I got good news this morning!  The line has been excavated and a leak has been found and repaired! 

So far we don't think the valve was faulty.  The leak was in the pipe next to the valve.  Now we have to pressure up the system to make sure that the repair was successful.  If the repairs are successful, that portion of the line will be flushed and tested.  We could be ahead of schedule at this time! 

Congratulations to all who are working so hard to get this problem behind us.  Well done!  Stay tuned!

May 24th Water Line Repairs Update

The plug to stop the line from draining completely has been installed and it is working.  The work on the defective valve has started.

Beiseker started hauling water today.  We want to keep our reservoir up as high as we can during this shut-off time.  Water consumption is down!  Good going, thank you all!

A couple of you remarked that you thought the automatic tree irrigation system on Main Street was still operating. Thank you for that observation and report.  I'll check into that and let everyone know what's happening there.

May 23rd Water Line Repairs Update

The main water line was shut off this morning and repairs are proceeding.  Our Public Works Foreman went to the site this morning so we are definitely in the information loop! 

We'll see how the water level in our reservoir is doing Thursday morning and we may start trucking water then.  This bit of rain will help our water conservation efforts, too!  

"Thank you" to everyone for reducing your water consumption over the next few days.

Water line repairs and Lam family luncheon

In case you haven't heard, we were given an extra day with water on.  The Aqua 7 water line will be shut off tonight.  I hope you all got your notice from the Village Office.  There are a number of suggestions there on how you might conserve water over the next few days.  I'll keep you posted on how the repairs are coming.

On Monday I attended a most enjoyable luncheon at the Golden Years Club.  The Lam family came out to visit again.  The Lams were from Viet Nam.  They were forced to leave their homeland and immigrate to Canada in April of 1980. 

They were sponsored by a group from Beiseker and their first Canadian home was here in our village!  They have since moved into the city, but they still have fond memories of their first encounter with us Canadians.  They still talk about this very positive smiling lady in a red outfit from Beiseker (Mrs. Vera Schmaltz) making them feel like they were coming home! I was fortunate to meet them back then, too.  Their kids came to Beiseker Community School.  I'm sure they were all in culture shock!    Those kids are all grown up now with kids of their own, three generations of them! 

They are all truly Canadians.   It was wonderful to see them all again.  They promised to come back next year around this same time.  I'm already looking forward to it!

Water Line Repairs to Start May 22nd

Over the next day or so every Beiseker resident should be receiving a notice about the coming water line repair. 

It is slated to begin on May 22 and will affect us for between three and six days.  You will still have water service at your residence and place of business, but are asking everyone in the Village to use far less water during those days.  We are asking for everyone's cooperation. 

Please refrain from watering lawns and gardens or washing cars or walkways on those days.  Our notice has included other strategies on how one might lower one's water consumption for those few days.  I will be bringing you up to date on the repairs each day on this blog and on my Facebook. 

We are looking to an easy and quick repair so normal water service can begin again as quickly as possible.