By Adam Ophus

Controversial Topic

Smaller than expected turnout for Rocky public hearing on VLTs

Mar 11, 2020 | 11:54 AM

The Town of Rocky Mountain House held a public hearing on Tuesday night to gauge the public stance on whether to do away with the longstanding ban on Video Lottery Terminals (VLT) within town limits.

The ban was implemented in 1997 and revisited in 2009 when Rocky held a plebiscite in which 76% of voters said to keep the machines out of local businesses.

The Municipal Government Act states that after ten years a municipality is able to bring such a ban back to the table, hence the Town of Rocky Mountain House hosting Tuesday’s hearing.

Expecting a lot of strong opinion on both sides, the town held the meeting at the Christenson Sports and Wellness Centre to allow for more people to attend, and dedicated nearly an entire meeting to the topic in anticipation of what was expected to be a large turnout.

However, fewer than 20 people attended.

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Mayor Tammy Burke opened the floor by allowing those who wanted VLTs back in Rocky the chance to speak first.

Clearwater County resident Andrea Garnier Spongberg owns a local business in town and said although she wouldn’t have VLTs in her establishmen, she did claim that it would bring an excellent economic opportunity to the town.

Larry Dunn, another local business owner, mentioned that “on average we have ten to twelve people a week come in and ask about VLTs.” He later explained that most of those individuals were from out of town.

As those were the only individuals who stood to support the removal of the ban, Burke moved to give the floor to any who were opposed to VLTs in Rocky.

Local resident Case Korbar referenced a story of an individual who lost everything on gambling and claimed they had turned to crime because of it, saying “it wasn’t in his character for the individual he was.”

An email was also sent into town hall opposed to the machines, but held false information that council quickly rectified.

The letter was sent Christmas morning and claimed to be signed by the people of Rocky Mountain House and that a vote on the matter already taken place on Facebook, which was clarified that it hadn’t. The letter also stated that no public hearings were being held.

Burke mentioned that she has tried to get in touch with the individual who sent the email for some time, but has gotten no response.

The information gathered from the hearing will be brought back up to council on March 17.