For better and worse, Innisfail had a memorable year, says mayor

“It’s been a test for all of us with the restrictions at Christmas and so forth,” says Romane. “But with the positive cases in Alberta spiraling out of control, they had to do something.”

Many municipalities across Alberta faced tough decisions regarding staffing levels and facility closures during the pandemic, but Romane notes Innisfail has been fortunate in that respect.

“The worst part was we didn’t have any summer students this year because of the workforce limitations,” he explains. “With staff and holidays and working from home, we haven’t had to lay anybody off. It’s been good that way and because staff members have been super cooperative, we got through it without any major hiccups.”

In terms of Town facilities, there were some shutdowns.

“We had the pool and arena up and running for a short time and then the bottom fell out of that, so everything is closed up tight again now,” he laments. “I think we’re going to see some good things fairly early in the New Year and hopefully these vaccines will come across even faster than they’re planning, so let’s try and stay positive.”

Despite the pandemic, Romane feels both Town and council were able to accomplish many things over the past 12 months.

“We were able to follow through with all the capital projects that were planned a year ago before the COVID dilemma,” says Romane. “We got a lot of good capital projects done, we finished off our skateboard park, some other infrastructure projects we had budgeted for, and I don’t think we’ve had to shelf one single capital project, so it was a successful year that way.”

Like other communities, the Town did cut expenses and tighten its belt in many places.

“Fortunately, with some of the aid we received from the province in the way of a grant for COVID impacts, that helped a little bit and got us through some of the residents’ situations with utilities and taxes and we waived some penalties,” he points out. “But we did have to do some pretty tight facilities management.”

With racism and discrimination also coming to the forefront of people’s social consciousness this year through campaigns such as Black Lives Matter, Innisfail council took steps this summer to address related concerns from the community.

On July 27, council approved a new Anti-Racial Discrimination & Anti-Racism Policy.

“It opened everybody’s eyes as to the actual existence of racism in our community,” shares Romane. “And it maybe brought some awareness to these more rural communities about the impact that racism has.”

Looking ahead, Romane expects to announce soon whether he plans to run in next October’s municipal election.

“My family and I have been talking about it,” says Romane. “Bev and I are going to make our decision here shortly after New Year’s, so I’ll announce it at that time.”

Elsewhere, Romane anticipates nearly $5 million in capital projects will be completed in 2021, including construction of a safe railway crossing from the schools over to the town’s west side, and deep service infrastructure projects in residential areas.

“For the small businesses, the sooner we can get these guys back open again, even to a limited extent, it’s going to be better than anything and hopefully it does happen sooner than later,” he concludes. “I just wish everybody the very best in this upcoming year.”

by Sheldon Spackman

For better and worse, Innisfail had a memorable year, says mayor

What's Trending