Blackfalds Mayor Richard Poole during a year-end Zoom interview with rdnewsNOW.

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

YEAR-IN-REVIEW

Mayor Poole: Blackfalds achieved growth on multiple levels in 2020

Dec 27, 2020 | 11:08 AM

The mayor of Blackfalds could go on and on about the town’s accomplishments in 2020, despite a tumultuous year globally.

Speaking to rdnewsNOW, Richard Poole says, “One of the things was that we saw our citizens come together.”

In the spring, Blackfalds FCSS started a lunchbox program to help people in need, Poole shares.

The outdoor rink was relocated to Harvest Meadows to allow for construction on what we found out will be called Eagle Builders Centre, and home of the AJHL’s Blackfalds Bulldogs which revealed its name and logo this year.

Blackfalds partnered with Variety and the local Optimist Club to open a barrier-free playground, and BOLT Transit evolved into a back-and-forth service to north Red Deer.

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Poole says a Town committee also spent 2020 making headway on attracting an additional physician by the end of 2021.

“We have a strong support group of pharmacies, massage therapists and different groups supporting that area, but right now we have only one doctor in our community, and they aren’t taking new patients,” Poole explains. “We’re really in need of more health professionals in our community. Our committee’s putting together proposals and we’ll be reaching out to doctors to show them how well they’d do in our community of 11,000.”

2020 presented its fair share of challenges for Blackfalds, even outside of COVID-19 which has cost the municipality over a half million dollars.

“COVID-19 brought some of the most unexpected obstacles we as a municipality have ever faced,” he says. “Our town collectively pivoted and evolved together, businesses became innovative in finding ways to deliver products, meetings went virtual, and our events became more interactive.”

One thing sticking in Blackfalds’ craw is the lack of action on getting the town its own registries office. Poole calls it “extremely disappointing” that the provincial government continues denying the town that opportunity.

“This is something we’ve been advocating towards for almost 10 years. Despite extensive effort and fact-finding that makes a strong case for the government to put out a request for proposal for an office in our community, they’ve ignored their own reduction of red tape approach and instead put up a red wall on this opportunity for a private business that will greatly benefit our community,” Poole says. “We find it unbelievable that the 11,000 people in our community have to seek registry services elsewhere.”

Poole says discussions with other registries offices in the region had led to the conclusion that Blackfalds has a legitimate case.

“We understand from Service Minister Nate Glubish and other registry agencies that we’ve been next on the list for five years,” Poole laments. “Minister Glubish has been to our community, once last fall, and we talked again earlier this year. He provided statistics — that we don’t feel are accurate — which stated he didn’t see a need to put one in our community. He hasn’t backed up his statistics in terms of where he found them.”

Blackfalds, recognized as one of Canada’s fastest growing communities each time a municipal census has been done, had a 2016 population of 9,510, 101 per cent higher than 2006.

By 2017, the count was 9,916, and then it jumped to 10,125 in 2018, a two-year increase of 6.5 per cent.

The Town also pushed back completion of its re-branding project until after the 2021 municipal election. Funding for the project, which includes a new logo and slogan, is allocated in the 2021 budget.

“It’s difficult to say what’s going to happen beyond COVID-19, but we feel our community is poised to continue its growth,” Poole says. “We have areas that will continue to provide housing at a really affordable rate. We have facilities within our town that are going to come online. Everything within our community says, ‘COME!’”

Poole experienced personal growth in 2020, he adds, speaking of a locally organized anti-racism event he spoke at during the summer. That was important, he says, with learning from the differences and stories of others a key step.

“That event isn’t something we’ll forget. We continue to understand and work towards more understanding of all the issues facing persons of colour, Indigenous groups and everybody affected by issues such as this,” he says. “It was really encouraging to see them step forward and bring their concerns to us, and help us to understand and learn what we need to learn.”

Finally, Poole addresses a frightening incident which took place in town May 6. A local woman was shot in her bedroom by a suspect who was said to actually be firing at RCMP. The suspect was then tracked by police to the Leduc area before being killed.

“That was a very localized incident that happened in a very short amount of time,” Poole says. “In response, the Town of Blackfalds is working on revising its website and our communications which may include increased ability for RCMP here to reach out to citizens more directly if an emergency is happening. That was one of the things we learned and had actually been working on for a while, but that incident emphasized the need for us to move forward.”

Adds Poole: “We can only hope 2021 will prove to be a rainbow at the end of the storm, and one where the word ‘unprecedented’ will be sent to the word cemetery.”

Asked if he plans to run in next October’s municipal election, Poole said he’d make an announcement in the summer.