Town of Penhold Mayor Mike Yargeau at the Penhold Multiplex for the "Walk with the Mayors" event in October. (rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

By Alessia Proietti

"Things take time"

Year in Review: Penhold mayor learned importance of patience in 2022

Dec 26, 2022 | 9:00 AM

Penhold Mayor Mike Yargeau says he learned much about the virtue of patience in 2022.

“Nothing can get fixed overnight. There are a lot of issues in the province, in the country, in our communities that people are working to fix and we will fix them, but things take time,” he said.

He referenced a quote that was said to him during a meeting: ‘It takes us as long to walk out of the forest as it took to walk into the forest.’

He says it took patience to complete various objectives, some years in the making. One example is the recent signing of a new cultural grant funding agreement with Red Deer County. While the dollar amounts are not public, he says it took more years of negotiations than expected, but resulted in a significant increase from prior years.

And patience will be needed for larger projects that, while they may not be complete in the near future, he believes put the Town in a good position to grow over the next 30 years. Some include the current planning phase towards the creation of a public works facility and the progression made on the Community Hub project.

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“Any time we do community feedback or surveys, pools, recreation projects, trails, green spaces and even dog parks are always at the top. Residents want places like that. It makes your community more attractive when people are trying to move to it or when people want to stay in it,” he said.

While the mayor admits the town’s challenge has been attracting commercial growth, he says new businesses this year and their New Home Buyer Incentive Program have helped bring property tax rates below provincial averages, now becoming competitive with neighbouring communities.

Mayor Yargeau says Penhold was one of the first towns in the region to spearhead the program in 2020 and that it has been going well to date. Council approved the program this December for another two years; it means purchasers of new home builds in year one will receive a 50 per cent reduction and an additional 25 per cent off in year two from the municipal portion of their taxes.

READ: Town of Penhold launches New Home Buyer Incentive Program

The Town’s next step, the mayor said, is to explore commercial business incentive programs as he says other towns like Ponoka have more defined programs that he would like to build off of or even copy. Council directed administration to investigate incentive options at their December meeting.

With financially challenging times ahead, the mayor said communities as a collective must push federal and provincial governments to step up to the plate and not shrink funding for municipalities.

“In not so recent history, we’ve seen what happens in Alberta when we neglect infrastructure in communities. Communities suffer and, in the long run, it just ends up costing the province more money,” he said.

“There’s only one taxpayer. We can’t just raise taxes and expect to bring in a bunch of new revenue when it’s not there. We know the province has a bunch of new revenue; they’re happy to tell us about it all the time, and hopefully they remember that Albertans need it.”

Although the global economic situation may be uncertain, Yargeau says he’s always sure the community will get through it together. Community spirit was particularly proven this year with a large turnout at the Fall Festival, and with five residents receiving the Queen Elizabeth Jubilee just this past month.

“We’re a community full of volunteers and doers,” he said. “Penhold is at its best when the community gets to come together and celebrate all the things we’ve accomplished.”

RELATED: Penhold’s Fall Festival returns this weekend with even more activities