Lacombe Mayor Grant Creasey (rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Sheldon Spackman

Year In Review

Lacombe weathers storm of “tumultuous year” in 2019

Dec 24, 2019 | 6:00 AM

Lacombe’s mayor says 2019 was a tumultuous year for his city.

Grant Creasey says there were challenges, but that they did their best to negotiate them and make decisions with the best interests of the community at heart.

“One highlight involved our collaborative efforts in realizing the North Red Deer Regional Wastewater System,” he shares. “Although it’s not necessarily an exciting topic for most, it is a valuable service for our community, as I’m sure it is for Blackfalds. And to work in conjunction with Red Deer to bring forward an environmentally sustainable solution to an important need for the area was an important one.”

The City of Lacombe’s West Area Servicing Project to help spur development west of the QE2 is another accomplishment Creasey says was significant this year.

“We accomplished the majority of that infrastructure for deep services and for the intersection upgrades and the highway repaving. That was an important step forward as we look forward to building starting in early spring. And on the other end of the city on Highway 12 for the east area, we look forward to some positive changes there.”

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However, like every other community in Alberta, Creasey says the provincial budget has created challenges.

“Perhaps because it’s freshest in my mind, the budgetary process,” Creasey notes in particular. “Because of the current provincial economy, we were prepared for some of the changes. However, we did have some late arriving news that was unfortunate because we had already been through the vast majority of our budget deliberations.”

Creasey says those changes include a new police funding model that requires smaller and rural communities to help pay for their police services, and a change in allocations for provincial traffic fines.

“It had a significant impact, as did the halt to Automated Traffic Enforcement which we were just on the cusp of implementing in a couple of problem areas in Lacombe,” adds Creasey. “It’s just hard when these things come in so late in the budget process when you’ve already calculated those external agencies into your budget plans and then to have them change in the 11th hour presented some difficulties.”

Following both a provincial and federal election in 2019, Creasey anticipates further belt-tightening in 2020.

“Lacombe is situated in a community that does not completely revolve around energy only,” Creasey points out. “We have a wide-range of business services and industries here. Agriculture, provincial and federal government research facilities, Burman University and others, but the impacts that the federal government has with the energy sector of course play a role here just as they do in every other community in Alberta.”

In that respect, Creasey describes the mood of the local economy and business community as having pockets of prosperity, but challenged overall.

“We’ve had a larger number of business failures and changes which is always unfortunate,” he laments. “However, tough times and times of restraint also tend to spark some creativity in the minds of entrepreneurs which is evident in our Municipal Planning Commission (MPC). We see a good number of home-based businesses and smaller businesses that are starting up and while that’s a positive thing, I would say overall it’s been a challenging year.”

Despite ongoing challenges, Creasey reveals a number of planned capital projects.

“For the 2020 capital year, council has allotted just under $9 million I believe over several projects,” exclaims Creasey. “We’ve got once again this year a large amount of roadwork improvements which I know our residents will welcome. We’ve got changes to Northstar Drive, Highway 2A Service Road, Brownstone Road, just a lot of upgrades in areas throughout the city that have been clearly identified as being in the greatest need.”

Creasey says further upgrades are also planned for the West Area Servicing Project, Gary Moe Auto Group Sportsplex, two playgrounds, and a new Public Works facility.

“This year we’ll be doing the design and layout work and also the earthwork on the site to prepare for that build,” says Creasey. “I would like all of our residents to be rest-assured that we’re going to continue on in the same spirit of collaboration. We are going to fight for what we believe, is in the best interest of our community.”