Mike Yargeau, Mayor of Penhold

By Sheldon Spackman

Year In Review

Penhold maintains eye on growth for 2020

Dec 31, 2019 | 10:00 AM

Despite the economic downturn in Alberta, 2019 is being described as an exciting year for the Town of Penhold.

Mayor Mike Yargeau says Penhold is still managing to grow, albeit at a slower pace than in previous years.

“I’m excited about what 2020 is going to bring,” he exclaims. “We completed some good projects, specifically our solar panel project, and we’re doing another LED project in the Multiplex that will help us reduce operating expenses. That should be finished in 2020 if the grant goes through.”

A rebate program offered by the previous NDP government made the Multiplex solar panel project possible.

“We added 1,092 solar panels onto the roof, which will decrease our power consumption by about 45,000 kWh per year, and we’ll start to see savings of $11,000 per year in the first year.”

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Yargeau’s also pleased to see so many young families engaging in the community and enjoying what it has to offer.

“We pride ourselves on having a really strong Community Services department. They do a lot of programming based around young families,” he explains. “Any programs we run are usually sold out quickly. We have a really good thing going with what we’re able to provide.”

Like most municipalities, however, Yargeau admits finances remain a challenge.

“We rely on a heavy residential tax base and obviously residential property values aren’t going up. If anything, they’re going down,” he says. “We’re trying to find ways to do the same amount or more, while bringing in less revenue.”

As a result, a lot of work has been done behind the scenes over the past two years trying to grow Penhold’s commercial tax base.

“Even before that, leading up to the annexation, we changed the way the Town, as well as mayor and council interact with developers and potential land-buyers,” Yargeau adds. “At the same time, we don’t have capacity to hire more staff, so we’ve been training the staff we have to take on more of an economic development focus. It is starting to pay off; it’s a hard thing to quantify because it’s a long process, but I’m hopeful for 2020.”

Impacts had by the federal and provincial elections also continue to be felt.

“We really noticed it with the change in provincial government; there’s good and bad any time a government changes,” Yargeau admits. “Communication has been frustrating while the new government gets going. They’ve got plans that they want to see come to fruition and we’ve got things that we need to do in our town, so it’s about finding that balance with new people.”

Yargeau anticipates government uncertainty to continue in 2020.

“With RCMP funding, we’re still not exactly sure when they’re going to be taking that from the Town, so we’re hoping by March when the new budget comes out, we’ll have a little more clarity,” he says. “Federally, a minority government means we could have another election, and that’s something we need to be aware of. We’ve always had good federal representation and good communication there, so hopefully we can keep that up.”

Finally, Yargeau acknowledges the great community support and spirit of the town he leads.

“We just wrapped up a ‘shop local’ campaign where over the two-week span, we brought over $40,000 into the local economy with our small business owners,” he boasts. “We live, in my opinion, in the best little community in central Alberta, so we’re just grateful for all the support we get from our residents.”