Year in Review: Olds Mayor Judy Dahl thanks community following challenging year

The sale of O-NET to Telus she said, marked the end of an era for the Town of Olds. O-NET, also known as Olds Fibre Limited, was one of the first fibre optic home internet providers in the area and was a municipally controlled operation.

Dahl said they sold it because they could not justify the continued and growing costs to maintain and upgrade the network required to compete in the telecommunications world.

This year, the town also announced they were relocating to a new administration office after they sold their administration building to Westview Co-op.

Dahl said the move was a significant step forward in improving the town’s operational efficiency, preparing for longterm growth. They plan to move into the new building following the completion of construction in 2025.

“The sale of O-NET, we’re very proud of where the end result came that we no longer have to maintain and upgrade networks using tax dollars. That was significant, it really was,” she said.

“Kudos to our CAO and staff for being able to relocate the administration building into a facility that was basically brand new. For our operations centre, we can utilize spaces better for our community. We don’t need to be charging tax payers for two facilities when we can be in one.”

In addition, Dahl explained that council had a lot of homework this year, including plenty of service-level reviews, reflecting on what the priorities were with a lack of funds.

The mayor knows it’s been a hard time on many municipalities, not just for the Town of Olds. However, the hard times allowed them to reflect on what’s important, said Dahl.

“I feel that council and our CAO did an excellent job,” she said. “In service levels, we sit back and we don’t do a number aligned budget where we go line after line. We sit down and discuss every area and department of our town, which the outcome is always positive.

“This was the term where we all got out of COVID-19 and it took at least two years to get our community collaborating and it was difficult on them as well. So, I just give my council and staff the biggest bouquet of flowers we could to still be in their chair and working hard.”

With the municipal election right around the corner, Dahl said they’re focused on staying in the moment and serving the community the best they can. She explained the business of the day is the priority.

“My main message to the community is to thank them. I thank them for their patience and their respect to helping us achieve what we’ve done to be where we are today,” Dahl added.

“The future, I’m very excited about in moving forward with some of the projects we’ve got going and working with our provincial and federal governments. Every day is like a box of chocolates, we never know what we’re going to get.”

by Ian Gustafson

Year in Review: Olds Mayor Judy Dahl thanks community following challenging year

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