Council update

The Town of Whitecourt will be working with the Whitecourt Mountain Bike Society to finalize the location of new mountain bike trails south of Highway 43 and west of Dahl Drive. The area recently underwent FireSmart treatment, and the society identified the area as having excellent potential for new trail routes. Further information will be provided to the community as details are finalized.
The Town of Whitecourt is proceeding with the development of a tender for the Athabasca River Erosion Control Project. The project involves repairing and constructing a series of spurs in the Athabasca River to reduce erosion by deflecting the current away from the south bank. The erosion control spurs will provide protection to Riverboat Park, the Millar Western site, the Whitecourt Golf and Country Club, and town-owned land north of Flats Road. The Province of Alberta recently awarded the town with $2 million in funding from the Alberta Community Resilience Program to assist with completion of the project.
In addition, Millar Western Forest Products Ltd. submitted a petition for a local improvement to allow for the protective measures to be installed adjacent to its property to prevent against further erosion. If approved, the river erosion control work would be completed as a local improvement by the Town of Whitecourt, and Millar Western would then pay for its portion of the project over a period of 25 years as an additional property tax. The petition was declared as sufficient by the chief administrative officer, and administration is preparing a local improvement bylaw to allow for the additional tax to be applied to Millar Western Forest Products Ltd. The bylaw will be brought back to council at a later date for final approval.
The roof over the restaurant portion of the Scott Safety Centre will be replaced. The tender for the project was awarded to Dardon Roofing and Waterproofing.
June 1 through June 6 is Seniors’ Week in Alberta. Whitecourt will be celebrating its local seniors at various events during this time. For more information visit www.whitecourt.ca.
During the months of July and August, council meeting dates are scheduled as follows:
• Monday, July 20 at 7 p.m. in council chambers at the Forest Interpretive Centre.
• Tuesday, August 18 at 7 p.m. in council chambers at the Forest Interpretive Centre.