The Town and MD of Bonnyville have a lot to look forward to in the new year.
Replacing and repairing infrastructure will be a focus for the Town of Bonnyville headed into the 2018. The town expects to finish the $2-million project along 46 St., in addition to making repairs to the town's sewage and water systems.
“We're going to be doing a lot of infrastructure development. We've put a lot of money into re-doing water and sewer systems. There's not really a lot left over to do much above getting the infrastructure in Bonnyville up to standards,” detailed Bonnyville Deputy Mayor Rene Van Brabant.
The MD will also have their hands full with infrastructure projects, as they plan to take-on at least two major projects. The remainder of the MD's infrastructure budget has been allocated towards work that is currently ongoing.
“There will be a bridge building project going on, and we'll be doing work on the La Corey resource road,” explained MD of Bonnyville Reeve Greg Sawchuk.
A larger point of focus for the MD will be building relationships with neighbouring communities. Sawchuk intends to schedule meetings with each municipality surrounding the MD, in an effort to get the ball rolling on Inter-Municipal Collaboration Framework (ICF).
“We're going to be starting conversations with neighbouring municipalities on the ICF. That agreement has to be in place within two years. That's going to mean having individual conversations with all of our surrounding neighbours,” detailed Sawchuk.
The largest project throughout the region is the regional waterline, which is expected to take major steps in 2018.
While water won't be flowing from Cold Lake throughout the region this year, the waterline is expected to break ground sometime in the spring.
“Some of the first tenders are already out there, and if all goes as it should, we could be breaking ground by spring,” said Sawchuk.
When the shovels hit the ground, it will represent the culmination of a process that began over 15 years ago. Members of both the Town and MD of Bonnyville expressed excitement over the project finally becoming a reality.
“This is something that we've been fighting to get for at least 15 years. When we finally got a government that said “let's do it,” that was very exciting news for us,” said Van Brabant.
For the first time, MD council will look far into the future, during their first strategic planning session, scheduled for the end of January.
There, council will take a holistic approach at planning the future for residents in the MD.
“That's the biggest thing we're looking forward to in 2018,” Sawchuk expressed.
Meanwhile, the town will focus their immediate efforts on securing a bid for the 2018 World Jr. A Challenge. Should they prove successful, it would be the second time Bonnyville has hosted the event.
“We have a good chance of getting it. I'm very excited. It brings a lot of money into Bonnyville because you're bringing in teams from all over the world to play here. That's going to be good for the economy,” said Van Brabant.
