Lac La Biche County councillors welcomed residents and community members at the Ward 5 and 7 OpenHouse held in the McArthur room on Wednesday, May 1.
Councillors representing the hamlet of Lac La Biche, as well as the subdivision and surrounding areas near Holowachuk Estates and Beaver Lake took part in the event. Around 25 community members participated at the open house, which was meant for residents to meet their representatives on Lac La Biche County Council, and for them to share their ideas for future County projects, programs and services. Besides local community members, staff from Lac La Biche County, other County councillors and Lac La Biche County Mayor Omer Moghrabi was also in attendance.
The open house featured Councillor Colin Cote, Councillor Charlyn Moore and Deputy Mayor Lorin Tkachuk to represent Ward 5 and 7
The open house began with a quick introduction of the councillors who represents wards 5 & 7 — Colin Cote and deputy mayor Lorin Tkachuk within the hamlet and councillor Charlyn Moore for the Beaver Lake and Holowachuk Estates areas. Locals were then encouraged to engage in conversations and group discussions in regards to what the county should start doing, stop doing and continue to do as a format of the discussions.
During the group discussions, Cote, Moore and Tkachuk also took the opportunity to join each discussion table to be a part of the conversation and noted down some of the ideas or concerns that generated.
Apart from the table discussions, County staff also made sure to have a focus on the County's strategic goals that includes economic development, environment, social wellness, recreation, culture, and tourism. While speaking with the POST, Tkachuk highlighted some of the common questions, concerns and ideas that came up during the discussions.
"It seems like predominantly, we had a little bit of a conversation about the Environmental Reserve (ER) and Municipal Reserve (MR) bylaw. When we opened it up to the public, it seemed to be a hot topic for a few residents. There was a lot of other feedback from the community — economic development, what we can do for added infrastructures such as sidewalks, that sort of thing"
Enticing business to the area was another popular topic for the council representatives. As Cote and Tkachuk represent the hamlet and downtown business area of Lac La Biche, they fielded a few comments and questions.
"Box stores came up. So what we are going to do to try to promote box stores to come in to the community?" Tkachuk said, explaining that a lot of the wish-list ideas are closely related to current and planned infrastructure projects. "A lot of the ideas kind of stand around the current projects that we are doing. So, like the sports fields was a common theme as well, and how we are going to utilize that for sports tourism in the future? Whether we can get events and coordinate events to better utilize those infrastructures that we are going to build."
Specific topics included a request for sidewalks to be built in the Beaver Lake subdivision and Holowachuk Estates. That request was passed onto the municipal administrators for any options.
A recent hot-button topic of fishing regulations and its affect on the community was on the agenda.
"A lot of the ideas were collaborative ideas that helps the entire county. Fishing regulations came up and people felt that was something that we need to have our voices heard because, it is going to effect our tourism," Tkachuk said.
Collecting information
The data from the open house has been collected and submitted to the County's administration. Once they compile all the information, the administration, and the councillors will present it to the rest of council for a full review.
Municipal councillors plan to host regular open house meetings with residents throughout the year. Tkachuk said it would be nice to see a few more faces at upcoming opportunities to meet with council.
"I feel that the open house went quite well. We had some candid feedback from residents which I feel is important. We always want open houses to be a safe place for people to give their ideas, pitch their ideas or let us know any frustrations they may have," he said. "I am very happy with the way it turned out — but I would encourage people in the future who haven't been to an open house or haven't been to our public input sessions to try to attend in future because, the larger cross-section we can get of the community, the better it is for the community."
