By Adam Eisenbarth
With the municipal election Oct. 18, Rimbey town councillors are readying for the important weeks ahead.
All four councillors and the mayor will seek re-election; all view their work with the town as unfinished.
Mayor Dale Barr
For three terms, Dale Barr has held the title of mayor. This fall he’ll look to win a fourth term.
“The biggest reason I’m there is for the promotion and growth of our community. We have a great community and I’m very proud of it.”
He may be the longest tenured mayor in Rimbey history, but he hasn’t lost the determination to help shape the future of the community.
“I’m enjoying the job. It’s exciting and being part of growth and expansion of a community of our size is something that I enjoy.
“We have some big projects that we’re still working on and I’d like to see them brought through and completed.”
In his time as mayor there have been some big projects and for Barr, what stands out in his nine years, has been success in making Rimbey known among higher levels of government.
“The ability for us to connect with other levels of government, federal and provincial, has probably had the biggest impact in our community.”
Those contacts are important to reeling in senior government grants for the big projects that will continue to improve Rimbey.
“That represents a significant tax savings for the community. The community will also be in a very enviable position with the completion of the water reservoir,” said Barr, adding that the reservoir will make Rimbey’s infrastructure one of the strongest in Alberta.
While Barr admits there are areas council and administration needs improvement, that’s nothing different from the rest of the province.
“Areas of improvement are the same across the province and across the country. Communication is one of the big issues,” said Barr. “I think we need to find, as all municipalities do, better ways to try and communicate what we’re working on and what we’re doing.”
Barr is pleased with the present council.
“Everyone on council is there acting in the best interest of the community and doing their best job that they can with the information that they have at the time.”
Coun. Dave Karroll
Dave Karroll has been a councillor for nine years and is looking forward to a fourth term.
Karroll was encouraged to run for council when he noticed an opportunity to help the town. “When I ran for council nine years ago, I had a perception that there were some needs in the community that possibly I could contribute towards. That was the initial foray into politics.”
It didn’t take long for Karroll to make a difference on council, suggesting changes to have a positive impact for the present and future.
“We did a substantial annexation so that we’d be good for 50 years,” said Karroll of his first term. “We set the groundwork for new development and created some very creative tax incentive bylaws that encouraged it all. We started the hunt for investors and businesses to come to Rimbey.”
For Karroll that focus on growth has been a key motivation for him as a councillor and will continue to be in the future, should he be re-elected.
“We have other projects on the drawing board that we’ve been chasing and pursuing and if they come to fruition, the tax base for Rimbey will be impacted in a huge way. That’s part of the vision.”
Karroll also noted that in his first term, he, along with Mayor Barr, worked hard to lead an effort to change policing contracts in the province.
“That has net-resulted in a savings to the citizens of Rimbey in excess of $1.2 million since the change.”
Building permits and municipal infrastructure improvements have been large tasks recently, and they’ve all occurred without a raise in the mill rate.
“Over the last six years, they total in excess of $80 million. That averages out to $13.3 million a year.”
Coun. Wayne Clark
Clark has been a councillor since 2004 and has also confirmed he will run in the fall election.
Like Karroll, Clark was inspired to run for council when he saw a need in the community.
“I felt I could contribute and I’ve always been involved in the community in one way or another.”
That desire to help the community has not left Clark, who would like to be a member of council to see the pool project through its completion, as well as other projects.
“We’re always talking about community beautification and I’ve got some ideas along that line for the main entrances into our community.”
He is confident that the present council has what it takes to lead Rimbey into a prosperous future.
“The present council has strived really hard to put us in the position where we are today. We’re the envy of lots of communities our size. We’ve worked hard with all levels of government, federal and provincial, to acquire funding well beyond what communities of our size are receiving for projects.”
Several grants couldn’t have happened without the two higher levels of government and Clark says that doesn’t come without hard work and an understanding of how to go about making the right contacts.
“We’ve established ourselves out there among other communities as being a model for how communities of this size should be done. We’ve been able to, through hard work and networking, gotten to know the right people. It can help us achieve what we want.”
Clark also notes the growth in Rimbey to support his belief that the council is making the right moves.
“Our population in the last six years has increased by about 14 per cent, we’ve seen 121 new residences built in that six years and 20 new commercial businesses and five industrial businesses. Those numbers speak for themselves, we’re obviously doing something right.”
Coun. Steve Schrader
Schrader got his political feet wet over the last year and after one year on council, he’s ready for a full term.
“I was curious about how the whole process worked and being that it was only a one-year term I thought it would be a good way to find out if it was something that I had the time to put into it.”
Schrader is looking forward to a number of future projects and is excited for the possibility of a full term.
Like Clark, Schrader is looking forward to beautification plans throughout the town. He’s also been involved in recycling plans.
“I’m on the recycle committee so it was nice to see the re-use project going just south of the recycle depot.”
The re-use project allows people to drop off unwanted materials that are still useful for others to pick up.
He has also been pleased to contribute to the recent bylaw officer agreement, which will assist in enforcing a number of issues throughout town.
“That’s good to see because a lot of people have been complaining that bylaws aren’t enforced.”
When Schrader joined council, a hot topic was the possibility of an enclosed pool, and while council was unable to make it happen, he believes it was handled well by council.
“We looked into it and it wasn’t feasible, but we’ve got a new pool (in construction.) I’d like to be around when the new pool opens up.”
Communication is a key to Schrader as well. He hopes to see more people participate in council meetings.
“You can’t drag people out to these things; you’d just like to see that if people have concerns about council they could actually show up to more council meetings to address them or get some answers.”
Coun. Dave Huff
Huff, who has been a councillor for two terms, is in on the next election and his reasons for running have not changed as he looks to continue moving the town forward.
“(I wanted to make Rimbey) a place to drive to — not through. I think we’ve done a very good job with that. We have two new hotels and a lot of stuff going on.”
Huff is on the board of directors for the Rimoka Foundation and that has been a main focus for him.
“Right now we’re in the middle of doing a study to get more assisted living beds in Rimbey.” Huff says looking after seniors is a key in this community. “It’s very important in Rimbey because of the amount of seniors.”
Huff is also looking into senior housing possibilities for the future.
The possibility Huff and others would leave the board of directors could have its impact on the future vision of those developments.
“I want to stay on this (board) because if you change a whole board of directors, they might have a whole different idea.” Mayor Barr is the chairman of the board.
While that is a focus for Huff, he’s also focused on recycling possibilities.
“We’re working on some bins for plastic and tin. We’re also working on a deal for cardboard.”
Like the other councillors, Huff also values the future development of Rimbey. He’s encouraged by the pool project and looking to continue attracting businesses to town.
“The more businesses that come to town, the less taxes residents have to pay.”
Huff supports the rest of council and hopes to see continued progress in the town.
“I think we’ve done a good job. There were new businesses coming in even during the recession. There’s lot’s of new businesses so we’re doing something right.”
He also cited a goal of keeping the tax rate where it is.
“We’ve done a good job of that in six years.”