Michael Doerksen Mayor

To date, Town Council has discussed the possibility of enacting a mandatory Mask Bylaw many times but has not come to a clear consensus on moving it forward. In order for Council to pass a Mask Bylaw, a minimum of 4 members of Council (there are a total of 7 members) would have to vote in favour of moving the bylaw forward. Town Council has directed Administration to develop a draft bylaw that could be enacted, through due process, should Council advise. Municipal government...s are given their powers by the Provincial Government, through the Municipal Government Act (MGA), and Section 7(a) of that Act does provide municipalities the power to create bylaws for the safety, health and welfare of people and the protection of people and property; The purpose of the MGA is to provide decision making powers at the local municipal level, and I feel that a global pandemic falls under the jurisdiction of the Province, as providing healthcare to the residents of Alberta falls under their mandate. Furthermore, municipalities do not have the ability to enforce such a bylaw that would only put more strain on an already stressed enforcement system. With that being said, I want to go over a few points: First: I would strongly recommend the use of masks in public spaces. I also encourage and recommend following all the health guidelines from Alberta Health Services. Second: Town Council and I ask everyone to be respectful of other’s decisions to wear a mask or not. Everyone has a different comfort level and may be struggling with their own health issues or caring for someone else who is. Lastly, I am asking for our community to come together and support each other through this. As we move into the holiday season I want our community to pull together and show each other kindness and compassion.

Drayton Valley continues to be a municipal leader in innovation, sustainability, and cost efficiencies. Our award winning water treatment facility is home to the University of Alberta’s artificial intelligence water treatment testing program. https://www.ualberta.ca//ai-pilot-project-aims-to-make-wat

As the recreation cost sharing continue to be an important topic of conversation, I want to make sure everyone is taking the time to get the facts. I'm not suggesting the town is perfect in what we do, and there is nothing I would love more than to hand the Omniplex over to the County to operate. Since that is unlikely to happen, the Town will be doing our due diligence and will continue to be as transparent to our residents as we have been with the County. I haven't been in...volved in all the recreation committee conversations, and it will take a bit of time for me to catch up on 2 years worth of conversations, but the information floating out there that Drayton Valley is significantly higher than similar communities appears to be incorrect. I took 10 minutes to review the 2019 financial statements of 5 communities and found that their "Recreation and Parks" budgets are: Drayton Valley: $4,780,080 Edson: $4,740,345 Hinton: $3,269,223 Rocky Mountain House: $4,553,136 Whitecourt: $8,971,342

I’ve been chatting to people lately about the future of recreation in Drayton Valley after Brazeau County’s decision to reduce their funding, but I wanted to clarify one thing. I’m not specifically disappointed in their decision to reduce funding, I have to assume the decisions they make are what the majority of their taxpayers want. What I am most disappointed in, is the fact that they made this decision without warning, and 9 months into the year. Meaning we do not have t...he ability to cut back services this year to help recoup some of the loss. The decision they made, in my opinion, is bad governance. With that said , the County isn’t a stranger to bad governance, even the report they quoted (which I have attached), on page 10 say, Mr. Guyon had previously served on Council, but came off Council following a Municipal Inspection conducted by George Cuff in 2004. http://municipalaffairs.alberta.ca//2016-01-_Brazeau_Count

I was very disappointed to learn that Brazeau County has placed the health and wellness of its residents at such a low priority with its recent recreation funding announcment. Obviously this will have a major impact on how the Town of Drayton Valley can provide services to not only our residents but also County residents. One thing I can confirm is that I AM NOT IN FAVOUR OF TOWN TAXES SUBSIDIZING COUNTY USERS.

This is how we move forward as a Province. Private industry investing over a billion dollars to use an Alberta resource to generate clean energy for Albertans! https://www.powermag.com/construction-begins-on-new-gas-pl/