Shareholders of the Starland Seed Cleaning Plant are looking at its best option to move forward into the future.

The Mail reported in December of 2017 that membership of the Starland Seed Cleaning Plant began to explore what the future might hold for the aging seed cleaning plant in Delia. Secretary Al Hampton tells the Mail, its membership is looking at the possibility of building.

“The board, on the advice of shareholders, has contracted a company, LMC, and tasked them to create a project design for us based on the need we supply them, what we feel is going to be necessary to make this plant functional for our shareholders,” said Hampton.

The plant was built in the 1960s and was designed to clean smaller volumes than what are typically supplied today with growing farming operations.

    “The project is kind of twofold; one is to provide a cleaning service, the second is a potential value-added play. We are trying to set this facility up to move containers in seacan or intermodal,” he said. “A big chunk of this business model will be gearing it towards dealing with the line companies so we can actually source pulses for instance, and process them through the plant to be shipped out via containers and create  a bit of value added for our producers  and create cash flow for our plant.”

Right now the plans are in their infancy and will still need shareholder approval before they go forward.

“Our ultimate goal is to have an actual number (cost) and a couple of different models of plants that we can present to our shareholder crowd and  say ‘this is what we are looking at to build a facility, these are the things we have in place, this is what we need to get in place and this is the type of money we have to raise,”’ he said. ”With this type of project there is no government money available, primarily it is going to have to be raised by the community and the shareholders. They will have to buy into the project.”

He hopes they will get the ball rolling by this spring.

“I think we will have something we can take to our shareholders’ meeting before seeding. That would be the goal,” said Hampton.

He says the project could be a boon for the community.

“The potential for the project is big. If we can get something like this to go and if it can do what we think it can do, all of a sudden we are creating jobs, something that is few and far between in this world. That would be our goal, create a project that creates some employment and a little bit of stability in the area  and adds value for the farmer.”

Kneehill County has been notified by the Minister of Municipal Affairs that a municipal inspection into the working of the County is not warranted.

  In November of last year, Municipal Affairs announced it would undertake a preliminary review after a petition with more than 1,100 signatures was submitted. This review was to include a review of municipal documents, as well as interviews with members of council, the chief administrative officer, and the petitioners.

A letter dated February 11, 2019, from Minister of Municipal Affairs Shayne Anderson to Kneehill Reeve Jerry Wittstock states, “While some minor issues were noted with respect to the governance and operation of the county, the concerns identified were not of sufficient severity to warrant a municipal inspection in Kneehill County. For the issues identified, my ministry will continue to offer support and advisory services.”

Minister Anderson also noted, “A municipal inspection is an extraordinary measure and is not undertaken lightly.”

Reeve Wittstock said he was confident this would be the outcome of the preliminary review.

“We actually volunteered for it. So we were looking forward to having it,” said Wittstock.

“What was asked was for the municipal government to do a municipal inspection and we did a voluntary inspection and there was nothing wrong. We were confident we were within bounds of what we were doing.”

Previous to the preliminary review, the county participated in the Municipal Accountability Program (MAP). This is a program for municipalities where Municipal Affairs will have a representative on site to review the workings of the municipality, observe meetings,  document and policies to identify any legislative gaps and complete a report. Under the new program, municipalities with a population under 5,000 or less are automatically scheduled for a visit once every four years. Municipalities can also request a review. Kneehill was randomly selected for a review in 2018. It was completed in September of last year.

This review came with a handful of recommendations, and Wittstock said most have been addressed.

“We were never noncompliance with any of the regulations. There were some wordings and small things but we were never in noncompliance with the MGA,” he said.

He said there are areas they could improve.

“Communication issues have always been something that can cause problems. We have done as much as we can to try and mitigate those and we are going to have a little bit of discussion on how we can better communicate with the public,” he said.

Kneehill County is currently searching for a new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) after Al Hogan resigned in October of last year. He has taken the position of CAO with Rocky View County. Kneehill appointed Peter Tarnawsky as interim CAO.