e of Munson, with a big new addition.
    The Mayor of Munson Kerry McLellan caught up with The Mail to look back at 2016, and the big news for Munson was the addition of its new community Hall. A group of dedicated volunteers worked for years to make the new hall a reality and in October, they officially cut the ribbon to open the facility.
    Mayor McLellan said while the Village provided $300,000, the project was driven by the volunteers
    “It is a great plus and a nice building. It took a long time to accomplish it, but they stuck to it and got it done,” he said. “You have to give them credit for that.”
    The Hall, approximately 5,200 square feet is designed to seat about 250 and has a complete commercial kitchen and stage. Already it has become a popular venue for community events.
    This year the Village has been working with Starland County and in the near future, they are constructing a new fire hall. It will be located away from the village, closer to Highway 9. It will have a commercial water fill, and possibly storage for county equipment.
    “It will be better for the people in Munson because it will take a lot of traffic off our roads and in turn saves us a lot of money on repair,” he said.
    He said they are also looking at doing some paving in the coming year.    
    “We are trying to get the roads decent again, they are a lot better than five years ago, anything is better than gravel,” he said.
    He says they have worked hard to keep their taxes low and will continue to try to hold the line.
    “We are a bedroom community and we don’t have very many businesses per se, so we have a very minimal commercial tax base. So anytime there is a shortfall of funding, whether it be a cutback on grants or whatever, the brunt of it is born by the taxpayer,” he said.

    The Village of Standard is proud of the progress it has made with regional water.
    The Mail caught up with Mayor Alan Larsen and this year the village, along with it partners in Wheatland County, Hussar, Rockyford and Gleichen were able to break ground on a regional water project.
    “That is the biggest going on in the area by far,” Larsen told The Mail.
    In November, they officially broke ground on the project, which will see a new raw water reservoir constructed near the village with a raw water line to the water treatment plant.  From the water treatment plant, water will head out to its regional partners.
    “We started on the raw water line here in Standard and they tell us we should be delivering potable water to Gleichen by September next year,” he said.
    Not long after the groundbreaking, the project was approved for its second phase, which will next take water to Rockyford.
    The village developed a residential neighbourhood a few years back and this year they are continuing to see a couple houses being built.
    “We are adding to it, every year we sell a couple lots. We aren’t growing really fast, Standard kind of maintains its population,” he said.
    Another great addition is a new walking path being developed called Memory Lane. It is being developed on CP park land and in the end it will be about a three and a half kilometre loop around the village.
    “There is going to be the opportunity for residents past and present to put things about their family heritage along the path,” he said.
    Work began last year, and it will be completed as funding becomes available.
    To that end, last year an area landowner rented 160 acres of land to the committee for $1 per acre, and area and owners donated seed and chemical and then planted and harvested the parcel, raising about $75,000.
    “Everything was donated by volunteers,” he said.
    The spirit of volunteerism runs through the village and the local Lions Club recently completed a revamp of the tennis courts in the community.
    In the coming year, they are continuing the work on their 10-year infrastructure plan.
    “Every year we take money that is available an put it towards infrastructure like sewage, water, and paving,” he said.