Starland County showed its support for two resolutions passed by the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA).
Members of Starland County Council attended the RMA conference in Calgary last week. One resolution they supported was to address the disparity in electricity distributions and transmission rates. It was sponsored by the County of Grande Prairie and reads, “Be it resolved that the Rural Municipalities of Alberta advocate for the Government of Alberta to adopt a new electricity pricing model for transmission and distribution that eliminates the disparity in pricing across Alberta.”
It notes transmission charges are typically between 14 per cent and 20 per cent of a customer’s total bill, and distribution costs are often between 22 per cent and 47 per cent of a bill, which make up nearly 70 per cent of the bill.
“Business and residential customers endure economic penalties based on geographical and population density disadvantages in large areas of the province. This advantage can be as high as three to one…” read the resolution.
“As the electrical grid for Alberta operates as a single entity, it would be reasonable to distribute costs equally across the province. Alberta’s model disadvantages communities at the border between service providers. In doing so, it minimizes competitiveness to attract businesses in Alberta outside of urban centers. Continual increases in transmission and distribution rates, in areas already experiencing a disparity, result in increased energy poverty for many Albertans.”
The resolution had 91 per cent support.
The second resolution that Starland showed support for was on the Financial Burden of Emergency Service Response on Crown Lands. This resolution was sponsored by the MD of Big Horn and seconded by Starland County.
It reads, “Be it resolved that the Rural Municipalities of Alberta request that the Government of Alberta develop a fee for service/compensation schedule for emergency services dispatched to respond to calls on Crown Land.”
“Emergency responders go to these Crown Lands and they are not able to bill the province for their time. The County eats the fuel and everything else and wants to be compensated for it,” said Starland County Reeve Steve Wannstrom.
He notes this has happened when the Emergency services have been dispatched to incidents at the Rumsey Natural Area.
“There was a fire out there one year, and they told us too bad, and we weren’t compensated for fighting that fire,” said Wannstrom.

Big Valley School (BVS) Playground Committee and Friends of Big Valley School are fundraising and working on grant applications to repair and replace its playground equipment, and Big Valley village council will send a letter of support for this project.
Correspondence requesting the village council’s support was presented at the regular Thursday, November 10 council meeting, and council members voted in favour of writing a letter of support for their endeavours.
“The focus of all the phases (of the project) is to provide safe equipment that meets the needs of all age groups attending the school,” says Chair of the BVS Playground Committee and Friends of Big Valley School Christy Rivett. “Much of our current playground equipment is older and needs repair or replacement.”
Currently there are some 95 students from Kindergarten to Grade 9 enrolled at Big Valley School, along with a playschool group for children between the ages of three and five, who utilize the school’s playground. Ms. Rivett notes most of the usable playground equipment is “most suitable for elementary aged students,” and one of the goals is to make it usable for its older students while also keeping future students in mind.
While the Alberta government offers grants for new schools to build new playgrounds, this funding is not available for existing schools, leaving the committee to fundraise and look for other grant funding opportunities.
The committee hopes to raise a total of $250,000 to complete three phases of the project, which will include repairs, upgrades, equipment replacement, and construction of larger structures for older students.
At this time no contractor has been selected and plans for the project are still being developed. It is anticipated the project will take about two years to complete.