Synergy Group

[cowman]

Also Emerald: I think most people are generally pleased with the course Red Deer County has taken, not only with privatization, but the fact that council has been innovative and bold! Things are happening here, whether right or wrong, they aren't afraid to be out front and ahead of the pack?
The council is so far ahead of the likes of the city of Red Deer it isn't even funny!
I know every member of council personally and believe they are all good people doing what they think is right. I might not agree with everything they do but I applaud the effort and committment they put into running the county. They have done a good job. Just my opinion.

[cowman]

cowman, your council has no choice but to be forward thinking, with the phenomenal growth the county is experiencing.

I would certainly doubt that, given the huge assessment, there is much need to cut services such as grading local roads and snowplowing in a timely manner.

Those are core services to rural ratepayers, and the lack of those services is what makes councillors phone ring !! Mind you, some of the councillors may have mostly urbanites in their division with paved roads that naturally get attention first when it snows. In my county there is one division like that and the councillor hasn't had a complaint about snow removal, and of course none about grading !!! Funny thing though, he is the first one to support equal service to other divisions even it it means voting against something in his own division if he feels it is being unfair to others.

[cakadu]

My tax dollars are collected every single year and along with those tax dollars comes services that I am to be provided. If I cannot get down my road to get to my job, get to a doctor, get groceries or God forbid, deal with some sort of emergency then I am not getting what I am paying for. I have the right for clear access to roads just the same as you or anyone else does. Where I am located should not make one iota of difference.

[cakadu]

The Municipal Government Act charges municipalities with the maintenance of all public roadways. Now what level of service is provided is,in my view, what the public will tolerate.

In 2001 our council had one change and then the majority of council decided that they would get rid of one grader, and one plow truck and put all the spare change into paving roads, some in front of their own property, which coincidentally were not on the priority list !!!

For that entire term of council it took an average of 7-8 days to get roads open, and the public was up in arms.

The Reeve of that time ran as elected Reeve and got defeated 3 votes to 1 !!!

The new council reinstated the road maintenance priorities and since that time things have improved although they still could be better.

The road priorities for snow plowing are:
Paved local roads ( sanding is done on these first as well)
School bus routes
Hamlets
Country Residential Subdivisions then local roads.

Municipal priorities are a juggling act, but essential services should never be used as pawns in the process !!

[cowman]

Linda I find your reasoning kind of funny...not because you believe it but because what this one neighbor told me?
He was bitching about the roads one day after he hit a pot hole when he was going like a bat out of hell(He always drives like he's at the Indy 500) and lost a hubcap. He said he figured with the high taxes he was paying the darned road should be paved! I said well how much taxes are you paying and he gave me a figure. I said well that should take care of a couple of hundred feet, so who's going to pick up the rest! He said he thought pavement should be cheaper than that but I said well I don't think so? Anyway he phoned into Border paving and asked them what the cost of pavement was and got a rude education on true costs!
The snow plow gets around here whenever he can and you have to remember he has a lot of miles to plow? Actually if it is really bad usually the guy going around plowing out the oil leases puts the blade down and keeps the roads open! Just one more small benifit from your friendly local oil company?
A couple of years ago the spouse had to get out to the airport so I got the tractor out and plowed her out. I usually end up plowing a trail up to the other place anyway.

[cowman]

I wouldn't accept the excuse that the plow has so many miles to do, if thats the case and they can't provide adequate service then they need to add another beat !!

[cowman]

Well its all about dollars and cents? Got to try to keep the taxes down and all that? Besides we have a lot of added expenses. like covering up the blunders from the past? And keeping up with the neighbors like Mountain view and Lacombe county? Of course we could sink down to the level of our other two neighbors Kneehill and Stettler, but that isn't very popular with the nabobs? And finally we have the "palace" to pay for and stock with pencil pushers? Just have to get your priorities straight and not be too concerned with the "little unwashed peasants"? Just my opinion.

[cowman]

I don't understand what you mean by Stettler and Kneehill. I know that Stettler isn't a very well to do municipality but I thought Kneehill was fairly well off assessment wise.

[cakadu]

My comment has more to do with your statement about being the only person down a two mile stretch of road - you don't need it as often as someone closer to town.
That is not the case around here - thanks to multiple subdivisions that one councillor got, this is a fairly heavily populated road, on a school route.

Regardless the County needs to look after the entire county not just the more heavily populated corridor. If the County cannot keep up, then they need to do something about it.

Not everyone can plow themselves out cowman i.e. acreage owners etc. or people who own farm land who don't farm it.

By the way, if the councillor in question hadn't retired, the privatization one likey would not have gotten in.

[cowman]

Now I'm not sure about your area, but the young operator out here gets it cleaned up fairly fast...and I am not on a bus route and only two houses on a two mile road...both mine! I do realize he has priorities and gets his marching orders from the county contract co-ordinator. Sometimes that just how it is? I don't think many people would want to see their taxes increase dramatically just so they could get same day snow plowing service?
And I agree with your assessment of the fact the old councillor could have stayed just about as long as he wanted to.

[cowman]

I doubt that any reasonable person would expect same day snow plow service but a limit of three days should be mandatory.

I have always said that no-one should need to own a four wheel drive vehicle to live in rural Alberta but if you don't have one you may not be able to travel far if there is a major snowfall.

[cowman]

Well I'm pretty sure Albert always gets here within three days.
And I agree with you on the four wheel drive thing emerald. It costs more to live in the country and that is just how it is. If a person doesn't want to be prepared for that extra cost then they have to live with the consequences? Get a good shovel and a strong back!
It is funny how people think country life is this pristine utopia? And many are quite taken aback when reality hits? Yep you have crappy, dusty roads. Yep you'll probably get your windshield broke. Yep the darned farmers have this annoying habit of combining half the night and letting their darned calves bawl all night when they wean them. Yep sometimes the air is a little ripe when they spread manure.
Soon the utopian realizes "Hey this isn't all its cracked up to be" and heads back to the city? Which is probably why most acreages play musical chairs every couple of years? I sometimes think the real estate agents should just cover their signs up with a bag or something rather than take them down?
One neighbor of mine says he hopes they never improve his road! He says a really bad road keeps the city slickers away!

[cowman]

Not to mention the ones that decide to build their dream home and two bit their way through on a septic system, then wonder why the health authority is beating on their door because it is running down the ditch!!!


I agree it costs more to live in the country but you cannot buy peace of mind and the quiet existence that real country life offers.

[cakadu]

You have kind of proven my point cowman - proximity to the corridor has an effect on what happens. You have 2 houses down your two mile stretch of road - there are 8 down ours. I ask you, who has the greater need?

I'm afraid I'm also going to have to beg to differ on the 4-wheel drive thing. There is no reason why a good front-wheel drive car with winter tires cannot get me to where I want to go. I take my time and drive like a sane person - not some insane maniac who figures that driving is a contact sport. There are some advantages to a 4x4 to be sure, but I don't particularly want to drive one for a number of reasons.

[cakadu]

I should also mention that I don't expect it same day, but I do expect it within a reasonable time. I like emrald's notion of a 3-day maximum.