Feb. 14, 2023 meeting

Joe McWilliams
Lakeside Leader

View numbers up

The number of people engaging with the town’s Facebook communication efforts was sharply up in January. According to the numbers in the CAO’s report for council, Facebook page visits were up 61 per cent in January over the previous month, at 9,015. Something called ‘Facebook page reach’ came in at 23,045, or 32.5 per cent higher than the previous month. Actual ‘followers’ of the town’s Facebook are 7,379 in number.

(According to Facebook, page visits are hard numbers; page reach is an estimate.)

Councillor Steve Adams asked if the higher numbers could be attributed to advertising, or “organic’ growth.” A bit of both, said the town’s communications and economic development manager Jason Swanson.

Pound full

One troubling bit of news in the CAO report was that the town pound was full; nor did the Animal Rescue Committee (ARC) have any more space at the time of the report.

“What happens now?” asked Adams.

CAO Jeff Simpson said the situation probably changes daily at the pound. As for whether ARC has any ‘Plan B’ for such situations he said he didn’t know, but could find out.

State of the Lake

An economic development event called ‘State of the Lake’ has been rescheduled. It’ll happen on April 5, 2023 at the Legacy Centre in Slave Lake. There’ll be speakers from the oil & gas and forestry sectors, and perhaps others. Slave Lake’s new mayor (who will have been elected two days prior) may say a few words.

Councillor Kimberly Hughes asked if community members – besides those invited – will be able to attend.

“We’d love for it to be full,” said Simpson, adding that the Chamber of Commerce is handling registration.

Hughes said she’s heard the event is generating a lot of interest. Somebody from Travel Alberta, for example, has heard about it and plans to attend.

Still looking

The town continues to recruit people to fill vacant positions. As of the CAO’s latest update for council (prepared Feb. 9), they were: an executive assistant, a facility attendant, a human resources advisor, an information technology manager, a program coordinator and a public works operator. Interviews were in progress on some of these.

MRC roof

The biggest item in a refurbishment project on the Multi Rec Centre is roof repairs. The town hopes to qualify for a grant that would cover 80 per cent of the cost (about $780,000), but there’s a catch. It has to be shown that the new roof will result in at least 25 per cent in energy savings. The town is “collaborating with an energy modeler,” to see what the chances are.

Fire department activity

The Regional Fire Service had 53 calls for service in 2023 as of Feb. 6, council heard. Leading the way were motor vehicle incidents, at 18, followed closely by ‘medical co-response’ calls. Seven responses were to alarms. Rounding out the stats were two structure fires, one outdoor fire and one gas leak.

(Just before the council meeting, a fire truck passed down Main St. on yet another call. It was to an apartment block in the southeast part of town, where alarms had gone off. It turned out a water line had burst, making quite a mess.)

Public art

Some sort of art installation is in the budget for the new Rennie Hall Plaza. What it will be exactly, is not yet decided and the town would like to hear from members of the public who might have ideas. A request for input has gone out on social media.

Interim mayor Shawn Gramlich asked if there’s been any response so far. Answer: no. The deadline for input is Monday, Feb. 27.

Communications plan: attempting to control the narrative

Council got a detailed report on a communications strategy from its architect, Jason Swanson. It talks about the difficulties in getting the town’s message out, challenges in counteracting some incorrect and negative impressions that seem to have traction on social media and that sort of thing. It sets out strategies at considerable length. For example, the proposal under the heading ‘external communication’ is to start by identifying ‘priority stakeholders.’ Then comes the development of a strategy for delivering key messages, followed by identifying barriers to engagement and documenting engagement activities and their outcomes. One objective on the list has to do specifically with Indigenous members of the community, recognizing their “unique interests,” and “how town activities may affect their ability to conduct traditional activities.”

Speaking to council about impressions he’s gotten from social media activity, Swanson called Slave Lake “a very polarized community.”

He said on Facebook there is a “vocal minority that regularly challenges town initiatives and tries to control the narrative, with misinformation and baseless claims.”

One of the more telling slides in Swanson’s presentation was a pair of ‘word maps,’ showing the contrast in perception between how business and community leaders see Slave Lake, and how other respondents to a survey do. The former is dominated by terms such as ‘vibrant, welcoming, friendly and comfortable.’ The latter has some of those, but also, quite prominent, appear ‘outdated, dirty, unwelcoming, expensive and boring.’

Council accepted the report as information.

Tourism

The Regional Tourism Society is a busy group, if councillor Hughes’ report is anything to go by. She started off by letting her council colleagues know planning is well underway for the big Beach Fest, which is scheduled for Aug. 12 and 13. It’ll feature a sandcastle competition, live music, food, beach volleyball, kids’ games and much more. Such as? Such as fireworks and kayak races.

Indigenous tourism is a growing part of Alberta’s tourism picture, Hughes said. The group has been in touch with a provincial organization, which is sending the message that more Indigenous tourism product is needed, to meet the demand. Workshops are offered.

Also on the tourism calendar is a Canada Day air show at the Slave Lake Airport. Expect 40 or so planes, Hughes said.

What else? Tourism operators are being invited to a meeting on March 17. Travel Alberta will be there. The idea, Hughes said, is to “make connections and talk about the future of tourism.”

Finally, the Slave Lake Slam ice fishing tournament goes every weekend in February.

Community Futures

Councillor Adams reported that the uptake for CF loans in Slave Lake is “disappointing.” Twenty-two per cent of the loans are to Slave Lake people, while the town has half the population of the region.

Homeless Coalition

As of Jan. 19, the shelter in Slave Lake had hosted 706 overnight stays since it opened in early November, reported councillor Ferguson.

In other news, the executive director is leaving, and the search is on for a replacement.

Gramlich asked if operations would continue as usual without an ED. Yes, said Ferguson, the group has “a full transition plan.”

Airport

The commission is still looking for an affordable solution to the erosion problem at the lake end of the property. The latest estimate for erosion-proofing the bank is $4.3 million, Ferguson said, and that’s not manageable.

On a brighter note, the airport had a $62,000 (not official yet) operating surplus in 2022. It’ll probably spend some of that money on a new asphalt melter-applicator – which is for sealing cracks.

Pull to the right!

Emergency services folks are not happy about how many people on the road fail to pull over for emergency vehicles. So there’s a campaign being mounted, called ‘Pull to the Right!’. This information came via councillor Brandle’s report on the recent meeting of the Protective Services Committee.

Gramlich was surprised to hear it’s an issue.

“People aren’t pulling over?” he said.

Apparently not, said Brandle.