The Town and County are working together to secure funds to develop a Transportation and Utility Master Plan for the two communities.
The Town’s general manager of municipal operations, Shelley Terry, approached council at their last meeting to ask council to support Brazeau County in their efforts to get a grant for a regional transportation network plan.
Terry says the County found grants available with MPE, a division of Englobe, and a professional engineering firm. However, the grants are regional, meaning they don’t focus on individual municipalities. So County administration is working with their grant specialist to apply for funding for a regional transportation network master plan.
If the County is successful in securing the $200,000 grant, the plan will look at evaluating the conditions of key roads, collecting and analyzing traffic volume data, identifying infrastructure deficiencies, assessing which upgrades are needed, and incorporating the findings into each municipality’s ten year capital plans.
Terry says as the County is applying for the transportation grant, the Town is applying for the utilities grant for $200,000. If successful, the utilities plan would focus on waste water and water networks within the region.
Council had some concerns about committing to a project if they gave support to the County for the grant application. However, they liked the prospect of collaborating with the County on the project.
CAO Jocelyn Whaley explained that there was no cost to the Town for this project, even if they were successful in getting the grants.
“There are no financial obligations and it won’t happen if we don’t get the grant,” says Whaley.
She said the County had already passed the resolution on their end and were waiting to hear from the Town on the matter.
“I think it’s a real positive that we’re looking at the water and waste water and that interconnection to parts of the County,” said councillor Rick Evans. “I think that bodes well for our future grant applications if we have a study that we can point to.”
