Woodlands County has faced many challenges this year, the biggest of which was trying to deal with, and recover from, back-to-back natural disasters like wildfires and floods, that impacted the region.
Woodlands County Reeve, Dave Kusch, says the County tried to get relevant information out to residents as soon as possible, but claims the information given to them was often inaccurate or came too late. Kush says, “It is nice to see that our concerns around this have been heard by the province and are shared by our neighbouring municipalities so we are looking forward to seeing how things are implemented in the future.”
Kush is proud of the work done by the County over the last year, saying, “The biggest accomplishment from our council and the County was the fact that we managed to continue on our recovery path while putting money back into our infrastructure which has suffered over the past few years due to our cuts, and still manage to come in on budget for the year. It helps that we collected 98 per cent of the taxes owed which is a huge statement to industry in the area.”
Kush also believes a huge highlight for the year was the bicentennial celebration in Fort Assiniboine, saying, “From the voyager canoes to the residents who openly accepted them into each community they passed through, it was a fantastic event and highlighted how important these areas are.”
Looking into 2024, Kush says residents can expect a lot of the same. “We are still staying on our recovery path to the viability of our municipality, and are committing to working through shortfalls in the quality of some of our roadways to bring them back to standards that are acceptable to the residents that utilize them.” He adds, “We know it will take some time in some of these areas but we want to start finding ways to make these improvements.”
With the relatively dry winter Kusch believes 2024 could present more challenges when it comes to wild fires. “I feel like we may be having a very dry spring and as much as everyone tries to prepare for fires, you never really know how that will play out. [I’m] praying for some snow or rain in the spring but it has been a very dry winter so we will see what comes.”
Kush’s main message for residents at this time, is a huge ‘thank you’.
“As much as I would like to take credit for how amazing this region is from this side of the municipality to the next, I can’t. It is the residents and the way they support each other and the communities and always seem to be willing to lend a hand when times get tough that make this municipality what it is,” he explains. “From myself, council and the staff, I hope 2023 was an amazing year for them and that 2024 will be better.”
