Woodlands County council met last week to receive an update on infrastructure projects and service requests, and to establish two committees.
During its regularly scheduled meeting on July 16, Director of Infrastructure Greg Edwards provided an update on the status of several capital projects, including the riverbank erosion repairs at Cut Banks Road and Old Ferry Road, the Groat Creek slide repair and the East Mountain Road slide repair.
Through adjustments to funding for the East Mountain Road slide repair project, the council says administration identified about $600,000 in potential surplus funding. At council’s direction, administration will explore possibilities for reallocating those funds to the Tower Road or Bison Road rehabilitation projects.
Council also received a Service Request Tracker Report for June.
In June this year, the county received 64 service requests, up by 28 per cent from 50 in June 2025.
Ten requests concerning culverts, drainage and flooding were recorded this year, up from three in the same month last year. The county also received 15 requests for pothole or road repair services, up from 10 in June last year.
(Woodlands County council agenda, July 16, 2026)
During the same meeting, council also established two committees: a Joint Tourism Committee and a Joint Ad Hoc CT Scanner Regional Advocacy Committee, both of which will work with the Town of Whitecourt.
The tourism committee is intended to grow the tourism industry for both municipalities through shared resources and funding and a coordinated regional tourism effort.
This effort replaces the previously dissolved Whitecourt Woodlands Tourism partnership, which county officials say ended due to strain on the broader municipal relationship at the time. The county says this new jointly-established committee, with clear terms of reference, addresses that history directly.
Meantime, council also established a Joint Ad Hoc CT Scanner Regional Advocacy Committee.
This committee is intended to support the Friends of Whitecourt Society in its effort to obtain a CT scanner for the Whitecourt Healthcare Centre, as the facility supports county residents. Officials say coordinated advocacy from multiple municipalities presents a stronger, more unified voice to the Government of Alberta and Alberta Health Services when seeking support for the project.
The county notes, establishing this advocacy committee does not commit it to any capital or operating contributions to the CT scanner, although it has donated $15,000 to the initiative.
