The City of Leduc will invest almost $10 million in 12 road and utility capital projects in 2012. This year’s infrastructure program includes:

• $6.3 million for the 50 Avenue Widening Project ($4.8 from off-site levies)
• $2.9 million for roads and parking lots
• $600,000 for underground utility work
• $500,000 for additions to the Multiway Trail System

Residents can access the city’s website for updates and to visually monitor the progress of all infrastructure projects via an interactive map at Leduc.ca/construction (click on Map of 2012 Construction Projects)

At Council on February 27th, Mr. Mark Tamagi made a presentation to Council about the exciting news of an FM radio station coming to Leduc. 93.1 The One, named after Leduc #1, will be hitting the airways in the Leduc region. After a long process of negotiations and application to the CRTC, the radio station has finally been approved. It's going to be a country station playing modern hits. Congratulation to Mark and The One! Great news for our City!

Council approved additional funds to continue the measures that are keeping the residents of the Bellavera complex safe. It's an extremely unfortunate situation that has taken place at the complex and Council is very committed to keeping the residence as safe as possible. The additional funds will keep all safety measures in place while residence still occupy the building.

The resolution that I've been taking to member municipalities of the Alberta Capital Region Wastwater Commission (ACRWC) arrived infront of our Council. I'm very happy to have Council's unanimous support for the resolution Mr. Kevin Cole has produced the most comprehensive and accurate report about the resolution that I've seen to date. I would be most willing to share this report with any other municipality that's still struggling with what the ACRWC is trying to achieve.

The City's Environmental Plan received approval for Phase 1. I believe it strikes the right balance of being bold and reasonable. The report out lines the specific actions that the City will be taking to enhance the environmental condition of the City of Leduc.  Please check out the report to see what the City is doing.

We also received for information the report outlining the success of our partnership with Climate Change Central on a rebate program for low flow toilets, efficient furnaces, and certain appliances. 942 residence took advantage of the program. Over 6 and a half Olympic sized swimming pools of water was conserved, 67 vehicles worth of GHGs, and 3,467 GJ of natural gas.

Over the past year it's been my pleasure to Chair the Alberta Capital Region Wastewater Commission's Communications and Lobbying Subcommittee.

The group has been tasked with the challenge of changing the commission's status to more closey resemble a municipality. The reason we're pursuing this sort of status is to have greater eligibility when it comes to provincial and federal grants. As it stands right now we're a commission that consist of 13 member municipalities: The City of Leduc, Leduc County, Beaumont, Spruce Grove, Gibbons, Morinville, Strathcona County, Parkland County, Sturgeon County, Fort Saskatchewan, Bon Accord, St. Albert, and Stony Plain.

If we would like to apply for a grant, more often than not, we have to apply through one of our member municipalities because the commission cannot apply on it's own behalf.

This puts the commission at a major disadvantage. If we would like to apply we must first, find a member municipality to make the application through. We must inform that municipalitie's administration on the application process and all of this takes up time placing us further and further down the line in comparison to those who can apply directly. Finally, if we are successful in attracting the grant, it creates major problems when it comes to accounting. The dollars are received by a municipality, but spent by the commission - BIG problem.

As a response, we've drafted a strategy that will help us along the path of changing this. I've been making presentations to the municipalities that make up the comission explaining what we're trying to achieve.

We've often been miss-understood by a report that came out at the beginning of the sub-committees work when all funding that we cannot access was on the table; including gas tax dollars and MSI. Just to be clear, we're no longer after those coveted funds. We would simply like to be allowed to apply to the many funds that we fit the criteria for and many other wastewater plants are applying to receive, that in our present commission structure, we're ineligible for.

On Monday September 12th the City of Leduc Community Report was approved by council. This report is a valuable report to understand what took place in the City of Leduc in 2010. The report highlights key achievements, and departmental activities.

Topping the reports achievements is the implementation of the C-line inter-municipal Public Transit System. On November 1st the C-line will celebrate it's first anniversary. This project has made our community more inclusive by offering an alternative way to the single occupancy vehicle to get around the region.

Other major achievment include: New housing starts - valued at over $111 Million, Multi-way and new parks, Facilities - new Operations Facility that will allow our Public Services staff greater capacity to service a growing City, and Planning - Major plans were undertaken in 2010 such as the MDP and Downtown Plan.

Some other interesting statistics from the report: In 2010, there was over 94 thousand visits to the Public Library. 9 solar powered crosswalk signs have made our community more green and safe. And Emergency Services responded to over 2 thousand calls, just to name a few.

Please take a look at the report to find out what the City does with hard urned tax dollars.    

It's been a while since I've last had the opportunity to post on my website. Yes! I have been keeping very busy.

In April I had run for the PC Nomination in the new Provincial Constituency of Leduc-Beaumont. I came short loosing by just 7%. However, the experience was incredible. As in any good campaign, I had the opportunity to discuss many issues that are important to people. It was a great chance to hear concerns from constituents at the provincial level of government. Everything from economic development, education, healthcare, social services, and of course taxes. My experience will help me be a stronger advocate for the issues of the Citizens of Leduc and I thank all of you for allowing me this opportunity. I congratulate Mr. George Rogers and look forward to continuing working together.

The other major task that I've been working on since before being elected in 2007 was my university education at the U of Alberta. I'm very happy to have completed my double major in Political Science and History this summer.

My goal from the beginning of university was to learn how to become an effective political leader. The combination of university and application, through my work with the city, I think have helped me along my goal. However, I think this is a journey that will continue for a long time to come. I would like to thank the many professors and fellow students who have helped along the way and also tolerated my many questions.

I titled this post "The Beginning of a New Era" because it truly will be. The experiences gathered from the Nomination and University have sharpened my abilities to most effectively represent citizens. I look forward to the fall and working with my colleagues on council and the citizens of Leduc to address the challenges to come.