Redcliff town council notes, Aug. 21

Redcliff council met for its only meeting of the month, speaking on a wide-range of issues and receiving multiple presentations on various matters pertaining to the town.

#FibreTown

First up, council was greeted by John Reid, fibre Internet company Axia’s manager of residential sales south.

Reid presented to council about the Alberta-based company’s fibre Internet availability in small towns.

“This is something we have done in multiple towns across Alberta, and basically what I do is travel around to meetings like this, to see if fibre Internet makes sense for your town,” he said. “The company is based around giving small towns the same accessibility as bigger city centres like Calgary, Edmonton and Lethbridge.”

At the end of his presentation, council had a few questions on the price of the service and speeds Axia could offer.

No decision needed to be made by council after the presentation.

Executive summary

Next up was Medicine Hat College student Jordan Pomrenke, who has been studying the town for the entire summer, looking at ways Redcliff can try to grow and attract new families to move to the area.

One of the biggest points Pomrenke kept circling back to was the town’s lack of big events.

Redcliff Days and the newlyfounded Fall Festival are good, says Pomrenke, but he says much more can be done.

“When looking at other places, you see things like big music festivals, farm-to-table events and even things like colour runs and a big tomato fight could help bring more people to Redcliff,” he said.

Pomrenke says he would like to see the town build on its current slogan of being the ‘Greenhouse Capital of the Prairies.’

“The slogan isn’t bad, but there just isn’t enough connected to it,” he said. “Why not do things like greenhouse tours? The only real connection to the slogan right now is people buying produce. Why not show them where it’s all from?”

Pomrenke will be holding three sessions Tuesday at Redcliff town hall to answer questions about his research before handing off his findings to the town for good. The sessions are at 8 a.m., noon and 4 p.m.

Golf course

Town council received a letter from Riverview Golf Club asking the town to waive $40,000 in irrigation costs for the 2017 year.

Council voted unanimously against the motion.