Richard Froese
South Peace News

Big Lakes County has taken another step to find more funding to create a new regional web page.
At its regular meeting Jan. 11, council approved a motion to jointly apply with the Town of High Prairie for a grant from the new provincial Northern and Regional Economic Development (NRED) Program to create a promotional website for the two neighbouring municipalities.
High Prairie town council approved the motion for the joint application at its regular meeting Jan. 10.
The program was announced Dec. 19.
Grants from $20,000 to $200,000 are available for eligible projects, Brett Hawken, director of community and protective services, told council.
“The NRED Program will provide up to 50 per cent of total eligible project costs for northern and regional projects,” Hawken said.
“This funding would go towards developing a promotional tool to help bring professionals to our community which in turn helps the sustainability of the county through multi services and businesses.”
Total eligible project costs must be a minimum of $40,000.
Eligible applicants must be able to match funding requested at a minimum of 50 per cent of the total project cost.
Hawken added the program has set priorities that focus on economic capacity building, investment in economic development infrastructure, business supports, labour force attraction and retention, tourism planning and infrastructure.
The deadline for applications is Jan. 22.
At its regular meeting Dec. 14, council agreed to match a $2,500 grant from Peace Regional Economic Development Alliance from the Municipal Project Fund to create a web page.
At the time, Hawken told council they would issue a request for proposals to the public in the new year to hire a person to gather information for the project at a cost of $5,000.
He suggested the web page would be posted on the county and town websites. It could also be a simple link to give out to employers to help recruit workers.