Linda Cox,
Mayor, Town of High Prairie
St. Andrew’s school trip to council

Jan. 11, Councillor Brian Gilroy and I hosted the Grade 6 students of St. Andrew’s School who were on a field trip as part of their Municipal Government project.
About 40 students came to tour the Town of High Prairie’s offices, council chambers and fire hall. After a brief introduction from our CAO, Brian Martinson, Gilroy and I participated in a 15-minute question and answer on our roles as elected officials.
Heart River Housing

Jan. 14, I participated in a Business Plan Review workshop for Heart River Housing.
The board prioritized the six projects that administration will forward to the minister for information and funding requests.
As a board member of HRH, I represent a regional focus, for the good of all seniors and community housing residents in the entire region HRH covers. Although these six projects are the board’s priorities, they are not necessarily each community’s priorities.
For example, discussions on the social housing portfolio with the Minister of Housing, and the lack of extended care, Level 3 senior’s care, are the Town of High Prairie’s No. 1 priorities. Currently, the HRH board has listed these as No. 2 and No. 6.
HRH’s No. 1 priority in 2017 will be to move ahead with a 29-unit, two-bedroom apartment in Fox Creek with the bottom floor designed for commercial space. The breakdown of the suites will be 30 per cent market, 20 per cent affordable, 20 per cent social housing and 30 per cent affordable senior.
Although there are six projects listed, HRH administration will also continue to work on creating an affordable lease to purchase mortgage program for long-term HRH clients, exploring the need of a fourplex for people with disabilities in Falher, and the possibility of renovating the old long-term care facility in McLennan for seniors apartments.
Community health committee

Jan. 16, I attended the Community Health & Wellness Community Partnership Team meeting. The draft service plan for the CHWC was discussed at length, revisions were made and it will be brought back to the next meeting.
The vision for the clinic is ‘An accessible, caring, respectful and compassionate Health & Wellness Clinic contributing to our healthy community.’
We are still seeking representation on the board from the Metis groups.
The nurse practitioner position was filled Dec. 1 by a local resident and the new clinic manager will start Feb. 6.
There is a hiring freeze on the staffing until April 2017, which will coincide with the revised opening date of April 1. The CHWC move in date is projected to be in June 2017.
Because the Government of Alberta used two different building contractors for the project, completion dates were not aligned.
I also brought up the lack of news releases on this project. The last one was Summer 2016.
It appears any information available is coming from community members who are more up-to-date than AHS staff.
I did ask Dr. Kevin Worry, AHS North Zone, in November 2016 for a news release and was assured one would be available shortly, but to date, nothing has been forthcoming.
This complete my report.