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Submit your community events to communications@highriver.ca

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Featured event:

A Cool Little Marketing Workshop - July 25, 6:30 - 9 p.m. at Town Hall Council Chambers

The first reading of Bylaw 4531-2018 to amend the Town's water, wastewater and storm water utility rates was presented to Council on Monday, July 16. 

The recommendation to amend the rates was developed based on a 2017 study by Corvus Business Advisors on the Town's water distribution, wastewater treatment and collection systems. Corvus Business Advisors were also engaged in early 2018 to review the Town's storm water rates. 

"The purpose of the studies was to simplify the existing rate structure while ensuring equity, financial sustainability, and environmental stewardship over a period of 10 years," says Ray MacIntosh, manager of accounting services for the Town. 

Now that the first reading has been presented to Council, the Town will offer public information sessions to customers. These sessions will provide an opportunity to further clarify and answer questions about the proposed rates before second and third readings are presented to Council for approval. 

The two studies completed by Corvus Business Advisors determined that the Town's utility rates need to better satisfy revenue requirements to be financially sustainable. Adjusting the rates will also provide an ability to replace the aging utilities infrastructures in the future.
Once adopted, the new rate structures for water, wastewater and storm water services will begin on November 1, 2018. 

Below are highlights of the proposed changes, the full draft rates can be found on highriver.ca

1. Water:
An increase of service fees with a decrease in usage charges will be established to meet the Town's revenue targets and result in revenue recovery over the next 10 years.

2. Wastewater:
The winter averaging system for sewer consumption charges will be eliminated and the price differential between residential and non-residential for both water and wastewater will be eliminated.

3. Storm water:
The current system is operating at a loss and is financed via taxation annually. It is recommended that residential and non-residential rates be established based on average lot size and area estimate.

"These rate structures treat all residential, commercial, and industrial users fairly and equitably, based on their respective use of each utility system," adds MacIntosh. "To put it plainly, people will now be paying for what they use."

The recommended structures ensure the financial stability of both the water and wastewater utility system, without any subsidization from the general revenues tax base, and allow the Town to recognize the maximum amount of reserves for future capital investment.

The public information sessions have been scheduled for August 9 and 16 from 4-7 p.m. at the Joint Municipal Building (Town Hall) located at 309 Macleod Trail S.W. Customers can also submit inquires or concerns regarding these new rates to corporateservices@highriver.ca.

The Town of High River would like to thank the community for their patience and understanding during construction, and specifically during the Centre Street Bridge closures. We know it hasn't been easy, and we have been working on a solution to help address some of the concerns we have heard from residents to improve the traffic flow through the construction. 

What we are doing:

1) Additional signage and detour route
Along with placing additional signage around town, a detour route using 5 Street S.E. has been set up to help ease congestion and delays on Centre Street.

2) Temporary three-way stop
A temporary three-way stop has been placed at the intersection of 5 Street S.E. and 3 Avenue S.E. to assist with the flow of traffic through the detour route.

3) Modifications to pedestrian traffic at Macleod Trail and Centre Street
The crosswalk on the north side of the intersection has been closed to help keep pedestrians safe when crossing the intersection.

A set of pedestrian crossing lights have also been installed at the intersection to help notify vehicles that a pedestrian is crossing the road.

A pedestrian corridor to cross over the bridge is accessible from the east side of the intersection. The corridor will remain open throughout the duration of construction for pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

The detour route, three-way stop and pedestrian crossing modifications are expected to be in place until the end of August 2018.

Although Centre Street will continue to operate throughout the summer with one-lane alternating traffic only, we do encourage residents to use the detour route as an alternative. 

Please also respect all construction signage - it's put into place for your safety. 

And, while construction is happening, all businesses around the construction areas will remain open for customers.

For construction updates and information, please visit highriver.ca/flood-gate.

The Town of High River as begun construction on a new park space at the former Water Tower site at the corner of 8 Avenue S.E. and 3 Street S.E. The new space was designed based on the thoughts and ideas High River residents provided during various community engagement sessions.

"We've been looking forward to this day since we started the design process," says Tannas Webb, parks supervisor for the Town. "We really wanted to create a space that our residents wanted to use and could enjoy, a space that brings people together to play, to connect and build community."

The Foothills Kinettes helped to make it all possible. They partnered with the Town to conduct community engagement and raise funds to support the park development. 

"As a group whose motto is 'serving the community's greatest need,' revitalizing the former Water Tower site was a way that we could help enrich the vibrancy of High River, and give back to our community," says Jenny Jones with the Kinnettes.

Along with brand new, accessible play structure, the new park space features a 71-ft. zip-line. Benches, tables and proper lighting will adorn the luscious open green space of the park to allow residents the option of having a family picnic or friendly football game with friends and neighbours.

"We are hoping to continue working closely with the Town and raise additional funds to implement future design features into the park," says Jones.

Construction will be taking place throughout summer, with the goal of holding a celebration/opening event in early fall. Please visit highriver.ca/water-tower-park for more information and regular construction updates, including the opening event date.

The Town of High River celebrated its resilience and community spirit on the five year anniversary of the Alberta Floods. 

The Town recognized this landmark anniversary with two mini-documentary style videos that shared the story of where High River is headed, rather than revisit the past.

The first video was released in the second week of June and highlights High River as a thriving, business-friendly and family-oriented community that is close to amenities, the mountains and pathways. 

The second video in the series was released in the last week of June and focuses on the Town's $200 million flood mitigation program and its world class safety and security features.

Both videos can be viewed on the Town's You Tube channel

Read more

The Town's Heritage Advisory Board has developed a 'Heritage Hunt' contest that will continue through the summer.

"The contest is a fun way for us to educate and raise awareness about the town's heritage properties," says Jim Dokken, Heritage Advisory Board member. "There will be three separate opportunities throughout the summer to enter and win."

Contest participants will be invited to decipher clues and then submit their guesses for each of the three parts of the contest.

Clues will be posted in the Town Crier, as well as on the Town's website, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

"Each of the clues describes one of the Town's Heritage properties and residents can participate by submitting their guesses before the deadline for each part of the contest," says Kim Unger, parks planning supervisor for the Town.

Participants can submit their guesses via email to KUnger@highriver.ca or write their guess on paper ballots that will be available at the Town Office, the High River Library and the Museum of the Highwood.

"We will allow one entry per person per contest and the winner of each contest will be awarded with a $100 gift certificate to a High River business," adds Unger.

Part one of the contest was completed on July 19. Part two begins July 20 and the deadline for guesses will be August 16. Part three of the contest begins August 17 and the deadline for guesses will be September 13.

"A reminder that the properties are not homes or schools and all clues will feature exterior images only, so there's no need to access the interior of buildings to confirm your guess," adds Dokken.

The winners of all three parts of the contest will be announced at the end of September.

For more information visit www.highriver.ca/heritage-hunt-contest

Town of High River Parks and Recreation have recently upgraded their recreation scheduling software. Users should start to see these changes implemented on the website in the coming weeks.

The new web schedule will include new features that will allow the schedules to be printable and more customizable for users. The new software will also allow users to view schedules further into the future than one week at a time. 

The Town thanks all patrons for their patience as this new software and process is implemented.

The Town is pleased to announce that Lance Bushie has been hired to fill the role of Fire Chief for the Town of High River.

Bushie began his career as a volunteer firefighter in 1989 with the Town of Peace River. He spent the next 18 years developing his career and was named Regional Fire Chief and Director of Protective Services for Peace River in 2007. 

Bushie has also worked as a primary care paramedic and previously owned a commercial diving firm which provided contract diving services to the RCMP. 

He also spent 17 years with the Canadian Armed Forces - Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa and Canadian Rangers. During that time, he taught leadership classes and was a Survival School instructor. 

Bushie is also President of Canadian Marine Rescue Assistance International, which has been part of the migrant rescue effort in the Mediterranean. 

Most recently, Lance opened his own firm - Trident Fire Training and Consultancy based in Okotoks. 

With his extensive career and impressive background combined with his knowledge of emergency management, the Town is looking forward to welcoming Lance and his family to High River when he begins his position on July 30.