The Town of Ponoka hosted a public meeting regarding the proposed annexation from county to town on April 14. Over 100 people met at the Kinsmen Centre to discuss the issues that would come if the annexation were to be executed.
Mayor Larry Henkelman began the meeting by thanking everyone who attended and invited County of Ponoka Reeve Gordon Svenningsen to speak. Svenningsen informed the crowd that the members of the county council were at the meeting as observers and will be discussing the results of the meeting at a later date.
Bob Ridett, a consultant for the Town, gave information about what parts of the county they were looking to annex and Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of Ponoka Brad Watson followed by explaining the town proposal. Watson defined annexation as the process to transfer land from one jurisdiction to another, spoke on the process, landowner concerns such as taxes, services and farming operations, how these issues will be addressed and the steps that would be taken after the meeting.
Henkelman addressed many questions and concerns throughout the night and looks forward to meeting with the County.
“We had a lot of comments and a lot of issues raised,” said Henkelman. “There were a lot of myths about the annexation and I felt that there were questions that were clarified. Now we will have to sit down with the County and discuss this further.”
Among the people that asked questions was landowner Nick Kohlman. Kohlman prepared a presentation focused on the growth rate of the town, the difference the growth rate would make in a number of years, planning and water issues.
Kohlman was glad for the meeting but felt that his questions and points he made were avoided.
“The biggest disappointment was that the town did not acknowledge the truth,” said Kohlman “They skirted the issue and wouldn’t acknowledge what was obviously true.”
Murray Wedin chair of the Economic Development Committee believes that annexation is necessary for Ponoka and that it will help the Town reach some goals.
“Part of the strategic plan for the Economic Development board was to promote developing commercial, residential and industrial land,” said Wedin. “There is a need for more land because there are people with residential land that are not willing to sell it.”
Ridett was pleased with the results of the meeting and anticipates meeting with the Town and County councils to see if there are changes that should be made.
“People brought out some really good points and we’ll have to address that,” he said. “Issues like debt and maintaining roads were brought to attention and people have to be guaranteed the same level of service and we will figure out how to do that. I’m looking forward to meeting with the two councils to see if they want to adjust the area or change the conditions. The good thing about meetings like this is that issues come out from these meetings that haven’t been thought of before, that’s the value of it.”
This was the first public meeting both the Town and County of Ponoka will individually meet to discuss the meeting.