Hello Chestermere and Happy New Year,
While it already seems like it is a long time ago, I hope everyone was able to have some down time over the holidays. Our year has started off a little tough in the city as we have had a couple of house fires. Thank you to our Chestermere Fire Department for your hard work on both fires and our hearts go out to the families involved.
Council Meeting Highlights
Opening of Rainbow Road North
Our first Council Meeting of the New Year was on Tuesday January 14 and we have an incredibly exciting announcement from that meeting. After some robust discussion on the topic, City Council approved the opening of Rainbow Road North. While this road will not open immediately, the scope of this work will entail the full rebuild of the existing road base and improved safety measures at the intersection of Rainbow Road and Highway 1. This work will be done in collaboration with Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors. This is an exciting announcement and will help with traffic flow as people move in and out Chestermere.
Conversations about Traffic
The meeting had a heavy emphasis on traffic. As we continue to grow, Council and Administration is aware that there are multiple pinch points that need to be addressed and we continue to find ways to address these. On Tuesday Council approved the Transportation Master Plan with amendments. Administration made it clear to council that this is a living document and administration is reviewed, at minimum, every 5 years. Adjustments can be made as needed. Council further received information on options for the Chestermere BLVD Bridge and an overall Roads Update. I would encourage people to go to our website and look at the documents presented throughout this meeting as they pertain to traffic in our community.
Staffing
We also announced that the City of Chestermere has hired Vanessa Van der Meer as our Manager of Legislative Services and will also be serving in the role of Substitute Returning Officer in the upcoming 2025 election.
Chestermere Lake Middle School Parent Council Meeting
On Wednesday January 15, I was honoured to have been invited by Rocky View Schools to attend the Chestermere Lake Middle School Parent Council Meeting. I appreciate how our council has built a strong rapport with RVS and our local schools and how we are all working together to continue to find ways to improve safety in our community and create opportunities for our youth to be involved in things in our community. Thank you to the parents and teachers who attended the meeting and for the robust and informative conversation that was had. CLMS has collected some great data about student behaviour at their school and I would invite parents who have children at the school to pop into the office and grab the handout about this data.
Workshops
Council had a couple of workshops that were hosted by staff. One was on city events and the other was on grants. I appreciate how council and administration are working together, having ongoing conversations, and implementing actionable steps to continue to grow as an organization. Thank you to the administration for all of the work that was put into these workshops and for facilitating the conversation.
Thank you Chestermere for your ongoing input and feedback as we continue to work hard to move Chestermere forward. City Council welcomes the conversation through phone calls, emails, through meeting with Mayor and City Council and through our Public Input Sessions at council meetings. We look forward to a successful 2025.
Mayor Shannon Dean