By addicts I am talking about you. Last night at the City Council meeting the big deal was all about the Mayors task force on the environment. I am not sure that the Council or administration understands how big the scope of this task actually is. If this task force is going to have any real lasting affect on our great City they are going to have to honestly identify the root of the problem(s) first. Second, the task force will have to devise a plan that will convince, at least the majority ... [More]

Since the most searched for terms at Local-Yokels.com are “Spruce Grove Post Office”, “Saskatchewan Ave” or search terms related to the location of the new post office, combined with the concern we have lately for the environment I thought I would examine what impact the move to the new location might have to residents of Spruce Grove. What I came up with was a big surprise not to mention disturbing. Since this is now a destination that yo... [More]

At Spruce Grove’s Regular Council meeting on January 25th Mayor Huston added an agenda item to the Council Updates portion of the meeting. It was a most welcome addition! The Mayor announced that a Terms of Reference was being created to create the Mayor’s Task Force on the environment. If given enough thought and scope this has the potential to be one of the most important, beneficial and far reaching projects the City could entertain. It has the potential to affect just about an... [More]

Recycling plastic items is becoming more and more crucial to the survival of our oceans and ultimately, to the survival of human beings on this fragile planet. [More]

If my father would have attended the Council meeting last night (Dec. 14th 2009) I could just hear him say if he were alive, “They did something right, by George”, complete with a twinkle in his eye as his name was also George. Of course He would have been correct, as he was most of the time. They did something very right. They demonstrated how democracy can and should work. They approved with all three readings C-725-09 – Municipal Utility Services Bylaw Amendment. Council ... [More]

This is going to be a long one so please stick with me on this one. This past Monday evening I found my self doing some recreational web surfing so I went to one of my favourite sites ted.com. Ted.com describes itself as: “TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design.” Among its many videos I found the following video: World Without Oil Whose messag... [More]

Presentations The Council recognized Mr. Ron Smith for his work on the Spruce Grove Public Library Board. Council also recognized the Barracuda Swim club for receiving first place for small swim clubs at the Alberta Summer Swim Association Provincials this past summer. Morgan Jamieson broke the provincial record for the 400 meter free style at the Humma swim meet. Connor Jamieson also set provincial records for the 400 meter free style, 200 meter I.M. and the 1500 free style at the Humma swi... [More]

At the Spruce Grove City Council meeting Bylaw C-723-09 was tabled for all three readings. The bylaw amends the Schedule of Fees for building permits. The purpose was to maintain a revenue source to ensure financial viability of the department in 2010. A copy of the fee changes can be found here. These do not seem out of line excepting the increase for non-residential fees. But there were two points that were of concern. First, the city delegate that spoke to the new fees stated that these ... [More]

At the November 9th Spruce Grove City Council meeting the first reading of the Gateway Town Center was brought forward by City Manager Doug Lagore. You can read the whole proposal for yourself at this link. Below are the strengths and opportunities stated in the proposal document: Stregths Major Highway Interchange location. Excellent westbound visibility along Hwy 16. Average Annual Daily Traffic in excess of 34,000. Large contiguous, flat development with excellent linear Hwy 16 f... [More]

After spending 4 months monitoring City Council I first wanted to get a feel for how they do things down at City Hall. What I sense from watching the politicians, city administrators and public dealings with them is that there is a serious lack of transparency and accountability from a council which only talks of such things but their actions speak differently. Their words promise that all is well. “I guarantee you will like what we are doing to the park when it’s done”, b... [More]