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Your LOCAL Media since 1918! Volume 106 Issue 36
www.tofieldmerc.com
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Open House to be held Ryley Citizens on Patrol group gaining momentum regarding Tofield street light installation Kari Janzen Staff Reporter
The Town of Tofield and Fortis Alberta will be holding an open house at the Town Office on Wednesday, May 15, from 4 p.m. - 7 p.m. regarding proposed street light installation within the town. “In an effort to increase visibility throughout Tofield, Town Council has approached Fortis to install additional street lights throughout the town. If final approvals are received by June 2024, we anticipate that construction will be completed before the end of 2024. Initial stages will involve surveying, staking, and flagging. Upon completion of the finalized plan, construction will occur,” a customer notice from Fortis and the Town of Tofield reads. The proposal first came before council last year, but the Town heard from many residents who had concerns about the project when flags and stakes appeared on their properties in September 2023. “Concern stemmed over communication. Admittedly, this should have been handled differently, therefore, the rationale behind messaging and the Open House. Collectively, we want to dispel any false information, and provide the answer as to why we’re looking at the installation of the lights throughout the community,” Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Jeff Edwards said. The customer notice says the area where light poles are installed will be returned to their former state after the installation. “Fortis and our contractors will restore all impacted municipal property to the same condition it was prior projection completion.” All residents may benefit from attending the open house, especially those who have an interest in or have
concerns over the project, and all are invited to the Council Chambers in the Town Office to talk with Fortis as well as Council members. “Those who have a proposed light either in front of, or adjacent to their property (can benefit from attending the Open House), however, any resident with questions on the project is encouraged to attend,” Edwards said. Among frequently asked questions, the customer notice answers the question about where the poles are going to be placed. “The new street lights are to be installed within municipal rights-ofway and will have minimum impact on your property. If any residential property is to be impacted, owners will be notified in advance,” the notice says. Currently, the proposal indicates that the street lights will be powered by overhead lines. Fortis will cover $300,000 of the cost, with the Town paying $14,000. Overhead lines are considerably cheaper than underground, with at least an additional $400,000 with the underground option. “Fortis provided two estimates to the Town, one for overhead and one for underground. When looking at total cost for both options, investment from the Town for overhead lines would be significantly lower than underground installation,” the notice says. Questions and concerns came from Tofield residents when stakes and flags appeared on their properties in September 2023, causing Tofield Town Council to decide to pause the initial stages of the street light installation project until further details could be provided to the public.
Ryley Citizens on Patrol member Thomas Hoban and Secretary-Treasurer Dianna Kowerchuk, at their set up table during the Ryley Village Engagement event on Apr. 30. JANA SEMENIUK PHOTO
Jana Semeniuk Staff Reporter
Two members of the Ryley Citizens on Patrol (RCOP) group, Secretary Treasurer Dianna Kowerchuk and member Thomas Hoban, set up a table at the village’s April 30 engagement event held at the new community centre. The pair said they were looking to familiarize more residents with their organization and spread the word about the volunteer work they are doing in the community. “People know who we are because we go (to events such as this and) the farmers market and make ourselves known,” said Kowerchuk. “We’re going to do more this summer.” Hoban said the RCOP group formed last year in response to increasing crime in the area, while Kowerchuk said they have grown to 13 members. She said they primarily patrol the village and report to the police what they see. “We have to report what we see. That's all we can do is be the eyes and ears,” she said. “If we see anything, we phone the RCMP and report it as suspicious (and) we also have an app on our phones that tracks where we've been.” Kowerchuk said the group received $10,000 last year from the Clean Harbours Community Enhancement grant, and it’s already been put to good use. “We've just got dashcams so we can record if we do see something so it's not
just going to be our word, it's going to be recorded and we can send it off to the RCMP immediately,” she said. “We've got the big village sign now that’s going up where the old hotel parking lot was, and we've got four signs on all the entrances into town that it's being patrolled by Citizens on Patrol.” Hoban said he feels the level of criminal activity has significantly improved. “It’s been way better,” he said. “(It’s good) when the community stands together to deal with something. No one wants to come around and mess with everyone’s stuff anymore. So it's kind of nice to see.” Kowerchuk added that identifying decals have been added to the volunteer’s vehicles so residents won’t mistake them for criminals as they are circling the neighbourhoods. Meanwhile, Tofield RCMP Sgt. Cameron Paul said he couldn’t speculate on whether Ryley’s crime rate has decreased as numbers were not readily available. However, Paul said that Citizens on Patrol groups do have a positive effect on the level of crime in communities. “Experience has demonstrated that citizens who are invested in crime prevention in their communities have a positive effect on reducing crime over time, whether it be through crime prevention organizations and programs, or directly reporting crimes and suspicious incidents immediately to police,” he said.