Today was the Parkland Chamber of Commerce's annual State of the District meeting, where business, city, and municipal leaders from across the Parkland gather to give updates on their plans for the year.
Kamryn Winters, Executive Director of the Parkland Chamber of Commerce, said it's sometimes a challenge to make sure they reach as many Parkland municipalities as possible, but with her past experience with big events, the planning wasn't too much of an issue.
"I would say the biggest challenge for State of the District is just working around schedules, not knowing when council meets for the different municipalities, and just making sure that any municipality even if they can't attend in person if they want to send a report we would do that. We have about half the municipalities attending in person, and half that we hope to get a report from them and send it later...I'm definitely an events coordinator so that part doesn't scare me, and of course we've had a lot of lunch series events, I've attended the lunch and learn ones in the past just as Countryfest, so for me each lunch is different, so I'm going through the motions of first time for every one," said Winters.
Getting down to the details, the meeting started off strong. After opening remarks, Mike Csversko with Fusion Credit Union gave a snapshot of how finances look like for businesses and farms in the Parkland. He said especially when it comes to farms and agriculture related businesses, input price increases continue to be a big concern. But he also said it's not all bad news.
"On the flip side of that we're also seeing an increase in land prices as well, so not all doom and gloom. The equity that is built into the farms, a lot of them are multi-generational farms, large number of acres, that helps offset the pressures when it comes to financing and lending, just because of that balancing act between the equity and the operating costs as well," said Csversko.
Businesses aside, representatives from the City of Dauphin, RM of Dauphin, Grandview Municipality, Gilbert Plains Municipality, and Ste. Rose Municipality were in attendance to talk about their major plans for the year ahead. Big things from the City of Dauphin include partnerships with the RM of Dauphin to develop recreation strategy, and the approval of $1 million of the city's budget this year towards starting the project of revitalizing downtown Dauphin.
Outside of Dauphin, Grandview's plans for this year focus on sustainable renewal water and water related projects. They will be building up a reserve fund for renewal water and sewer system construction, and they have budgeted $600,000 towards renovations of the Sugarloaf Water Treatment Plant to build on access to sustainable water. Down the road, Gilbert Plains mentioned the recent purchase of a new fire truck thanks to the Manitoba GRO grant, and they will be moving forward with a new waste disposal site after it was fully approved by the province.
Coming from RM of Dauphin Reeve Ernie Sirski, this year's tax increase from the RM will be under 5%, despite challenges with their operating costs for maintenance and management. Sirski said that on his own farm this year, he's had to greatly increase his fuel budget, from $22 per acre up to $32 per acre. The RM will also be restarting the Parkland Regional Working Group.
Overall, many of the projects this year in the Parkland focus on essential services that people need not only to survive, but to thrive and be successful, both as individuals and as communities. Despite challenges with rising grocery costs, fuel costs, and other various costs of living, Parkland municipalities and cities seem committed to help out their citizens.
