Peter Shokeir | [email protected]
The expansion of the community garden may take longer than expected as municipal administration has highlighted some hurdles for the project.
The Jasper Local Food Society, which manages the garden, recently submitted two proposals to council for expanding the garden amid high demand and a lack of available plots.
One proposal was a perimeter fence extension to the northern end of the current garden, but this would be difficult due to the installation of the required transformers for the new Tesla Supercharger initiative, along with one other service provider, this upcoming summer.
鈥淯nfortunately, it鈥檚 a little late in the game for us to be able to make this expansion request on the north side,鈥� said John Greathead, director of operations, during council鈥檚 committee of the whole meeting on May 11.
The other proposal requested an extension to the south and a retrofitting of the nearby AMA building into a community greenhouse.
However, Greathead warned that the municipality would have to demolish the old building and remediate the site before a greenhouse could be built there.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a long way to go before a greenhouse gets installed, mainly permitting from Parks and approval on that,鈥� he said.
The committee directed administration to look at opportunities to accommodate the expansion request once the removal of the building and the remediation of the site are finished.
They also discussed other options for the garden, such as looking at other areas in the community where more plots could be placed.
Reducing utility costs at municipal facilities
The municipality may soon get a municipal energy manager to help reduce utility costs at its facilities.
If approved, administration will submit an application to the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre for the new hire, which would be a joint position with the Town of Hinton.
鈥淯tility costs are a significant source of overhead for the municipality,鈥� said Bill Given, Jasper鈥檚 chief administrative officer.
鈥淎nnually, we expend approximately just under $1 million a year in utility expenses between electricity and natural gas for municipal facilities.鈥�
Given added how this cost got passed on to ratepayers, while utility costs continue to increase.
The Municipal Energy Manager program would cover up to 80 per cent of the cost of the manager鈥檚 annual salary through a contribution of up to $80,000.
The municipality would cover the remaining 20 per cent, an expense now outside the 2021 budget and to be approved through the 2022 budget processes.
The new hire would allow Jasper to develop an energy management plan and incorporate recommendations into projects such as the proposed Activity Centre retrofit and renovation.
This position would be shared with Hinton as this makes the application more attractive, enhances the ability to recruit and decreases the overall cost to the community.
Mayor Richard Ireland noted some shortcomings in the program, such as not covering any share of benefits or travel costs, while the new manager would also stop getting technical advisory coaching after the first year.
鈥淚t seems to me that there are little hiccups that will add to the costs,鈥� Ireland said.
鈥淔air enough. It might still be worth proceeding, but I have some hesitation to say, 鈥楯ump in with both feet鈥� before testing the water.鈥�
Given assured that the position would cost the municipality at most $30,000 by the end of the first year, and a consultant wouldn鈥檛 likely not be able to offer the same services at that price.
