ELK POINT – James McDouall, supervising engineer of ATCO’s Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), provided Elk Point Town Council with a thorough overview of the upcoming power grid modernization that will involve an advanced distribution management system, asset modernization and the advanced metering infrastructure that will work together to improve service to communities across Alberta, including Elk Point.
ATCO’s province-wide initiative started in 2019 and will be completed in 2027, with the changeover in a number of communities already completed.
Gateway devices and routers will be installed either on streetlight poles or wooden poles, he said, prior to replacement of digital display meters on homes and commercial buildings. The AMIs collects information from meters both daily and on a 14-minute basis, providing insight into customer usage and also notifying ATCO immediately if there is a power outage, allowing quick repairs. The information collected is stored on ATCO’s cloud-based system.
Meter changes on residential premises take between five to 20 minutes, with only a brief outage for customers, McDouall said, during the March 10 council meeting.
Increased power capacity
One priority in the Town of Elk Point’s strategic plan is to have quality infrastructure to attract growth, and in the Diversity Industrial Park, that would include ensuring that there is adequate power for potential businesses. Council was told that the Province of Alberta has a transmission line roughly 1.5 miles west of town limits, and this could provide eight to 10 Megawatt power for current and future industrial development.
Jonny Nielsen of Jonny’s Electric, a qualified professional willing to consult on such a project, also visited the meeting to speak on the project and how it could be brought about, suggesting they should “At least have a plan on how to bring it in. Make it shovel ready, so if it’s needed it can all be in place.”
Council later directed administration to ask Nielsen to submit a detailed written proposal for his consulting services on such a project for their consideration.
Policy updates
Council’s attention switched from electricity to electronics in the policies section of the meeting when a new policy dealing with electronic signatures was brought forward, following a suggestion at the 2025 Emerging Trends in Municipal Law Conference A policy stating in part that ‘The Town of Elk Point may use electronic signatures for records and documentation, at the discretion of the CAO and as permissible by law.”
It was agreed that this usage by the CAO would be acceptable, however Mayor Tung and council felt they would prefer to sign in person or to sign a document sent electronically and return it in the same manner.
And amended Overtime Policy, with changes in banking of overtime and for overtime agreement forms for both individuals and groups approved by council, along with the notation that any exceptions would be at the discretion of the CAO.
Chamber Year in review
Newly elected Elk Point Chamber of Commerce president Brianne Greening and past president Terri Hampson came to council with their review of a very busy and productive 2024, and plans for future endeavours in to 2025, along with the budgets for both years. Council approved the report, thanking Hampson for her successful leadership over the past seven years and congratulating Greening on her election to the leadership role.
A recent decision for the town to retain 25 per cent of the Business License fees for administration, rather than giving the entire proceeds to the chamber to operate the Economic Development Committee had not been a problem, Hampson said, “We actually had discussed the administration costs for the fees.”
“I know how hard the chamber works,” said Coun. Tim Smereka. “The town has good representation on chamber.”
Provincial priorities
Information received from Minster of Municipal Affairs Ric McIver regarding the new Provincial Priorities Act was discussed and received as information, council agreeing this did not pertain to council, as the town is unlikely enter into agreements with the federal government.
Special council meeting
A special council meeting to review and complete the town’s 2025 operating and capital budgets has been set for April 9 at 5:30 p.m. An addition to the agenda later in the meeting indicated that the town’s assessments have gone down, potentially increasing property taxes.
