Coalhurst to develop local municipal enforcement program in 2019

The town of Coaldale and Coalhurst will see separated bylaw services in 2019.

“Our contract ended with Coaldale effective of Jan. 1, 2019, and so the town has chosen to move ahead with establishing our own program,” said Kim Hauta, the chief administrative officer for the town of Coalhurst.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Our contract ended with Coaldale effective of Jan. 1, 2019, and so the town has chosen to move ahead with establishing our own program," said Kim Hauta, the chief administrative officer for the town of Coalhurst.

For the past two years, Coalhurst has been contracted under Coaldale’s municipal enforcement services, meaning any bylaw concerns were fielded to peace officers within the town of Coaldale.

But as 2018 came to an end, so did their contract, and now Coalhurst is moving forward on their own and hiring a local bylaw office.

“It’s a position we’ve had in the past. We did contractor service in the past as well, so we just felt that we could go that route again,” Hauta said.

Although Coalhurst was paying Coaldale for the services, officials said the distance between the two towns led to heightened expenses within Coaldale, leading to a decision to not renew the contract.

“It was determined last year that it just wasn’t as economically feasible for us to be providing services farther away from our town,” said Clayton Rutberg, the deputy fire chief of Coaldale.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It was determined last year that it just wasn't as economically feasible for us to be providing services farther away from our town," said Clayton Rutberg, the deputy fire chief of Coaldale.

Already prepared for the separation, Coalhurst hopes to have their new person in place by the end of January. But Hauta says the town isn’t stopping there, as they’re also in the process of applying for peace officer status, which would allow the new bylaw officer to enforce certain provincial statutes as well.

“Hopefully by this time next year or sooner, we will have that status and upgrade to a community peace officer,” said Hauta.

Coaldale has also severed ties with the Village of Barons, citing similar reasons related to distance and heightened expenses.

But the local town of Picture Butte will still be receiving the same municipal enforcement services from Coaldale in 2019.

“We’re still going to be providing the same hours of service to each community as we were prior to the agreements ending,” Rutberg said.

Although the two towns are separating their services for 2019, officials from both said residents shouldn’t be seeing any substantial changes to bylaw practices moving forward.