Flagstaff County is pleased to announce that CAO Shelly Armstrong has been awarded the 2023 R.W. Hay Award as outstanding rural CAO at the recent Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) convention in Edmonton.

Now that harvest 2023 is behind us it’s time to start planning for the next growing season. For some that means servicing equipment and placing it back in the shed and for others, it means bringing machinery out of the shed to go back to work.

According to the 2006 Agricultural Profile, in Flagstaff County there are more than 1,000,000 acres of farmland, 250,000 acres of them are pasture or hay land. Of that 250,000 pasture acres, it is estimated that 100,000 acres are tame or seeded, and 150,000 acres are natural.

It is that time of year when we start to see more machinery going down the road and I ask all of you to share the roadway accordingly.

Council performed the departmental priority surveys at the June 14, 2023 Council meeting. The results have been compiled into this report.

The six-week Flagstaff Fitness Challenge started June 21, 2023. We urge you to rise to the challenge!

Watch for your Tax & Assessment Notice in the mail. All notices were mailed Wednesday, May 31, 2023. If you have not received your notice by Monday, June 19, 2023, please contact our office at 780-384-4100.

In last month’s column, I discussed the history, behaviours, and life cycle of the coyote, as it is crucial information for understanding how to control them. With a growing coyote population, it has raised concerns about their impact on livestock, pets, and human safety for rural, and urban residents.

At our 2023 Flagstaff County Public Input Open House, we asked County residents to rank priorities for a number of departments. Please go ahead and complete the brief priority-ranking surveys for each department.

Coyotes are a canine species that are native to North America and can be devastating for livestock producers and rural residents. Coyotes can cause a loss of animals, typically during calving season that can cause financial strain and impact to producers’ bottom line.