A Year in Review

Jamie Kramble – Economic Development Officer

For everything there is a season, A time for every activity under heaven.

It has certainly been a year of changes. As the seasons went from sunny hot summer days to winters icy bite, we as a county have also seen significant change.

At the Economic Development group there have been changes as well.  Our long-serving Economic Development Officer Patrick Earl left to pursue the next phase of his life on Vancouver Island. While we will miss him and his skill in graphic design and marketing, we will carry on, albeit with a slightly different focus and skill set. We continue to work hard to increase our capacity to attract businesses to the county that will provide well-paying employment opportunities for residents and broaden our municipal tax base.

Some of our recent initiatives include the implementation of a municipal tax incentive for large investors, production of attractive presentation folders and contents, numerous meetings with interested investors in the areas of grain processing, energy, and building materials, and continued work on marketing and technology tools such as the WC Mercantile (https://infinitewc.ca/wc-mercantile/), WC Experiences (https://infinitewc.ca/wc-experiences/ ), the realtor portal (https://infinitewc.wheatlandcounty.ca/realtor-connect-registration/) and ongoing posts on our social media. We also have an ongoing project to install new welcome signs on major transportation routes that will give the county a welcome facelift this summer.

As an acknowledgement that we are part of a larger team, we continue to build relationships with the Government of Alberta, Strathmore and Wheatland Chamber of Commerce, Community Futures Wild Rose, and Town of Strathmore. The chamber and Community Futures in particular have helped us immensely in programming to serve local businesses. Internally, our Team Wheatland comprised of planners, assessors, and technical services folks has been invaluable.

There is a cycle to most things in life. If you remember back to high school science classes, in nature we have the carbon cycle, our CO₂ (a vital ingredient of life) is recycled by plants to ensure the survival of the planet. In life we also progress as we age and mature, increasing our life experience and skills. Sometimes we substitute one activity for another as our life priorities change. As a county we are also maturing, and the work done to date has increased our capacity to attract investment and grow. We thank Patrick for the systems and designs he has contributed. We already have a newly designed county logo, soon we will see new welcome signs for the county, and the Infinite WC website he created will be expanded and refined.

Undoubtedly, we will see many more changes in the upcoming year, including we hope a long-awaited return to a fully-opened economy. Wheatland will continue to “move the needle”, working on and refining our processes and systems, thinking about lessons learned, working with investors, and trying to focus on the things that make the most impact. We truly strive to live up to our slogan “Wheatland County is Open for Business!”