The Village of Hussar has been wrestling with the question of whether it was viable and able to remain a village for more than three years.
The village undertook a viability study to take a very close look at its assets and operations to see whether it had the ability to remain an autonomous village or to become part of Wheatland County.
Residents received a message from the Honourable Shayne Anderson, Minister of Municipal Affairs, that he has deemed the village as viable.
“I have made the decision that the Village of Hussar will remain as a municipality at this time,” states the letter.
It has been a long road to get to this point. The viability study was initiated in April of 2015, and a Viability Team made up of stakeholders was formed in July. The village undertook an infrastructure audit.
In June of 2018, the completed Viability Report was presented to residents. It laid out options faced by Hussar if it were to remain a village and options if it were to dissolve and become part of Wheatland County.
Mayor Tim Frank previously told the Mail, since the ordering of the study one positive outcome already is the village was able to secure a grant to assess the village’s entire infrastructure and develop a 10-year plan to address emergent infrastructure needs.
“Now we know every inch of every pipe and we have a plan to fix it all, and a plan that probably won’t involve taking out any debentures whatsoever,” said Frank. “We probably addressed three-quarters of the issues the infrastructure group flagged as they were happening. We were super proactive.”
On October 2, the Minister shared his decision that the village remain a municipality. This, however, comes with providing oversight to make sure the community follows a path that will secure its future.
“To ensure the village implements the necessary changes to achieve viability. I have directed the village council and administration to take actions to ensure the viability of the village. The village is directed to develop an action plan as to how council will address each recommendation in the viability plan, to develop a long-term infrastructure plan, and to report to my ministry over a five-year period on the progress of the plan,” states the Minister’s letter.
