The Village of Carbon and Kneehill County have reached an agreement that will mutually benefit both municipalities.
The pair have agreed to a pilot program which will see the Village contract Kneehill County for the services of a CAO on a part-time basis.
Carbon Mayor Travis Cormier explains currently they have an interim CAO. In this agreement, they would have a part-time CAO who would spend approximately three days working for the village.
“They (Kneehill) need a new position filled. But they are not ready for a person full-time yet. So we made an agreement with them, they are going to hire the person, and we will have them three days a week as our CAO,” he said, adding they hope to have a person in place by March to succeed their current interim CAO Jeanette Austin.
Kneehill County Council approved the agreement at their January 28 meeting.
With the agreement, the person will be employed by Kneehill, but the county is not in charge of the village, and it remains an independent entity. While serving in the capacity of CAO, the employee is to act in the best interest of the village, even if it is in opposition to the position of the county.
The village would also be responsible for costs directly related to village activities such as attending conferences. The contract is for two years, and Mayor Cormier sees it as a positive.
“It's good for us because we can piggyback on the knowledge from Kneehill County and CAO Mike Haugen,” said Cormier.
He adds this helps them fill a need that right now proves difficult.
“With the Viability Study potential, it’s hard to advertise for a full-time CAO and then tell them in the interview if the viability study goes wrong, you going to be out of a job,” he said. “With viability study coming we thought it was our best option.”

    Dr. Caleb Brown from the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology is the lead author of a recently published paper revealing an ancient crocodilian bite.
    The fossilised neck bone of a flying reptile unearthed in Canada shows tell-tale signs of being bitten by a crocodile-like creature 76 million years ago, according to a new study published Thursday, January 23 in the Journal of Palaeontology.
    The juvenile pterosaur vertebra, discovered in Dinosaur Provincial Park, approximately 170 kilometres southeast of Drumheller, bears a circular four-millimetre-wide puncture mark from a crocodilian tooth. Researchers from the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, the University of Reading (UK) and the University of New England (Australia) say this rare evidence provides insight into predator-prey dynamics in the region during the Cretaceous Period.  
    The discovery was made during an international field course that took place in July 2023, led by Dr. Brian Pickles from the University of Reading.
    Dr. Caleb Brown from the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology is the lead author of the paper.
    “Pterosaur bones are very delicate - so finding fossils where another animal has clearly taken a bite is exceptionally uncommon. This specimen being a juvenile makes it even more rare,” said Brown.
    Dinosaur Provincial Park has produced some of the most important dinosaur fossil discoveries ever made.
    The punctured vertebra belongs to a young Azhdarchid pterosaur (Cryodrakon boreas), with an estimated wingspan of two metres. Adults of this species would have been as tall as a giraffe with a wingspan in the region of 10 metres.
    The researchers used micro-CT scans and comparisons with other pterosaur bones to confirm the puncture is not a result of damage during fossilisation or excavation, but an actual bite.
    Dr. Brian Pickles from the University of Reading and co-author of the paper said, “Bite traces help to document species interactions from this period. We can’t say if the pterosaur was alive or dead when it was bitten but the specimen shows that crocodilians occasionally preyed on, or scavenged, juvenile pterosaurs in prehistoric Alberta over 70 million years ago.”
    The paper also shows that this new bone documents the first evidence in North America of ancient crocodilians opportunistically feeding on these giant prehistoric flying reptiles.
    Other examples of Azhdarchid bones with possible crocodilian bites have previously been found in Romania.

photo courtesy The Royal  Tyrrell Museum