Council Highlights: March 23, 2026

Catch Council on Monday, March 23?
 
Here are some highlights:
 
➡ Travis Horne, President of Municipal Assessment Services Group Inc., gave a presentation on the 2025 assessment of properties in Peace River. Trends show 89.29% of properties’ assessment stayed within plus or minus five per cent from 2024 assessed values. You can see the whole report in the agenda package.
 
➡ Five community groups presented their case to receive funding under Council’s Grants to Organizations program. They included Community Futures Peace Country, seeking $5,000 for the SongRise Music Conference; Peace Regional Hockey Tour U16 Grizzly Bears, seeking $1,000 for a hockey trip to Sweden and Finland; Peace River Boating Association, seeking $10,000 for the Peace River Gold Cup; Peace River Tririver Triathlon, seeking $8,000 for the Tririver Triathlon; and Peace River Wahoos Winter Swim Club, seeking $1,900 for their annual invitational swim meet.
 
➡ Council defeated a request to waive $2,866.96 in property tax penalties related to unpaid taxes, as the circumstances did not meet the criteria outlined in the Town’s Tax Penalty Cancellation Policy, which guides when exceptions may be considered.
 
➡ Council approved the Community Organization Property Tax Exemption Regulation (COPTER) applications for Care Human Services and Canadian Mental Health Association for the 2026 Tax Year.
 
➡ Council adopted an updated Community Peace Officer Policy to align with provincial requirements and support the reestablished program. Detailed operational procedures will now be maintained internally, allowing for more efficient updates.
 
➡ Chief Administrative Officer Barb Miller provided an updated from the 2025 Municipal Election, stating that all candidates in the election had filed their campaign disclosure statements on time, meaning no further action is necessary and the paperwork behind the election is finished.
 
➡ CAO Miller also updated Council on the pause of the Rural Renewal Stream program. As the Government of Canada is significantly reducing immigration, these federal changes have impacted provincial immigration programs, including the Rural Renewal Stream administered by the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP). AAIP significantly reduced the number of candidates a designated community such as Peace River can support. Based on directives at both the federal and provincial levels, the Town had to pause the program for the remainder of 2026. An evaluation will be done at the end of 2026 to determine next steps for the 2027 intake. To help mitigate impacts on local employers, administration is exploring additional initiatives. An update will be provided in the coming months.
 
➡ Council appointed Mayor Shelly Shannon and Deputy Mayor Brad Carr as Council's representatives on an ad hoc regional airport committee, along with the CAO as Council's administrative representative.
 
➡ Council indicated their support for a one-year extension to the ICF Agreement between the Town of Peace River and MD of Peace No. 135, to March 31, 2027, with all other terms of the agreement remaining the same, and directed Administration to write MD of Peace seeking their consent for such extension.