City and the Region

New addresses for Riverview Park and College Park properties 


Riverview Park and College Park residents are getting new house numbers, street names and mailing addresses when the City re-addresses these neighbourhoods as of July 4.

“New addresses are needed to ensure properties in both neighbourhoods are quickly and easily located by emergency services and other City departments,” said Tony Woods, GIS supervisor. “It is mostly about safety and service delivery, but the benefit is twofold because it also gives us an opportunity to connect the people and places in our community.”

Riverview Park and College Park properties will get a new civic address that serves as both their physical and mailing address. This change will not impact how they receive mail with all residents in these areas continuing to pick up mail at the same community mailbox where they currently get mail.

Canada post will reroute misaddressed mail for up to six months at no cost to the resident or property owner, and The City of Red Deer will reimburse property owners up to $500 for costs associated with readdressing their property.

Address changes in both neighbourhoods are needed as a result of annexation. Riverview Park was annexed into the city in 2009, and College Park was annexed into the city in 2004.

Residents and property owners must ensure they notify billing agents and service providers about their address change.

They must also change their driver’s license and vehicle registration to reflect their new address.

Recycle used cell phones

Several locations in Red Deer are accepting used cell phones as the province launches a recycling program.

Currently, 15% of cell phones in Alberta are collected for recycling. For each device returned through the program, a donation will also be made to participating charities, including the World Wildlife Fund, Tree Canada and Food Banks Canada.

The Recycle my Cell website contains information on how to recycle used cell phones, and includes a list of 574 drop-off locations in 78 communities across Alberta. Once collected, used cell phones and equipment are refurbished or recycled to create other products.

The goal of the Recycle My Cell program is to raise awareness about the importance of cell phone recycling and to keep handsets from entering Canada’s landfills. This free program is organized by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) in conjunction with cell phone service providers, handset manufacturers and recycling companies.

Drop-off centres can be found online at www.recyclemycell.ca or by calling 1-888-797-1740.

Reinforcing Central Alberta’s electric system

Central Alberta has grown by more than 100,000 people in the last 50 years yet the majority of the electric transmission system in the area hasn’t been upgraded to keep up with demand, say officials with AltaLink.

To that end, AltaLink is working on reinforcing the grid between the Wetaskiwin and Didsbury areas.

“The transmission system in the area needs to be reinforced to keep pace with the growing demand for electricity,” says Robin Boschman with AltaLink. “In the last 50 years not only has the population increased, technology has advanced and the way we use electricity is different.

“All of this puts increasing strain on the system.”

The Red Deer Area Transmission Development is a series of reinforcements that includes upgrading substations, rebuilding existing transmission lines, building new transmission facilities and removing transmission lines.

Consultation with stakeholders began this spring and will continue through to 2013.

Construction of the first stage of the project could begin in 2012, if approved by the Alberta Utilities Commission.

More information about the project and upcoming consultation opportunities can be found online at www.altalink.ca/reddeer.

Councillor Paul Harris elected to the board of FCM 


City councillor Paul Harris was recently elected to the board of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) at its annual convention in Halifax.

“The FCM is a national voice for municipal government, and I feel honoured to be elected to a board where I can affect change on a national level,” said Harris. “Municipalities need strong and active representation, and this gives me an opportunity to advocate for the needs of the province, Red Deer and central Alberta.”

With more than 2,000 members, FCM represents the interest of municipalities on policy and program matters that fall within federal jurisdiction.

Members include Canada’s largest cities, small urban and rural communities, and 21 provincial and territorial municipal associations.

The FCM board is made up of representatives from regions all across the country, and Harris is just one of Alberta’s representatives on the board.

“What a great opportunity collaborate, advocate and fully participate in Canada’s economy and community health in a global context.”

Collicutt Centre marks 10 years

The Collicutt Centre is celebrating its 10th birthday with weeklong celebrations for all Red Deerians.

Today the Collicutt Centre celebrates its 10th birthday and, in recognition of this milestone, is hosting a variety of free special activities from June 13 through June 18.

“Since our opening we have served millions of customers, and hosting free special activities is our way of saying thanks for playing with us,” said Barb McKee, Collicutt supervisor.

“From preschoolers to seniors, we are offering activities throughout the entire facility to make you move.”

Admission is free to the special activities, while regular admission applies to the rest of the facility.

For a complete listing of the free special activities, please visit www.reddeer.ca/collicuttcentre.

RDC instructors honoured

The role leadership plays at Red Deer College has been recognized by the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) in awards bestowed upon Dr. Gerry Paradis and Steven Kwasny.

The pair accepted their awards recently at an annual conference for ACCC in Edmonton.

Dr. Gerry Paradis received the ACCC Leadership Excellence Silver Award. Over the past 36 years, Paradis has contributed to the success of RDC in many capacities.

He has been an instructor and an academic dean in various divisions.

His leadership and work in preparation for degree-granting status has positioned RDC for its future and will have a lasting impact on the institution, while his understanding and development of a strategic planning process for RDC is a model often used by other institutions.

Steven Kwasny, past president for the Students’ Association at RDC (2009-2011), and university transfer student in the Bachelor of Arts, Political Science program, was awarded the ACCC Student Leadership Excellence Gold Award.

As SA president, Kwasny has raised the profile of the SA and the needs of students represented within RDC, the City and the province.

Throughout his two years as SA president at RDC, Steven spent time mentoring high school student leaders, attending town halls, and volunteering in the community.

City pilots H2O education program 


Environmental Services is hosting a one-day water education school program pilot at the Water Treatment Plant.

This program is designed for Grade 8 students and is not your typical tour of the Water Treatment Plant; the program is designed to promote environmental education while teaching important lessons about water.

“This pilot program will hopefully be a very powerful learning tool for the students,” said Nathalie Viau, performance reporting coordinator, Environmental Services. “The idea is that this hands-on approach to their current studies will have an impact at home, and as they grow into adults they will know the impact of water conservation in their community.”

The students will tour the plant and stop at six learning stations where they will find out about the water treatment processes through demonstrations and experiments.

This learning experience is designed to compliment the Grade 8 science curriculum and to create awareness about the importance of conserving and protecting our water.

Like many communities in Alberta and throughout Canada, Red Deer has adopted an area-wide, proactive water consumption awareness program that ensures residents are working together to conserve water during the summer months.

For more information on water conservation, visit www.reddeer.ca.

Hospitals’ Lottery early bird winners

A Calgary couple has received a surprise 37th wedding anniversary present from the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation. They are the lucky winners of the Early Bird prize in Hospitals’ Home Lottery 2011.

Deborah Nycholat’s name was on the winning ticket and was told she had won the prize package of a 2011 Prime Time Tracer 2600 RLS Trailer and 2011 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT or $57,500 cash. She and husband Ed are celebrating their 37th anniversary June 8 and have decided to take the cash.

The early bird prize is one of 469 prizes worth more than $1 million retail offered in Hospitals’ Home Lottery.

For the third year in a row the Lottery has partnered with True-Line Contracting Ltd. to offer an elegant Dream Home as the grand prize. The $708,009 home has 2400 square feet of developed living space with large rooms, nine-foot ceilings and tile and cork flooring. It is in Red Deer’s neighbourhood of Southbrook.

The lottery goal this year is to help connect innovation with caring through the purchase of 18 new bedside monitors for the Intensive Care Unit at the Red Deer Regional Hospital. They will give clinicians the ability to virtually monitor multiple patients no matter where they are located in the Central Zone.

The final draw will be held June 24.

-compiled by Mark Weber