Business View Civil & Municipal - May 2023

138 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 5 La Biche County works with entities such as Metis Crossing, and Portage College to promote these unique offerings throughout the region. “Beaver Lake Cree Nation and Heart Lake First Nations host a number of powwows. We have comfort camping out at Churchill where you can camp in tipis. We have hideaway adventure grounds in Kikino, which is a Metis Cultural experience and camping opportunity, and Indigenous Spirit Creations, a store of indigenous crafts available at our Friendship center,” she conveys. Supporting and attracting local businesses is another priority of Lac La Biche County, and a recent grant from PrairiesCan will help in this initiative. “With this grant we collaborated with Tourism Cafe and Seekers Media, to provide training to the tourism sector businesses and providers,” Stromquist elaborates. “Recently we were at Metis Crossing for several days providing that training to them, and talking about ways to collaborate to create a visitor corridor in our area with surrounding communities that would direct tourists to our communities, as a way to work together to draw that market.” The mayor adds that the council is pro- development, noting, “As far as attracting other businesses, if there’s interest that comes in, Heather and her team work very closely with them, identifying lands or utilities and permits, whatever it might be to accommodate the business. We’ve got the infrastructure in place, it’s just a matter of assisting businesses in locating and transitioning.” On the infrastructure side, the county has taken a proactive approach, investing heavily in upgrades from fiber to utilities, putting everything in place for future growth. Reutov maintains, “Right now, it is a matter of reaching out, and we’re actively reaching out to existing industry, and new industry as well. We are not just sitting back and waiting for people to come to us, we’re going out there, hoping to attract and actively engage.” A four-block main street revitalization project is also underway, with the first section completed in 2021, and the others over the next three years. This will include the replacement of 70-year- old water and sewer infrastructure, and the beautification of the streetscape, adding to the attractiveness for potential businesses and those who come to the area to shop. Sustainability is another priority in Lac La Biche, which has one of the most modern sewage plants in the province. Chief Administrative Officer, Dan Small, relays that the municipality is also looking to install EV charging stations, and a new aquatic center will recycle heat from two county arenas. “These are things that are sustainable, but they’re also good business, they save money,” he asserts. “We have to start somewhere. 10 years from now, these will all be things that we’ve been doing for years and taking for granted.” As for residential, the county is looking at developing some of the areas around the Bold Center, a community recreation facility, creating an ideal housing option for busy families. Stromquist recounts, “We could have high- density housing opportunities for families, where maybe they wouldn’t need to have two