Season's Greetings from the Reeve

As I look back on 2024, I am once again in awe of all our community has achieved this year. I feel privileged to call Saddle Hills County my home and grateful for the many wonderful people throughout the County, without whom many of these accomplishments wouldn’t have been possible.

2024 was an exciting year, in which we saw some long-term projects finally come to fruition. Project Aurora, which will bring affordable high-speed fiber internet to the County, with free hook-ups, was launched at the beginning of the year, thanks to a collaboration with Canadian Fiber Optics and funding from the Provincial and Federal governments. The project is one of the biggest of its kind and we are proud to be one of the first rural municipalities in the world to bring fiber internet service of this scale to a typically underserviced area. Thanks to the work of our partners at Northern Lights Fiber, the labour-intensive backbone of the initial project scope is complete and properties within the Hamlet of Woking have already been connected to, and are reaping the benefits of, this service.

Another milestone for the year, was the June opening of the greatly anticipated Saddle Hills County Health Clinic - a feat which would not have been possible without the hard work of both Administration and Nurse Practitioner, Palvi Sharma. Palvi’s dedication to creating a space where local residents could have their healthcare needs met in a timely and caring manner is unparalleled, and we are grateful that she has chosen to make the Peace Region her home. Alongside this, we also saw the completion of the new Pleasant View Lodge senior housing facility in Spirit River. We hope that the combination of these projects, as well as the other services offered by Saddle Hills County, will mean that families are able to stay together in their home communities, receiving the vital care they need and retaining the way of life that we all enjoy.

With a focus on future prosperity, the County also continued to expand our Rural Potable Water Network, with over 150 connections and 320 km of pipeline installed to date. We also saw progress on the G5’s collaborative Central Peace Regional Water Project, receiving additional funds from the Provincial government in order to make this dream a reality. Work has now begun on the Peace River intake and we look forward to seeing the developments on this exciting project in the upcoming year.

With the strength of these achievements behind us, Council is excited to head into the new year and share the many new projects and initiatives the County will be working on in 2025. We look forward to another bright year ahead. 

On behalf of the Council and staff of Saddle Hills County, I would like to extend our best wishes this holiday season and wish all a prosperous and joyful new year. 

Kristen Smith

Reeve