The 60th Anniversary of Lethbridge County was one of the biggest highlights of 2024 for the municipality’s top politician.
Reeve Tory Campbell says it was exciting to be part of the milestone celebration. According to Campbell one of the biggest takeaways from the anniversary events is the community’s history and the humble beginnings it all started from. He explains when you “start unpeeling the onion” it is amazing to see how many people have someone they know who is related to someone who has worked for the county or served on county council.
“It’s just fun to really look back and see how the history changed from those initial beginnings, how that’s evolved over time when, you know, the council of the day decided to move into Lethbridge to house their administrative building,” Campbell says.
He adds along with the move of the administrative building into the city, other historical highlights include the county being incorporated as a municipality in 1964, with the MD of Lethbridge No. 25 and the Lethbridge School Districts No. 7 amalgamating to create the County of Lethbridge No. 26. Fast forward roughly 31 years when the Palliser School Division was formed in 1995 and more recently the municipalities name change a decade ago to Lethbridge County.
A pair of anniversary events were held throughout the county to mark the 60th anniversary, with one in Shaughnessy and the other at the McNally Community Association. Campbell says one of the best parts of these events was seeing the public come out and take part to “acknowledge our past, where we came from and where we’re heading.”
Looking forward to 2025, Campbell says council has put a real focus on moving forward in a sustainable way through the budgeting process by increasing contributions to reserves to ensure funding for future projects “because we know how costs are escalating.”
“We want to try and be as future-ready as we can,” Campbell says. “Also a big priority for 2025 is [focusing on] the customer experience and customer service.”
Campbell says this includes investigating how the municipality can streamline processes and make it easier for residents “to interact with us, to provide feedback, to do business with us?” He explains this includes some real enhancements on the administrative side and council working on being more nimble and proactive when it comes to reacting to feedback they are receiving.
He adds council also will be focusing on building on the county’s asset management strategy, by figuring out the most effective and efficient ways to use community assets.
