Resident Boards and Committee appointments confirmed by council

Chestermere City Council approved the appointments of city residents to the 2017 community boards and committees at the Dec. 19 council meeting.
“We have some residents who really enjoy the committee they serve on and reapply every year,” said Chestermere Mayor Patricia Matthews.
Chestermerians are selected based on applications filled out on the city website.
The boards are usually filled by the year end deadlines, although for new committees they do have to occasionally look for more volunteers.
“It’s rare that the City needs to put out a call for more applications past the deadline at the end of the year but it does happen, mostly with new committees that are just getting off the ground,” said Matthews.
The purpose of these boards and committees is to provide recommendations to council and to engage with city residents.
“Residents appointed to committees act to bring perspectives and in some cases expertise to the committees to which they are appointed,” said Matthews, “they offer a resident voice to the mandates for the committee as set out by Council.”
She said that these boards and committees are a great way for Chestermere residents to get involved in shaping and guiding the future development of the community through feedback or recommendations to council.
By engaging residents, council is presented with unique and different points of view that aren’t necessarily offered by city staff or councilors.
“Their voice is very important and this is one way for people to get involved in how our City evolves,” said Matthews.
There are many different roles available on the committee’s dependent upon the purpose of the committee.
Some of these boards are legislated, such as the Planning Commission, some fulfill a quasi-judicial role, like the Subdivision Appeal Board, others are advisory like the Human Services Board.
Finally, some of the committees are working committees for project designs and implementation on a smaller scale such as the Lakefront Parks Committee.
Matthews encourages anyone who is interested in serving on the community boards and making an impact in the community to apply to a committee that interests them.
Details on all the committees can be found at https://ab-chestermere.civicplus.com/Index.aspx?NID=144.