Museum Receives $100,000 - The Brooks and District Museum has received a $100,000 endowment held through the Community Foundation of Southeastern Alberta. The principal will remain in place permanently, while the interest earned can be used for museum improvements. The first $10,680 in interest has already been used to help replace display cases at a total cost of $21,202.

CPO at JBS? - City of Brooks Council approved the creation of one Community Peace Officer (CPO) position to address increasing incidents at the JBS Canada Centre and traffic safety. Recent issues have included vandalism, causing temporary washroom closures, multiple teen fights, trespassing by persons known to RCMP, and policy violations requiring de-escalation. Multiple solution options have been explored. Providing a visible presence during peak evening hours would allow for quicker response and preventative engagement.

Communities in Bloom - are considering relocating metal wind sculptures installed around the City to the Museum’s Rose Garden area. The group also decided not to compete in Communities in Bloom judging this year, but will continue working on projects around the community. Planning for the year’s activities will take place at the next meeting in March.

Garden Loft Living for Seniors - The Newell Foundation Board continues working on the Garden Loft project for seniors’ independent living in Bassano. The project will include ten modular housing units. Land transfers and funding from the Alberta government are currently in progress. Board members also travelled to Calgary to see the modular building units being constructed.

Baseball Diamond Use - Representatives from the Brooks Minor Baseball Association met with Council to discuss upkeep of the city’s baseball diamonds. Volunteers from several local baseball groups have held work bees to clean, paint, and repair the fields. BMBA raised concerns about non-local teams using the diamonds without contributing to maintenance and asked whether policies exist to address the issue. Local groups currently use the fields without fees in recognition of the volunteer labour they contribute for upkeep.

Seniors Leaving Duchess - The Newell Housing Foundation heard from a delegation from the Village of Duchess about the need for seniors housing in their community. Currently, there are only four self-contained seniors housing units in Duchess. As a result, many seniors must leave the community when they can no longer live independently. Village representatives said they would like to partner with the Foundation to explore building additional seniors housing units in Duchess. The Village has land available that could potentially be used for a future project.

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