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Dignitaries to open new Blackfalds Protective Services building Friday

Alberta’s lieutenant-governor will be joined by three provincial and federal elected government members in helping open the Town of Blackfalds Protective Services building on Friday.
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Wesley Foat

Alberta’s lieutenant-governor will be joined by three provincial and federal elected government members in helping open the Town of Blackfalds Protective Services building on Friday.

Lt.-Gov. Donald Ethell will team with Alberta Solicitor General and Minister of Public Security Frank Oberle and MP Blaine Calkins in opening the building at 1 p.m.

Lacombe-Ponoka MLA Ray Prins will be joined by Blackfalds Mayor Melodie Stol and various Alberta RCMP commanders, Central Alberta fire chiefs and other municipal leaders for the ceremony at the new building on South Street and Vista Trail near Hwy 597 and Hwy 2.

Public tours run from 2-7 p.m.

The Blackfalds Fire Department, which is moving into the building, will conduct a barbecue in support of Victim Services from 5 to 7 p.m.

A business owner will tell you that location is one of the keys to success. That’s exactly the case for the building, which will also house about 18 rural Mounties and five or six Blackfalds municipal police officers.

RCMP response times will be greatly enhanced, says detachment commander Staff Sgt. Gordon Glasgow.

He said earlier tests were run on response times from the rural detachment’s current location on 55th Street in Red Deer and from the new site in Blackfalds, and the latter was quicker.

He said the excellent location gives quick access to major and secondary highways.

The project, which saw groundbreaking last September, is coming in under the pre-tender estimate of $7.1 million.

The tender was awarded to Shunda Consulting and Construction Management Ltd. for $5.3 million. The 14-acre plot was purchased by the town for $1.7 million, but only five or six acres were used for the building.

Blackfalds Fire/Rescue fire chief Steven Woodrow said earlier the new site was ideal because his crews would no longer be stuck at the train tracks waiting for trains to go by when they’re responding to a call, as sometimes occurs now from the old base.