A reality television show that could see Lacombe residents managing municipal services to save money is raising some concerns from Mayor Steve Christie.
Christie, speaking during Monday night’s break of a city council meeting, said that council has asked to meet with the producers from Force Four Entertainment in advance of a town hall meeting.
But he said the producers have refused to meet with leaders ahead of the 7 p.m. meeting on Dec. 5 at the Lacombe Memorial Centre. The meeting is being held to gauge the interest of the community and answer any questions.
“We have a lack of information,” said Christie.
“But as far as reality TV goes, I can’t see it being a good thing, either way for a community. Nice neighbours getting along, that doesn’t sell.”
Lacombe and the Town of Penhold have been shortlisted for the show, which revolves around residents being given the opportunity to manage municipal services for themselves, like snow removal, to see how much money could be saved. A name for the show hasn’t been released.
Coun. Peter Bouwsema said the Dec. 5 meeting should provide a lot of answers to council’s concerns and any others from the public.
“I want to know how it’s going to work and how are they really going to make it going to happen,” said Bouwsema.
“I understand there’s some funding which cannot come from the municipality, but from the television production company.”
Coun. Grant Creasey said he thinks that Lacombe being profiled on national television would be positive.
“It might be interesting,” he added. “I look forward to receiving more information about the project.”
l First reading was given to amend the dog control bylaw. One amendment concerns having no more than three dogs in a household, as opposed to the administration recommendation of six. Anyone with more than three dogs now would be grandfathered into the bylaw, so they wouldn’t have to get rid of their dogs.
ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com