July of 1962 was a historic month for the Town of St. Albert. Having been ordered to rescind its New Town status earlier in the year and subsequently holding an election in late June to replace the Board of Administrators that had run the town to date, the town’s first elected officials were sworn into office.
Mayor William Veness took the oath of office on July 3 and welcomed all six elected councillors — J. de Bruijn, D. Stewart, L. Wheating, W. Skrobot, B. Montpetit and E. Powell — to their first meeting on that same day.
“Let the people who have chosen us have confidence in us,” Veness said. “Our first duty should be to become acquainted with every facet of the town administration.”
The first council, however, did not sit long before a minor scandal arose. At one of its first meetings, the town’s secretary-manager Gordon Parkes suddenly handed a letter of resignation to council. When asked why he had done so, Parkes replied that, given the new council and his previous position with the Board of Administrators, he felt the offices of mayor and secretary-manager were now in conflict and that that kind of system would not work well in St. Albert. Council at first asked Parkes to withdraw his resignation but they later accepted it. Parkes would go on to run for council in later years, though unsuccessfully.
With its town status assured, St. Albert started to grow. In July of 1963 it issued a development permit for a nursing home for senior citizens. The 128-bed facility would be located in the Glenview District, cost $700,000 and employ 60 people. With growth, however, came quirks. One family, who was never identified in the Gazette, petitioned council to have their house number, which was a 13, changed to an 11A because of “continuous bad luck for their family.” Council approved their request. At the same meeting and after much debate, council also issued the development permit for the town’s first liquor store.
The town’s first fire hall had been approved the previous year and now it was ready to open. Though the entire town was invited to check out the volunteer brigade’s new digs, a torrential downpour meant only a few intrepid individuals bothered showing. And that wasn’t limited to the public — only one member of council made the trip. The public, however, was much more enthusiastic about one of its new schools, named for Leo Nickerson, the local Cubmaster who had died trying to save some of his Cubs from drowning at Lake Wabamun. Nickerson’s widow, only ever identified as Mrs. L.M. Nickerson, attended the ceremony where the school’s cornerstone was officially laid.
While new fire halls might not have drawn much public attention, elections did. In 1965 nearly 400 people turned out for a civic election debate hosted by the town’s chamber of commerce one week prior to the vote. It was also rodeo time and, unfortunately for the city, unknown vandals attacked the rodeo grounds the week before the event was set to take place. Several small booths were knocked over and torn apart, as were the bleachers set up for spectators. No arrests were ever made. The electorate, however, recovered enough to elect Dick Fowler for his first term as mayor.
The following July saw St. Albert, not for the first time, suffer at the hands of the City of Edmonton. Due to water shortages, the city was able to invoke a clause in its agreement with the Town of St. Albert to limit water pumping. While the town’s pumps normally ran all day for seven days a week, Edmonton notified the town the pumps would only be available for six hours a day. Within days the town’s reservoir volume had fallen to only 10 feet, prompting the town to issue a ban on watering lawns and gardens. But there was good news too — St. Albert was finally getting its hockey rink. The city selected Nollan Construction to build the covered, natural ice arena. The price, which had been agreed upon in advance, was never disclosed.
July of 1968 — actually almost all of 1968 — was dominated by talk of amalgamation. A special debate involving all of the town’s councillors laying out their positions on the pros and cons of joining Edmonton drew a standing-room-only crowd. The result was a vote that dictated the town would hold a plebiscite on the issue, if not by the October municipal election, then no later than Jan. 31 of the following year. Residents were also trying to figure out how to stay in touch with friends and family as a postal strike crippled the area, shutting down the post office and all mail sorting and delivery.
The following year was further proof the town was growing and aging. The town learned from the Edmonton and Rural Auxiliary Hospital and Nursing Home District that it would be the newest host to a 100-bed auxiliary hospital, if a suitable location could be found. The district argued that, between this new hospital, Youville Home and the Sturgeon General Hospital, which was under construction, the town could offer high-quality care with the costs evenly distributed between the three facilities. Construction of the Sturgeon General was still under way, scheduled to open the following August. But it was the local health unit that was suffering the most. Due to several municipalities falling several months behind on their bills to the Sturgeon Health Unit, the board was literally broke until one municipality finally paid its debt. Regardless, the unit was still staring at a $20,000 deficit and turned to the province for more grant money to help offset their costs.
In July 1970, the province had already announced the construction of its fourth university, located three miles outside St. Albert. Now they finally had a name for it, although it left people scratching their heads as to its inspiration — Athabasca University. Furthermore, former mayor Fowler was named to the interim governing authority. One year later in July, St. Albert’s own Lois Hole and James Langevis were named to one-year terms on the same board.
By July of 1972 St. Albert was under the watch of a coroner’s jury. The jury had been convened following a May 21 fireworks show that set a tent on fire in St. Albert, resulting in an unspecified number of deaths and many injuries. The inquest finally made its recommendation — that St. Albert prohibit the sale of firecrackers and fireworks to people of any age except those who were authorized to use them. The city had already taken action. Only 10 days after the incident, town council had passed a bylaw prohibiting the sale, transport or use of fireworks within the town’s boundaries. The town also received some regional recognition courtesy of one of its residents. Gordon Rees of St. Albert won his category in the EXPORT A KINGS Beard-Growing Contest at Edmonton’s Klondike Days. After pocketing $50 for the win, Rees went on to take on the winners of the other four division, beating all of them, albeit by a hair. He won the overall title, $125 and a kiss from that year’s Klondike Kate for his victory.
