SPUR has officially received $150,000 from the Town to start implementing the Cochrane Sustainability Plan. The Sustainable Partners Uniting Resources group (SPUR) received the  funding from Town’s operational reserves Jan. 25.

The Town hopes when the Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) applications come forward it can replenish the reserves.

Mayor Truper McBride said with the appointment of a new municipal affairs minister, Hector Goudreau, it will be interesting to see if the long-term MSI infrastructure fund will be affected when the province is looking to tighten its budget.

“The objective is to be sustainable ourselves,” said SPUR co-chair Valerie McCracken, adding while they may seek additional partnering or funding from the town they will not be asking for $150,000 every year.

For now the town is on the hook for $150,000, and SPUR plans to spend that money on seven different areas.

The first is asset evaluation, or creating an inventory of the community assets that already exists — like environmental groups — to better support the key organizations and individuals that are moving the community forward.

Secondly, plan a celebration for the Cochrane Sustainability Plan (CSP) to better help community engagement and recognize achievements.

Communications is the third area, letting people know what the CSP is about — including a new website.

This follows closely with the fourth action of engaging citizens.

The fifth is organizing the administrative side of SPUR, a non-profit society.

The sixth is making progress reports throughout the year to make sure they are on track.

And the last is starting on projects, like supporting a community garden project in late spring.

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