Al Heron receives Lifetime Membership Award

By Adrienne Mason
agemason@gmail.com

Al Heron, the Town of Eston’s former Mayor, recently received a Lifetime Membership Award from the Municipalities of Saskatchewan Board of Directors (formerly Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association). The M of S convention and tradeshow is usually held in February in Regina, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021’s convention was virtual. M of S held a special presentation in honour of Heron’s many years of dedication to the communities of Saskatchewan.

Heron was elected about 16 years ago to be the SUMA West Central Regional director. To be in this position, one had to also be a municipal councillor, which Heron had recently been elected. The director position also came with the responsibility of being a SUMA board member.

“It would have been about 2004 that I was elected in West Central to be the SUMA rep. You then get appointed to different committees. One was the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency; also the Doctors admission committee, which I thought was very important.”

One of Heron’s most significant accomplishments was helping to create SUMAssure. During an interview, Heron mentioned that “I made the suggestion that SUMA should be insuring itself. (Instead of going to a different agency.) In my first year on council in Eston, they tendered the insurance for the Town. But when we tendered, it started at a certain amount and went up by almost 50% each year, and the contract was for three years. Clients had no control over what they could pay. I suggested that we start SUMAssure. It took about 4 or 5 years, and now, the Town’s insurance is not that much different than what we were paying 12 years ago.”

When SUMAssure started, SUMA had about 124 municipalities within their association. Now they have over 230. “We had over 20 new memberships even in the past year (because of the pandemic), as municipalities are asking themselves, ‘what can we do cheaper?’ And [insurance] is one of those things. Just on this one thing, M of S is probably saving the Town of Eston about $10,000 every year.”

Heron also helped with a variety of fundraising efforts during his years of service. The annual Eston RiverTrek raised close to a quarter of a million dollars in its years. One year, Al noticed that the Eston Health Centre needed a new electrolyte machine. When he used to take his Father-in-Law to the centre to get his blood tested, sometimes their machine would work, and sometimes it wouldn’t. When it failed to work, he would be required to go to a neighbouring community with his Father-in-Law to use their machine. A new machine would cost the centre around $5-6k. Al came up with the idea for “The Real Men of Eston” calendar to sell to raise funds. Eston locals will remember this infamous calendar as the one in which Al posed on an antique snowmobile with only his boots and his wristwatch. About a dozen other notable local Eston men gallantly posed for this calendar as well. The sale of the calendar exceeded expectations and raised over $44,000. The extra money raised also supplied the Health Centre with a new medical bath and a few other needs in the Town, such as some of the theatre-style seats that now sit in the lobby of the AGT Community Centre.

Heron’s dedication to the Town of Eston and his service on the SUMA board has made way for many notable changes and achievements that he would say were only accomplished by team efforts.

“This whole presentation that M of S put on, it was just very humbling. The gentleman that presented it said, ‘You probably think that someone else should have gotten this, and I do think that. It’s so, ‘sure it was your idea and what not’ but you got to have a region that supports you, a Town Council that supports you, or you could never do any of these things. I think it pays for people to be involved. The thing that motivated me was, ‘what can I do to help my community?’ And that still exists.”

Congratulations, Al, on an achievement well deserved!

Photos:

Eston Centennial – Eston celebrated its Centennial in July 2016. Al and Claire dressed for one of the many celebrations that took place that weekend.

Eston River Trek - Al founded the Annual Eston River Trek. The participates walked from the town of Eston down to Eston Riverside Regional Park and back. For 15 years this 40-mile trek was said to be the most difficult walking challenge in Canada. The final River Trek took place on May 13, 2017. Over the years this event contributed to the Eston Community Complex or any other charity participates wanted to support. This raised $192,000 to the Complex alone. This photo was taken when Al was presented with a quilt made of the participant t-shirts over the years.

Citizenship Ceremony – Al and Claire Heron, councillor Gerri Holmes, community members and the RCMP at a citizenship ceremony for an Eston family