The Town of Altona spent 2025 getting things done—and Mayor Harv Schroeder expects no less in 2026.
In a year-end interview, the mayor reflected on some of the highlights of the past 12 months, and what the future holds for the growing community.
“Looking back, there were definitely some things that we needed to deal with, including the Van Gogh painting,” Schroeder began, referring to the Big Easel featuring a giant sunflower painting that has been a landmark in Altona for decades. Damage from high winds last year was the final straw in forcing the town to bring the painting down for refurbishment.
“That’s one of the projects that we included the community with to voice their opinions,” Schroeder said. A public survey voted to save the painting, and original artist Cameron Cross has been commissioned to do the work once again. “We’re in talks with them now on when their availability is, but it sounds like it should be in spring.”
They’ll be rebuilding the artwork with more durable, modern materials (the old one went up in 1998 and was last refurbished in 2017).
“Upgrading the materials to a better standard will probably give us 25 plus more years,” Schroeder said, noting insurance is covering part of the costs and a resident has pledged another $25,000 to the project “So it won’t be a huge tax burden on residents.”
Another project that got underway last year and will continue through this year is the public transportation pilot.
“We’ve been working with The Community Exchange on this,” Schroeder explained. The program, which launched in August, aims to provide safe, affordable rides for residents while gathering usage data for the Town to consider when it comes to creating a more permanent system.
“It’s been mind-blowing the amount of rides that people haven’t been able to have before this,” the mayor said, noting the program is seeing hundreds of ride requests every month. “To medical appointments, to get groceries, and it sounds like a lot of people are getting rides to and from work. It’s just exploded.”
What Altona’s long-term transit solution will look like will be decided when the pilot comes to an end later this year.
“Once we have all the data, then we can make an informed decision,” Schroeder said.
A few other unexpected projects reared their head in 2025, including critical pipe repairs at the Altona Aquatic Centre and the need to install a new ice plant at the Sunflower Gardens arena.
“We had a delay of a good month, which is not ideal. But it was a good thing we have money set aside for projects like this,” Schroeder said of the ice plant failure. The new equipment came in at a cost of around $180,000, which came from the town’s reserve fund for the facility. Advancements in how it runs means Altona is now saving money on its operation each season compared to the old system.
The pool repairs were less costly but are a clear sign that the aging facility will need more work soon to continue operations.
“It was a quick fix to get us through the season, but we will be needing to upgrade the pool heater,” Schroeder said. “Those numbers aren’t in yet, but that will definitely be coming forward at budget time.”
Also on the to-do list for the months ahead is work on raising 9th Street NW to protect it from flooding.
“We’ve received just over $600,000” for this project,” Schroeder shared. “That’s a grant match, so we will be doing that work, if it all passes through budget, this next summer.
“We also invested a little bit of extra money this last summer on 2nd Street NW—Bungie Road—because with all the heavy trucks running down that street, we’ve had some damage. So we invested an extra $100,000 there last summer, and we are again looking at doing a piece at a time [moving forward], because to rip it all out was $2.3 million or so.”
Talks continue as well with the provincial government on improvements to Centre Avenue.
“We don’t have any good news yet, but fingers crossed that the fact they’re willing to talk is a positive thing,” Schroeder said, “and we do want to become a partner where we need to be in that.”
The Town also intends to move forward with its Urban Forest Management Plan, expanding the number of trees planted throughout the community.
“Looking at the whole community, with the trees that we have, the areas that we could plant, the recommendation is to have 250 trees planted a year for the next number of years,” Schroeder said. “So administration is coming up with a plan on whether it might be private or public trees, what kind of programs we may be able to run and see what we can do to fill up some of those empty spaces.”
Another highlight Schroeder expects to see come to fruition includes the addition of a giant soccer park behind the Millennium Exhibition Centre. A fundraising campaign for the $750,000 project is well underway.
“That’s going to be a phenomenal project,” Schroeder said, noting he’s confident the cooperation between the Town, Altona Soccer, and Borderland School Division coupled with support from the community at large will see “The Beautiful Project” become a reality.
Seeing the community pull together on initiatives like this is always heartening, the mayor said.
“Many people are struggling these days, but it seems like people are always willing to give extra for things that they see as a need in the community.”
