Cold Lake, AB – To ensure reliable operations, the efficient delivery of service, and seamless progress of municipal projects, the City of Cold Lake will be making a concerted effort toward adopting electronic funds transfers for its daily business.

“The recent postal strike has shown how vulnerable our current processes are to interruptions, creating a significant workload for our staff to readjust and keep crucial municipal services running, and keep projects on track,” Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Nagoya said. “Our organization runs lean on the staff side, and so these interruptions can have very significant impacts, not only on our staff, but on the residents of Cold Lake and the contractors we rely on to help service our community.”

The City of Cold Lake has been advising residents to sign up for paperless utility bills through its e-billing service. This saves utilities customers $33 each year, and provides a reliable service which can be accessed at a customer’s individual convenience.

The City will also be moving towards electronic fund transfers to pay suppliers and contractors, while also establishing processes for electronic payments to the City of Cold Lake.

“We’ve admittedly relied on more traditional means of mailing services when conducting our business, often because new technology can come with new fees, new infrastructure, and new processes and procedures that an organization needs to put in place,” Nagoya said. “This recent labour interruption has shown us that the City should move faster to update its processes as the damages relating to the disruption of mail services outweigh the potential fees. We want to ensure our staff, residents, and customers have the most reliable means of doing business with the City possible. We must evolve and reduce our dependency on such services.”

For information about e-billing, visit www.coldlake.com/utilities. Utility bill balances can be found by emailing, calling, or visiting Cold Lake City Hall and providing your name, address and utility account number. E-mail City Hall at utilities@coldlake.com, call us at 780-594-4494, or visit in person at 5513 – 48 Avenue to receive your current balance.

The deadline to pay utility bills without penalty ends today: December 13, 2024.