Cardston County is a rural municipality located in the southwest corner of Alberta, known for its open ranges, wandering cattle, farm land with swaying wheat fields, and its rugged timberland on the edge of the Rocky Mountains. Murray Millward, the chief administrative officer for the county, grew up in the region and has served in his current role since 2007. Over the years, he’s seen Cardston grow and evolve considerably. In recent years, he’s seen a particularly powerful surge in growth, and he’s seen County Council take a more active role in guiding that growth than ever before. “We’ve seen a significant growth in population and we’ve also seen growth in council’s desire to enhance community services,” Murray says. “Before, our focus used to be ‘roads, roads, roads.’ Now we’ve put in a fibre line, we’ve purchased some water treatment plants and created some water commissions, we’re enhancing the utilities. We’re advancing and becoming more of an active community.” Of course, maintaining and enhancing the county’s roads is still a large part of what the county does. Their most significant current project, for example, is a major safety upgrade to Highway 5 near the Town of Magrath, for which the town and county recently received grant funding. “This project is a long time coming,” Murray describes. “It’s been a concern for about 20 years. We have a speed corner on Highway 5 that enters into the back of Magrath. We’ve always had people get in accidents right at that location. Last year alone, we had two major accidents down there.” The Town of Magrath and Cardston County councils have long been in conversation about MARCH 2025
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