High River Council has taken it's first step in implementing an asset management plan for the town.

Councillor Dragan Brankovich says the plan will help the town be more cost-efficient.

"Generally (in the) experience of organizations who have assets, you need to manage the assets in a way that's cost-efficient. That you avoid the times when expenditures are high. You need to have a certain level of investment into your assets over time and therefore avoid big jumps and the periods where the investments into your assets needs to be very, very high."

He says the plan is important to help the towns assets work better in the long run.

"Asset management is very important because getting information about what you have, how old is it, what make is it, how is it failing if it is failing. And of course, if you notice that you can utilize life-extention techniques, that you use those at appropriate times in advance of actually expecting failure at the other end."

Brankovich says the plan will look at what assets the town has, how well-used they are, and how to make them last longer.

He uses the example of trees.

"We had situations with some of the trees, (they) had to be taken down because they had contracted disease. Well, not all the trees, not all of the species do that. So, being able to keep track of these things and monitor the usage of your assets and invest in your assets in a timely manner, so that you can extend the life of those assets, it's critical.

Brankovich says the plan will include assets like underground infrastructure, roads and trees.