To increase efficiency while maintaining and improving service levels, we've made a number of changes in the member services office we need to make you aware of.

We have concluded our arrangement with the firm that handled our member services for us previously. This means that our office is no longer located on 99th Street in Edmonton.

The prior arrangement was no longer serving our purposes and the decision was made, this spring, to sunset our dealings with them and bring these services in-house instead.

It isn't feasible for us to maintain our own full-time physical office. Instead, we will maintain a virtual office and will be keeping to our usual Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. hours.

As before - an email to [email protected] is the simplest and best way to reach us. You can also contact us by phone at 780-467-0085 (same number as always). If your call is not answered, we may be helping another member or just be away from the phone. Just leave a voicemail and we'll get back to you as soon as we're able.

Yes, absolutely. We will make arrangements for in-person office hours on one day each month at the Sherwood Park Chamber of Commerce, 100 Ordze Road in Sherwood Park.

For the remainder of 2023, these in-person office days will be 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.-6 p.m. on the following dates (more dates are included during renewal time):

This is a fair question - we've structured our website to be as self-serve as possible, we've developed a rich set of Frequently Asked Questions, and the vast majority of remaining questions and conversation is able to occur by email or over the phone.

There will always be members who need a helping hand with things, like processing renewals or making online payments. Also, some people prefer to deal with things in person. To facilitate this, we'll be maintaining these in-person office days.

Unfortunately no, this is something that just isn't feasible to maintain. We are however committing to processing gate access card requests in a timely fashion to minimize wait times (see the next section below).

With the previous office arrangement, management of the electronic gate access cards tended to be variable and chaotic. We're intent on smoothing that out, so we're putting some solid structure in place. Below are the details for that.

To begin, we will aim to process electronic gate access card orders within 5 business days.

We will process gate access cards for new memberships on Thursdays, mailing the cards out on Fridays. These should reach you in the following week.

Our membership year runs from January 1 to December 31. If you renew prior to December 31, your card stays continuously active. The gate access cards of members who have not renewed by December 31 are deactivated on January 1. When a late-renewing member has paid the renewal fee (and completed the orientation, if needed), their access card will then reactivated. (We don't send you a new card, we reactivate your existing card - we get this question a lot.) Members who have renewed prior to 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday will have their gate access cards reactivated on Thursday of that week. We are no longer reactivating on demand - it's just not sustainable.

It will be possible to pick your electronic gate access card at one of the in-person office days listed above. Contact us by email at [email protected] before 4:30 p.m. on the day prior, to arrange this. Outside of this, we will simply mail you your card.

Members with a Family membership may purchase an additional access card, if desired, for $25 with an email to [email protected]. These are processed with the same timelines as cards for new memberships, as mentioned above.

We will "warranty" gate access cards for manufacturer defects. That is, if your card stops working and there is no visible damage (we'll need you to send us pictures), we will replace it at no charge.

Replacements for damaged or lost cards can be purchased for $25.

Replacement cards will be processed with the same timelines as listed for new membership cards above.

Lost or stolen cards must be reported to us as soon as you become aware of the fact (obvious reasons).

As discussed in the orientation, reading and understanding the information in issues of Safe and Sound is required to maintaining an active gate access card.

Repeat reminders will lead to gate access card deactivation.