The idea of increased regional collaboration between the Town of Athabasca and Athabasca County was briefly addressed again by town council.
Last Tuesday, Mayor Roger Morrill requested that council make a motion to explore the opportunity of amalgamation.
“I want us to pass a motion to inform Athabasca County that the Town of Athabasca wants to explore increased regional collaboration, up to and including municipal amalgamation with Athabasca County,” Morrill said.
Councillor Paula Evans then made a motion to table the request until their next meeting.
Council passed the tabling motion, which postpones the discussion to a future meeting of council.
In an inteview following the meeting, Morrill said a grant is available to cover some regional collaboration costs.
“Currently a regional collaboration grant is provided to help pay for costs of looking into avenues of merit and public presentations of factual evidence in this regard,” he said.
Morrill says he is not suggesting anything other than exploring the positives and negatives of increased collaboration.
“My hope is to get all the evidence out there so we can make an informed decision,” said Morrill. “I can’t explore this on my own.”
Morrill said the last time amalgamation was presented, it was doomed from the start because it was not discussed openly.
“Why do you want to discuss and negotiate this behind closed doors? People need to be informed about what the positives and negatives are,” said Morrill.
Morrill said he owes it to the people who elected him to openly explore all benefits to the Town of Athabasca, including regional collaboration.
“In case anyone is wondering, we work together already on so many things right now including the Multiplex, library, swimming pool, water – those things are so interconnected,” Morrill explained.
