ATHABASCA — Little more than a year after it was revitalized under a new name and new priorities, the Athabasca Regional Economic Development (ARED) Committee is no more, following a decision to withdraw by Athabasca County councillors.
During their Aug. 29 regular meeting, councillors made the official decision to discontinue with the committee following spring discussions about progress towards goals outlined in the strategic plan, according to the request for decision (RFD) in the agenda package.
The item was not selected for discussion, and the recommended motion put forward by administration staff was passed without discussion. Reeve Brian Hall was unavailable for comment prior to publication.
“Communication with the Town of Athabasca and the Village of Boyle informed them of this development and gave them an opportunity to respond,” read the RFD. “No immediate concerns were mentioned from either municipality.”
Boyle Mayor Colin Derko said while the county made the official move to discontinue, the decision was more of a mutual one between the regional partners.
“We’re all interested in working together,” said Derko. “We were spinning our wheels in a bit of a non-productive way. There were things happening, but it’s always cost versus result. I think we all felt we need to take a step back and look at this before we start spending taxpayer dollars.”
Town Mayor Rob Balay said while decisions around discontinuing the committee weren’t made at the ARED table, he said he will have more to say following further discussions between the three municipalities at their upcoming fall meeting.
“This is a topic that we’ve put on our tri-council meeting (agenda), and I think we’re going to do a debrief on ARED and decide individually what we’re going to do as individual municipalities moving forward for economic development.”
As part of county council’s motion to discontinue with the committee, administration was directed to repurpose funds slated for ARED in the 2024 budget for county-specific projects.
County councillors had slated almost $350,000 for ARED in the 2024 budget, and CAO Bob Beck said much of the year’s total remains unspent. According to the financial variance report presented to councillors during the same meeting, around $62,000 has been spent so far, but Beck said final expense input and exact dollar amounts remaining are yet to be determined.
As far as budget goes, both the Town and Village are in the same waiting boat. Staff from both municipalities said due to the County’s billing system, they aren’t expecting to see the final bill for ARED for several months.
Cost-sharing for ARED was determined by each municipality’s equalized assessment. The Village of Boyle contributed $12,000, and the Town of Athabasca’s share equalled $54,000.
Second attempt
ARED came into existence with its new name and terms of reference in 2023 after all three councils discussed the changes in their respective chambers over the course of the month of July.
The previous committee, dubbed TED, short for Tourism and Economic Development committee, was dissolved in December 2022 after the town decided to suspend their involvement.
“There have been a bunch of little successes, but nothing to the extent that I think is worth the current investment under its current format,” said Balay in 2022.
Derko said the conversation about ending TED in 2022 were very similar to the talks about discontinuing ARED this year, highlighting all three partners desire to find a more productive way forward. Balay noted despite the revamps from the days of TED, ARED faced it’s own obstacles.
“I don’t think that ARED really garnered any traction amongst the three municipalities,” said Balay. “We had barely gotten to the step where we had developed a strategic plan.” He added the committee also hadn’t been able realize ideas such as hiring a lobbyist to influence government and private sectors to consider Athabasca as their next project site.
Despite the dissolution of the committee, Balay said ARED did have a few wins under its belt. All three municipalities joined Alberta HUB, a larger economic development alliance across northeast Alberta, and Balay pointed to the input of the members at large from the community as positives.
While the format of future economic development partnership is yet to be determined, both Balay, Derko, as well as the county’s RFD, indicated an ongoing desire for collaboration.
“I’m not super sad that we’re not continuing on with ARED, because I know that we’re still going to continue on with economic development and the region working together,” said Derko.
“I would be upset if it meant closing it down and not having those conversations … but that’s not the case.”
