WOODLANDS COUNTY - Woodlands County councillors will extend an olive branch and invite representatives from the Town of Whitecourt to the Rural Municipalities of Alberta's (RMA) fall conference.
Councillors unanimously voted in favour of making the invitation to have the town's mayor, Tom Pickard, and deputy mayor, Serena Lapointe, join them at the conference at the municipality's expense, minus any honorariums, during the Sept. 27 council meeting.
Reeve Dave Kusch said that in the past, the municipalities would often invite representatives to the other's conferences.
The RMA is an independent association comprising 69 counties and municipal districts of Alberta, while its reciprocal organization, Alberta Municipalities (ABMunis), represents summer villages, cities, towns and specialized municipalities. Both organizations aim to advocate for issues that impact their members at the provincial and federal government levels.
"I feel if they are at a conference where the discussion is about what [counties and municipal districts] need, we might be able to shift their lens from what they see from ABMunis’s perspective," he said. "If they can see where we are coming from, especially on topics such as infrastructure and roads versus parkways and art centres, maybe they will better understand where we are coming from."
In recent years, the relationship between the municipalities has been strained as they attempt to reach an Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework (ICF) agreement.
ICF agreements are established between neighbouring municipalities on various issues impacting both communities, such as recreation, shared water and sewer, and joint land planning. These agreements were made mandatory under the province's revised Municipal Government Act (MGA).
The original deadline for urban and rural municipalities was April 2020, but the province extended the deadline by a year due to the pandemic.
However, the municipalities agreed to go to arbitration due to difficulties in making an agreement.
Arbitrator Deborah Howes released her award on Feb. 3, 2022. The town proposed a draft ICF based on the more than 170-page document. The county accused the town of negotiating in bad faith and took the issue to the courts.
Woodland County legislative services and communications coordinator Koren Scott stated the ICF between the municipalities remains outstanding.
"A decision has not come down from the courts following the Judicial Review hearing that occurred in June. There was no estimated time of decision provided," she stated.
Being neighbourly with Yellowhead County
Councillors also voted to invite Yellowhead County representatives to a working dinner during the RMA conference.
Kusch said that the municipality has traditionally hosted a dinner at the RMA conventions, inviting adjacent rural municipalities or those that they have something "on the go" with, such as an ICF or inter-municipal development plan and the MLAs representing those municipalities.
"Given that we both had floods and wildfires to contend with, I would like to send out a formal invitation to them.," he said.
Meeting with Municipal Affairs minister
County councillors hope to schedule a meeting with Municipal Affairs Ric McIver sometime during the RMA conference.
Proposed discussion topics include ICF agreements and the province's Disaster Recovery Fund (DRF), which provides financial assistance to help restore uninsurable property that is lost or damaged by a disaster to its basic, pre-disaster functional condition.
The municipality submitted a DRP application for more than $10.3 million to recover its various equipment/staffing costs and help cover the uninsurable damage resulting from the wildfires in May and the flooding that started in June.
"That 18-month timeline to find out if you are even approved is unacceptable," Whitecourt West Coun. John Burrows said.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
