The Village of Clyde’s dissolution study continues uninterrupted by the pending municipal election this fall, even though no new viability review team meetings are scheduled until after the final ballot is counted.
During the break for the election, members of the viability review team will be examining the input provided by stakeholders, said Alberta Municipal Affairs spokesperson Jerry Ward, adding the team’s last meeting was on July 8.
At the last meeting, the team members discussed their preliminary findings to that point, including an analysis and evaluation of village operations, governance, services and any applicable financial and statistical information.
In the break between meetings, Ward said ministry staff will be conducting more research and analysis to bring to the team members once the election is over.
The potential dissolving of the Village of Clyde into a hamlet within Westlock County started with a petition sent to Alberta Municipal Affairs in May 2012, requesting a dissolution study be conducted.
In November, municipal affairs minister Doug Griffiths was still determining the format and timeline of the dissolution study.
By February 2013, the format of the study had been determined — county Coun. Jim Wiese and village Coun. Neil Olson, county CAO Edward LeBlanc and then-village CAO Annette Schwab, and two staffers from Municipal Affairs.
In addition, village councillors were informed any decision recommended by the viability review team would not be made before this fall’s election, and dissolution would not happen until the spring of 2014 at the earliest.
Also in February, county councillors were given an update on the proceedings. They were informed the decision to dissolve Clyde would be the ministry’s and village residents’ alone, and that the only compensation the village would receive for taking on caring for 500 new residents would be the tax revenue derived from those new constituents.
