Some Village of Clyde residents have shown interest in seeing the municipality become a hamlet within Westlock County, but ultimately the decision rests with the provincial cabinet.
Alberta Municipal Affairs received a petition last week from residents of the village, who are calling on the provincial government to do a dissolution study, which is the first step in a municipality dissolving.
Wendy McGrath, a spokesperson for the ministry, said while they have received the petition, the timeline and the exact process moving forward are not clearly defined.
“The petition’s been received, so the minister has to appoint a chief administrative officer to review the petition then report back to the minister within 30 days as to whether the petition is sufficient,” she said.
If the petition is found to be sufficient, then the minister is obliged to begin the process of conducting a dissolution study. At this point, however, little can be said about what form the study will take.
“The form of a dissolution study is not legislated; it’s a case-by-case basis with the minister determining what that process will entail,” McGrath said.
Once the study is completed, it falls on the minister to make a recommendation to the provincial cabinet, which is made up of the premier and cabinet ministers. There is no obligation on the province’s part to put the matter to a plebiscite, or even to debate it in the Legislature.
“When the minister does make the decision, he will let the village council and the petition representative know the outcome,” she said.
The petition is not considered a public document until it has been deemed to be sufficient, so McGrath could not say who the petition representative is.
The Westlock News has been told, however, that Clyde resident Ann Wegernoski started the petition and Clyde mayor Wayne Wilcox confirmed that. Wegernoski could not be reached for comment.
“What she started telling people is that if the village dissolved and got taken over by county, our taxes would go down by 30 per cent,” Wilcox said.
“They’re not going to drop. County’s not going to come in here and take it over then drop our taxes.”
Wilcox argued that not only would taxes likely not be decreased the way proponents of the petition have suggested, the village would likely end up getting a lower level of services.
“I know what happened in Pickardville; they went from their weekly garbage pickup to every two weeks,” he said.
“They don’t get their roads graded as quickly as they want because county comes first and they’ll get to the hamlets when they get to it.”
Furthermore, the loss of the village status would have an impact on the community’s identity, which has been more or less intact since it was founded in 1914.
“We’ve been around a long time, and we’ve basically stayed about the same size and the same attitude. I like our little village the way it is,” he said.
Municipalities dissolving and joining with their neighbouring counties or municipal districts is not something that happens often, but it is not unheard of in Alberta, McGrath said.
In 2009, the ministry conducted seven dissolution studies, with two of those municipalities ultimately being dissolved. No studies were conducted 2010, and in 2011 just one study was conducted and it did not result in dissolution.
Some communities in the area have dissolved in recent memory, such as Thorhild and Plamondon. Lac La Biche is now a hamlet within Lac La Biche County, and Fort McMurray is a hamlet within the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.
Regardless of the outcome of the dissolution study for Clyde, assuming the petition is found to be sufficient, the timeline and ultimate recommendation are both uncertain.
“Some people think it’s going to happen overnight, and it’s not. It’s a very long, drawn-out process,” Wilcox said. “Even if the village does dissolve, it will be a long time before it happens. Personally I don’t like the idea of it dissolving and I don’t think it will.”
