Alberta’s Minister of Municipal Affairs will soon know whether the petition requesting a dissolution study for the Village of Clyde is valid, but it could be many months before residents know what will happen.
Wendy McGrath, a spokesperson for the ministry, said a chief administrative officer has been appointed to verify the petition, a process that must be completed by June 15.
“The minister will advise the village council and the petition representative of the result of the petition validation,” she said. “There’s no time frame for the minister to do that; that’s at his discretion.”
She could not say who the CAO for the process is, either, as the ministry wants requests for information directed to the communications staff instead of the administrator himself.
If the petition is deemed sufficient, the minister is obligated to initiate the dissolution study process. If the petition is not deemed to be sufficient, the minister would still have the option to initiate a study.
As for what that process entails, McGrath said it’s done on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the minister so she could not provide any further details.
Three years ago just 35 kilometres east on Highway 18, the Village of Thorhild underwent the same process, and ultimately ended up dissolving to become a hamlet with the County of Thorhild.
Current county Coun. Shelly Hanasyk, who was mayor of the village at the time of dissolution, said while she was not familiar with Clyde’s situation she felt dissolution was a positive step for Thorhild.
Several dissolution studies were undertaken with respect to that village, with dissolution finally going through in 2009.
The village and county councils at the time were working together in many aspects — sharing emergency services, working together on a water commission and even sharing a CAO.
“It kind of made the process really good, and then both councils were really involved in the actual dissolution study,” she said.
Hanasyk said the process began in the same way, with a petition going to the Municipal Affairs asking for a study to be conducted, and with much the same reasoning. “Our taxes were crazy,” she said.
Once the petition was deemed valid, representatives from the province met with both village and county councils to find out what they would like to see and what they would expect from the dissolution process.
“The residents then had a meeting with municipal affairs, and were told everything both councils had said,” she said.
All told, Hanasuk said, the experience was such a positive one because the two councils worked together and went through the process amicably.
“Our process was really good,” she said.
“Municipal Affairs was great to work with; they held the meeting, they gave the dissolution report about what the county would do for us or was not willing to do for us.”
When the dissolution did go through, there was more than $1 million of provincial money that went to the new municipality to help with the transition, including paying the debt the village had incurred, although Hanasyk said those grants have now been discontinued.
When the dissolution did go through, there was more than $1 million of provincial money that went to the new municipality to help with the transition, including paying the debt the village had incurred, although Hanasyk said those grants have now been discontinued.
She said dissolution was good for Thorhild, and in the aftermath she has seen that the municipality has ended up stronger as a result.
“We knew we couldn’t continue the way we were. You can’t keep increasing your taxes and the mill rate to get the services,” she said. “There comes a point when you have to stop and say ‘how can we make this work better?’” And that’s exactly what we did.”
One concern that was raised during Thorhild’s process was that of village residents fearing a sense of loss of identity, which is something Hanasyk said didn’t happen.
“I won’t speak for everybody, but in general I haven’t heard anything negative. We haven’t lost our identity; if anything we’ve become stronger,” she said.
She said dissolution was good for Thorhild, and in the aftermath she has seen that the municipality has ended up stronger as a result.
“We knew we couldn’t continue the way we were. You can’t keep increasing your taxes and the mill rate to get the services,” she said. “There comes a point when you have to stop and say ‘how can we make this work better?’” And that’s exactly what we did.”
One concern that was raised during Thorhild’s process was that of village residents fearing a sense of loss of identity, which is something Hanasyk said didn’t happen.
“I won’t speak for everybody, but in general I haven’t heard anything negative. We haven’t lost our identity; if anything we’ve become stronger,” she said
