Alberta's rural municipalities are ready to submit a number of recommendations to the provincial government regarding the revised Municipal Government Act (MGA), says Al Kemmere, president of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties (AAMDC).
A draft of Bill 21, the Modernized Municipal Government Act, was tabled in the legislature last spring. The act is the legislation that governs municipal governments in Alberta.
The AAMDC represents 69 rural municipalities including Red Deer and Mountain View counties.
Since the draft was released, the association has held five zone meetings where member municipalities provided input and comments on the new legislation.
The recommendations coming out of that consultation process are finalized and will now be forwarded to the province, he said.
The recommendations had not been made public as of press time. However, Kemmere did say one of the recommendations relates to the new requirement for municipalities to enter into new multi-jurisdictional agreements.
“There are a few questions, including about these whole inter-collaborative frameworks, these mandatory agreements that we have to sign,” he said. “It has many of the municipalities wondering what that process is going to look like.
“I know that one of our big concerns is that they want us to have those agreements done in two years, which seems like lots of time other than the fact that somebody like Mountain View County is going to have to write 10 different agreements because we touch boundaries with 10 different municipalities.
“We are a little bit intimidated by the timelines that they are expecting. We'll voice our concern with that to the government and see what they do with that. That is going to be one of our main recommendations.”
A second recommendation coming from the AAMDC relates to the role and responsibility of the updated ombudsman position.
“That's one of the new things they've (provincial government) has put forward is we are going to have to be responsible to the provincial ombudsman,” he said. “The role that the province has identified is it is supposed to be a lens so that municipal decisions are done on fairness of process point of view and that decisions are made within policy for the municipalities.
“The big concern all municipalities are having is will this open the door for many of the public who don't like a decision to now go to the ombudsman to have that decision reversed.
“The province has identified that that is not the intent, but I know that other provinces that have done that have seen that kind of aspect too, where people want to get decisions reversed based on the fact that they don't like the decisions. We are looking for more clarity about the official authority that the ombudsman's office will carry.”
Under the revised MGA, municipalities will also be required to develop and adopt codes of conduct for council members and will have authority to enforce those codes.
It will also require municipalities to offer orientation and training to newly elected councillors to help them understand their duties and responsibilities.
The AAMDC has to have its recommendations to the province by July 30.
Kemmere says he's pleased with how the consultation process has gone to date.
“From an overall synopsis point of view we are still much happier with it than we expected it would be and that's a positive. Where it builds from here, so much is going to be involved with how they write the regulations and the likes of that.
“The province has been out consulting and they wouldn't be consulting if they weren't looking for other information and other perspectives. None of this is pinned down yet.”
AAMDC officials are expected to soon meet with their Alberta Urban Municipalities Association counterparts regarding the MGA review, he said.
"There are a few questions, including about these whole inter-collaborative frameworks, these mandatory agreements that we have to sign."Al KemmereAAMDC president
