MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY – The county has decided to leave the Municipal Area Partnership (MAP) committee and instead focus on other multi-stakeholder initiatives such as the existing inter-municipal collaboration committees, says reeve Angela Aalbers.
Made up of municipal representatives from the county as well as towns in the district, MAP sees the partners work together on issues of common interest such as regional development.
“This decision comes after careful consideration and evaluation of the committee's purpose and goals mainly being to discuss regional opportunities, build regional relationships and reduce divisiveness, and apply for inter-municipal grants and other funding opportunities,” Aalbers said in a letter sent to partner municipalities.
“It has become apparent that regional initiatives are not a priority for our MAP members and therefore, the county would rather focus our efforts on our inter-municipal collaboration committees (ICC) to further relationships one-on-one with our partners.
“While the county will no longer participate in MAP, the spirit of collaboration and partnership that it sought to foster will continue to guide our municipal initiatives.”
Also in the letter, the county is suggesting that the remaining funds of almost $24,000 in the MAP account held by the county be distributed based on the same ratio contributions were made to the fund.
“The county contributed 40 per cent of the funds and we suggest that the county retain $9,566.88 and distribute the remaining funds to MAP,” she said.
“We will wait for the direction of the remaining MAP members if there is another suggestion for the funds.”
Carstairs council received the county’s letter at the Feb. 26 council meeting and will discuss it further in the coming days, says chief administrative officer Rick Blair.
