MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - The Municipal Area Partnership (MAP) committee – created several years ago to allow area municipal representatives to discuss issues of mutual interest such as regional development – has folded following motions by member councils.
Mountain View County council recently sent a letter to its urban partners announcing it was leaving MAP. Councils in Sundre, Olds, Didsbury and Carstairs have all now passed motions withdrawing from the partnership.
“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,” said the county's reeve, Angela Aalbers
“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.”
On March 11, Olds' council carried a motion that the “Town of Olds withdraw from the MAP and that the remaining funds: $23,917.27 in the MAP account be distributed, based on the same ration of contributions that were made in the fund.”
Sundre’s council passed a motion on March 11 to withdraw from MAP.
“It’s quite evident how effective the ICC is,” said Sundre Coun. Owen Petersen, who supported the move, adding he believes that the town and county have a “good, high-functioning relationship.
“I know that it’s not Alberta’s culture to get along with other governments, but this government (town council) is getting along very well with the county.”
As a past chair of MAP, Sundre mayor Richard Warnock called the group’s agendas difficult and “almost in conflict” with ICC agreements and said he understood where the county council was coming from.
On March 12, Didsbury council passed a motion to withdrawing from the MAP committee and have the remaining funds distributed as outlined by Olds council.
“I’m in favour of stepping back,” said Didsbury mayor Rhonda Hunter.
The county's chief administrative officer, Jeff Holmes, told the Albertan: “Once the majority of members have agreed to withdraw I would interpret that to mean the committee would officially be concluded.”
The county's reeve said, “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.”
- With files from Doug Collie and Simon Ducatel.
