Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) convention: Nov. 23-25, 2010

Peace River's new Council will be attending the annual AUMA convention this week. Although the main convention started yesterday, there were pre-convention sessions on Monday that included:

• Now That You've Been Elected
• Is Your Municipality Viable: How to Find Out
• What New Elected Officials Need to Know
• Water Conservation Planning
• Effective Decision Making (a module of the Elected Officials Education Program). I was only able to attend one of the EOEP courses during my term on Council--the one on municipal financial statements and management--and it was excellent.

Tuesday there were policy debates on the various resolutions submitted by municipalities. When passed, these resolutions provide direction to the AUMA board and administration. A quick scan of the titles will give you a glimpse into what issues are on the minds of municipalities around the province.

For instance, Grande Prairie presented a resolution to request the government to establish a renewable energy expert panel. The resolution passed according to a tweet from Mayor Bill Given. Peace River's former Council submitted a resolution on the establishment of a Renewable Power Incentive Program In Alberta. Once I hear how the vote went, I'll update here.

The AUMA convention also has a huge trade show featuring products and services relevant to municipalities and many opportunities for social activities and networking that are valuable over a councillor's term.

Peace River Town Council Committee of the Whole: November 1, 2010

Items on Monday's Committee of the Whole agenda include:

• An update by Staff Sergeant Brian Bohlken, RCMP Detachment Commander, on the annual performance plan
• The July and August RCMP reports
• My request to join the library board as a public member 
• A backgrounder from Wendy Nickel, the Town's Finance Manager, on the 2011 budget process. This budget process is intended to be completed earlier than in previous years, which is something CAO MacQuarrie has been moving staff towards for two years. I note that there is a budget open house scheduled for January 5, 2011. January 24 is the proposed date for Council to adopt the 2011 operating and capital budgets, with the tax rate bylaw to be passed in April.
•  Significant Events for September and October 2010 from the CAO, Corporate Services Department (which includes Planning & Development, Communications and the official election results), Community Services Department (which includes Family & Community Support Services--FCSS, Recreation, & Administration), Protective Services (Fire Department & Bylaw Enforcement plus Safety Committee Meeting minutes), Engineering, Infrastructure & Public Works Department.
  
  From Corporate Services, note the initiative from the museum to join a project so that Peace River's historical bylaws from 1914 to 1964 can now be accessed. Note that the link in the report doesn't work. Bylaw No. 1 was about animal control--something the Town recent revisited. While dogs don't roam the way they did in 1914, animal control continues to be challenging--now it's uncontrolled barking dogs.
  
  Planning & Development: In September and October there were 2 commercial building permits issued (total value of $15,000 and 4 residents (total value of $721,700).
  
  Recreation: A first draft of the Parks and Trails Master Plan is being reviewed prior to presentation to Council on November 8. 

• Request for Decision: Think Local Market Initiative (proposed website).
• Request for Decision: Visitor Friendly Community Assessment draft terms of reference
• Request for Decision: Peace Region Waste Management Company Proxy. This is a request to appoint a proxy holder, who will vote on behalf of the Town of Peace River, during shareholder meetings.
• The official list of 2010/11 Council Member Appointments to Boards & Committees
• A request to cancel the November 22 Council meeting, since mayor and council will be attending the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association convention in Edmonton

Under Information items:

• Provincial Fund-raising Functions and Provincial Political Contributions. This letter from Elections Alberta clarifies proper payment policies for councillors that attend political fundraisers.
• Northern Alberta Development Council (NADC) Communique for September 23, 2010.
• Letter from Transport Canada accompanying a copy of the Rail Freight Service Review Panel's Interim Report and a letter of response from PREDA (Peace Region Economic Development Alliance).
• Thank you letter from the U of A Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry for the Town's involvement with the Preclinical Networked Medical Education (PNME) pilot project. Thirteen second-year students spent 4 weeks here as part of that project.

AUMA Convention

Peace River Mayor, Council and CAO were in Edmonton last week, attending the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) annual convention.

Premier Stelmach addressed the convention as did the new president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), Jean Perrault. We heard from Municipal Affairs Minister Ray Danyluk and he also presented Municipal Excellence Awards (congratulations to all those recipients and runners-up).

Council was able to meet with provincial officials on issues specific to the Town and during open sessions with Alberta Ministers to bring up issues such as ambulance transition. This transition is particularly worrisome for municipalities like Peace River that have integrated fire and ambulance, but other communities want to ensure a smooth transition without degradation of service so there was a great deal of discussion about this during the week.

Other highlights:

MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION  FOR MUNICIPAL OFFICIALS (pre-convention session)

While this may not sound like a riveting way to spend a day (and there were moments, especially when people asked irrelevant questions ...), this all-day session provided important information for anyone working or interested in the local level of government. (And I was pleased to see how much I actually remembered from social studies and political science classes.)

Can We Be Dissolved? I asked the presenter whether the province could dissolve municipalities the way it recently dealt with health region boards. The answer was "absolutely." Responsibility for the municipal level of government was given to the provinces by the Constitution Act of 1867 (formerly known as the British North America Act) and we are therefore "creatures of the province." (Other responsibilities given to the provinces were natural resources and education and there was lively discussion about the boundaries of those responsibilities.)

We also had discussions about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Alberta Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) legislation and how these impact on local government.

MUNICIPALITIES: THE CLOSEST TO THE PEOPLE AND THE MOST TRANSPARENT LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT

It might surprise some Peace River residents who feel that their local government is not transparent (or as transparent as they would like), but compared with how the provincial and federal governments operate, we heard repeatedly that we are indeed the most accessible and the most transparent because under the provisions of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), we are required to conduct the majority of our business in public. There is always room for improvement, of course, and the Town is working on new ways to keep residents informed about programs as well as the work of Council.

MUNICIPALITIES IN ALBERTA ARE STRUGGLING: THE IMPORTANCE OF WORKING TOGETHER

Municipal Affairs has in the past year or so dealt with over 60 Alberta municipalities that are struggling to be sustainable, and the issues aren't always just financial. Some are having great difficulty recruiting and retaining staff or even forming a council. The times call for some creativity and flexibility.

In the session on governance and collaboration with Dr. Roger Gibbins of the Canada West Foundation and Dr. Matthew McKinney from the University of Montana's Public Policy Research Institute, we were reminded that Minister Danyluk has made it clear to municipalities that if we don't get regional issues sorted out on our own, he'll do it for us.

Dr. McKinney described what he has learned about working across boundaries, and how "homegrown" solutions (rather than those imposed on a region) are generally the most successful.

When Dr. Gibbins was asked about how our municipalities can work with others who seem content with the status quo, he reflected on those 60 communities that are struggling even in these good times and how we need to be prepared to move ahead even in tough times. He asked us whether we want to be the architect of change or just let it happen to us? What an important question that is! Change happens and if we want it to work for us, we need to take an active role, no matter how difficult it may be.

It was an excellent 4 days of learning and networking. The slides from all the presentations will be available in a few weeks on the AUMA website, so check them out if you're interested in learning more.

Workshop: Relationships, Roles & Responsibilities for Council, Councillors & Administrators

On Friday, November 2, our mayor, Iris Callioux, and the four new councillors (Jim Hancock, Wanda Laurin, Berry Heinen, and myself) attended an all-day workshop hosted by the Town of Grimshaw and presented by Alberta Municipal Affairs & Housing. Councillors and administrators from Grimshaw and the MD of Peace (#135) were also in attendance.

Through lectures and activities, we were educated about a wide variety of topics and reviewed relevant sections of the Municipal Government Act (MGA) (available online at: http://www.qp.gov.ab.ca/Documents/acts/M26.CFM).

It was interesting to learn that a municipality is a corporation with the same powers as a "natural person," except where those powers are limited by the MGA or other legislation. What these "natural person" powers do is give councils flexibility in how the municipality is organized and administered, what services are provided, and the delivery of those services.

We looked at the roles and responsibilities of councillors (section 153 of the MGA), of which there are many! The Chief Elected Official (CEO), who is called a mayor or reeve, has duties in addition to those of a councillor, and those were reviewed as well.

There was considerable time spent on the concept of "pecuniary interest," which is what most people think of as conflict of interest (section 170). The MGA sets out the procedure we need to follow if we have a pecuniary interest in an item that comes up at a meeting, and we did an exercise to give us practice in distinguishing situations where a person would need to exclude him/herself from discussion and decision-making.

The MGA describes pecuniary interest as something that could monetarily affect the councillor, his/her spouse, adult interdependent partners or children, the councillor's or councillor's spouse's/adult interdependent partner's parents, or a business that employs the councillor or one in which the councillor has an interest.

We found out how a councillor can be disqualified (section 174 of the MGA), for instance, by not voting at meetings, by missing all council meetings in an 8-week period, or by being convicted or an offense punishable for five or more years. These are just some of the ways to be disqualified.

Council decision-making processes were discussed in some detail, as were the procedures used at meetings, agenda formats, minutes, etc.

It was a day well-spent in meeting councillors from other municipalities, spending time with members of Peace River Town Council, and in learning a great deal about our new roles and responsibilities. Many thanks to the Town of Grimshaw for scheduling this session and inviting us to participate.

When we attend the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) conference in Calgary at the end of the month (November 28-30), we'll have the opportunity to spend another day on orientation activities for new councillors, which should reinforce what we've already learned and perhaps also introduce new information. It will also be an excellent opportunity to meet new councillors from around the province. The full conference program is available at: http://www.auma.ab.ca/live/MuniLink/Convention/2007+Convention