The M.D. waits for direction on Granum’s viability study

By Lawrence Gleason, Local Press Writer

The Minister of Municipal Affairs may decide residents of the town of Granum vote on whether the town remains as a town or becomes absorbed by the Municipal District of Willow Creek.

The minister, Shaye Anderson, informed the Municipal District of Willow Creek of this by letter on Nov. 15.

The letter was introduced at the M.D.’s Dec. 12 council meeting.

“This issue is now public,” said Reeve Maryanne Sandberg. “It is basically informing us. We’ll wait and see what the minister directs us to do and go from there.”

The Nov. 15 letter states a June 2018 petition from Granum residents resulted in a town viability screening and the minister has decided to take the issue further.

Municipal Affairs Minister Anderson wrote, “The screening confirmed there are viability issues, which, if left unaddressed, may threaten the viability of the town. As a result I believe a more comprehensive review would be beneficial, and I will be undertaking a viability review for the town.”

The review process will include Granum determining the condition of its assets and infrastructure. Anderson said he expected that to be near completion “likely sometime in 2019.”

At that point the M.D. will be asked to be a part of a viability review team, with likely two representatives on it, working with representatives from the Town of Granum together with representatives from municipal and administrative associations.

From that viability review the Town of Granum will receive recommendations.

Anderson added, “At the end of the review I may choose to hold a vote to determine whether the citizens of the town would prefer to have the community remain a standalone municipality or to have a community be governed and receive services as a part of the Municipal District of Willow Creek.”

Cynthia Vizzutti, the chief administrative officer for the Municipal District of Willow Creek, told councillors, “These dissolutions are not cheap for the receiving municipality.”

Vizzutti has experience being on a previous viability review committee, for the Town of Hillspring when it considered its future. Vizzutti was part of that viability committee as a representative from the Alberta Rural Municipal Administrators Association (AARMA).

Councillor Ian Sundquist asked if a vote would be binding if citizens of the Town of Granum voted to either remain a town or become part of the M.D.

Vizzutti said she had never heard of a case where a Municipal Affairs minister overturned a vote.

“Maybe I’m missing something, but the decision usually follows the vote,” Vizzutti said, and added, in advice to councillors, that if Granum voted to dissolve its town status and become part of the Municipal District, “the M.D. has no say.”