Amalgamation Update - November 19, 2020

The Joint Friendship Agreement Committee agreed on seven mandated negotiation topics, established sub-committees for the negotiations, had a preliminary discussion of the public engagement strategy and negotiation schedule, and reconfirmed the amalgamation negotiation timelines in response to the Municipal Affairs letter regarding the Municipal Election Nomination Period.  

Progress: 

• Decisions on the following topics were made and formal motions were made to include them in the amalgamation application to the Minister: 
  1. Municipal Status: the new municipality will be a Town.  This is consistent with the Municipal Government Act’s definition for Town
  2. Incorporation Date: the new municipality will be incorporated on January 1, 2023
  3. Elected Officials Representation: the new municipality will be represented by seven (7) elected officials.  Most municipalities, especially Towns, have seven (7) elected officials
  4. Municipal Boundaries: the current boundaries of both Towns will form the proposed municipal boundaries
  5. Contiguous Border: there currently is a contiguous border and so no further changes are required
  6. Municipal Office: the main municipal office will be located in Black Diamond at 301 Centre Avenue West, with all current municipal facilities used going forward.

• To complete the amalgamation negotiations effectively, four sub-committees were established, Terms of Reference reviewed, and membership appointed: 
  1. Finance Sub-committee: 

• Black Diamond: Jackie Stickel and Brian Marconi
• Turner Valley: Cindy Holladay, Garry Raab

2. Public Engagement Sub-Committee: 

• Black Diamond: Ted Bain, Veronica Kloiber, Sharon Hart
• Turner Valley: Barry Crane, Lana Hamilton, John Waring

3. Emergency Management Sub-Committee

• Black Diamond: Daryl Lalonde, Ruth Goodwin
• Turner Valley: Jonathan Gordon, Jamie Wilkie

4. Procedure Sub-Committee

• Black Diamond: Ruth Goodwin, Daryl Lalonde, Jackie Stickel
• Turner Valley: Barry Crane, Lana Hamilton, John Waring

• The Joint Friendship Agreement Committee received a response from Municipal Affairs to their September 11, 2020 Notice of Proposed Amalgamationletter.  The following information was provided by Municipal Affairs: 
  • An extension to the Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework between each Town and Foothills County has been granted.  The new deadline is April 1, 2022
  • Policing costs request was not granted
  • A further grant through the Alberta Community Partnership program and the Municipal Sustainability Initiative will be explored by Ministry staff and the Towns administrations 
  • Municipal Election Nomination Period: the request to modify the election nomination period was responded to by providing three scenarios for the Towns to consider – two of which involved accelerating the amalgamation negotiation timeline. The Joint Friendship Agreement Committee decided to proceed with scenario 3 and the original timeline

The next steps are to move ahead with the four sub-committees with particular emphasis on the Public Engagement Sub-Committee’s work to develop the final engagement strategy.  

If you have a question about the amalgamation, please email either amalgamation@town.blackdiamond.ab.ca  or amalgamation@turnervalley.ca.   Each month the municipalities provide responses to any questions raised by members of the community through the monthly update.

Please visit the following sections for more information.

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