Elected officials throughout Rocky View County attended the annual Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) meeting in Edmonton last month putting forward resolutions, attending information sessions, workshops and tradeshows and pressing the provincial government.
“I enjoyed the AUMA conference very much. There were sessions on several things but the ones I enjoyed the most included Small Communities - Intermunicipal Cooperation, one on coaching and another about effective media,” said Valerie Squires, mayor for the town of Irricana.
“The greatest benefit of AUMA to me is networking with other municipalities. Councillors often meet with other municipalities at meetings and events, but AUMA provides an opportunity to share challenges and successes with members of municipalities we might not otherwise meet or have the chance to informally talk with,” said Squires.
The AUMA annual convention was held in Edmonton from Sept. 24 to 26.
Delegates from Irricana and other Rocky View County municipalities heard from Premier Jim Prentice and Minster of Municipal Affairs Diana McQueen.
Squires said both Prentice and McQueen gave insight as to what they hope to achieve in their new roles.
The tradeshow portion of the convention highlighted several ideas of interest for Squires such as new ways to develop splash parks, and playgrounds, as well as infrastructure items like building and paving options, she explained. There were several information booths hosted by businesses, and government entities.
“This gave a fantastic opportunity to ask questions on items we would not typically have even thought of,” said Squires.
Beiseker Mayor Ray Courtman also attended the convention.
“We discussed some of the issues that we are facing right now, mainly the flooding problem we are having from water coming from the north into the village,” said Courtman.
He said the issue of water seeping into the village from the county is an ongoing problem.
“We are doing as much as we can to remediate that trouble, but it requires more resources than we can possibly muster given our small size,” said Courtman.
He said that information sessions were very well attended during the convention.
“The Premier gave a very moving speech,” said Courtman.
“It was my opinion that he got a large amount of support from those gathered.”
The Premier’s speech focused on the formation of partnerships with municipal government. He received a standing ovation. Courtman estimates there were more than 1,000 participants.
Crossfield Deputy Mayor Jo Tennant attended many of the information sessions rather than resolution sessions while at the convention with delegates from Crossfield.
Tennant hopes to do further research after attending a session provided by Partnership Group.
“It’s a toolkit featuring the keys to building a municipal sponsorship program. I thought that sounded quite interesting for possibilities in the Crossfield community,” she said.
Crossfield Mayor Nathan Anderson also attended the event, but was unavailable for comment before press time.
The AUMA convention allowed local delegates to network and speak with government officials, put forward resolutions for deliberation and address elected officials on issues that pertain to their individual communities. One resolution for example was for the 2014 Municipal Water Conservation, Efficiency and Productivity Plan. In 2012 the AUMA board of directors issued a mandate for developing Municipal Water Policies. In 2014 those policies were focused on stormwater.
More information on the annual AUMA convention and tradeshow is available at www.auma.ca.
