Amalgamation plebiscite set

By Pamela Keith
staff reporter

After more than a year of delays the date of the amalgamation plebiscite for Turner Valley and Black Diamond has finally been set.
A date of Oct. 15 (the date of the municipal elections) has been selected for the plebiscite – a date independent consultant Brian Austrom said will ultimately determine the future of the two towns.
“I think the plebiscite will put the issue to rest,” said Austrom, who has been working with both councils since May. “The residents will have the opportunity to vote and decide if they believe amalgamation is a good thing. The public will either say yes or no.”
Although the idea of joining the two towns has been toyed with in the past, both councils finally sat down in late November 2005 with representatives from Alberta Municipal Affairs to seriously discuss amalgamating.
Since then, a committee, which meets once a month, has since been formed, Austrom Consulting was hired to help with the process, and a number of public open houses have been held, with the last one being in June.
The plebiscite was tentatively scheduled for the spring of 2006, but was pushed back into the fall because there was still much information that needed to be collected before the public’s opinion was required. That fall date was then pushed back further to October 2007.
According to Austrom, the plebiscite will be the final step in terms of public input on the matter. If the vote is yes, the amalgamation journey is far from being over.
The plebiscite date is scheduled at the same time as the municipal election, meaning a new council will have to dive into the amalgamation process.
“If the decision is positive, then you have to address a whole bunch of issues in how you have to move forward,” said Austrom. “That will take some time and it will be a new council that’s dealing with it.”
Both councils have raised three issues so far pertaining to policing, environmental issues and
funding from the province for the amalgamation process. Those issues
have been brought to light and addressed by the provincial government, sparking the go-ahead for the plebiscite.
As to which way the vote will swing is still anybody’s guess.
Austrom Consulting conducted an online survey in June asking residents what the key issues were when considering amalgamating, what the positive and drawbacks would be and if council should support amalgamation. Fifty-three per cent of respondents said council should support amalgamation while 42 per cent said no.
If the vote should be a definite no, it will be up to the new councils to decide what to do next.
A full report of the online survey as well as the final report on the amalgamation process thus far is available at www.austrom.ca.