Contention over waterworks resolved

By Tamara Neely
Staff Reporter

A meeting to resolve concerns about the waterworks system in Turner Valley came to a conclusion after seven and half hours of negotiations on Friday.
Resident Roxanne Walsh was concerned the town’s main water wells and pipelines were vulnerable to contamination from oil and gas activity and the filter at the treatment plant should be upgraded to remove potential contaminants. In October she filed an appeal of the waterworks system to have these issues addressed.
The last time she filed an appeal with Alberta Environment, the government body that oversees licences for municipal water delivery, the issue had to be resolved in court. This time, Walsh, representatives of the Town of Turner Valley and Alberta Environment were willing to meet and discuss the issue with a mediator from the Alberta Environmental Appeals Board (AEAB). Gilbert Van Nes, general counsel with the AEAB, estimated this issue could take three days of meetings to resolve. However, a resolution that satisfied all parties was reached on the first day. Walsh said she cannot comment on whether she is satisfied with resolution addressing her concerns.
“We signed a confidentiality agreement, so we can’t discuss what we talked about in the meeting, but we did agree to the joint statement,” said Walsh. “Until this goes to the next stage, there is nothing we can add further.”
Van Nes, who attended the meeting in addition to the mediator to act as a resource for all parties, released a statement jointly prepared by Walsh and Turner Valley Mayor Dona Fluter. “The mediation meeting resulted in productive discussions between the parties and as a result a motion will be presented to the town council for approval and ratification.
The motion will address improved communications between the three parties (Walsh, Alberta Environment and the Town) and the community regarding the town’s waterworks system. Van Nes said the discussion that took place during mediation cannot be disclosed by any parties to ensure each party feels comfortable to speak their minds. One day before the scheduled mediation it appeared the session would have a rocky start since Walsh requested Coun. George Wallace attend the meeting, but the Town would not allow it.
“I was planning on bringing him to the mediation as support for me and to be an observer, to be able to have the information first hand,” said Walsh
“I was told that if he was to attend then the Town would not come to the table. So I had to revise my plan and find an alternate, because I wanted the mediation to go forward and I still wanted an observer and I still wanted someone to support me.”
Van Nes said each party may invite someone to attend mediation as silent observers but if someone objects to their presence at the meeting, the parties must work it out among themselves — the AEAB does not step in and rule on who may attend. Fluter said in a prepared statement the Town objected to Wallace attending the meeting as Walsh’s support because it was a conflict of interest.
“The Town supported Ms. Walsh's request for a moral support person, however, the Town rejected the request for George Wallace to sit in as that person. The Town felt by having Mr. Wallace present in that capacity, it could have created a possible direct conflict of interest, particularly in the event if decisions needed to be ratified by council stemming from the mediation talks. Mr. Wallace, in his capacity as a councillor, may then have had to be excluded from the decision making process by council,” stated Fluter.
tneely@okotoks.greatwest.ca