Mayor Nolan Crouse will chair the Capital Region Board for the next four years, and his Sturgeon County counterpart says that’s great news for the region.
Crouse was acclaimed as chair of the Capital Region Board (CRB) at the group’s monthly meeting Thursday. He became the board’s first elected chair in 2012.
Support for Crouse was pretty much unanimous, said Sturgeon County Mayor Tom Flynn, who said Crouse did a good job representing the interests of all communities as chair. “I’m glad that he’s back at that job.”
Crouse said he was excited by the board’s vote of support. “It is a vote of confidence, and also something I take very seriously.” He has asked the board to review his performance as chair after two years.
The board’s top priority next year will be to update its five-year growth plan, Crouse said, and to give the province some feedback on Bill 28.
That bill, if passed, would enshrine the regulations that empower the CRB in law and let the province create similar organizations elsewhere in Alberta. Originally set to pass this fall, the province backed off in the face of criticism to do more consultation with municipalities.
“Today was kind of an awkward meeting,” Crouse said on Thursday, as about 10 of the board’s 24 members were new to the organization. As such, the board voted to kick three controversial agenda items down the road to 2014.
One of them was a move to ask the province to review the membership of the CRB – a response to Redwater’s request to leave the group earlier this year.
The second was a move by Crouse to create a $100,000 fund to help small communities like Redwater do planning in the capital region and give them an incentive to stay with the board.
The third would have the board re-examine its voting structure – a structure that currently gives Edmonton a de-facto veto. Parkland County has launched a court challenge against the province in part because of that veto.
Flynn said that the debate around Bill 28 could change board members’ opinions of these motions and boost regional planning. “Some good things could come out of it.”
The board next meets this Dec. 12.
