ICFs cancelled
Sturgeon County has stopped work on its collaboration frameworks with St. Albert and Morinville, but says it’s still committed to working with them on recreation.
County council voted unanimously Jan. 14 to halt work on intermunicipal collaboration framework (ICF) deals with Parkland County, Strathcona County, Fort Saskatchewan, Edmonton, St. Albert and Morinville. It also voted to keep working on recreation deals with Edmonton, St. Albert and Morinville.
ICFs are agreements that establish how neighbouring municipalities will fund shared services such as recreation. Sturgeon County residents use libraries and sports centres in St. Albert and Morinville, for example, and those communities have often argued the county does not pay its fair share of the cost of those facilities. The ICFs were meant to address such disputes and encourage cost savings.
Prior to last fall, the province required communities to sign ICFs with all their neighbours by April 1, 2020. Members of a growth management board such as the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board could limit their ICFs to just cover issues not addressed through that board – recreation, in the case of the EMRB.
That meant Sturgeon County had until this April to sign ICFs with its 15 neighbours, including recreation-specific ones with Morinville, St. Albert, and Edmonton. As of last October, it had finished just one ICF with Parkland County.
Last fall’s Red Tape Reduction Implementation Act made ICFs optional between growth management board members. That means the county no longer has to have ICFs with Parkland, Strathcona, Fort Saskatchewan, Edmonton, St. Albert or Morinville.
“It’s a bit of a relief not to have all this work to accomplish,” Mayor Alanna Hnatiw said in council.
Council heard the St. Albert and Morinville ICFs were considering cost-sharing deals for current and future recreation services, facilities and projects. The Edmonton one was looking at possible future expansions to facilities such as Rogers Place. The Strathcona and Fort Saskatchewan ones did not include plans to share costs or services.
Hnatiw said in an interview it is important for the county to continue to work with its neighbours and committed to new deals on recreation with Edmonton, St. Albert and Morinville. Talks would continue as before but would no longer be subject to the April 1 deadline.
Hnatiw said the ICF talks had helped Sturgeon better understand its neighbours, and was confident that the county would reach a fair deal with them.
In an email, St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron said she was disappointed by the province’s decision to make ICFs optional for growth management board members, but was encouraged by the talks between the city and the county so far.
“Providing recreation services for all our residents is a priority, although it remains costly, and we hope to share this cost so we can deliver recreation at a level expected by both St. Albert and Sturgeon County,” she said.
Morinville Mayor Barry Turner said in an email that Sturgeon was still interested in a recreation deal, and town council recognized the importance of being collaborative, efficient and cost-effective.
Sturgeon still has to complete ICFs with nine governments, including Bon Accord, Gibbons, Legal and Redwater.
Whistle cessation
County council will get a report later this month on how it can silence noisy train whistles.
Council backed a move by Coun. Dan Derouin to get a report this Jan. 28 on the implications of a train whistle cessation bylaw.
Transport Canada requires trains to blow their whistles whenever they approach a public grade crossing to keep people safe. But those whistles can rattle residents, and some ask their local leaders to make the noise stop.
Derouin said whistle noise around Lamoureux Drive has long been a concern for area residents and people across the river in Fort Saskatchewan, and that train traffic there will only get worse once the new Cando Rail yard is complete. He said the county should look into whistle cessation laws now as a proactive measure.
County infrastructure services general manager Scott MacDougall said Transport Canada has a specific process for whistle cessation during which governments must work with rail companies, study the crossings concerned, and then (if the crossings can be operated safely without whistles) pass a law to ban whistles at those spots. This can cost $50,000 per crossing – more if lights and barriers are needed.
Hnatiw and Coun. Neal Comeau said whistle cessation could have implications throughout the county, especially as the population grows.
Business spending
County council will spend about $231,000 this year to try and make its administration more efficient.
Council voted 6-1 (Comeau opposed) Jan. 14 to take $231,000 out of various reserves to improve software integration, digital customer services, and asset and content management in the county.
The projects were part of a package of nine measures called the business needs assessment meant to make the county more cost-effective. Council chose not to include this $826,000-item in the 2020 budget in December in order to get more information on it.
Corporate services director Jesse Sopko recommended council fund five of the measures this year for $306,000. After hearing more about each, council trimmed this back to four measures for $231,000. That cash will fund studies on how to put more county services online, train staffers to share information with the program SharePoint, enable a review of best practices for asset management, and automate financial and tax processes that are currently done by hand.
