The County of Barrhead will pay at least $312,679 yearly to the Town of Barrhead to operate the Barrhead Regional Aquatics Centre, the Barrhead Agrena and the Barrhead Curling Rink.
That’s the end result of the provincially-mandated municipal arbitration process completed by arbitrator Deborah M. Howes, which was accepted formally at the county council meeting on Nov. 21.
The proposed agreement comes into effect on Jan. 1, 2018 and will run until 2027. Payments will be based on the county’s total taxable assessment, or an average thereof. However, the county’s contribution will never fall below $312,679.
Reached separately for comment, Town of Barrhead mayor Dave McKenzie said he is glad the matter has been decided.
“I know it was a hard, ardous process, but I’m glad to see it has been successful. I think it shows we have stability built in to the recreation process in our community and this is a very good example of how our municipalities can work together. We have done so in the past and I look forward to doing so in the future,” he said.
County council was mostly in agreement with McKenzie on the document.
“I’ve read all of the documents and to me, it looks like a solid agreement. With all of the effort that has gone into it, I think it is a win-win for both parties,” said Coun. Walter Preugschas.
However, several councillors expressed concern about the number of arbitrations required in the process, which could spell trouble for the Inter-Municipal Collaborate Frameworks (ICFs) that are now mandated under the Municipal Government Act.
“Going forward with our inter-municipal collaboration agreements, the province has to be aware of the number of arbitrations that are going to be required,” said Coun. Darrell Troock.
“You can’t go back on decisions made ten, 15 years ago and make current councils negotiate costs for those choices. It’s like us [the county] going after Woodlands for a road that the residents of both municipalities drive on but we’re going to make you pay for it and before we sign our ICF, we’re going to make sure you’re paying the operating costs.
“ICFs should only be held up for arbitration if you’re designing something forward. Otherwise, I don’t know how the province is ever going to see an end to these arbitrations,” he said.
Coun. Bill Lane agreed.
“I agree that there’s a flaw in the system and hopefully it can be rectified in short order. That being said, this agreement was a win-win for us. We don’t have to pay 50 per cent and the town gets more money for recreation,” Lane said.
Deputy Reeve Dennis Nanninga said it sets a precedent for future agreements.
“I’m not unhappy with the agreement we have, but I’m worried it sets a precedent for us and for other counties to contribute to the capital costs and recreational costs of towns and villages everywhere. I don’t know if that’s ever been established as a fact that we have a responsibility to do so. I have mixed feelings on this.”
Reeve Doug Drozd says he is concerned the verdict will set a bad precedent for the ICFs.
“There won’t be enough arbitrators in all of Canada if things go wrong,” Drozd said, noting the short timelines between decisions and the signing deadlines were detrimental to the cause.
The provincially-mandated arbitration process began in August of 2017. On Oct. 16, Howes officially made her decision, which was spelled out in a 24-page document. On Nov. 3, the town and the county were notified of Howes’ decision by email.
During the Nov. 21 meeting, County of Barrhead CAO Debbie Oyarzun went into some detail on the background of the process.
She said that over the years, discussions had been made between the town and county regarding cost-sharing and capital costs of the pool, as well as sharing operational expenses.
In recent years, however, the town argued the county should be contributing more funding, as roughly half of local recreational users are from the county.
In late March, Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Shaye Anderson ordered the town and county to enter binding arbitration to come up with a recreational agreement. The order came after multiple failed attempts at settling on an agreement, including a provincially-mediated arbitration.
Out of a total of 10 principles outlined in the mediation process, Oyarzun said only four or five were agreed upon before arbitration began in August.
“The first step was a telephone call between myself and county reeve Doug Drozd, as well as our town counterparts, to discuss how we would be undertaking this process and one of the things agreed upon during that conversation was in terms of rethinking the number of facilities being considered.
“The focus of previous discussions went from including all of the facilities under recreation to narrowing it down to the pool, the arena and the curling rink,” she said, adding both the town and the county agreed on final-selection arbitration.
To that end, Oyarzun said both sides agreed to work on solutions that would benefit their counterparts equally.
“At the end of the day, the arbitrator selected one of the two proposals. It was important, at least from the county’s perspective, because it was felt that the arbitrator might not have the background or understanding of municipal legislation and this was the first time such a process has been mandated by the province,” Oyarzun noted, adding the principles agreed upon in the mediation process were built into the solution.
“We did our best to find solutions to all issues,” she added.
Oyarzun said both the town and the county were required to submit written proposals that were reviewed by both parties.
“This is something I would say I never want to do again,” she said, adding to prepare for arbitration, the county reviewed multiple funding models and other materials.
“At the end of the day, I believe we were successful in putting forward our position and ensuring the arbitrator understood how we arrived at our position.”
