It would appear the way Westlock-area municipalities are dealing with attempts to work together isn’t that much different from what is happening in Barrhead.
Here in Westlock no municipality has passed a motion unilaterally calling for amalgamation, as has happened west of the Pembina, but things are not as smooth as they had once appeared.
The recent revelation the facilitator who was tasked with helping the Westlock, Westlock County and Clyde work through a series of collaboration discussions has been either fired or suspended, depending on who you ask, shows they’re not even collaborating well on how best to collaborate.
Opting to go it alone instead of using a facilitator may not be in and of itself a bad thing. If the town, county and village all think they can reach a consensus on their own, then more power to them. In fact, it’s probably better to figure things out on their own, as it shows leadership.
However, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
If you ask town mayor Ralph Leriger, the county “halted” the services of the facilitator unilaterally and only informed the town and village in an e-mail.
Clyde mayor Doug Nyal said the county “released” the facilitator.
County reeve Bud Massey considers the facilitator’s services to be “suspended,” pending a meeting between the three municipalities to figure out the plan of attack going forward.
It appears two things can be agreed upon here — the facilitator won’t be at the next meeting, and the county sprung that news on the town and village with no forewarning. That doesn’t exactly sound like a collaborative move.
This latest development raises questions similar to some we asked in this space several weeks ago, such as what was the point of applying for the grant and facilitator if the municipalities are going to try to go it alone?
Admittedly, the facilitator’s exclusion from the next planned meeting could be temporary, as the municipalities could hash out their differences and welcome the facilitator back with open arms.
But perhaps the most concerning aspect of this whole incident is how there was no collaboration in deciding to try things alone in the first place.
Ultimately, none of this bodes well for the prospect of continued collaboration between our municipalities.
