Alberta Municipal Affairs has informed the City of Cold Lake that as of Dec. 31 of this year, their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will expire. The MOU was signed Sept.
Alberta Municipal Affairs has informed the City of Cold Lake that as of Dec. 31 of this year, their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will expire.
The MOU was signed Sept. 2011, with the expectation that the transition of the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR) would be made to the city. At that time, the city was informed that they would receive over $16 million in tax revenue from the CLAWR over the next five years.
The deal solidified the financial future of the City of Cold Lake, and although the MOU is set to expire, the city will still be receiving its annual tax revenue from CLAWR, however a long-term agreement has yet to be reached.
It was after City of Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland, and previous 4 Wing Cold Lake Air Base Commander Col. David Wheeler made a joint request to the provincial leaders in Jan. 2011, that the Government of Alberta stepped-in to lend the city a hand.
The agreement was created as a five-year transitional basis, where tax revenue from industrial development of the CLAWR would be shifted from Lac La Biche County to the City of Cold Lake. In exchange, the city would provide Lac La Biche County with transition funding. The county would also benefit from new tax revenue provided by townships north of CLAWR that were being transferred from the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.
The MD of Bonnyille was set to receive funds from the city starting at $600,000 per year, to help cover the costs of maintaining the roads leading to the CLAWR. This amount would increase to $1 million annually by the end of the five-year term.
The letter dated Oct. 26, 2016 informing the City of Cold Lake that the MOU was set to expire, was signed by Minister of Municipal Affairs, Danielle Larivee, and claims that ministry officials had met with each municipality in the vicinity of the Improvement District No. 349 (ID 349), to discuss the future of funding distributions from the ID.
In the letter, Larivee claims she believes that any long-term agreement will take time to develop, and that the city should expect the same financial commitment for 2017, as previously provided by ID 349.
"I understand that intermunicipal collaboration will require additional time and effort," she stated in her letter addressed to council. "But, I believe this is a critical component to any long term arrangement."
She continues to explain that in order to allow for additional time for discussions, she will not be finalizing her decision on a long term arrangement, but the city should expect to be contacted by the Government of Alberta in the new year.
"From what we understand, some of the municipalities of the region have also received individual letters from the Minister of Municipal Affairs," explained Copeland, adding the letter was brought forward to the Tuesday, Nov. 22 council meeting so council could discuss their response.
The letter addressed to municipal affairs from the City of Cold Lake, expresses the city's concern that they have not had the opportunity to meet with Larivee to discuss the agreement and the continued stability of Cold Lake, or the proposed framework moving forward. The letter also discusses the city's apprehension that the Government of Alberta is proceeding with the expiration of the MOU, without any prior discussion with council.
"We still haven't really had a meeting face-to-face to talk about the situation and the benefit to the community," said Copeland, adding since its implementation, ID 349 has proven its worth.
"The stuff we have done over the last few years is brought to you by the ID 349, and it just shows you all of the buildings, from FCSS/Parent Link, the Fire Hall, the new arena, the new football field... all of the infrastructure projects that don't get their glory, but are vitally important to the community."
The agreement was created after years of discussion and searching for a long-term solution for Cold Lake, and after the city was put to the test through a municipal inspection completed by the Government of Alberta. The government inspector worked hand in hand with the city to better understand the city's sustainability issues.
After the inspector's report was completed, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Lac La Biche County and the MD of Bonnyville met with the legislature to work on a solution. At that time, the three municipalities involved were compensated for their cooperation and help with the solution for the sustainability of the city.
For example, CAO Kevin Nagoya said, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo received land in compensation, while Lac La Biche County received quarter sections of land in addition to transition funding.
"We are talking about some pretty significant compensation processes that were provided, which are not being, from what we can tell, reverted or coming back, or on the table for discussion," he said. "This is being treated as a temporary fix. It doesn't seem consistent with the theme of which was arrived at the time."
Coun. Chris Vining said an important statement in the city's letter to municipal affairs is that they were expecting to meet with someone about the issues, but has yet to do so.
"That' is what they originally said, is they would talk to everybody," he said, adding the government did talk to the other municipalities involved, just not the city itself.
He continued, adding verbal communication is important, and the lack of it has caused issues over the years.
"It's usually at that point in time (meetings) that you get to hear what the other conversations were sounding like, and we aren't being given that opportunity."
