The Cold Lake Air Weapons Range is once again at the centre of a disagreement between local municipalities.
In last week's paper, Town of Bonnyville Mayor Gene Sobolewski submitted a letter to the editor outlining his desire to work with neighbouring municipalities to ultimately gain some revenue from I.D. 349 (CLAWR) for the town. His letter, however, caused uproar – reigniting the ongoing debate between the town and City of Cold Lake over dollars generated through the city's agreement with the province.
“It's always been on the radar but right now it's budget crunch. I want to raise awareness to the kinds of deficits and the kind of things that we're facing and how easily resolved some of those issues are by everybody being able to work together and look at that opportunity that might exist in sharing a piece of the pie – not the total pie,” said Sobolewski following his letter being published.
He added, “I'm talking about funds that aren't recognized that could be through mill rate increases and things like that, but that are unrecognized right now.”
Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland has taken exception to the letter, noting that it's riddled with errors and misinformation, along with condemning the method used by Sobolewski.
“It's disappointing that the Mayor of Bonnyville would reach out and express his concerns on a subject without the proper politics, which would be to sit down with the respective mayors and councils and have a conversation. I don't understand why you would write a letter to the editor,” said Copeland. “I don't find it a very classy way of doing business.”
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Cold Lake and the Province of Alberta was originally signed on Sept. 20, 2011. The agreement came into effect on Jan. 1, 2012 and will continue until Dec. 31, 2016. Four municipalities came to the table for the agreement: the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, the County of Lac La Biche, the MD of Bonnyville and the City of Cold Lake.
Prior to the exploration of an improvement district, in 2009 the province mandated mediation between the MD, town, city and Village of Glendon. Copeland claims the city was essentially left to their own demise.
“It was intense. The City of Cold Lake got beat up pretty hard by our fellow municipalities. In the end we did not sign the deal that was brokered during mediation. We looked at the amount of money the MD was offering and said there was no way that was going to sustain our community,” said Copeland, adding that's when the city decided to build a relationship with the province.
The deal that was agreed upon with the province included the formation of a new improvement district that included the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range and four additional townships immediately north of the range. Lac La Biche also received 16 townships north of the air weapons range, which previously belonged to Wood Buffalo.
In the MOU it states that upon the completion of this agreement “a review may be undertaken to have the City of Cold Lake assume responsibility for the administration of the Improvement District.”
Now, the Town of Bonnyville finds themselves in a similar situation as the city did back in 2011, with a mounting infrastructure deficit. In an effort to find viable, sustainable solutions to their problem, the Regional Opportunities Committee was formed. Cold Lake declined to take part in the committee, citing that its sole focus is I.D. 349.
Sobolewski rejects the notion that they're trying to take money away from the I.D.; rather he says the town's priority is coming up with new ways to work with what's already in place in the region. While they did eventually target the CLAWR, he added that the committee wasn't formed around it.
“After we had a couple meetings and reviewed where we were at, it began to evolve into a specific target and a specific ask to look at the provincial I.D. 349. To look at other types of opportunities you're really not going to get much success...some of the options the mayor (of Cold Lake) had suggested would require legislative changes and I'm not interested in doing that.”
Sobolewski added, “It's not a money grab, it's not us trying to take away. What it is is us trying to encourage sharing and collaboration in this region – something we haven't seen in 15 years when it comes to funding. There is power in collaboration versus confrontation.”
Over the years, city council has publicly voiced their support for moving to a regional government – something the town and MD have strongly opposed. In this case, Copeland said it's another viable option they should be looking at to solve the town's sustainability issues.
“The advice is staring them right in the face. This area has more than enough assessment to make two strong communities,” said Copeland. “If they want to bring everybody's assessment to the table and look at regional government, we're there.”
Copeland added that it's time Bonnyville leaves Cold Lake out of their problems.
“City of Cold Lake residents are getting tired of it, especially me. I get blamed for being a bad guy down in Bonnyville. I'm not the mayor of Bonnyville; I'm the mayor for the City of Cold Lake. What goes on down in Bonnyville is there own business.”
With the city soon entering into talks with the province on transferring the I.D. 349 administration to Cold Lake, and the Town of Bonnyville committed to pushing forward on their request to share in the wealth, it's not likely the debate will be ending anytime soon.
MD of Bonnyville Reeve Ed Rondeau issued his statement on that matter last week, following his counterparts' public disagreement. In his address Rondeau stated that the MD is not looking for any additional dollars, rather that the province take over responsibility for the road leading up to the CLAWR, making it an extension of Highway 41. Currently, the MD receives funds for the maintenance of that particular road as part of the MOU agreement but it is in need of major construction.
However, Rondeau did state that the MD would like to see the funds flow to all of the local municipalities.
“...We are asking that a fair distribution of the residual revenue be given to our neighbouring municipalities of Bonnyville, Glendon and Cold Lake. Council is not suggesting that the City of Cold Lake receive any less revenue. In the initial discussions, it was always suggested by the province that the revenue from the CLAWR would grow and then the province would look at a new sharing formula for this surplus.”
While the issue has already blown up, Sobolewski stressed that he doesn't want the municipalities to focus on the past surrounding I.D. 349, but rather look at what can be done now and explore new possibilities.
“My emphasis is not so much dwelling on technicalities, it's called principles and collaboration. I believe there's opportunity and that's my emphasis and that's my focus.”
The Regional Opportunities Committee will continue to move forward on their work to get untapped funds, Sobolewski said they would also continue to try and start a dialogue with the city about the I.D. 349.
