During the last Lac La Biche County council meeting held on Tuesday, August 13, councillors directed their administration to schedule a fishing regulations meeting with neighbouring municipalities in the northeastern region.
The meeting is to be scheduled during the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) Fall Convention to be held September 25 - 27 in Edmonton, with Mayor Omer Moghrabi appointed as the spokesperson on behalf of Lac La Biche County.
The AUMA represents Alberta's urban municipalities including cities, towns, villages, summer villages, and specialized municipalities. The association's jurisdiction covers an area of where about 85 per cent of Albertans live. Established in 1905, AUMA provides solutions and resources for municipal issues and challenges.
Because Lac La Biche County is a specialized municipality — consisting of a rural area and hamlets, and employing a split taxation rate for urban and rural industrial taxpayers — they are a part of both AUMA and Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA), he adds.
La La Biche County Mayor Omer Moghrabi says the AUMA conference is a great way to network with urban and rural municipalities, and to share issues that are unique to northeastern Alberta, rural Alberta and tourism destinations, like the Lac La Biche region.
"Cities, towns and villages, meet twice a year usually to go over funding, some of the concerns we have, and to learn about each other and what we are doing. We are a specialized municipality, so we go to both the AUMA and we go to the RMA," Moghrabi said, "We haven't received the agendas yet or what's being offered, but it is the Mayor and Council's chance, and some of our administration to meet the other municipalities, and what's happening, and they also provide the education. They do sessions."
Meet with minister
During the same Council meeting, Lac La Biche County Council directed their administration to also reach out to Municipal Affairs to schedule a meeting with their minister Kaycee Madu during the AUMA fall convention. In addition to that, councillors have also directed administration to contact other provincial ministries to schedule meetings. Transportation, Health, Parks, and policing are some of the areas council would like to discuss with top-level provincial officials.
"What we kind of do at these meetings is also contact some of the ministers, whether it's Municipal Affairs, Health Services, the Solicitor General, Transportation... Environment and Parks. We will try to book any kind of meeting we can get... All the municipalities, there's a lot of them. All of them will be trying to get meetings so, basically, we try to connect with our MLA, we have our lobbyist group that help set up meetings for us," Moghrabi said.
They mayor is optimistic about the upcoming meetings. He hopes that these discussions will hold a positive result for different concerns that area residents have — not just fishing regulations.
"We are working in a positive way to change it (fishing regulations) for sure. To have sustainability. Not just only fishing, but everything. From our highways to infrastructure. So, we touch on many things, and no matter what we do, it will be positive. It's the only way to work," said Moghrabi.
As of now, no exact meeting dates have been confirmed.
