ST. PAUL/ELK POINT - The County of St. Paul, Town of St. Paul and Town of Elk Point have approved documents to move ahead with officially regionalizing Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) in the area.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been approved and will allow all three municipalities to join the Provincial FCSS Grant Program as part of the Multi-Municipality Program.
As per the agreement, the Town of St. Paul will be taking care of the financials of future grants for the regional group. The Town of St. Paul be the lead municipality in the joint agreement.
The County also added into the agreement that FCSS needs to submit a monthly report to the CAOs of the participating municipalities, as well as complete an annual report to the councils of the participating municipalities.
According to information from the Government of Alberta, the provincial FCSS program aims to promote and enhance the well-being of Albertans, families, and communities. This is done via annual joint funding with the provincial government and participating municipalities.
Each year, the provincial government will provide up to 80 per cent of FCSS funding, while participating municipalities must contribute at least 20 per cent to the FCSS funding.
At a local level, the FCSS funding may go toward delivering “eligible preventative social programs and services themselves,” or “provide FCSS grants to community agencies to deliver the programs and services.”
Motions to enter into a Regional FCSS Agreement and establish a Family and Community Support Services Regional Board have also been approved by the municipalities.
In the past, the County of St. Paul, Town of Elk Point and Town of St. Paul each had their own FCSS departments.
Then in 2015, the County of St. Paul and Town of Elk Point decided to combine the municipalities' FCSS departments and had been operating as the County of St. Paul & Elk Point FCSS until early 2022.
In February of 2022, County of St. Paul CAO Sheila Kitz said the vision had moved toward a completely regionalized FCSS.
"The municipalities feel that this process will result in a win-win for all residents as future cost savings will result in enhanced programming," said Kitz, at that time.
