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Whitecourt to terminate water agreement with Woodlands County

Aug 28, 2019 | 6:52 AM

Tensions between the Town of Whitecourt and Woodlands County are reaching a boiling point.

At their meeting on Monday, Town Council approved a motion to give two years notice to end the Water and Wastewater Agreement between the two municipalities.

The agreement was signed in 2013 in conjunction with the Revenue Sharing Agreement.

Earlier this year the Town of Whitecourt wanted to revisit the latter agreement in which the County agreed to annually transfer revenue sharing of 10.4% of its total linear assessment. The town says they received no response to their request.

The motion to end water services initially came forward in June but was tabled for two months to give the county time to respond.

But Whitecourt mayor Maryann Chichak says the county has yet to do so, so the motion was brought forward again on Monday.

“It was a gut-wrenching, hard conversation that council had,” Chichak said, adding that Whitecourt isn’t getting a fair shake from the Water and Wastewater Agreement.

“If we look at (the two agreements) and say that they are linked together, as they were – they were amended and signed on the same day – there was a fair, equitable deal with reciprocity to both communities.

“(But) if you separate those agreements and say one had nothing to do with the other, and you look at the Water and Wastewater Agreement in isolation, then it wasn’t a good deal for the town and residents of Whitecourt.”

Woodlands County Mayor Ron Govenlock pulled no punches with his reaction to the motion.

“The actions are provocative, they’re vindictive,” he said Wednesday. “It represents the arrogance and irresponsible management that we’re seeing with regards to a need for these two municipalities to work together and accept the fact that changes have to be made that reflect the current economy and the capability of residents to meet a Cadillac standard of service.”

Govenlock applauded Matt Connell for being the lone member of Town Council to vote against the motion.

Chichak says the next step towards resolution is bringing both sides back to the table in a respectful manner, and a willingness to negotiate.

“So far that hasn’t happened,” she laments. “It hasn’t been a fair and equitable negotiation when we’ve been sitting down. It hasn’t been respectful.”

That being said, Chichak is confident the situation is not beyond repair and that the two sides can come back together to strike a deal that works for everyone, as they have many times previously.

“We’re hoping going forward that we can have our neighbours back at the table with us, that we can have intelligent, educated conversations, and move forward because we were the poster child in Alberta for cost sharing and really building a region prided on one community, two futures and planning without borders. I know in my heart we can come back to that.”

Govenlock, too, wants to see respectful discussions take place to settle on a fair agreement for both sides.

“But it’s important to understand that the county is an autonomous municipality with all the rights that every urban municipality takes for granted,” he said. “We are responsible to our residents to manage our financial affairs in the best interest of our residents. That means that the expectations that urban centres like the town may have need to be balanced against the capacity and desires of a rural municipality like the county.”