Mountain View County has approved a new seven-year intermunicipal collaboration framework master agreement with the Town of Didsbury.
The move came during council's recent regularly scheduled meeting. The Town of Didsbury council must still approve the agreement, which could take place in September.
Reeve Beattie calls the new agreement a win-win for both municipalities.
"The agreement basically gives a framework on how the town and the county will deal with each other, how they will fund various programs and how they will demonstrate mutual agreements for facilities that are mutually beneficial to the town and the county."
According to the agreement document, "the purpose of the agreement and the sub-agreements that flow from it is to better serve and provide quality of life to the community by ensuring that growth management, land use planning, programs and services are effectively, efficiently and economically delivered and are reasonably available to them.
"This agreement is to be the foundational agreement from which a number of sub-agreements flow. It expresses the intent, common elements and broad parameters applicable to the sub-agreements."
Regarding access to municipal facilities, programs and services, the agreement stipulates that the signatories "agree to provide access to municipal facilities, programs and services to each other's residents in a manner that does not differentiate between them."
Regarding capital planning and cost sharing, the agreement stipulates that the signatories "agree that they will create a joint approach to capital planning for those capital assets that deliver mutual benefit. It is to be complementary to their individual plans and be aligned with respective budget cycles so that due consideration on capital funding can be made by the individual councils."
In the area of asset management, the signatories agree that by Jan. 1, 2020, "they will each create and make operational an asset management plan that they will share with each other."
Such plans are to be updated and shared on an annual basis.
"The signatory that is paying the largest share of the net operating costs for a facility or capital asset that is being jointly funded shall be responsible for managing that asset."
Where the town and county are paying an equal share of the net operating costs, "one of them will be assigned responsibility for managing that asset."
The county has now signed master agreements with Olds, Carstairs, Cremona and Didsbury.
Having the agreements in place is good for the long-term working relationships among the municipalities.
"What has been shown through developing these master agreements is a much better appreciation of each other's fiscal requirements and the challenges that we both face and how we approach those.
"We try to look after the needs of our rural residents and recognizing the role that the urban municipalities play in the areas of recreation and culture and also from an economic perspective as well.
"I think it's a demonstration that we are moving very quickly forward to have those agreements in place with all of our municipalities in the county, save Sundre."
As for Sundre, Beattie says negotiations for an agreement with that town may continue in the fall.
"We don't have an agreement in place with Sundre. There has been a hiatus in that process. It's the decision of this council and also I think in agreement with Sundre that moving forward with a master agreement will wait until after the election in October."
Meanwhile, council has accepted an updated agricultural inspection services agreement with the Town of Didsbury as information.
The move also came during the recent regularly scheduled council meeting.
The agreement is a sub-agreement within the intermunicipal collaboration framework master agreement between the municipalities.
Under the updated agreement, Mountain View County may provide riparian health services for the portions of the Rosebud Creek within the boundaries of the town.
The riparian services provided may include advice on riparian health, tools, resources, knowledge and experience of county staff, education, and meeting with landowners when required.
