BONNYVILLE – The Town of Bonnyville council made the decision to join the Mid-Size Towns Mayors’ Caucus (MSTMC) after Deputy Mayor David Sharun and Interim CAO Renee Stoyles attended one of their meetings held during the AB Munis Spring Leaders’ Caucus.
The Mid-Size Towns Mayors’ Caucus is a group of 15 mid-sized urban communities that formed last year and among its members includes the neighbouring community of Cold Lake.
The purpose is to strengthen the significance and position of mid-sized towns as a relevant and important voice within the province-wide framework, collaborating, strategizing and advocating to address matters that directly impact mid-sized towns, heard council, during the March 25 Town of Bonnyville council meeting.
In an advocacy statement from the MSTMC, the group identified strategic solutions for aging infrastructure as something they are advocating for.
“We realize the unique challenges that are specific to us, and our individual requests cannot compete with those of our larger neighbours,” stated the MSTMC.
The MSTMC aims to grow in membership and gather data to strengthen their case.
The membership fee is $250, meetings are bi-monthly, and membership grants the municipality a vote.
Sharun explained that MSTMC does not conflict with other organizations such as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
He described his experience at the MSTMC meeting, saying it was a “dynamic” group of people that attended.
“There's 15 [members] already and there was a lot of energy in that room. It was one of the smaller ballrooms, but it was packed with delegates from different municipalities . . . I would urge everyone to support this. We're not in competition with anybody else. It's just looking out for issues that pertain to smaller communities like ours,” said Sharun.
MSTMC listed its objectives in a Terms of Reference document, which include being an advocate at a municipal, provincial, and federal levels, promoting networking, and information and best practice sharing.
