By Curtis Galbraith

Municipal Politics

County still wants mediation on ICF discussions, city still wants arbitration

Jan 11, 2021 | 6:00 AM

County of Grande Prairie officials say they are disappointed the city still wants to go to arbitration to finalize an Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework.

The two sides last met on December 18 where the city said it still wanted to go to arbitration. City council had passed a motion to go this route in October.

County Reeve Leanne Beaupre says her side would prefer to continue with mediation.

“We thought we had made good progress on some issues. There were still some outstanding issues that we needed to negotiate on when the city chose to end that negotiation and move to an arbitrated process versus mediation.”

City Hall says in a news release that it decided to go to arbitration after four years of discussion and eight mediation sessions.

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Beaupre adds that since both sides agreed on confidentiality, she can’t say what issues remain unresolved.

“What I can say is that (the) County of Grande Prairie has always been committed to paying its fair share and the process of going through items, speaking about the cost of a service and who is using the service and how much is being contributed to that service was up for discussion and we continue to have those discussions.”

Beaupre thinks it is better for ratepayers to find a solution locally.

“The County of Grande Prairie felt that that was important to do because the process now becomes longer and it also costs more money to move it into arbitration, so with scarce resources, we felt that money could be better directed to some other project.”

The city adds in its news release that it wants to go to voluntary arbitration right away rather than waiting for the April 1 deadline to finish a deal, saying this would be better for ratepayers. EverythingGP has also asked for comment from the city.

The province has set that deadline for neighbouring municipalities to work out such a framework. The province says these are meant to ensure municipalities pay for services that benefit residents, paying for local services is done efficiently, and that there be more integrated planning for services.