Courtesy: City of Grande Prairie

By Abby Zieverink

Alberta Urban Muncipalities Association

Councillor Bressey running for seat on AUMA board of directors

Oct 26, 2021 | 12:44 PM

Grande Prairie City Councillor Dylan Bressey is running for the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) board of directors.

Bressey, endorsed by council at Monday’s Organizational Meeting, explains the AUMA as urban municipalities in Alberta working together to better serve citizens across the province through representatives from cities, towns and villages in Alberta.

“(Municipalities) come together to form an association that helps with practical support, it does joint advocacy, and it does training of elected officials and administrators.”

The AUMA board has, as Bressey describes, traditionally always has a strong voice in Alberta.

With this being his second term as a Grande Prairie city councillor, he suggests the decision to run for the board of directors came with a strong desire to better represent residents in the Swan City.

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“We are the economic engine of Alberta and I think it’s important for our voice to be heard in all provincial conversations, coming up with this new term as well.”

Previously, Bressey has been serving on the AUMA municipal fiscal health working group, which he says made him want to be more involved in the process.

“It really has been a privilege to get to know administrators and politicians from across the province and figure out together: ‘how can we as municipalities do better with our resident’s money?’,” he explains.

“For me, the connections I’ve made and the learnings I’ve had with working with colleagues across the province has really made me say ‘I want to do more of this’.”

With that, he hopes to bring his knowledge to the AUMA board alongside other municipalities, representing Grande Prairie on the board of directors.

“I think that the experience I bring, the work ethic I bring and just the love of municipal government I bring, are all good attributes to have at that table talk about: ‘how can all urban municipalities across Alberta do a better job of serving the residents?’”

Former Grande Prairie Mayor Bill Given and Helen Rice had previously represented Grande Prairie on the AUMA board of directors, and with that, Bressey hopes to be another strong voice.

“I think that there are very experienced (and) very strong voices that have left that board and municipal government really is the most important level of government,” he says.

“It’s the form of government that’s closest to the people, so we need a strong voice in Alberta to help us figure out: ‘how do we make local government stronger?’ and ‘how do we make it work better for the residents that we serve?’”

Bressey will be running for a directors position in the Cities up to 500,000 population category. The election for the AUMA board of directors will be happening at the annual convention in Edmonton from November 17-19.