Town, County released from CMRB membership
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Town of Strathmore and Wheatland County have officially been released of their membership from the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB).
Strathmore Mayor Pat Fule said that he and Wheatland County Reeve Amber Link are excited to have been relieved of their memberships after discussing their intentions to exit the board for roughly a year.
“We’re glad, we’re relieved that we’ve been released from the CMRB. We just didn’t think that it was a good fit for Strathmore, and Wheatland County felt the same,” said Fule. “We felt that we are too far away from a lot of the things that were being planned and discussed. I’ve been going for four-and-a-half years as mayor and I can’t think of one meeting where Strathmore’s needs or situation were discussed.”
Fule explained the CMRB tackled developments which were largely, if not entirely, far outside the Strathmore-Wheatland County region and were not directly to the benefit of their citizens and rate payers.
Among the benefits of being released from the board, include both monetary savings from no longer needing to travel to attend meetings but also savings in staff hours that no longer need to be dedicated to CMRB business.
“There were just so many indicators that it was time for us to be released and I’m very glad that Minister McIver came to our latest CMRB meeting,” said Fule. “He was very gracious and understanding of Strathmore and Wheatland County wanting to be released from the board.”
Reeve Link agreed.
“Due to our regionally insignificant projected population growth, complexities of implementation of CMRB policy given only a portion of Wheatland County was included in the Calgary Metro Region, distance from the City of Calgary and non-contiguous borders with less likelihood of significant use of shared regional infrastructure due to distances, it made sense for us to be removed,” said Link.
Additionally, Fule regarded that continued membership within the CMRB may have eventually led to delays or other negative impacts on significant projects within the local region, should they have been deemed not a priority of the board.
“There was a worry that being in the board could impact some of our major developments and we would be bound to follow a lot of the guidelines and rules of the board and the region. We thought there’s a lot more freedom and a lot more ability to partner with our nearest neighbors right here in our own area,” said Fule. “I (was) thinking really recently, what if we were really passionate about a project, but the board wasn’t so keen on it or felt that it was not in the region’s best interest? You always have that worry … and now we don’t necessarily have to worry.”
The decision took effect as of April 1 for Strathmore and Wheatland County to have been released from the CMRB.