Mayor Tanya Thorn is ending her eight-year stint on Alberta Municipalities’ (ABmunis) board of directors.
Thorn’s latest two-year term as Director – Towns South ends during the ABmunis convention, being held Sept. 25 to 27 in Red Deer.
Responsibilities in the role include representing communities in southern Alberta, including Okotoks.
She said her time on the board gave the Town of Okotoks and herself a deeper understanding of issues that impact municipalities, but that it is time to move on and make room for other people.
Besides elections, ABMunis members will discuss nearly 30 resolutions during the annual convention and will hear from Premier Danielle Smith and Opposition Leader Naheed Nenshi.
No resolutions were put forward by the Town of Okotoks, but Thorn said several of them call for increased funding from the Province, which is a similar theme to last year’s convention.
Okotoks’ mayor pointed to one resolution, brought forward by the City of Airdrie, calling for a funding boost to Family & Community Support Services (FCSS).
FCSS programs are cost-shared between the Government of Alberta and participating municipalities, with the Province covering 80 per cent of costs.
The Province increased funding by $5 million in 2023 to bring its contribution to $105 million, but ABmunis said it was the first increase since 2015 and that more money is needed to meet the demand for service.
The organization wants to see FCSS funding tied to population growth and indexed to inflation, or programs and services could be rolled back or cancelled.
Other resolutions call for automated vote counting systems to be allowed in municipal elections and for fines for speeding in school or playground zones to be doubled.
Resolutions passed during the convention are sent to the Government of Alberta, and they help inform advocacy efforts by ABmunis.
