Over 1,000 representatives from across Alberta will meet this week for the 2024 Alberta Municipalities Convention and Trade Show.
Taking place in Red Deer from September 25-27, the convention will include votes on resolutions, keynote speakers, and remarks from provincial ministers as well as the premier and opposition leader.
It'll also include an AGM, where members vote on a new board of directors.
Okotoks Mayor Tanya Thorn, who has been a member of the group's board of directors for eight years, won't be running for re-election as Director - Towns South.
"I'm a big believer that you need to rejuvenate your boards and create different ideas and perspectives. And I'm really enjoying the mayor gig so I want to spend a little more time in my community this last year of our term, so I decided now was the right time to step back," says Thorn. "Over the course of these eight years, on average, I'm in Edmonton at least twice a month. So travel, all of those pieces, it's a big time commitment."
While the Town of Okotoks hasn't introduced any resolutions this year, there are a few that stick out to Thorn.
"There are a lot of resolutions that are looking for a lot of increased funding from the province. I concur that we need increased funding, but I'm always challenged with us piecemealing the funding, so, 'A grant here, a grant there, and a grant there.' I believe we need to be a bit more focused and really talk about municipality-based line funding and the shortfalls and risks associated with that."
She hopes to see broader conversations on how funding is delivered at the municipal level.
"There are lots of indicators showing that the funding model that we have is actually not appropriate for this day and age, and we really need to sit down and have a more wholesome conversation around what is adequate funding for municipalities and quite trying to necessarily do it in the same way we've always done it. We need to have a look at how we can effectively fund the infrastructure that municipalities, the Province, and the feds are all responsible for. How do we effectively fund it to manage the people that are coming here and the long-term viability of it?"
Another resolution of note relates to electronic vote tabulators.
The use of automated vote-counting machines was banned as part of Bill 20, which was passed by the Government of Alberta earlier this year.
It's the subject of a resolution moved by the City of St. Albert, calling for Alberta Municipalities to advocate for the reintroduction of voting tabulator machines.
Thorn is among those who have questioned the province's decision and pointed to its potential pitfalls, including the efficiency of relying solely on manual counting.
"For a municipality like Okotoks, if we have a similar slate of people that ran like in the last election, the earliest we will probably see results is about 3 a.m... And that's assuming we get the number of people required to do a manual count. We struggle to get the number of people needed as it is with the tabulators. We'll need a huge volume of people in every municipality across the province to manually count. So, if we're not going to see results until 3 a.m. what does the City of Calgary look like? It could be a week before they have results."
The resolution from St. Albert also refers to the complexity of many ballots, providing the city's 2021 election as an example, wherein "over 17,500 individual ballots were cast, with each ballot containing 7 separate votes, and 17 candidates elected, or referendum questions answered out of over 50 options."
When Bill 20 was tabled in April, Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver stated that a number of Albertans have called the integrity of voting machines into question, though many, including Thorn, have called that claim into question.
"They seem to be pretty committed to removing the voting tabulators and saying it's 'What Albertans ask for,' but they haven't presented any data to say where they've made that decision from. If Albertans asked for it, where's the data that shows that?"
According to Thorn, the change would have an estimated impact of $125,000 in revenue required to run elections with manual counting.
Another planned project would have to be deferred to cover the cost, says Thorn.
"The project we're deferring is a municipal census to get an accurate population count for our community. That population count, why it's important, is that a majority of grant funding for communities is based on population. Municipalities tend to do a municipal census between when the federal census happens, so there's a two-year gap. We're not going to do that."
Voting on resolutions will take place on Thursday (Sept. 26).
All 27 resolutions can be seen on the Alberta Municipalities website.