Citizens of Westlock County, the Town of Westlock and the Village of Clyde are invited to attend one of three Regional Collaboration Study public workshops on Feb. 15-16.
The Town of Westlock will host the first workshop on Wednesday, Feb. 15 from 7-9 p.m. at the Westlock Inn.
Westlock County will hold its workshop in the Hamlet of Jarvie’s Community Centre on Thursday, Feb. 16 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Finally, the Village of Clyde will have its workshop later that day, from 2-4 p.m. at the Clyde Drop-in Centre.
“This is our citizens’ opportunity to help us develop the collaborative approach for delivery of services,” said Town of Westlock mayor Ralph Leriger.
“I think it’s important right now with the current economy and political environment we’ve got ... for municipalities to work together to save money and ensure their long-term viability.”
The three public workshops are being hosted by Transitional Solutions Inc. (TSI), the consulting company conducting the study.
“We have been contracted to do a study on areas where the three municipalities can work together in an effort to both increase and maintain service levels in a cost effective manner,” said TSI president Erica Thomas.
“It’s important for us to engage the community on those service areas and get a sense what the appetite is for the different areas of collaboration.”
Drop-ins are allowed, but Thomas is requesting that interested participants RSVP so that she can bring enough material to cover everyone.
“We’re putting people to work,” added Thomas. “It’s not about coming in airing your concerns, it’s about identifying areas where there might be some improvement and the municipalities can work together to provide better services for the region as a whole.
The workshops will involve some brainstorming as well as a question and answer session.
Thomas said that TSI is close to halfway through the study. She anticipated they would be finished the research portion of the study by the end of February.
“We’ve done our homework, but now we need to put some questions to the public,” Thomas added.
“We’ll also be looking at what are the strengths of the individual communities and what are the strengths of the region of the whole. We’re trying to get residents to think on a more regional scale rather than town versus county versus village.”
Once the study is done, the report will be returned to the respective councils. Leriger added that it could be some time before residents see any results from the study.
“There could be some low hanging fruit that we can implement right off the get-go, and there could be some others that could take some work to implement,” said Leriger. “A study is one thing; implementation takes a lot of work.”
He stressed that it was important for the three councils to get as much public input as possible.
“This is your opportunity to have a say in how the town, county and village work collaboratively in the future,” he said. “It helps to define the services and levels of service that are most important to taxpayers and businesspersons.”
An online survey has also been posted on the town, village and county’s websites. Thomas noted she had received “quite a few” responses from the survey.
“At a minimum, please take the time to fill out a survey,” Leriger added. “They are available at any of the three municipalities’ websites. We also have hard copies at municipal offices.
“Good participation will ensure that elected representatives understand the expectations of their residents.”
