Collaboration: Key to the future of municipal government

The latest paper in ABmunis' Future of Municipal Government series, Local Governance in Alberta: Principles Options and Recommendations, suggests that strengthening collaborative mechanisms is key to supporting thriving communities. A summary of the paper’s main findings is available as a briefing.

The paper concludes that overall, current municipal structures work well in terms of providing viable and legitimate local governments that are accountable and responsive to the communities they serve.  There are situations where circumstances provide opportunities for alternatives (e.g., Diamond Valley) or where capacity issues warrant an exploration of restructuring. Still, most municipalities would benefit from improvements to how existing collaboration mechanisms, such as Intermunicipal Collaboration Frameworks (ICFs), contribute towards improved operational capacity and efficiency of service delivery. In particular, the paper calls for enhanced and expanded dispute resolution mechanisms to improve the fairness and legitimacy of the governance system.

Alberta Municipalities is organizing two events to seek input on the ideas presented in the paper:

• Register here for a Zoom webinar on February 23 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. with the report's author, Sandeep Agrawal, who will share his findings and take your questions and initial reactions.
• Register here for a President’s Summit on the Future of Municipal Government taking place in Edmonton on March 29 and 30, in conjunction with our Municipal Leaders' Caucus. 

The Summit will focus on factors identified as key to enhancing the effectiveness of collaboration. It will also reflect another key finding, “that one size does not fit all”. What collaboration looks like will vary by the size, geography and capacity of the municipalities involved.

An overview of the Summit’s agenda along with more information on the project is available on ABmunis’ Future of Municipal Government web page.