By Alex McCuaig

No to amalgamation

Amalgamation talks end with county vote

Sep 6, 2019 | 5:26 PM

Brooks, AB – The working group looking at amalgamation of Brooks, County of Newell and Bassano is no more following a council vote Thursday.

County of Newell councillors voted to withdraw from the Regional Working Group looking at the move to amalgamate the three municipalities. That lead to the group ending any further discussions on the topic.

The issue became an emotional one for residents with many opposed to amalgamation. Two of the five original municipalities within the county’s borders – Rosemary and Duchess – withdrew from the discussions three months after initially joining the working group in December 2018.

But with the possibility of looming provincial funding cuts, Newell County Reeve Molly Douglass said an opportunity may have been missed to meet that challenge.

“The concern about funding was the driver behind this,” said Douglass. “It was to look at more efficiencies.”

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Douglass highlighted with five municipalities within the boundaries of the County of Newell there were likely savings to be found.

“I always go back to where we sort of started with this,” said Douglass. “We have under 25,000 people in the whole region, 32 councillors, five municipal administrations and all the other departments which go with that.”

Douglass says she doesn’t expect the amalgamation issue to be discussed again any time soon.