The relationship between Sturgeon County and the City of St. Albert over the last three years hasn’t exactly been all sunshine and rainbows.
There are many reasons for the frosty relationship, which include the Capital Region Board’s framework, the county’s proposed Municipal Development Plan that would essentially see the county develop on the city’s northern border, fencing in the city and preventing its expansion, and, of course, the actions of the politicians themselves.
County councillor Tom Flynn has watched all of these things play out over the last three years, and it appears he’s had enough. The two-term councillor told the Gazette that leadership is needed to make council more functional. “What we have been doing is not working,” Flynn said. “Council isn’t very unified, and we need leadership to pull it together.”
County council has been divisive, often with a 4-3 vote split on various issues. That was the case a year-and-a-half ago when tempers boiled over in the council chambers over the Heartland transmission line. It was a messy affair that included the firing of the county’s public services manager, then rehiring him as CAO. Council voted 4-1 to bring Peter Tarnawsky back as its new head administrator. Coun. Don McGeachy cast the lone opposing vote, and Mayor Don Rigney and Coun. David Kluthe stormed out of the meeting before the vote was cast.
The same vote split happened recently when council voted 4-3 in favour of putting surplus taxes into general operating revenues. Again, Rigney, Kluthe and McGeachy opposed, and instead wanted the excess put towards a residential tax cut.
Flynn also pointed to the adversarial relationship that exists between the county and St. Albert and suggested strong leadership is needed to bridge the divide. “We can’t operate as a community on our own,” Flynn said. “We’re part of a region that has to grow together.”
Flynn recognizes that the county’s MDP is seen as a threat to St. Albert. The MDP calls for a mix of high density residential development, particularly in the region north of St. Albert, and less dense clustered-county residential, particularly in the Sturgeon Valley. Of course, this has the city’s hackles up, because it would choke off St. Albert’s ability to grow to the north. In stark contrast to Rigney, who said he’d like the MDP to allow for more latitude in planning, Flynn is sensitive to the political ramifications. “The community needs to recognize this is just the start of the (planning) process,” he said.
Flynn is a bridge builder and he’s convinced he can play that role as Sturgeon County’s mayor. Should he win the election, he’ll have to rise above the rhetoric and tear down the political walls that have been built by the municipal governments in the region. Of course, it takes two to tango, and St. Albert’s leadership will have an equally important role to play if both municipalities are to prosper into the future.
