Following months of meetings and discussions, Lacombe County Council and Bentley Town Council signed an Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework (ICF). This document specifies what and how services are funded and delivered and highlights the ways that Lacombe County and the Town of Bentley can work together efficiently.
“For some municipalities, an ICF would be a new process, but the work completed by Lacombe County and the Town of Bentley reinforced agreements already in place. The ICF also ensures equal access to facilities, programs and services for the residents of both municipalities,” said Reeve Paula Law. “The signing of this ICF agreement paves a path forward for continued collaboration and communication between our municipalities.”
The Lacombe County / Town of Bentley ICF includes the following key points:
- An update and consolidation of the Fire Services Agreement between the town and county;
- An endorsement of the existing Facilities Operational Cost Sharing Agreement;
- A joint approach to capital planning for capital assets used by town and county residents;
- An opportunity for each municipality to have input into policy and service level development for operating cost-sharing;
- Service inventories outlining the types of service, funding mechanisms, and the party(ies) responsible for delivering each service (transportation, recycling, fire response, bylaw enforcement, etc.).
“There has been a lot of work done to get to this point, and on behalf of the town council, our staff and citizens, we are proud to have adopted the final ICF Master agreement,” said Town of Bentley Mayor Greg Rathjen. “This ICF with Lacombe County simply documents the cooperative and supportive attitude and approach that the Town of Bentley and Lacombe County have always brought to each shared activity, challenge and partnership.”
Background Information: Intermunicipal Collaboration Frameworks (ICFs)
Municipalities that share a common boundary must create an Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework (ICF), which is a new legislated requirement that was introduced in the Modernized Municipal Government Act in 2016. Municipalities have until March 31, 2020 to finalize all required ICFs for their municipality.
Frameworks are intended to:
- Provide for integrated and strategic planning, delivery and funding of intermunicipal services
- Allocate scarce resources efficiently in delivering local services
- Ensure municipalities contribute funding to services that benefit their residents
Each framework must identify which service they provide, which service is shared between municipalities, and which are provided by third parties. The ICF also details how the services listed below are funded/delivered:
- Transportation
- Water and wastewater
- Solid waste
- Emergency services
- Recreation, and
- Any other services that benefit residents in more than one of the municipalities that are parties to the framework
-Submitted by Lacombe County