The Town of Black Diamond will continue to work with its contractor, Maven Strategies, on amalgamation with Turner Valley.
Black Diamond’s CAO Sharlene Brown informed council on Dec. 2 that scope of work for which the consulting firm, Maven Strategies, was initially brought on board for will be increased.
Brown said it was clear after the initial meeting between the two town councils and Maven Strategies that the expectations of the councils and the contractor were different, and that a broader scope of work was needed, and with it a higher price tag — an additional $52,000, split between the two towns.
Turner Valley and Black Diamond’s respective administrations hired Maven Strategies at an initial cost of $73,000
This was intended to facilitate negotiations in the amalgamation process and public consultations by the Friendship Agreement Committee in addition to guidance to committees and subcommittees throughout the process.
To accommodate the increased cost, Brown said the Town of Turner Valley has applied for an Alberta Community Partnership grant from the provincial government. Brown recommended to council in the Dec. 2 meeting that it put $21,000 into the 2021 budget should the grant not come through.
Council proceeded to pass a motion that funds be set aside as a contingency.
Mayor Ruth Goodwin maintained in a phone interview that the added cost is part of the process.
“As we as we started this process, of course, there's a tremendous amount of unknowns, and you can't save for something unless you know what you're saving for,” Goodwin said. “As we started getting into it, we realized that we needed additional assistance from Maven, and not just for the communication, but also to help us in the facilitation of our working subcommittees.
“Turner Valley has applied for an ACP grant that will help offset the additional scope of work that both councils feel that we need to have, and specifically from Maven, moving forward.”
She stressed that continuing to work with the same contractor will add value in the long run.
“So it's very important to have the continuity of one group, rather than having several groups that we'd be working with, and having them facilitate and help us through the subcommittee topics and aspects," she said.
Coun. Ted Bain is a wary of adding the costs and questioned whether the work could be done by council and administration to try to keep as much money in the local area as we possibly can.
“We're not professionals at some things, but we've got lots of committees with terms of reference, there's lots templates out there we can use,” he said, conceding that he is confident the job will be professionally done by Maven.
“The upside certainly is that we don't have to do the work. It will be done in a manner that hopefully meets all of the criteria of the province.”
