DIAMOND VALLEY - Two Towns intent on collaborating services and resources are at it again – this time with a focus on recreation and family.
Councils in both Black Diamond and Turner Valley approved the Friendship Agreement Committee’s suggestion to merge the two Towns’ recreation committees and Family and Community Support Service (FCSS) committees to reduce redundancies and save costs. The Friendship Agreement was established in 2012 to strengthen ties between the towns while moving forward together.
Turner Valley chief administrative officer Todd Sharpe told council at its Feb. 18 meeting that merging the two FCSS committees will result in a monetary savings, but the result won’t be the same for merging the two recreation committees.
“Financially speaking I don’t see any savings,” said Sharpe. “It will eliminate redundancy. Many volunteers appear on more than one committee so we wanted to be conscious of that volunteer fatigue.”
Sharpe said collaboration between the Black Diamond Recreation Committee and Turner Valley Parks, Paths and Recreation Committee makes sense, with the two communities being so close.
“We’ve talked quite some time about regional recreation in that we’re only three kilometres apart,” he said. “I’m hard pressed to believe that the interests in Black Diamond vary much from Turner Valley. We believe an advisory committee made up of both committees could respect our various councils while allowing both municipalities to pursue local interests.”
Sharpe said administration envisions a subcommittee made of committee members from both towns will develop an intermunicipal bylaw and terms of reference for the joint committee.
“It’s going to take time,” he said. “These two groups have functioned quite independently for some time. Once we get something our new committee and respective councils are happy with that will chart the course of how we work together.”
Turner Valley Coun. Jamie Wilkie, who sits on the Turner Valley Parks Paths and Recreation Committee, expressed concerns with combining the two recreation committees, saying while he supports collaboration there’s no financial benefit and the two committees are structured very differently.
“What would the committee involvement be in shaping this process and what, ultimately, comes out of it,” he asked.
Turner Valley Coun. Cindy Holladay said there’s a benefit to collaboration that might not be financial but will allow the two committees to better understand what’s occurring in the other town regarding recreation.
“I do understand the committees are quite different in how they run,” she said. “There might be things they’re doing over there that work well and we could adopt with our own committee. This gives them a mechanism of how they can have formalized meetings as well as doing what they want individually.”
Coun. John Waring, who used to sit on the Turner Valley Parks Paths and Recreation Committee, said he supports collaboration if administration comes back with a workable solution.
“I would first like to see us work together and engage and see how best both committees can work together,” he said.
During the discussion of merging the committees at Black Diamond’s Feb. 19 meeting, Coun. Jackie Stickel, who sits on the Black Diamond Recreation Committee, said she supports the two committees working together.
“They understand it probably would take quite some time to get it all done because of the processes involved,” she said.
Sharlene Brown, Black Diamond chief administrative officer, said administration is working on the procedure to merge the two.
“What the intent would be is to have a couple joint meetings and create a terms of reference,” she said. “There is the possibility of a subcommittee to assist in the terms of reference and creation of the bylaw.”
Brown suggests involving committee members, saying their contributions and efforts on committee work would be invaluable in this process.
Turner Valley Coun. Lana Hamilton, who is on the Turner Valley FCSS committee, said merging the two is a great idea.
“The administration members of these two committees work very well together,” she said. “Monique (LeBlanc, Turner Valley) and Susan (Nagel, Black Diamond) do a lot of work already collaboratively.”
Hamilton added that committee members from both towns occasionally meet for joint presentations.
“Those have gone well in the years I attended,” she said. “I think this merger makes a lot of sense.”
Turner Valley Mayor Barry Crane described merging the FCSS committees as “win-win.”
“It’s the charities that win because we’re reducing that staff time to give more back to the community,” he said. “It’s a great initiative.”
