The MGA review has been a loooooooong term process that started in the late 2000s when AUMA and our members began to identify the need for the MGA to

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1 Hello everyone. I m Trina Jones, and I am the Deputy Mayor of the Town of Legal, as well as the Director of Towns East for AUMA. It s two o clock and post lunch drowsiness it setting in. Which means that now is a great time to talk about legislation and regulations. Fortunately, our next speaker is highly energetic and I m sure she will have you all on the edge of your seats. I m pleased to introduce Rachel de Vos, Senior Policy Director of Advocacy with AUMA. [RACHEL PRESENTS.] 1

2 The MGA review has been a loooooooong term process that started in the late 2000s when AUMA and our members began to identify the need for the MGA to reflect the changing circumstances of municipalities. 2

3 Throughout the review process, AUMA has worked to advance the needs of municipalities. In 2008, as it became apparent that the province was committed to reviewing the Act, AUMA members voted on an MGA initial strategy. o The theme of engaging members remained the basis for our work throughout the entirety of the review process. o Since the review started, essentially every event that AUMA has held had some form of work on the MGA. o This ranged from surveys, to updates and presentations, to hours long discussions (and sometimes debates) about how we should frame our submissions. Your input informed our numerous submissions and letters to the Minister of municipal affairs, as well as our input during hours and hours and hours of administrative working group meetings. 3

4 There have been a number of key achievements that have come out of this process to date culminating with the Proclamation and Coming into Force of the consolidated version of the MGA in on October 26, 2017 Many of the positive changes get deep down into the details on things like property assessment and taxation, but there are two key areas I wanted to highlight overall: o A new era of collaboration for municipalities as seen in the new provisions for inter municipal collaboration frameworks; and o Enhanced tools for transparent and accountable governance such as enabling municipalities greater flexibility in determining processes for public notification. These themes have been high on AUMA s list for advocacy, and were highlighted in our big 2014 submission. 4

5 After all that work, the proclamation of major legislative amendments to the MGA last October was a cause for celebration. We have been able to achieve many of the goals that you as our members set out for us throughout this process, and that is a major milestone but there is more work to be done. 5

6 While the legislation was just proclaimed a few months ago, we know some further changes are already in the works. For example, based on advocacy by the AUMA and the keen interest expressed by municipalities such as the Town of Devon and Cities of Edmonton and Calgary, we understand that the province is looking at how to enable Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing or Pace. Pace uses mechanisms similar to local improvement charges to support energy efficiency and clean energy projects on private property. 6

7 In addition, while a number of regulations were proclaimed in October there are still some significant regulations that are under development. We anticipate that the province will release draft regulations related to Municipally Controlled Corporations, Inclusionary Housing, and Annexation Principles any day now. There will likely be a 60 day consultation period for these regulations. AUMA plans to do an initial analysis of the regulations, which we will distribute to you through the weekly Digest for feedback. We will aim to give you at least three weeks to provide us input, which we will compile into an updated position that will be reviewed by AUMA s Municipal Governance Committee and Board before being submitted to the province. 7

8 In terms of the regulations that are currently in effect, AUMA has done a detailed review of how well the regulations reflect our input. I hope that some of you have had the chance to review our analysis, which we released through the weekly Digest last week. It is also available on the MGA regulations page of our website shown here on the screen. We welcome any feedback you have on our analysis. You can Jared Cathro at jcathro@auma.ca with any comments or questions you have on the regulations or our analysis. As the analysis is 27 pages long, I am just going to highlight three priority issues we identified that need to be addressed either through regulatory changes or implementation protocols. 8

9 The first relates to the assessment and taxation of cannabis grow operations Municipalities have expressed concerns that there is a lack of clarity as to whether cannabis grow operations are considered agricultural or non residential properties for the purposes of assessment and taxation. As the taxation of farm buildings is being phased out over five years and a large component of the value of cannabis grow operations is attached to structures, it is important to ensure that municipalities are clearly enabled to assess and tax these properties at fair market value In response to AUMA advocacy, Municipal Affairs has communicated that they are open to making changes to the Matters Relating to Assessment and Taxation Regulation to address this issue ahead of legalization coming into effect this summer. 9

10 Elements of the Determination of Population Regulation remain an additional area of concern, particularly regarding the enumeration of shadow populations. AUMA has strongly urged the province to address this issue throughout the MGA process. Municipal Affairs indicates that one of the stumbling blocks is the need for consistency with the methodology Statistics Canada uses for its census, as well as consistency between municipalities. The department has indicated that some of the issues we have raised can be addressed through changes to the Municipal Census Manual. Given the importance of shadow population enumeration in ensuring that population based funding programs are equitably distributed, AUMA will continue to push for action on this matter. This may include sitting down with Statistics Canada to work out our concerns with their processes. 10

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13 Our work on change management actually started before the consolidated Act came into force. Under the new MGA, municipalities must offer orientation training within 90 days after each councillor takes the oath of office AUMA and AAMDC mobilized our Elected Officials Education Program (EOEP) to develop Munis 101, a two day course that meets this new training requirement. Thanks to the funding from Municipal Affairs, we were able host this course in 15 location across Alberta at a very low cost for participants. Approximately 992 elected officials and 132 administrators participated in the course including many of you in this room. I want to thank you for participating and give a special thank you to those of you who helped us find venues and caters in your communities. I hear the roast beef in Vermilion was particularly good. Overall feedback was positive, but we also appreciated the constructive suggestions we received on how we can improve such offerings in the future. The consultants that helped us develop the course developed a detailed multipage evaluation form and a record number of you filled it out, which is amazing, but we are still working through the thousands of pages of feedback we got. Biggest learning so far: get consultants to complete the evaluation review. For example, many of you mentioned that you would have valued more discussion on municipal finances. Many also mentioned that you got the most value out of the group discussions, and we certainly try to integrate our events- just wait 13

14 Our joint EOEP program is now rolling out supplementary courses. The first to be offered are the course on strategic planning happening here on Friday, and the course on regional partnerships and collaboration are also happening here on Monday ahead of AAMDC s convention. I believe there is still opportunity to register for both sessions, so visit EOEP.ca to register. Or chat with EOEP registrar, Leanne Anderson who is hear with us today. For those that couldn t attend, these offerings will be held again later in the spring/summer. The remaining courses will be offered in the fall adjacent to the AUMA and AAMDC conventions. 14

15 In addition to courses, we have also started develop tools to help you implement new MGA requirements. Based on your input, the first tools we developed focused on new requirements for codes of conduct and public participation bylaws, and intermunicipal collaboration frameworks. Each of the tools I am about to discuss are available on the new Change Management page of AUMA s website, which just went live this week and can be found right off the home page of 15

16 As part of the revised MGA, every municipality in Alberta must develop a public participation policy to identify how you will engage citizens in decision making. The revised MGA also enables municipalities to develop a public notification bylaw that methods the municipalities for advertising proposed bylaws, resolutions, meetings, public hearings, or other municipal business. Last month we released Public Participation and Public Notification: A Guide for Municipalities which include a sample policy and bylaw. To save you time and typing, we have provided a word version of the templates for the participation policy and notification bylaw which are available on the change management page for you to download and adapt as need for your municipality. 16

17 The revised Municipal Government Act (MGA) also requires municipalities to establish a code of conduct bylaw by July 23, While the Code of Conduct for Elected Officials Regulations provides a list of topics that must addressed by the code, the details have been left up to each municipality to determine locally. AUMA and AAMDC also hired a lawyer with municipal expertise to develop A Guide for Municipalities that includes a explanation of codes of conduct and what the legislative amendments require along with a sample bylaw, which can also be tailored to the specific needs of your municipality. 17

18 Now, I am excited to announce that we have just released an Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework Workbook to help municipalities develop ICFS with their neighboring municipalities. In developing the tool, we were cognizant that municipalities across Alberta are quite diverse in terms of their capacities, geography, and circumstances. Of course by diverse circumstances we actually mean that some of you are the get along gang, while other are more rumble in the jungle So the workbook is very interactive. I ll do a quick demo so that you can see what I mean. But I need you to promise me that you will not freak out when you first open the workbook. Workbook 30 pages rest tools, appendices, case studies and relevant section MGA Healthy smattering of stock photos 18

19 In addition to the workbook, the intermunicipal collaboration branch of Municipal Affairs is hosting regional ICF workshops that bring you together with your neighbors to help develop a common understanding of ICF and IDP legislation. These workshops will help you: o Assess what work and strategic approaches are needed to complete the ICFs with your municipal neighbours; and o Understand the resources available to complete ICFs and IDPs. More information is available on the events page of AUMA s website. 19

20 I also encourage you to check out the implementation fact sheets 20

21 The next MGA resource that AUMA is working with Municipal Affairs and AAMDC to roll out is Subdivision and Development Appeal Board training. The new MGA requires that SDAB members and clerks undergo mandatory training based on a standard training program that approved by the Minister of Municipal Affairs. Municipal Affairs is working with our fine sponsors Reynolds Mirth Richards and Farmer to develop a curriculum and course materials. It is anticipated some initial courses will be rolled out in the early summer to test the materials, and further courses will be rolled out in the fall. 21

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23 So that covers the history of the MGA review, and the resources that we have made available to date, as well as what will be coming out soon. The question now is what next? AUMA, AAMDC, and Municipal Affairs have done some preliminary thinking about the kinds of change management tools we want to develop this year. As we are developing these tools for you, we want to make sure that these tools meet your needs. I ll do a quick overview of what we have in mind and then we open the session up for table discussion. 23

24 Municipal Affairs, AUMA and AAMDC are considering developing a guide and template regarding Municipal Corporate Planning. We would seek the partnership and/or input of the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), the Local Government Administrators Association (LGAA) and the Alberta Rural Municipal Administrators Association (ARMAA). 24

25 Municipal Affairs, AUMA and AAMDC are considering developing a guide on Indigenous Municipal cultural awareness and collaboration. Partnership would be sought with key Indigenous organizations. This tool would look at issues beyond the MGA and would likely incorporate audio visual aspects respecting the importance of oral tradition in Indigenous culture. As well regional events that bring together municipalities and Indigenous communities would be a key focus. 25

26 The scope of off site levies was expanded so municipalities may use the funds to build community recreation facilities, fire halls, police stations, and libraries. Municipalities may, by bylaw, charge off site levies for municipal road projects that connect to or improve the connection to provincial highways. Municipalities may jointly create off site levy bylaws for projects that benefit portions of two or more municipalities, including the expanded uses (libraries, police stations, fire halls, community recreation facilities, connection of a municipal road to a provincial highway). Building Industry and Land Development Alberta Association (BILD Alberta), represents the amalgamation of the Canadian Home Builders Association Alberta and the Urban Development Institute Alberta, would likely be engaged. 26

27 What does the new purpose mean, and how does it fit with other purposes? For example, how does it balance environmental considerations with viability considerations? How do the purposes work with other provisions in the Act? How do the courts view municipal purposes, e.g. recent County of Lacombe decision. Why is it a.1.???????? Guide to municipal purposes Miistakis Institute University of Calgary with input of keen legal minds. 27

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34 [AT 2:55 P.M., TRINA ASSUMES THE MIC.] Ok, we ve run out of time. I d like to thank Rachel for that great presentation and discussion. We re going to take a break now, but we will see you back in here at 3:15 p.m. for our next session. 34