Grande Prairie city councillor Dylan Bressey will represent the region at a provincial level as Vice-President of cities up to 500,000 at Alberta Municipalities.
Bressey previously served as one of three directors for cities up to 500,000 and says a lot of advocacy work is done, including providing training and other resources to elected officials and senior staff. In the coming months, he expects one of the most significant items they will be looking into on the advocacy side is taking a look at the current local government fiscal framework.
“Over the last 10 years, we have seen dramatic reductions in provincial funding for municipal infrastructure, that is having real quality of life impacts on residents across Alberta and raising property taxes.”
Bressey says one thing he is looking forward to are learning from other communities in Alberta as he gets the opportunity to travel across the province and bring some of the practices he picks up back to the city. The other is being in the know about conversations that could impact Grande Prairie.
“When I am at the Alberta Municipalities table, I am there on behalf of all municipalities, not just Grande Prairie. But, I still think having someone locally at the table about what is going on provincially really is helpful to our community.”
At Tuesday’s city council meeting, Bressey thanked fellow councillor Mike O’Conner, his self-appointed campaign manager.