Just over two months after joining the County of Grande Prairie, residents in Hythe will get a chance to ask their questions to councillors and administration as part of a town hall set for September.
The dissolution process began in April after a viability review from the province in April 2020 that revealed the municipality was facing financial challenges and couldn’t cover rising operational costs and infrastructure needs. When a dissolution vote took place in March 2021, 95 per cent of residents voted in favour of joining the County of Grande Prairie as a hamlet.
County of Grande Prairie Reeve Leanne Beaupre says the process for dissolution was quite a bit different for Hythe residents than it would have been if there were no COVID-19 pandemic. She adds the process continues to work as expected, but it hasn’t been without its anomalies.
“There would have been more face-to-face interaction,” she says.
“The residents of Hythe were unable to meet face to face with the representatives from the province that would have been a normal process in the days and months leading up to the dissolution.”
She says even following the July 1st dissolution, there has been little face-to-face engagement with residents, other than on a one-on-one basis.
“We felt this was a really good opportunity for those residents to get to know the people delivering those services as well as county council that now represents them,” she adds.
Beaupre believes one of the expectations that residents may have had when the process started was to see a quick fix to infrastructure issues that need repair. However, Beaupre says receiving the funding earmarked by the province came with a unique challenge.
“I don’t think we were anticipating that we had to apply for it and then wait for the money,” she admits.
“To move forward, we have reached out to the province and asked for the transitional funding they had indicated was available for us and asked them to expedite it.”
The town hall is planned for September 7th from 4-7 p.m., at a location yet to be determined.