Today, the City of Grande Prairie notified the County of Grande Prairie of plans to proceed to arbitration to conclude the legislated requirement of an Intermunicipal Collaboration Framework (ICF) agreement.

“Both the City and County have dedicated significant time and resources over the past three and a half years to come to a negotiated agreement on shared services and costs that reflected the shared interests of our residents,” said City of Grande Prairie Mayor, Bill Given. “The City of Grande Prairie believes that proceeding to the next step of neutral binding arbitration is the best way to finally bring resolution to this process and allow a positive relationship for the future.”

The decision comes after almost three and a half years of ICF discussions, one and a half years of negotiation, and eight sessions of mediation between the City and County.

In 2017, the Province introduced legislation requiring neighbouring municipalities to negotiate frameworks which are intended to:

• provide for integrated planning, delivery and funding of intermunicipal services
• allocate scarce resources efficiently to provide local services
• ensure municipalities contribute funding to services that benefit their residents

With the assistance of a joint facilitator, Transitional Solution Inc, the City of Grande Prairie and the County of Grande Prairie identified several potential areas to work together or provide joint services to provide mutual benefit for our residents.

In March of 2020, negotiations moved to mediation as the next step in the process with the hope of addressing unresolved areas of an ICF agreement before the provincially mandated deadline of April 2021.

By proceeding to arbitration, the City of Grande Prairie is acknowledging fundamental differences with the County of Grande Prairie on key areas required by the Province for a completed ICF agreement. The City looks forward to presenting its case for decision by an arbitrator and continuing to advocate for the best outcome for residents.