Solution 7: Dissolution

Sounds foreboding doesn't it?

Dissolution is the process by which a municipality, well, ceases to exist (not the technical definition...but it works).

There is always the option for the City, Towns and Village to choose to "dissolve".  This means that we would cease to exist as corporate identities and would become hamlets in the County.

I believe there are many positive things that could become of being one municipality, as we will see in the next post.  However, I don't believe dissolution would be the best way to do it.

By dissolving, we would be completely at the County's mercy.  The County could choose to give us a voice at the Council table, or not.  It could decide that all future development would be in Clairmont and shut Sexsmith's growth potential down, or not.  It could...you get the picture.  Essentially, there would be no negotiation...we just would no longer be there.

Of course, this option is really quite fanciful...for the City at least.  The provincial government would never approve of a municipality that's Grande Prairie's size to just dissolve.  But you could always start the process for leverage.  The City of Cold Lake asked the Province to dissolve a few years ago.  While they said no, the issue was the impetus for the Province to give the $16 million yearly tax revenue from the Air Force base from Lac La Biche County to the City.

I don't believe that this is a desirable course of action though.  To me, dissolution is the "we just give up" approach.  Besides, there is a much better way to get to the one municipality solution...

Next post -----> Solution 8: Specialized Municipality