On Monday September 29, 2014, history was made as Mayor Patricia Matthews and the members of council voted to change Chestermere from a town to a city. The vote was one away from being unanimous as Councillor Stu Hutchison was the only member of council to not vote in favour of the change. Mayor Matthews had stated during this specially called meeting, that the hardest part of this decision was the emotional side…..the side of which Councillor Hutchison admitted that he based his decision.
Whispers leading up to the meeting had most thinking that this would be another low attended, uneventful meeting of council. But by the time the meeting was called to order, there was standing room only. The room was filled with Chestermere residents of all ages and whom had called the ‘Town’ of Chestermere there home for varying durations. Some had been here since there were only a handful of cabins on the lake – while others have just recently began calling Chestermere their home. Just as diverse was the opinions and feelings of attendees.
Prior to the vote, there was a question and answer period where residents were allowed to ask council one (or two in some cases) last questions before this went to vote. Under the strict instructions of Mayor Matthews, this was not to be a platform for statements, but simply a way to get any questions residents might still have regarding this subject. Questions ranged from ‘will this affect our taxes’ to ‘why now’ to ‘when did this process begin’. Probably the biggest discussed detail was when it was disclosed at the start of the meeting that out of the 17,000+ residents that live in Chestermere, less than 200 provided written comments during the over month long campaign to get public input. It was then asked, by more than one attendee, why move ahead when so little response came from the public? The majority of council members stated in their presentations that they were impressed with the lengths that were gone to in order to reach the residents of Chestermere and offered ample opportunities for the public to have their opinions heard. They expressed appreciation for those that did provide written comment and went on to further say that they had many in person/verbal conversations about the city status subject, but that those were not reflected in the count as they were not written.
Council members did address some myths that had been circling through town…such as council members getting an increase in pay, taxes going up and the huge cost associated with the change. Mayor Matthews and other members of council stated confidently that there will not be an increase in residential taxes, they are not getting a pay increase and the cost to change from a town to a city is minimal….”less than $10K” said Mayor Matthews.
Councillors had one last opportunity to have their voices heard before calling for the vote. With high emotion and passion, one by one councillors took their turn expressing their love of Chestermere, their belief in the amazing community we have and how the opportunity at hand is a very positive and necessary step for Chestermere….and with that, Mayor Matthews called the decision to vote. Seven voices later – with one brief recess when an overzealous Chestermere resident interrupted the vote to express his opinions, history was made and the motion was carried to submit the application to the Province to have Chestermere become the ‘City of Chestermere’.
Council submitted the application for city status on October 1, 2014 to the Minister of Municipal Affairs. According to the Municipal Government Act, the Minister will now consider the application based on the criteria set out and may conduct further consultation. If she accepts the proposal, she will make a recommendation to the Lieutenant Governor in Council to order a change of status for Chestermere. That order would not happen until the legislature sits again in November. Council did request on the application that this go into effect as of January 1, 2015, but that is ultimately up to the Minister.
