Gibbons begins hand-counting votes, which will decide future of town

Residents of Gibbons voted on whether the town should dissolve into Sturgeon County or not and are awaiting the results. CTV News Edmonton's Evan Kenny reports.

Gibbons officials began hand-counting votes Thursday evening after two days of residents casting a ballot that will determine the future of the town’s independence.

Should the majority of the town’s 3,200 residents vote to dissolve, the town would become a hamlet of nearby Sturgeon County.

Should they vote to stay, Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams would direct the town’s council on how to address a $13-million debt.

A financial viability review of Gibbons’ status was ordered earlier this year because of that debt. Council believes Gibbons is still viable as a town and told its residents it had already found nearly $3 million in savings.

Voters CTV News Edmonton spoke to on Thursday expressed the same sentiment.

“I hope it just gets rectified, honestly … I think the best is to stay in town. The new council, they’re pretty smart,” said David Fahie, a 15-year resident who says he’s seen Gibbons through “thick and thin.”

Gibbons is not the only municipality that has had to make such a decision. Last year, Caroline, a 500-person village, became a hamlet of Clearwater County. Similarly, Halkirk was dissolved into the County of Paintearth.

Five years ago, the village of Wabamun became part of Parkland County.

Kara Westerlund, the president of Rural Municipalities of Alberta, says she knows of three or four other viability reviews currently underway for municipalities in the province.

Should it dissolve, Gibbons would likely lose its mayor, six councillors, authority and representation. The transition to a hamlet would have to be provincially approved and would happen by the new year.

Sturgeon County residents, who would take on one Gibbons councillor and municipal works should the town dissolve, did not get the opportunity to vote.

“What we’ve seen developing across the province is that the current process lacks proper consideration for the absorbing rural municipalities, in terms of the research, the report development and the voting process,” Westerlund said of Sturgeon County potentially taking on a new town.

The province says it is committed to a “fair, transparent and accessible” process as officials begin counting votes by hand.

It was previously accused by Gibbons council of creating a point-in-time review that did not fully encapsulate the work the town was doing to dig itself out of debt.

The province said it respected the role of local councils and residents in decisions about their communities’ future and the viability review was meant to give them “clear, objective information for informed decision-making.”

“The Town and Sturgeon County had multiple opportunities to participate – submitting information, attending meetings and providing feedback on the draft,” said municipal affairs press secretary Jack Alarie in a statement.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Evan Kenny