Section 53(1)(c) of The Municipalities Act provides the authority for a municipality to apply for inclusion. Inclusion is the process of transitioning the governance of a community from an urban council to the council of the surrounding rural municipality (RM).
A municipal council may wish to consider restructuring when a municipality faces significant challenges that make it difficult to provide sufficient services to its citizens, such as:
- An inability to recruit and retain a qualified administrator upon resignation or retirement;
- Difficulty filling vacant seats on council;
- An inability to manage the municipal assets;
- Non-compliance with legislative requirements, which in turn jeopardizes access to grants;
- Financial difficulties; or
- Other reasons that are evident to the residents, elected officials or staff members.
Municipal councils experiencing administrative or governance challenges should be proactive in order to avoid a decrease in the level of service provided to citizens, legislative compliance issues or costly administrative issues.
Funding for restructuring may be available through a Communities in Transition grant. This grant is only available at the time of restructuring.
Municipalities wishing to learn more about inclusion should refer to the Voluntary Restructuring Guide for Municipalities for more information. You should also contact the Advisory Services and Municipal Relations Branch for guidance.