Cochrane Mayor Jeff Genung, Rocky View County Reeve Dan Henn, and their respective chief administrative officers met last week to lay the groundwork to strengthen communications between the two municipalities.

Mayor Jeff Genung says it was the first step in working on the relationship between the two municipalities that have, in part, been hampered by the pandemic.

"We haven't a chance to get together for a long time, and we just wanted to start to set the table on how each of our councils and administrations will interact and engage with one and other," says Mayor Genung.

The town and county are partners in funding for such services as the library, FCSS, eco-centre, and the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Centre (SLSFC). Genung says the SLSFC agreement is aged and needs to be upgraded.

"We didn't go into any details on those items, just that we'd like to talk about them in the future."

They did discuss the RancheHouse Accord, which sets out how the two municipalities would interact. It was signed on February 26, 2010, and became the first such inter-municipal cooperation protocol in the province.

"We have the framework, we just have to sit down and apply it."

"I think we each agreed that we could each spend more time listening to one and another and just talk openly about potential issues or how we're going to share opinions of one and other, and then in what format."

He gave the example of how an area on a map could be circled, indicating what RVC projects the town would like to be consulted upon. 

An inter-municipal meeting is being scheduled soon involving both councils to discuss items of mutual interest.