Officials are gearing up for the Association of Manitoba Municipalities' (AMM) Annual Convention happening at the end of November.

In fact, the 2019 event marks one year since R.M. of Morris Reeve, Ralph Groening, was elected president of the lobby group.

Groening says the year began with a focus to restore the province's Municipal Road and Bridge program.

"We dealt with an emergency resolution, it was received unanimously, and so we responded with our concerns to the government and we were successful in re-instating...the program as all part of the basket funding initiative," he explained.

In March 2019, the Manitoba government announced it was contributing an extra $10 million in unconditional operating funding to rural municipalities to help support critical infrastructure needs like roads and bridges, with a plan to dole it out based on population thresholds, which the province said will give all local governments an equitable share.

"It was a very big issue," said Groening. "It certainly generated lots of discussion and was something that equally impacted...almost all of our municipalities. We felt really good to begin with that, it was a good start to my first year," he added.

As for the second of Groening's two-year term at the helm, he says the focus will centre around the provincial election priorities highlighted in AMM's Partners in Growth campaign.

That includes the need for long-term predictable municipal funding based on the province's gross domestic product (GDP), as well as a plan to rebate the PST that municipalities pay similar to the GST at the federal level.

Meantime, Groening says he looks forward to meeting with the province's newest Municipal Relations minister, Rochelle Squires, Premier Brian Pallister and the rest of Cabinet during the 21st annual convention later this month in Brandon.

"...to begin discussions on our offer to work together to build a stronger Manitoba using the election campaign items as the focus of our strategy," he said.