It appears municipalities in the western part of the province are happy with how the Association of Manitoba Municipalities operates.

At last week's Western District meeting in Carberry a resolution called for AMM to establish a non-cities caucus to lobby for rural issues. Killarney-Turtle Mountain brought forward to resolution in hopes of getting support from district members, so the motion could go before the entire AMM body. The resolution was defeated.

“Certainly there was some discussion on that, and it centred around what role do we as different municipalities play in AMM. We saw clearly members were satisfied with the role the different types of municipalities are playing,” said President Chris Goertzen.

The vote sent a clear message AMM would continue to function as it had in the past. “We will have a small cities caucus they can talk about the challenges they face in the context of AMM. They can also bolster the work that is done by other municipalities.

Goertzen said all municipalities are in this together, and AMM is still a very strong organization. The AMM President was asked if he is worried about the group splitting down the road. “You know we have some very good discussions with communities like Killarney and others, and we are a strong organization. We are an example across the country of how to work together to represent members and citizens.