By Shane O'Neill

P.A. economic authority remains elusive

Sep 27, 2016 | 6:40 AM

Prince Albert is still no closer to creating a new regional economic development authority (REDA).

At Monday’s executive committee meeting at city hall, council heard a report from the director of planning and development services, John Guenther, and moved to research other economic development models and best practices.

Ward 8 Coun. Ted Zurakowski voiced his frustration with yet another delay in the long awaited replacement for the former authority, which disbanded in 2012.

“I will say the best predictor of [the] future, is what has gone on in the past, and since 2012 we’ve been waiting for a master plan for the city,” Zurakowski said. “So if you want to remove timelines and still attend these meetings, good luck, but I’m looking forward to seeing something accomplished.”

In August, a delegation from Prince Albert, including the mayor, city manager Jim Toye and director of planning and development services John Guenther, attended a meeting with the Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA). The group discussed SREDA’s strategic plan, operations and membership to help guide city administration as it prepares to resurrect its former authority and avoid the mistakes of the past.

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“I had the opportunity to sit in on that meeting, and we actually asked them to remove the timelines because we thought they were too aggressive,” Ward 2 Coun. Rick Orr explained. “We thought it should wait until the new council had a chance to look and review.”

For the time being, research and strategy will continue to be considered in order to ensure success where the previous forms of the economic authority failed.

“Most REDAs fail because they don’t get enough research and data gathering together,” Guenther said, “that’s one of the key areas I think we need to focus on.”

In 2012, the original authority disbanded after several years of declining membership. Membership in the authority was seen as too expensive with little economic benefit for rural municipalities. In 2008, the R.M.s of Garden River and Buckland dropped out of the authority as a result of rising membership costs.

If created, REDA would work to market authority’s member municipalities to various groups and interests, foster entrepreneurship among residents and attract business and investment to region.

shane.oneill@paNOW.com

On Twitter: @stroneill