In early May, notification has been received that the Ministerial Order directing the dissolution vote has been issued, and the vote will take place over June 24 and 25, with special ballots also available. For more information on vote times and locations, please see the Government of Alberta website or check out our FAQs.

The Town has also received a letter from the Minister confirming that the viability review requested by the Town will proceed and that he will not pause the process as requested. The Minister has further indicated that he will meet with Gibbons Town Council on May 7.

On April 2, the province tabled Bill 28 which proposes changing how municipal viability reviews work in Alberta by making the local vote on dissolution non‑binding. Instead of the vote being a binding decision (i.e. the results are required to be implemented), it would instead become a plebiscite that informs Cabinet. The final call on whether a municipality remains independent or dissolves into a surrounding county would rest solely with the province. The Government of Alberta has indicated that, from their perspective, this change is to let the Minister and Cabinet weigh residents’ preferences alongside long‑term sustainability, regional impacts, and other technical viability factors before deciding a community’s future status. Read more about Bill 28 here.

Following this development, the Town of Gibbons publicly shared a letter addressed to the Minister of Municipal Affairs outlining its concerns about Bill 28 and the impacts of the proposed legislative changes on the viability review process. In the letter, the Town requests a meeting with the Minister and asks him to consider pausing the viability review.

At this time, the Town of Gibbons Viability Review has not been paused, and the County continues to carry out the responsibilities assigned to it by Municipal Affairs as part of this process. Unless the Minister of Municipal Affairs provides different direction, the County is proceeding as planned and will submit its workbook responses on April 29, as requested by the Province.

During Gibbons' April 14 Council Meeting, the town provided information related to assumptions on what financial and service delivery could look like if Gibbons were to dissolve into the County.

This information did not come from Sturgeon County and has not been substantiated.

On April 15, the Town sent a letter to the County indicating that they wished to stop the work underway on the fire services integration business case, any future consideration on FCS integration, and declined the County's offer to fund a legal review that would determine if the Town could recoup money for an outstanding development issue.

Read the letter here.

On April 28, Council provided direction to formally submit Sturgeon County's Viability Review workbooks to the province. See more information here. During this meeting, Sturgeon County Council once again made it clear that the County wishes to meet with Gibbons’ Council and work toward finding solutions‑based, collaborative approaches.

Following the submission of the County's workbooks to the province, Municipal Affairs will draft a Viability Report over the following weeks.

On March 6, the County formally responded to the Town’s February 10 requests (see below for context on these asks) via public statement.

At this time, the County also highlighted the various activities taken to date to support the Town of Gibbons since this matter first arose, including:

• Providing the Town with $415K through a cost-sharing agreement (part of a five-year contract commitment to the Town, valued in total at $2.1 million)
• Covering the cost and leading a legal review on the Town’s behalf to determine whether there are options to recover specific funds that could be recoupable and reduce the significant impact they have on Gibbons’ budget
• Assisted in some local service delivery when there was pressure on Town resources

The province made public presentations to both Sturgeon County and Town of Gibbons on March 10. This presentation provided details and insights in the overall Viability Review Process.

View this presentation to Sturgeon County Council here.

View this presentation to Town of Gibbons Council here (at approx. the 4-minute mark).

On March 26, Sturgeon County Council sent a letter to Gibbons Town Council with questions about the town's proposed 2026 budget. In keeping with County council's commitment to transparency during the viability review, the County released a statement on March 27 outlining the contents of that letter.

Read the full statement here.

Throughout the month of March the Town and County continued to meet and work on the business case for Fire Services Integration.

As the Viability Review Process was getting started, the Town of Gibbons presented to County Council on February 10, requesting Sturgeon County consider supporting the Town in three ways. View the Town’s presentation here.

• Taking over Gibbons’ Fire and Emergency services
• Taking over Gibbons’ Family and Community Support Services
• Provide the Town with an annual “Viability” transfer payment.

On February 10, at Sturgeon County’s Regular Council Meeting, Council approved two motions: one to formally confirm the County’s participation in the Viability Review, and another to re-prioritize work so that analysis of the known implications for the County, should a potential dissolution occur, can be completed. View the Council Report here.

The Minister of Municipal Affairs, Dan Williams, meet with both the Councils of the Town of Gibbons and Sturgeon County separately to discuss the expedited review process and answer questions on February 20. Discussion with the County included:

• The County’s work will include estimates of what things could look like if Gibbons becomes a hamlet. This will cover how programs and services would be provided, how local roads and buildings would be looked after, and how local costs and taxes might be determined. It will also look at if/how Town and County staff could come together, how technologies are integrated, what local governance and representation could look like, and other important details if dissolution were to occur.
• Acknowledgment of the County’s own financial realities and pressures to manage, and any potential change in municipal boundaries or responsibilities that would introduce additional risk to the County’s fiscal position and service delivery.

On February 27, the County formally responded to the Town of Gibbons requests. At this time the County indicated support to start a business case for Fire Services Integration, cover legal fees for an outstanding financial matter to potentially recoup funding for the town, and indicated the County is willing to consider future service efficiencies. The County explained that revenue sharing is not possible, however cost sharing agreements continue to be possible. Sturgeon County Council also requested a Council to Council meeting with the Town of Gibbons.

Read the letter.