Date:
Expiry Date:
Current Status:
Sponsors:
District:
Year:
Convention:
Category:
Status:
Vote Results:
Preamble:
WHEREAS the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) currently advocates on behalf of members on a wide range of topics that impact rural municipalities; and
WHEREAS various provincial and federal government policy decisions in recent years have broadened the scope and increased the complexity of policy issues impacting RMA members; and
WHEREAS RMA’s advocacy direction and tactics originate from a variety of sources, including member resolutions, response to government decisions, and direction from the RMA Board of Directors; and
WHEREAS RMA utilizes multiple and varied tools and processes to support advocacy depending on the issue, scope, urgency, risk or opportunity for members, and many other factors; and
WHEREAS RMA reports to members on advocacy activities through a variety of methods, including position statements, a twice-annual Resolution Status Update document, issue-specific briefings and reports, district meeting updates, member visits, a weekly newsletter, and others; and
WHEREAS RMA’s usage of various reporting methods is not consistent across issues; and
WHEREAS consistent and fulsome reporting of advocacy activities to members is crucial to maintaining member confidence in RMA’s advocacy efforts, in ensuring members receive maximum value from RMA as an advocacy organization, and in positioning members to undertake local advocacy on priority issues using RMA’s advocacy materials as a source of direction;
Operative Clause:
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT the RMA conduct a comprehensive review of its current advocacy reporting practices and develop recommendations to improve transparency and enhance information sharing on its advocacy efforts with the RMA membership.
Member Background:
RMA’s Board of Directors and staff are facing increasing pressures on time and resources. This is due to a combination of increasingly broad and complex policy issues impacting rural municipalities, as well as an organizational priority to enhance the scope and depth of RMA’s advocacy work on behalf of members.
In light of these changes, this resolution would direct RMA to undertake a review of its current process of reporting on advocacy efforts to members. The review will allow RMA to “take a step back”, engage with membership, and understand how they report to members on advocacy efforts, the purpose of various mechanisms, and how reporting can be enhanced to ensure member needs are met today and in the future.
RMA Background:
The operative clause in this resolution was originally part of a resolution that had two operative clauses. RMA members amended the original resolution and called for two separate votes for each of the operative clauses. The original first clause, all original “whereas” clauses and the member background focused on the first operative clause, which was not endorsed by members. This resulted in the remaining operative clause, which forms the “ask” of this resolution, being endorsed with no specific background information.
As the RMA Resolution Policy does not currently outline a process to provide additional context for amended resolutions once endorsed, the RMA notes that the “whereas” clauses and member background have been amended by RMA to support fulsome understanding of the intent of the resolution.
RMA has no active resolutions directly related to this issue.
Development:
Provincial Ministries:
Provincial Boards and Organizations:
Internal Notes:
