In the end, it wasn’t even close.
Last week, residents of the Village of Delia went to the polls to answer the existential question as to whether they should remain a village. The vote was spread over Wednesday, April 23, and Thursday, April 24.
In the end, 103 voters came out, and of them, 95 selected Option 1, which is that the Village of Delia remains a village and implements changes to achieve viability.
Only eight voted for Option 2 to dissolve the Village of Delia and become a hamlet in Starland County.
Mayor Jordan Elliott was happy with the results, and it wasn't a surprise.
“I was totally expecting that we would stay a village. I was more surprised by the turnout,” she said. “When I looked at other villages that have gone through this, there wasn't as much of a turnout, but this was a good turnout.”
The vote for viability was a long time coming. The Village of Delia Council made a motion in October of 2022 to apply to Municipal Affairs to have them conduct a Viability Review. This came after a public meeting on September 8 of that year, when the future of the Village was discussed. A Viability Review begins with a Ministry screening. If the minister decides a review is necessary, they will then go into information collection.
This will review the information supplied by the municipality being reviewed, as well as the receiving municipality. They will also review the municipality’s finances and infrastructure. Stakeholder involvement can include written submissions, surveys, open houses and public meetings.
This process continued until last month when the study was completed, and last week, residents went to the polls.
Upon the successful vote, the Viability report has a list of recommended actions to propel the village forward.
“We are excited, we have a lot of work to do, and I think we are ready. We have already made some steps forward in the right direction. We are just going to continue that and keep working on projects,” said Elliot.