People’s choice: Taber to remain a town

By Cal Braid
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Since 1905, the Town of Taber has been just that: a town. Now, after a season of exploring its potential for transition to city status, town council has discontinued the pursuit. The people have spoken and they were heard.

 The Town issued a media release on Dec. 2, announcing its decision to discontinue the exploration of city status, and “reaffirming our community’s cherished identity as the Town of Taber.”

 “Our residents’ voices were clear,” said Mayor Andrew Prokop. “While the idea of city status sparked valuable discussions about our future, the feedback showed that Taberites take great pride in being a town. Council heard you, and we respect that.”

 “Through a survey and in-person meetings, many residents expressed a strong preference to remain a town, reflecting pride in Taber’s small-town character and strong sense of community,” the media release said. The September survey showed clear resistance to the idea of city status, and there was no lack of engagement on the issue. The Oct. 15 council agenda reported that almost 1,100 citizens answered the question: Would you be in favour of Taber becoming a city? Seventy per cent of respondents said no. Of the remainder, 27 per cent answered yes and three per cent were neutral. In the survey, residents were given the opportunity to elaborate on their answers, and those answers were crucial to informing the process.

 Upon breaking the news of its decision to maintain town status, the mayor made himself available for interviews and was cordial and optimistic as he discussed council’s unanimous vote to nix the status issue. The survey results and the comments within it were a driving force in making the decision to vote ‘no’ a simple one.

 “Basically it told us that Taber residents are very passionate about having the Town of Taber as the town,” he said. “There were some really good points. And we considered all those. It was more than just the numbers, it was the comments that were attached to those, those actual individuals that were against going to a city status format. We took that very seriously. We asked for that public engagement, we asked for public input.”

 He was pleasantly surprised by the level of public engagement on the issue, saying, “There’s been a lot of interest in this, and more so than anything else (surveys) we’ve done. Quite often with surveys if you get 10 per cent you’re doing pretty good. Like I said, the comments more than the actual numbers itself are what spoke volumes to us as a council. In the end, the council was unanimously in favour of leaving it as the Town of Taber status currently, and didn’t feel it was necessary to go any further with that potential of going to city status.”

 Prokop’s ambitions for the town’s economic growth and quality of life are no secret to those who have been paying attention. He said, “Initially, we were fairly excited about that potential. Since that time, there have been many information pieces coming out through those different circuits and or even social media. And you’ve got to take all those into consideration, and we did. So we felt as a council, that timing wise, (it was) maybe not the right timing. You know, it’s maybe just a bit soon here, not to say we couldn’t ever do it.”

 “We considered everything that was on the table, and it was brought up in very good public engagements. It was never hostile. It was just a very good dialog and discussion,” he said.

 Within business circles there was some keen interest and favour for the idea, but other interests prevailed. “As far as attempting to gain maximum economic growth – and there’s no doubt that as a city, for some investors, that’s some of that interest there – and that’s kind of where that all stemmed from.”

 Regardless of town or city status, Prokop said Taber is growing economically. “In 2022 that was our record year for construction for commercial and or residential, at $22 million. For 2024 we’re, we believe we’re going to go over $30 million. So, roughly a 30 to 35 per cent increase for a record year, a banner year. And we don’t see anything slowing down for 2025.”

 In his mind there’s a lot to look forward to, including more land sales than ever previously recorded. A number of those factors inspired the idea for a status change. “We felt initially, timing wise, this may be the good time for it. You know, that’s kind of why we put it out there, to strike while (the iron’s hot) with the way things are going.” But the feedback came back differently.

 “We asked for that. We got that input, and we got really a large number of input, which I didn’t expect,” he concluded. “So it goes to show you how passionate Taber residents are about remaining a town, and we’re good with that.”

 “Never say never for the future. But I mean, that could be years down the road before that’s ever explored again, if it’s explored again.”