Town of Taber ends pursuit of city status after residents reject idea [Video]

The Town of Taber is no longer planning to become Alberta’s 20^th city after a survey of residents found the majority of respondents would prefer Taber remain a town.

For nearly 120 years, Taber has held onto it’s town status, but officials proposed a change to this character earlier this fall.

“We did a survey, a lengthy survey that was close to 2,000 participants. That survey in and of itself was about 70 per cent against the idea of going to the city status,” said Taber mayor, Andrew Prokop.

He says people expressed concern about ensuring support for small businesses and infrastructure in the town, rather than chasing a new title.

“We just felt it was more than two-thirds against that, we felt that was a pretty strong message not to go for that. There was a variety of reasons not to by the public that generated that kind of opinion and that’s what we’re after. So, honestly some things came …