Over the past few days Mayors from many municipalities in Alberta have come to Okotoks for semi-annual Alberta Urban Municipalities Association Mayor's Caucus.

The caucus is held in the spring and summer and is an opportunity for AUMA members to get together and have discussion about provincial government issues, and local and provincial advocacy issues.

Lisa Holmes, President of AUMA and Mayor of Morinville says the event gives AUMA a chance to discuss important issues for municipalities.

"The number one things we are talking about are municipal infrastructure, the fact that we have a $26-billion infrastructure deficit in the province is something that needs to be addressed," she explains. "We have been talking about the Federal Infrastructure Program, and about the legalization of cannabis products, and how that is going to impact municipalities in the future."

Holmes says there are also discussions of top of mind issues for local members, this year the main concerns are RCMP funding, and dealing with climate change with solar and wind power generation.

She shares the Mayor's Caucus has many benefits for AUMA and municipalities as well.

"We're a member driven advocacy association which means we plan the work we do based on what members tell us. This is an opportunity to have in person engagement with them, we have members from all different municipalities that talk amongst each other as well, sharing ideas, stories, and successes that they have."

This is the first time the AUMA Mayor's Caucus has been held in Okotoks, Holmes shares the organization couldn't have picked a better host.

"We're really excited to be in Okotoks, we try to plan our summer Mayor's Caucus somewhere in Southern Alberta because our office is based in Edmonton. It's an opportunity for us to get into a municipality that maybe people haven't visited, this is my first time in Okotoks and its absolutely beautiful, and I can't wait to check it out."

The AUMA Mayor's Caucus warps up June 15.