The rural municipalities of Ritchot and Tache are exploring a land swap. But, Ritchot Mayor Chris Ewen says after months of negotiations, the two sides can not seem to come to an agreement.

According to Ewen, the land in question is along Arnould Road, on the eastern edge of Ile des Chenes. He says residents living on the west side of Arnould belong to Ritchot, while those living on the east side of the road are part of Tache.

(Ritchot Mayor Chris Ewen)Ewen says there are about 100 residents there that are part of Tache, yet spend their time in Ritchot.

"Their kids play hockey, baseball, soccer, they use our grocery stores," says Ewen. "They are part of Ile des Chenes as much as they can be, except that they are not part of the RM of Ritchot."

Ewen says for more than one year now, Ritchot Council has been "looking to bring them home." In return, Ritchot has been offering the Grande Pointe area east of Highway 59.

He notes negotiations have been going back and forth, but because the two sides can not come to an agreement, Ritchot is now looking at hiring a consulting service.

Ewen says there are numerous reasons why Ritchot is fighting for these residents. First of all, he says Ritchot considers these people its family, noting they support the municipality's businesses. But further to that, Ewen says Ritchot can offer these residences services that can not be offered by Tache.

"They don't have the water services that we could offer them because they're not in Ritchot," he explains. "The garbage services, recycling services, those little things there would make it a lot more comfortable."