Last couple weeks + Regular Council Meeting October 7, 2019
Last couple weeks
Community BBQ with Council: Thanks to everyone who came out to the Lion’s Park BBQ to chat with Council - I hope that we make this an annual event!
Grand Opening of Hidden Talent Art School and Culture Days: Thank you to the organizers of the 2019 Culture Days and the artists of the Big Lake Studios for hosting the opening event - It was an honour to open the festivities as Deputy Mayor.
Council Committee Appreciation Evening: Council hosted the members of Committees of Council to show our thanks for their service.
Environmental Advisory Committee: This was our regular EAC meeting, which featured a presentation about the kinds of wildlife traveling the rail corridor (coyotes, deer, and young humans!).
Commercial tour of St. Albert: I joined several developers and commercial realestate representatives for a bus tour of our developing commercial lands. This annual event hosted by our Economic Development team was informative and is an important opportunity to learn about opportunities for businesses in the region.
Agenda highlights
City Council is meeting at 1pm to make decisions about our appointments to committees over the next year, and we’ll be finishing the 3pm Council meeting with several in-camera items, including an Edmonton Metropolitan Board briefing, a presentation on the Regional Transit Services Commission, and a “land matter”. We also have several items on consent that were previously discussed at GPFC.
St. Albert School Board 3-Year Capital Plan Presentation
The St. Albert Public School Board is presenting their capital plan to Council - This isn’t something that I’ve seen since being elected, but it will likely be an interesting snapshot into the future of St. Albert schools, especially on the heels of St. Albert Catholic Board announcing their capital plans last week. Highlights of the presentation include their desire to construct a 900-student K-9 school on the Riverside school site and the need to find a suitable site for a high school asap (they’ve suggested a site in the proposed annexation lands, so the city does not currently have any authority in accepting an Area Structure Plan proposal from the owner of that land).
Ammonia Ice Plant Project ($604,600)
This is for approval of funds for “required repairs, maintenance and replacement in Servus Place, Jarome Iginla and Kinex Arenas to comply with legislative and safety code requirements”.
We’ve already made an exception to typical funding policies to support upgrades at the curling club, and this project will complete the upgrades at the rest of our ice facilities. After the deaths in Fernie in 2017, I would be shocked if there was any opposition to this plan.
Municipal Development Plan (MDP) Contract Scope Change ($200,000)
Although the funding for “additional work including planning analysis, public engagement, and financial considerations regarding future growth” is within existing approved budgets for the MDP project, this amount has to be approved by Council to allow for the change.
This is a brief high-level overview of our meetings, with my personal comments sprinkled in - In no way are my opinions representative of the official direction of council or the City of St. Albert. Please let me know of any typos or errors. As always, I also encourage everyone who is able to tune in the the live-stream of the meeting (3pm here) or attend in-person (3rd floor of St. Albert Place, hang a right getting out of the elevator). You can also register to speak if you have information to present to council. Full agenda packages can be found on the stalbert.ca website.
