Last week + Regular Council Meeting December 2, 2019
Last week
Homeland Housing
Homeland met in Westlock this month for our regular meeting. There is significant interest from the board about St. Albert’s upcoming request for interest from parties that could use a donated piece of land in St. Albtert’s core for affordable housing.
Environmental Advisory Committee
The EAC met for the last time this year, and for the last time with three outgoing members - Thank you Bill Marsh, Tanya Doran, and Ben Thronsden for their years of service!
EMRB Audit & Finance Committee
As Councillor Brdhead’s alternate for the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board Audit & Finance Committee, I seldom attend this meeting, but it was an interesting one to attend - We discussed the funding cuts from the province that are deeper than expected, so our budget for the next 2-3 years will be a challenge as we adjust to a new normal. I look forward to hearing the results of the executive committee’s strategy session in the new year.
St. Albert Garden Club Meeting
I was looking through the city’s Community Events calendar when I spotted a presentation by Nisku’s Gruger Family Fungi. This wasn’t Council business, but it was delightful to attend this event and meet some of our residents who are passionate about continuous learning AND urban agriculture! Many events hosted in St. Albert can be found on our Community Calendar: https://stalbert.ca/exp/calendar/events/?month=2019_12
Agenda highlights
Civic Agency Appointments
Earlier in the month, teams of Council members say down to interview passionate residents who put their names forward to volunteer on one of our many committees of Council. On Monday, we’ll announce those who are being appointed. Of note: We’ll be recruiting for two very important committees next year, the Smart City Advisory Committee (to assist with developing an updated Smart City Master Plan) and the Council Remuneration Committee (to make recommendations about Council remuneration).
Non-Standard Water Meter Reading
Earlier this year, Council directed Administration to bring back a bylaw that allows residents to opt out of our standard water meter program. Admin brought back the draft bylaw to the Community Growth and Infrastructure Standing Committee, with all committee members present (Councillors Watkins, Brodhead, and Hansen) and Councillor MacKay, Mayor Heron and myself attending due to our own interest; There were no objections or requests for changes, so I expect this will be approved by Council without much comment.
The bylaw allows for non-standard readings (standard readings are completed remotely) at cost-recovery, so standard reading households are not subsidizing non-standard readings. Some of the costs for those who use the program are proposed to be:
$35/manual read (every two months, read completed by the city).
$10/customer read (for the months where the city does not complete a reading, but manually enters the customer read in our system for billing purposes).
$20/missed customer read for an estimate completed by the city.
Public Hearing - Utility Corporation
This is to hear from the public about the proposal to form a Municipal Utility Corporation. This plan was created as an option to “provide long term sustainability (financial, environmental and social) to the City”.
“In 2018 Council directed Administration to examine the opportunities for the City to start a Municipal Utility Corporation ("MUC")
All levels of government in Canada have successfully created wholly owned business corporations and crown corporations, to deliver many kinds of services throughout the country. Municipally owned and controlled utility corporations operating in Alberta include EPCOR (Edmonton), Enmax (Calgary) and Aquatera (Grand Prairie region) . There are a substantial number of municipally owned corporations operating across Canada, and this is a relatively common business model in Ontario.”
I recommend reviewing the presentation that will be presented on Monday that gives an overview of how we’re performing in terms of revenue/expenses compared with comparable Albertan municipalities, and how a MUC can assist with addressing some of our challenges: https://stalbert.ca.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=26647&GUID=1FCD356D-2695-43E3-903F-F6AD12F623AD
This is a brief and incomplete 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 (2pm 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.