Regular Council Meeting December 16, 2019
Last week highlights
At the last Poliwings event of 2019, Mayor Heron recognized one of the founding Poliwings members for his service as a "Social Justice Philanthropist". Kevin is a long-time community member, volunteer, and political activist in St. Albert. Kevin, we're going to miss you as you embark on new adventures!
The last Chamber of Commerce Business Lunch was also held this week, with most of Council attending. It was great chatting with school trustees, business leaders, and residents at this sold-out event.
Agenda highlights
Asset Management Software ($106,995)
This is to approve the sole-source contract for an updated version of our asset management software. Mayor Heron shared this video explaining the benefits of strategic asset management:
Councillor Hansen - Chair of Inter-City Forum on Social Policy ($14,000)
I don’t know much about this forum, but the agenda report notes that the motion <is to provide a budget for Councillor Hansen to chair the Inter City Forum on Social Policy in 2020… <and that> the budget for this initiative will be funded from recoveries from other municipalities. No net costs, with the exception of St. Albert's municipal share will be incurred if recoveries are received”.
I look forward to learning more about the purpose of this forum, what St. Albert’s share of the budget is, and how Councillor Hansen came to be chair.
2020 Budget ($309,919,300)
This is to approve the 2020 budget that we debated earlier in November. “This <budget> results in a municipal net tax requirement of $109,877,400 which equates to an average property tax increase of 2.5%. The Utility budget results in an average utility bill increase of 0.1%.”
Erin Ridge North ASP Amendments (1st reading)
This amendment is to redistrict lands from residential to commercial. We are being advised that this change is being requested because the developer has had “no market interest in developing the site as a Mixed-Use development.”
First reading of this ASP amendment is on consent; The public hearing is scheduled for March 16, 2020, which is when we’ll hear from the public and ask questions of administration. I attended the well-attended open house for this amendment; I expect there will be considerable interest from residents in the public hearing.
Conversion Therapy Prohibition Bylaw
This is the bylaw that we directed be created last summer, and that was recommended to be approved by one of the standing committees last week.
Municipal Utility Corporation (MUC)
After the public hearing on this matter was closed two weeks ago, we decided to delay a decision about whether to create a MUC to this week. If this passes, one of the significant ‘next steps’ of Council will be to create a Unanimous Shareholder Agreement, which will dictate the role of Council/Directors in terms of operating the MUC:
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.
