Special Council Meeting Monday, March 23 + Last Week: COVID-19 Response
Last Week
Last week, Council held it’s last regularly scheduled meeting until April to allow our teams to concentrate their efforts on the rapidly-evolving response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Emergency Management Advisory Committee
Mayor Heron is the chair of the EMAC, with Councillor McKay and I serving as Council representatives. Earlier this week, we held our first (virtual/video conferencing) briefing since the start of our COVID-19 response. We will continue these briefings twice per week for the time being.
This platform, which was used for the EMAC meeting, will be used for our Council meeting Monday.
Homeland Housing
Homeland Housing, which operates Chateau Mission in St. Albert, is taking many actions to protect the health and safety of our residents and staff. The board is actively monitoring the situation and, like the City, we are taking our lead from Alberta Health.
City Response
The most up-to-date information about closures, access to services, FAQ’s, etc. is available online here.
Mayor Heron is also providing near-daily video updates.
Side note: Earlier in the week, after I commented that the last update I received from our CAO was at about 11:30pm, my partner asked “What does he need?”. My response was that “he needs us to get out of his way”. This isn’t to say that Council isn’t involved in directing the municipality, but rather that the City of St. Albert is fortunate to employ a CAO who is eminently qualified to lead in an emergency response. He and his team have, and continue to do, an incredible job of keeping Council up-to-date, providing exceptional advice, assembling the teams that are keeping St. Albert essential services running, and keeping our staff and residents safe. St. Albert is doing its part to ‘flatten the curve’ while supporting our residents, and I couldn’t be more proud of the staff who are bringing their best to work as we continue to provide essential services to our residents. I have been blown away by the preparedness and professionalism of our staff, and can’t thank them enough for their dedication to our community.
Special Council Meeting Agenda Highlights (12pm)
Although residents may attend this meeting in the Council gallery, we encourage everyone to watch from home if possible. As far as I know, councillors will all be attending via video conferencing, which will be displayed in Council chambers. All the details about how to watch will be on the City website here.
Recreation Facilities, Programs & Events
Administration is recommending that we extend closures and cancellations until May 31, 2020. As of now (Friday afternoon), Admin are also recommending that parks and trails remain open, with users practicing social distancing as recommended by Alberta Health.
We will likely extend many grant application deadlines.
We will also consider bridge funding of $11,300 for CIVC to continue the Sidekicks mentoring program.
Deferral of Utility Bills
The province has requested that municipalities consider allowing the deferral of utility bills. Administration is recommending that we continue issuing these bills, but that late payments are waived for March, April, and May. This would allow those who are able to continue paying on time to do so, and give those who cannot pay at this time some breathing room. Another option is to not issue bills for three months and to combine them together in a few months, but this would cause a lot of confusion because people wouldn’t know what is on their bill and it would create extra workload to update systems to accommodate this change. Online services, including utility bill information continue to be available online: https://my.stalbert.ca/
Transit
Administration is recommending that we waive all fees for transit from March 24 to May 31. “This eliminates the need for handling of transfers, tickets, cash and passes. Current ridership has dropped to about 80% of “normal” <so> no significant revenue loss is expected”.
Capital Projects 2020 ($37M)
Administration is recommending that we defer 49 capital projects, valued at $37M. This is to help with cash flows in terms of our response to the pandemic.
Additional Funds for Response
Last week, Council authorized up to $1M for use for the City’s response. As of March 18, $235,000 has been used. Admin is requesting that the $1M cap be increased to $1.4M.
Property Tax Relief
Administration is recommending that we waive the April 1 and July 1 property tax penalty of 6% for overdue accounts. There are 900 overdue accounts from 2019. They are also recommending that the 2020 tax deadline be extended from June 30 to September 30.
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.
