Regular Council Meeting April 20, 2020
It’s a full agenda for Monday, so much so that Council has changed the starting time of our meeting from 2pm to 12pm.
Agenda highlights
Pickleball Noise Abatement ($98,000 + $2,400/year)
Admin is recommending that we install noise abatement screening in response to two complaints about noise due to pickleball activities at the newly-repurposed Akinsdale court site. The green or black (plastic?) paneling is expected to last 10-15+ years, graffiti will be easy to clean off, and costs to put it up/take it down and store it over winter are expected to be about $2,400/year.
It’s important that residents express their concerns about changes to how we operate, and that the City responds, but this solution seems excessive. In light of the budgetary challenges that we are facing due to COVID-19, I would be surprised if this was a priority.
BLESS Platform ($40,000)
Last year, Council approved up to $342,000 to rebuild the BLESS platform out at Big Lake. BLESS also secured a $125,000 CFEP grant from the province for this project, which will be handed over to the city. We have also completed the build under the maximum budget, which means that $88,396 of approved funding has not been spent. BLESS is requesting and Admin is recommending that we use $40,000 of these funds to install four interpretive signs, a table, and binoculars at the site. The full backgrounder is available here.
Although it’s great that this project has come in under budget and that BLESS secured a grant, and interpretive elements in our trail system can be a wonderful addition to our community, I’m hesitant about this kind of an investment when we are facing unprecedented budgetary challenges this year.
Capital Projects - COVID response
“Due to the… COVID-19 outbreak, Administration is recommending to either continue or defer <capital> projects… in an effort to manage cash flows during this event. Administration has… considered a balanced approach in the analysis to give some weightage to business continuity in an anticipation of positively influencing the local economy”.
Admin is recommending that we continue with 130 Municipal capital projects ($175.7M) and 45 Utilities projects ($71M), and that we defer decision about 21 Municipal ($39.7M) and Utility ($0.8M) projects to June 30. They are also recommending that we reconsider another 8 Municipal projects ($7.1M) by September 30, and that we defer 7 Municipal ($6.2M) and 10 Utility ($11.5M) projects to 2021.
The list of projects in our backgrounder is a bit confusing, so I suspect there will be many questions asked as we consider these recommendations.
COVID-19 Recovery Concept Plan & Task Force Bylaw
At our last Council meeting, we directed Admin to start a recovery plan. The presented plan includes a formation of a Recovery Task Force, and best practices, key actions, objectives, and desired outcomes to guide our recovery. Costs of this plan don’t appear to be included, but we have already approved funding for the response in general ($2M so far).
If approved, the Task Force would be chaired by the Mayor, include two members of Council, and 4-7 members of the public. The draft bylaw sets out that the members of the public should have a “demonstrated record of community service… an understanding and appreciation of the culture and the economic drivers of the community… significant experience in high level governance roles… <and> represent a broad cross-section of St. Albert’s major economic sectors, including the not-for-profit sector or other non-government agencies”. I suspect our biggest challenge in forming this task force will be to ensure that members are complementary and diverse.
South Riel Land Use Bylaw (1st Reading)
This amendment is to consider a plan to permit a high density development in the southern portion of Riel, S/E of the Enjoy Centre and adjacent to Heritage Lakes. “The proposed development will consist of ten buildings with a maximum height of 12 storeys (35 m) tall…”. We don’t typically entertain comments or debate at first reading, but he Public Hearing will be scheduled for May 19 where questions/comment can be heard.
Library Board Bylaw
Earlier this year, Council directed Admin to update the Library Bylaw to remove the requirement that a member of Council be appointed to the board. This item is to approve the update. Note: This bylaw does not remove the Council rep from the board, only the requirement for one to be appointed.
Standing Committees
Two Council motions about our standing committees are being considered, one to require the Mayor to vote when they attend meetings, and another to review the effectiveness of these committees. For the first, this means that the Mayor could not abstain from voting. For the second, Admin’s understanding is that this is an administrative review rather than a governance review, but I’m not sure if this was the intent of the motion.
Auditor’s Year End Communication
At 2pm, our external auditor will present their findings from the audit of our 2019 Financial Statements. There are a handful of recommendations in the report relating to invoicing and tracking, which is helpful for us.
Fun fact: “For the last 18 years, the City has received a Canadian Award for Financial Reporting for its Annual Financial Reports.”
2019 Annual Report
The 2019 Annual Report will be presented. Highlights include:
-The City’s new Municipal Development Plan (MDP) is nearing completion. The draft MDP document will be shared with the community during the fourth round of public engagement in 2020, prior to proceeding to City Council and the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board for approvals.
-The Province and the City announced a 50/50 cost sharing agreement to twin Ray Gibbon Drive.
-Throughout 2019, Administration identified, researched and selected three potential locations for a new community amenity site… In early 2020, Council selected the site at Range Road 260 and voted to move forward with a conditional offer to acquire the lands
-Overall, the City’s… municipal equity increased to $1,131.8 million from $1,102.8 million.
-Total operating revenues increased by $6.8 million from 2018 <and>… operating expenses increased by $6.7 million…
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.
From the City: “While we are in a state of public health emergency as declared by the Province of Alberta, the City of St. Albert Council meetings will be conducted… through the ZOOM platform which will… stream to this page from YouTube…. Members of the public who wish to address Council on a specific item must send an email to legislative@stalbert.ca indicating your desire to speak and including the title of the item on the Agenda that you wish to address. All requests to speak to an item on the Agenda must be received at that email address by 10:00 a.m. on the day of the Council Meeting”.