Last week + Regular Council Meeting August 31, 2020
Last week
Personal update: Most of last week was spent at home in isolation waiting for the results of my covid-19 test. Thankfully, I was feeling well and able to participate in many meetings through the now-typical online platforms. Of note, Council passed the recommendation to advocate for local testing sites last week. Although asymptomatic testing sites have become available, residents must continue to drive to Millwoods for symptomatic testing. Anecdotally, results are taking between two and six days to be reported (my results were received the morning of the sixth day). I highly recommend that everyone able to do so sets up a MyHealth Records account to minimize the time waiting for results.
Implementing Climate Action Plans Webinar
I attended an excellent webinar about how municipalities are using policies and projects to improve results in terms of environmental impact. It was especially impressive seeing St. Albert staff as presenters - They’ve done great work creating plans to help St. Albert act as a leader in this area.
Agenda highlights
The public part of this week’s meeting is quite light - All the recommendations from last week’s Committee meeting are going forward, likely by consent/without debate. We’re also likely approving a few meeting minutes and delaying the Stormwater Rate project to next year due to capacity issues related to the covid response.
Granicus - Resident Feedback/Online Platform ($24,000)
Administration is recommending that we adopt an online platform called “Bang the Table” through the company that we already use for tracking Council agendas, voting, etc. Although this added service costs $24,000, no additional funding is required because we will use the existing public engagement budget to cover the change to this contract.
Operating Line of Credit Borrowing Bylaw (2nd & 3rd readings)
1st reading of this bylaw passed on June 15: “Admin is recommending that we increase our line of credit from $5M to $20M at prime - 1%. This is a cash flow tactic used by many Alberta municipalities, and one that we are considering to manage unforeseen costs of the pandemic response.”
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.
