Last Week + Committee Meetings September 14, 2020
Last week
On a personal note, I now know what it’s like to get a call from the contact tracing team at Alberta Health! AHS started with a quick call last weekend saying that one of my kids might have been exposed to a confirmed positive case and to stay tuned. Shortly after, I received another call confirming that isolation was required for 14 days as a “close contact” with the covid-positive person, regardless of results of any testing. They still recommended a covid test, so that was completed last week and we received results online in under 3 days, which was quicker than expected. My family can handle this type of disruption reasonably well, but I feel for parents who don’t have the flexibility to work from home. This will be a challenging school year for everyone.
Services & Service Level Discussion
Council continued our in-camera discussion about the services and service levels provided by the municipality.
Homeland Housing
I was out in Morinville for my third in-person meeting since the pandemic lockdowns started. This meeting was with the Executive Director and Chair for pre-planning related to our board strategic planning session next month.
CLSC agenda highlights
CSAC Grant Funding Recommendations
Each year, our Community Services Advisory Committee provides recommendations to Council regarding awarding grant funding.
The Community Capital Grant ($250,000/year) recommendations appear to endorse all applicants, with only one recommendation being below the group ask - Dynamix Gymnastics requested $250,000 and the recommendation is $94,000. Other recommendations include helping fund a couple of school playgrounds, a new groomer for the Nordic Ski Club, and renovations at the Start of the North Retreat House.
The Community Events Grant ($??/year) seems to only have had one applicant this year, from the Africans & African Descendants Friendship Club of St. Albert. The recommendation is to fund the full ask of $5,000 for their second Taste of Africa event. I’m not sure if this event will be possible in February, but I hope so.
Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts
Although the recommended motions for this item are to halve the $24,000 budget for this 10-year-old event and only hold the event every second year, the background report seems to imply that Admin does not support this recommendation.
Heritage Inventory and Properties of Interest ($81,400)
The recommended motion for this item is to use our Heritage Advisory Reserve Fund to top up the budget to hire a consultant to update our list of properties of interest. As far as I can tell, this was a recommendation from our Heritage Advisory Committee, which ceased to exist last week after Council unanimously agreed to rescind the bylaw creating the committee. I’m curious if the Arts & Heritage Foundation has to say about this recommendation, as they are the body we hope to have take over the role that the former Heritage Committee provided.
CGISC agenda highlights
Capital Project Prioritization Matrix
A couple of years ago, Council approved a decision-making matrix to help guide our capital strategy. This is to help us with decisions relating to how/when we repair, replace, or build new infrastructure. Although we refined the matrix/strategy last year, Admin is seeking to further refine the process. Some questions they’re suggesting we consider are:
Should we look at a longer term funding strategy (ie 5 years)?
Should we limit the unfunded portion of our capital plan?
Should the available funding be “split” or “directed to” pre-defined areas by percentage or
another means (ie X% transportation, x% recreation/culture, x% corporate infrastructure etc.
and then prioritized within those categories.
Should required planning work (ie. MDP, Transportation master plan etc.) be funded through a
different source?
What criteria should be considered before debt funding is recommended?
I find it curious that this was assigned to a committee, since I suspect all of Council has interest in this major policy. I hope to attend this meeting (I’m not a member), but we will all have opportunity to ask questions when this is brought forward to Council next week.
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.
