This week is an exciting one - watch the City news feed! And on top of Monday’s morning & afternoon standing committee meetings, there is also an in-camera Council meeting for a strategic planning follow-up session, and an all-day Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board (EMRB) meeting in Morinville.
CLSC agenda highlights (9:30am)
Grant recommendations
Several recommendations from our Arts & Community Living Standing Committees are being considered at committee, but will be decided at the Council meeting on May 16th - I’ll post about the recommendations next week along with any changes proposed by the CLSC.
Corporate Grant Policy
Administration is proposing a much-anticipated change to our granting policies to start in September 2023. It appears that all grants are recommended to remain for now, but could be changed depending on community need. It would also simplify the budgeting process by creating one budge line-item for grants based on a per-capital formula rather than the varied budgeting systems in place now.
“[The new policy] will establish clear guidelines and principles under which civic funding in the form of a grant may be awarded ... This policy is the result of the work completed through the corporate wide grant review completed through 2021.
This report also addresses the motion… related to WILDNorth and the creation of a more comprehensive grant policy which would allow for agencies outside of St. Albert who are providing services in St. Albert to apply for grant funding.”
One of the most significant proposed changes is that organizations who provide a service that is the responsibility of the province (education, health, housing) would be ineligible. However, FCSS, the Municipal Historic Resource Program, Utility Relief Grant, Senior Homeowner’s Property Tax Assistance Grant, and any group with a specific agreement with the City (Library, etc.) are not impacted by this policy change. I suspect that the committee will propose an exception for projects like school parks, and will continue to provide funding for higher-cost projects outside of this policy process. It’s also unclear who would approve grants - I assume that the advisory committees would provide recommendations for grants over a certain value, but it’s unclear how this would work. I look forward to the discussion.
CGISC agenda highlights (1:30pm)
10-year Municipal & Utility RMR
Every year, we review our municipal asset maintenance - Repair, Maintain, Replace (RMR) - plan. Just like a private home, the city has to proactively maintain and repair our assets, as well as plan for replacement for assets that are end-of-life. This plan considers upkeep on roads, sidewalks, buildings, and underground infrastructure.
In 2023, 26 municipal projects are proposed, including playground replacements, bridge maintenance, replacement of the turf at Larry Olexiuk Feilds, replacement of the diving board & filtration system as Grosvenor, and more. On the Utilities side for 2023, proposed projects include improvements to our stormwater system, replacement of aging sewer systems, watermain upgrades, rebuilding the Sturgeon Resevoir & Pump Station, and more.
Northeast Servicing Detailed Design ($2M)
Administration is recommending that we move forward with servicing (water, stormwater, and sewer) the northeast part of the city, including newly annexed lands, and that $2M is approved in 2022 for creation of detailed designs for the project. The recommendation includes advancing water servicing, even though it’s not expected to be required until at least 2032 “because significant cost savings are anticipated due to the shared alignment with the other two projects”.
This is a brief and incomplete overview of my activities as a councillor and Council 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. Residents can register to speak if they have information to present to council. Full agenda packages can be found on the stalbert.ca website.
