City Notebook: Is this the way things need to be done?

By COLLIN GALLANT on January 22, 2022.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Late breaking news on Friday sees city manager Bob Nicolay depart two months after a major change on city council and after an extended period of budget back-and-forths between administration and new councillors.

That’s led to some level of intrigue about how a slate of new council members elected on a so-called “change” platform could coexist with the existing senior manager.

For his part, Nicolay says the plan to retire was well-established, and his two most obvious critics – Coun. Shila Sharps and Mayor Linnsie Clark – are both quoted in city releases thanking Nicolay for his services.

One wonders why very few people outside the inner circles at city hall had heard about this plan or timeline before?

Others wonder why a new process to review the city manager’s job performance (via a committee formed by Clark and led by Sharps) had to become such a public process.

Is this the way things need to be done?

Either way, it avoids what was sure to be an increasingly sticky mess considering this week saw the first relatively feisty exchanges at council of the term with Invest Medicine Hat’s handling of the Towne Square development.

Council now shifts to “strategic planning” sessions -which have been pointed to by the new councillor’s presented with when, what, who questions since October.

That should conclude right about time for the State of the City address (in late February this year).

There is sure to be a rapt audience.

Much ado about rail

There’s some dust-up this week about a new proposal to bring a passenger rail system to link up Alberta’s major centres.

The firm behind it, Alberta Regional Rail, admits its years away. Keep in mind that the first step is to get agreement with CP Rail to build along their right-of-way… which seems like a pretty big to-do list on its own.

And if that hill is mounted, all that’s left is to build a railroad.

Of course this follows early-days excitement about a potential rail link between the Calgary Airport and Banff, but more and more it appears that massive amount of public spending and concessions will be required.

But… that’s how Canada’s railroads have always been built, just ask John A. Macdonald or the investors on the Grand Trunk.

Pig guts

Forget the Weather Network, Environment Canada or the Farmer’s Almanac, this spring’s pig-spleen weather prognostications are in.

The long-time feature of the News sister publication, the Prairie Post, was again provided this month by Southwest Sask. resident Jeff Woodward.

As usual, he divided the organ in six pieces, then examined the fat layering on each to provide a forecast of the next six months.

So far for January, the offal’s forecast is pretty much bang-on, and February predicts gradually improving temperatures, but a colder start to March and a colder than usual month overall. Specifically, there will be two very hot days near March 12, and significant rain on April 11, so mark you calendars.

A disclaimer is that the forecast is localized to the pig’s former home base near Gull Lake.

A look ahead

The city’s land department will officially submit its “Northwest Industrial Park” plan to Wednesday’s meeting of the planning commission. The Medicine Hat Burns Club Dinner that was set for next Saturday has been, you guessed it, postponed to an unspecified later date.

100 years ago

Hub Cigar store owner Bill Scott won the princely sum of $1,675 for correctly predicting 11 “Old Country football” results in an Alberta-wide match picking contest, the News reported this week in 1922.

Medicine Hat would host the 1923 convention of the Alberta Federation of Labour, delegates at the Lethbridge congress heard. The formal invitation was made by AFL Secretary Byron Bellamy, a Hat alderman and an AFL delegate.

The big debate at the ’21 meetings was whether to oppose the present “half holiday” systems that saw businesses close at noon on Wednesdays and Saturdays and support a universal two-day set weekend for workers.

In home renovation circles, 100 square feet of half-inch maple flooring boards sold for $9 cash-and-carry at the Revelstoke Mill.

As prohibition took effect in the U.S., a survey of American doctors found opinion equally split on the medicinal benefits of prescribing whisky.

Soldiers gassed during the Great War suffered no permanent disability, claimed an American general during a speech to that country’s chemical manufacturers.

Compared to losing and arm or leg from a bullet, it was one of the “most-humane” weapons devised, said the head the army’s chemical warfare service.

Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com.