City Notebook: What’s old is new

By Collin Gallant on January 4, 2025.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:

Medicine Hat should have a “one-stop shop” for investors to ease the process of getting things done at city hall.

No, you didn’t wake up in 2021 – when former city manager Bob Nicolay promised such “concierge service” with “Invest 2.0” – or 10 or even 20 years earlier, when city hall and elected officials promised to scour the world for investment bucks and get deals done for the Hat.

Now, it’s 2025, and again we hear that the best way to proceed is a “one-stop shop” system of investment attraction and retention that will be implemented this year.

That was a key statement in budget talks as administrators dealt with questions of low economic growth projections.

Mayor Linnsie Clark tells the News it hasn’t happened over the years, but should be explored and exploited. Other council members, too.

The idea is having a point person to guide captains of industry through the utilities, planning, land and other departments at city hall.

A multi-department negotiating team was in place when the city scored big power contracts with Hut 8 data-processing and Aurora Cannabis in 2017.

There are advantages to having a bonafide dealmaker on staff, but also landmines to it all.

The “Invest Medicine Hat” model was basically vaporized four years later after pre-election controversy.

The public has unshakable belief that bureaucrats and politicians self-deal at the expense of Joe Taxpayer. Therefore, every substantial proposal inevitably becomes a tangled web of controversy, implied bias and accusation whenever the city’s land department puts something before the municipal planning commission.

There are some differences now, however.

The city enters 2025 with a set economic development department and strategy for the first time in four years.

A recent release from Medicine Hat Economic Development states that two thirds of manufacturers and aerospace firms in the city say they plan to expand over the next three years.

Further discussions toward a city-support program will take place next month.

But, still, the recent record includes one denied substation, one condo project nixed after neighbours mounted a challenge and a likely battle royal coming on the city’s own solar power project.

Old Acquaintance

Two passings late in the year leave me feeling blue.

Les Pearson worked on council for seven years and was always charitable with time and happy to explain his point of view.

John Carter, who was CJCY’s morning man right up until is death over the holidays, arrived in Medicine Hat in the late 1980s. I don’t recall ever meeting him in person, but after keeping company during many morning commutes, you feel like you’ve lost an old pal, don’t you?

Randoms

– There’s nothing new in the receivership drama at the Medicine Hat Lodge, but we see the sign is finally repaired.

– Is it too late to nominate road construction as story of last year?

Fine dining

The Beefeater has become a mainstay over the years, and changed hands to new ownership after 48 years on New Years Day.

As well, retiring Inspire Cafe owners Louise Vernal and sister Maureen Newton should be applauded for some courage and staying power. They launched one of the first new entries on the 500 block of Second Street in 2012 when it reopened after major improvements.

A look ahead

City council meetings resume Monday with limited business owing to the lack of committee meetings in late December.

100 years ago

Police in Billings were investigating a shocking double axe murder after the bodies of Mr. And Mrs. Nels Anderson were found in their barbershop, the News headlines blared in late 1924.

Seven months of legalized liquor sales under an Alberta provincial marketing board showed a profit of $1.13 million at Dec. 31.

One third of the police force of Weehawkin, N.J. were indicted on federal bootlegging charges.

The B.C. legislature deleted all mentions of “speed limits” in its new Auto Act, instead requiring drivers to proceed at all times “in a manner as to avoid a menace to public safety.”

Also, all drivers would now need to be licensed.

A couple that was married via long-distance telephone call between Texas and Washington State in 1923 were granted a divorce. Separately, an Oregon teacher sued her school board for $25,000 after she was dismissed for marrying one of her pupils.

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.