Turnbull will return to utility committee

By Collin Gallant on October 28, 2017.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant

One of the most vocal critics of the city’s response to low natural gas prices years ago is set to become head of the City of Medicine Hat’s utility committee.

Phil Turnbull resigned from the same committee in 2013 saying “hope isn’t a strategy,” and waged a mayoral campaign against then energy committee chairman Ted Clugston on the issue.

With both men returned to council this month, now-mayor Ted Clugston told the News on Friday the two men have met, and the committee is a good fit for his former critic.

“It’s an area that Phil has always had a great interest,” Clugston said Friday.

“It’s a good opportunity to move it forward, rather than to dwell on mistakes or perceived mistakes on the past.”

Despite their history, Turnbull and Clugston now agree on several major points of how the natural gas and petroleum unit is operating.

Both men support a new oil drilling focus and both say recent organizational and personnel changes have made it more competitive and responsive to changing industry.

Turnbull wasn’t available for comment Friday, but has previously praised efforts of top administrators to bring in talent and attempt to grow the enterprise.

He has argued however, that the city held on too long to the hope that natural gas prices would recover after it collapsed in 2009.

Winners of this month’s election will be sworn in at a ceremony Monday night in council chambers at city hall, and an organizational meeting will cement assignments on major committees.

A list obtained by the News shows Julie Friesen will remain as the chair of the public services committee, a position she held last term.

Robert Dumanowski will again chair committees the oversee both the city’s corporate services division and the development and infrastructure division.

Clugston said he continued with a system he used in 2013 to decide committee roles based partly on votes earned and partly on interest and experience.

Joining Turnbull on the utility committee will be Jamie McIntosh, who held a seat in the last term, as vice chair, with Jim Turner rounding out three council members.

Those men will see the committee deal with a changing power export market in Alberta in 2018, and also oversees sewer, water and landfill services.

Oil and gas production however, is the largest business unit in the city, and is one track to post a slim profit this year after five years of adjusted losses.

Last year, it unveilled a three-year, $45-million drilling program to seek out tight conventional oil plays in the region.

Officials say a find similar to the Glauc C in the city’s northeast field could be worth $500 million.

A corporate reorganization in 2015 brought energy production back under the umbrella of municipal operations. After the retirement of former energy division top administrator Gerry Labas in 2016, the operations were placed under the portfolio of municipal CAO Merete Heggelund.

She is ultimately responsible for the unit, though it takes guidance and reports to the utility committee.

Among the other committee assignments, McIntosh, a second-term councillor also become vice chair of the infrastructure and development committee, and is one of three council members on the corporate services body.

Coun. Jim Turner will hold seats on D&I and be the vice-chair of the public service committee that Friesen heads.

Turner, a fiscal conservative, will be joined by first-time councillor Samraj, who campaigned on a platform of finding unique, non-traditional methods of service delivery.

“I think it’s an area where he can shine,” said Clugston, adding that public services — including transit, parks, fire services and social development — is the largest budget area, it will be a area of focus in budget reviews.

Dumanowski’s position also stands out — a single councillor chairing two major committees was an unusual arrangement last term. It was however described as necessary in 2013 when half the new council had no previous experience in city government.

Darren Hirsch, who returns to council after serving in the mid 2000s, will become vice-chair of the corporate services committee.

Brian Varga maintained a seat on corporate services and as head of the municipal planning commission.