From controversial to the mundane: City council has plenty on tap this fall

By Collin Gallant on September 5, 2018.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant

Issues big, small and out of city control will take up council’s time this fall.

Administrators are busy this month writing the next four-year budget, weighing options for a city power plant expansion and a bylaw on the public use of marijuana.

Two other controversies of note are proposed changes at the Kin Coulee off-leash dog park and the creation of a supervised drug consumption site.

Mayor Ted Clugston stressed after Monday’s council meeting that a provincial move to establish a harm reduction program is not a city initiative, but the city has been a target for criticism.

“I typically don’t respond to social media, but I’ve had to go on and say, ‘It’s not us; contact your MLA’,” Clugston told reporters, adding that municipalities don’t have a legal right to shut down provincial health facilities.

Major municipal work is underway on the city’s 2019-2022 budget — which will be presented early next year — and business plans for utility departments are traditionally made public in early December.

Coun. Robert Dumanowski, chair of council’s corporate service committee, said the goal is to find $1.6 million in cost savings — equal to about 2.5 per cent of the budget.

“In the end real, meaningful cuts, scale backs and efficiencies must be found in real dollars,” he said, adding that while public consultation will take place before decisions are made, the goals are set.

He feels council is resolute to find cost savings.

Council approved a plan last year to restructure transit service with a savings of $650,000, but eventually reversed the changes after an uproar from riders.

About $16 million in reserve funds were used to balance the municipal budget in 2018. The general strategy is to reduce that to zero over eight more years by halting cost creep, gaining new revenue and boosting taxes.

On the utility front, committee chair Coun. Phil Turnbull says power requirements of citizens are being met, but analysts are working on future capacity expansion. That comes just one year after starting up a new $55-million generating station.

“We’ve been working the equipment like crazy,” he told the News, saying options explored could include more gas-fired generation, or perhaps renewables.

“It’s not the sort of report that you can do in a short amount of time,” he said. “I’d expect it in the late fall.”

The city signed two major power supply contracts this year, totalling 88 megawatts, equal to about half the entire city’s usage on a hot day.

Council asked when the issue flared last month for options to both protect the Saamis Archaeological site and provide off-leash dog space at the environmental reserve.

Coun. Jamie McIntosh said Monday the Heritage Resource Committee plans to create an educational campaign about the importance of the historic site that was an Indigenous encampment for several thousand years.

The city will also welcome its new chief administrator on Oct. 1 when Bob Nicolay takes over for the retiring Merete Heggelund.

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