Strategic shuffling?
By COLLIN GALLANT on March 31, 2019.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant Two moves in senior administration may telegraph a shift in priorities at city hall. They involve two retirements and two shufflings, some well-earned back pats and handshakes, as well as congratulations. But they also provide some glimpse into the focus for two major city divisions for the foreseeable future. This spring, public service division mainstay Karen Charlton is leaving the city after 41 years. Current corporate services commissioner Brian Mastel moves to take over her duties on Monday. Similarly, utility commission Cal Lenz is leaving after two critical years guiding the city’s power production business. He’ll be replaced by petroleum general manager Brad Maynes at the end of May. In the blunt analysis, we have the head of the gas division taking the leadership of the recently combined energy and utility division, which has stabilized the city’s financial outlook almost entirely with power plant profits. We also have the city’s chief accountant taking over the public services division that is the city’s biggest in terms of the municipal budget. That could be an arranging of the chess pieces to attack issues, such as the cost of municipal spending, or the viability of the city’s gas production business? Public services is also the biggest in terms of scope, comprising an array of activities that don’t and really can’t be expected to bring in revenue. They are parks, the fire department, the 911 dispatch centre, as well as host of programs – the Esplanade, transit, cultural and social programs – in which simple cost recovery would be a significant achievement. Mastel headed the team that drew up the Financially Fit budget plan that calls for further cost containment and “service level adjustments” to temper tax increases and more quickly erase a structural deficit in the city budget. Lenz, a longtime Atco man, was hired in 2017 when gas and power production were in separate units, and the power plant was by a mile the largest component. With the power plant flush with new profits, it’s assumed that increasing losses in the gas division will occupy top spot on the to-do list … and a report into the division’s oil exploration program is due this spring. A look ahead Chamber of Commerce debates this week will focus candidates in two local races on business issues. They will be held Tuesday (Cypress-Medicine Hat) and Wednesday (Brooks-Medicine Hat) at Medicine Hat College’s Eresman Theatre. The Brooks chamber is hosting candidates in that race on Monday. City council also sits Monday to discuss a potential land sale, zoning for the Folium hemp oil plant, and a potential road name change near the airport. 100 years ago Medicine Hat should adopt Daylight Saving Time in order to conform with the Canadian Pacific Railway, a group of local businessmen told the News in late March 1919. Two standards of time within the city would cause confusion not only for firms, but passengers and railway workers, they said. Local jurisdictions had the ability to adopt “summer time” but federal government policy had been extended via the wartime railways commission. Sir Sam Hughes in Ottawa summed it up “they can set the timetables, but not the clocks.” City council promised to take up the matter soon. In other rail news, tenders for work to complete the Hat to Hanna rail line of the Canadian Northern system were let. The local Trades and Labour Council soundly voted to “repudiate” a recent decision at an interprovincial labour congress in Calgary to send greeting to the Bolshevik government of Russia. Local labour interests however supported a vote on the “One Big Union” proposition that called for greater unity and strike action opposed to seeking to influence legislatures with voting power. On a tour by a travelling basketball team from Edmonton, the men’s provincial champions were played to an 33-33 tie by a pickup team from Raymond. Both teams agreed to retire rather than play an additional five-minute overtime period. 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 26-25
