Mayor Ted Clugston speaks with reporters at City Hall after a council meeting this year. The city went through many hardships in 2020, but the mayor says he is optimistic about 2021 and the years to follow. - NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
certainty, the City of Medicine Hat shifted operations to comply with health orders, cut costs, laid off staff, and made major moves to realign its financial plans.
Emergency officials and elected representatives stressed they were just like every else, getting health orders when they were announced publicly by the province, opening and closing facilities, even outdoor play equipment in the spring, then figuring out operating realities as the COVID-19 pandemic wore on.
There was also an intense debate on a local mask bylaw, and plenty of non-COVID related news at city hall.
Looking back at the year following the final council meeting of 2020, Mayor Ted Clugston said he was most proud of relief package that cancelled a tax increase, gave grants to business owners and some leeway for utility customers caught up in the economic fallout of the all-encompassing pandemic.
“COVID has dominated the headlines and news cycle, but I think that Medicine Hat has fared better than most municipalities,” said Clugston. “I have a lot of hope for 2021… I’m optimistic that we’re getting close to the end of this.”
A raft of financial items at city hall might be the lasting legacy of the 2020.
The city closed gas wells, sold its major oil field, reset its dividend and cash reserve policies, and turned up the volume full blast on a budget plan that calls for $14 million in spending cuts next year, then up to $8 million more in 2022.
Along with the price of oil, the city’s investments were hammered in a record-setting stock market plunge in March, but have followed the market back in remarkable recovery.
Masks, masks, masks!
The enduring political story of the year will likely be council’s response to mask issue.
Clugston often praised the council’s decision to avoid a local mask mandate while local cases remained low in the spring, summer and early fall.
By early November, however, cases rose, and councillors noted “thousands” or emails, calls and messages on the issue. Health care workers and community leaders called for mask measures in open letters, while others argued for personal choice and against lockdown measures.
Pressure led by Coun. Robert Dumanowski eventually resulted in special meeting of council on Dec. 2, where a mask bylaw was passed by 6-3 vote. Councillors Kris Samraj and Jim Turner voted against the bylaw, as did Clugston.
It came into effect three days before the province announced province-wide measures
Adjusting
City Hall spent a good portion of the year simply adjusting to new operating rules.
Director of emergency management, Merrick Brown told council late in year, keeping access to city hall open, albeit under new capacity limitations, was a source of pride.
For a time Council meetings were closed to the public, and even reporters had to phone into the meetings that were held at the more spacious Esplanade Studio Theatre.
Chambers reopened in the summer with plexiglass partitions.
Recreation facilities as well as came back online over the summer, while the the top phrase at city hall was “business continuity.” Shifts of firefighters, utility workers and police officers worked in isolation plans to avoid potential outbreaks.
COVID also affected day to day operations. Building inspectors performed remote video inspections in the spring. The city landfill reported a 600-tonne increase in compost volumes attributed to more Hatters using yard work to occupy their time.
Bus service was reduced, some “on-demand” service brought in.
Several rec facilities didn’t reopen as capacity and costs were evaluated, and the late-year budget plan states the Crestwood Rec Centre, the Moose Rec Centre arena and Heights outdoor pool will stay closed through 2021 while an incoming recreation masterplan will determine future priorities.
Council stays busy
In May council approved an $8-million package from reserves cash to hold off the 2020 property tax increase, provide up to $2 million in business grants, and earmarks another $1 million for economic development opportunities.
In a year-end budget update, council voted to “accelerate” the financially fit plan, saying the original 10-year timeline to raise tax revenue and cut costs had pushed off hard choices about spending.
It calls for a 10 per cent cut in staffing costs and will lead to job losses, said officials, though details are scarce.
The effort, approved in 2016, uses reserve cash to buffer tax hikes and avoid deep cuts.
Now the city plans to have the deficit, once worth $24 million, cut down to one-third but the end of 2021, and eliminated 2022.
Debt reaches half-billion mark
The city borrowed $80 million dollars to fund well abandonment – thereby transforming a $135 million AIMCo investment account into a sinking fund – and another $60 million for power plant expansion.
Those items and others brought city debt level to $502 million late in the year.
Event Centre
The city took over the management of the Canalta Centre in the summer, ending its five-year contract with private manager, ASM, and in the fall announced a new naming rights agreement with South Country Co-op. The terms of the deal, which will see the arena renamed “Co-op Place,” were not disclosed.
Sewer drama ends
A ten-year battle over a condominium’s sewage station in Medicine Hat ended in February when the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear the City’s appeal of an Alberta appeal court decision. That court declared the City was ultimately responsible for operating a public utility, and the sewer lift station at the River Ridge Condo complex qualified as it served neighbouring properties. A final
Wages
The city’s major union accepted a two-year wage freeze when inside, outside and transit workers represented by CUPE No. 46 voted on a new contract this summer. New contracts for police, fire and electrical workers are still being negotiated.
Land policy
In a break with standing practice, the city’s land development office sold off blocks of developed lots in Saamis area to Lansdowne Equity ventures over the next five years. As well, planning in proceeding for a large industrial park on city land north of the Box Springs Business Park.
