Term’s final State of the City address today

By Medicine Hat News on January 28, 2025.

Today’s State of the City address is the first since Medicine Hat city council was engulfed in controversy and posturing between councillors and Mayor Linnsie Clark.

It could also touch on uncertainty facing the city’s plan to address net-zero regulations in light of federal political posturing in North America and city action to alleviate a housing shortage.

Clark however, might not tip her intentions for next fall’s election, or respond to how federal elections in Canada and the U.S. may change the city’s energy division modernization plans.

The sold-out event begins at noon at the Medicine Hat Lodge, presented by the Medicine Hat Kiwanis Club in partnership with the Southeast Alberta Chamber of Commerce.

The hallmark annual speech typically touches on accomplishments over the past year and a look-ahead, and even announcements to seek or decline another term in office.

Late last month however, Clark told the News she would not make up her mind about running for a second term until a provincial audit of council operations was completed, potentially in the late spring.

A decision on whether to form a municipally controlled corporation to create a more results-driven energy division business is also “uncertain,” said Clark in a year-end interview focused on 2024.

“Over the coming months there could be an election, there could be announcements by the province, or a decision in another country that could significantly change the outlook,” she said in December.

“There a lot of balls in the air that have not settled yet, so I expect that we’ll continue to review the impacts of all these different puzzle pieces as they come to be.”

Since the January 2024 State of the City event, the city has also announced its intention buy the Saamis Solar Park, approved a two-year budget showing 5.6 per cent property tax increases and approved a set of five final-year-of-term priorities heading up to next autumn’s municipal election.

Those include formalizing planning for a south-side recreation facility, engaging the province on a pilot program to tackle crime and disorder in the city centre, targeted economic development and speed up a review of city service levels with an eye for cost-savings.

Last year, Clark told the audience that shortly after a power price crisis in the city that resulted in major rate changes and a third-party business review, that forecasters now saw depressed electricity pricing until at least 2030.

That muddied the waters of tackling net-zero regulations in the power business, and maintaining the city’s financial health in a low-growth environment.

Clark also discussed housing and city efforts to ease shortages. A new program of development subsidies is scheduled to be announced in the early winter from the city’s economic development department.

That office has also announced a new investment attraction program focused on manufacturing and business retention.