Strathcona County Council meetings are attracting more citizens now that they are in the new Centre in the Park. Thank you for your support. I especially appreciate it when parents bring their children. These are the leaders of tomorrow – they need to know how - and how not - to govern.
April 12th was a fairly lively session. I have included some of the agenda items below. Detailed motions and background presentations.
Organization Wide Review
April 12th was a fairly lively session. I have included some of the agenda items below. Detailed motions and background presentations.
Organization Wide Review
During Councillor Priorities I asked for and obtained Councils unanimous support on a motion to have Council initiate an immediate search for an external firm to conduct an organization wide review that will examine Council and Administration; Committees and Boards; organizational structure and process. The focus is to be on cost effectiveness, organizational wide efficiencies, and the customer service culture to our residents and business/industry partners. This direction is one that I have long advocated to Strathcona County elected officials and administration. We are here to serve our citizens. Every successful organization invites evaluation, compares itself to industry wide best practises, and welcomes the opportunity to be the best it can be. Can we do less? No! As keepers of the public trust we need to raise the bar. We need to invite external audit to examine our culture, our attitude, and every aspect of doing business. Only then can the public can have absolute confidence in its Council’s ability to plan and spend wisely for this generation and the next.
Change of Schedule Discussion
Change of Schedule Discussion
Council spent an inordinate amount of time on a request to cancel the May 10th Council meeting. Councillor Bidzinski argued that it could just as easily be rescheduled to May 3rd in order that he and the Mayor could attend an event in Fort McMurray. All Councillors gave their input. I feel strongly that Council should not make special allowances that inconvenience the public and creates confusion.
Public meetings and agendas are planned, scheduled and advertised to the public many months in advance. This creates the opportunity for administration to most efficiently utilize their preparation time and Councillors to organize their extremely hectic schedules. I believe this maximizes public attendance.
Making exceptions for various Councillors to attend conferences and events related to their other jobs or personal agendas is, in my opinion not appropriate. In this particular instance I congratulated the Mayor for registering into the AUMA Presidents Summit on Energy at Fort McMurray on May 10th. It is entirely to Strathcona County’s benefit that our Mayor, who has just been named the Chair of Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, attends and takes a leadership role in this tour of the oil sands and conference to explore the energy sector’s affects on urban municipalities. Fortunately, this situation is not uncommon and our current policy and practise. In addition, we have a proven practise of rotating Deputy and Acting Mayors. This ensures that our municipality has the depth of knowledge and experience in our Councillors to chair the meeting and carry on County business. After lengthy discussion – Council agreed that a cancelation of the May 10th meeting was inadvisable.
Reserve Fund
Public meetings and agendas are planned, scheduled and advertised to the public many months in advance. This creates the opportunity for administration to most efficiently utilize their preparation time and Councillors to organize their extremely hectic schedules. I believe this maximizes public attendance.
Making exceptions for various Councillors to attend conferences and events related to their other jobs or personal agendas is, in my opinion not appropriate. In this particular instance I congratulated the Mayor for registering into the AUMA Presidents Summit on Energy at Fort McMurray on May 10th. It is entirely to Strathcona County’s benefit that our Mayor, who has just been named the Chair of Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, attends and takes a leadership role in this tour of the oil sands and conference to explore the energy sector’s affects on urban municipalities. Fortunately, this situation is not uncommon and our current policy and practise. In addition, we have a proven practise of rotating Deputy and Acting Mayors. This ensures that our municipality has the depth of knowledge and experience in our Councillors to chair the meeting and carry on County business. After lengthy discussion – Council agreed that a cancelation of the May 10th meeting was inadvisable.
Reserve Fund
Council listened with interest as Administration delivered an informational piece on reserve funds. With a total of 99.3 million dollars in our consolidated operating and capital reserves – it behoves your elected officials to be careful and wise stewards. The uncommitted reserve funds for municipal and utility operations amount to 53.7 million dollars of ‘designated’ and ‘generally designated’ funds. On the website link above you will find food for thought. Slide #11 in particular lists some challenges moving forward into the near future. I have over my first term lobbied for an optimal reserve amount to be assigned to each reserve fund. This will allow us to mitigate the challenges outlined in this and future years. Administration has undertaken to identify and assess strategies to reach optimal balances and present them in budget review.
Priority Fund Requests
Priority Fund Requests
Coming forward next Council meeting is a motion addressing Priority Fund Requests. (See comments in April 6th blog). Updated list of my priority fund expenditures.
Thanks for the frequent updates on council's meetings. Your content here is more comprehensive than what we see in the newspaper and I appreciate the opinions that you express. Councillors are not automatons; they're thinking, opinioned people.
ReplyDeleteCouncil dealt with the possibility of moving a meeting to accommodate schedules. The only realistic time I see moving or cancelling a meeting as an option is if there is the likelihood that quorum will not be reached for that meeting. Such a last minute meeting cancellation would add extra chaos into schedules.
ian