Commissioner Singleton brought forward a status report on the Office of the Mayor’s renovations at the request of Council. This report outlined the renovations to date. Council has requested that costs be brought to Council upon completion of the project. Now that this issue is in open session, elected officials are legally able to comment and answer questions on the issue. Council is not allowed to comment on information that is ‘in camera’ (meetings that are closed to the public). Neither can we give direction or approval to an item at an in camera meeting. We can give opinions, but must give direction by a vote in a meeting open to the public.
Several ‘Notices of Motion’ were delivered to be debated at our next public meeting. A notice of motion is a "heads up" that a councillor is requesting an addition to the next council meeting agenda.
Councillor Riddell’s Notice of Motion asked that Council direct administration to revisit and report to Council on in camera process of what is allowed on the agenda. According to the Municipal Government Act, only matters such as those pertaining to FOIP, human resources, land transactions and legal privilege can be discussed in camera.
I presented a Notice of Motion on Security of public, staff and elected officials. This will direct administration to bring forward the evaluations of any security issues that were outstanding at the time the new Community Centre was built and address questions on the need for added renovations. The last Notice of Motion I brought forward is on Task Force Guidelines. If approved this motion would help define the authority and responsibility of a task force.
Administration brought forward the winter maintenance update as a precursor to budget discussions. One P3 clearing, numerous Priority 1 and 2 clearings on our major thoroughfares and two P4 residential road clearings were required to deal with the 155cm of snow that fell (117.5 cm in January). The 2011 snow removal costs now total 5.408 million. Costs include 74,259 staff hours and 16,759.5 contractor hours. Residents often ask how much the residential road clearings cost - this year it averaged out to 1.251 million dollars.
A report on an interdepartmental youth initiative Sustainable Plan-It was brought forward to Council. Four departments created an economic sustainability program that focuses on building strong neighbourhoods. It has been expanded since 2009 to be used by teachers and grade six students from New Horizons, Westboro Elementary, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Elementary, and Wes Hosford Elementary schools. View and vote on your favourite projects.
Strathcona County Library presented its annual report to Council. I found this to be an informative and comprehensive document. I was especially pleased to see that the Library offered 461 youth programs in 2010, with an attendance of 23,218. Bookmobile visits increased by 27% last year – indicating an impressive expansion in outreach. Past Boards and staff have done an outstanding job in planning the expansion – earning the Alberta Trustees Association Award of Excellence, presented at this Council meeting. Library Chair Ernie Jurkat indicated that focus for 2011 will be on service enhancements especially those related to programming and outreach.
Seventeen residents from Glencoe Place brought issues to Council on the planned traffic calming circle on Glencoe Blvd. Both Councillor Gariepy and I are involved in this traffic calming initiative on the interface area between our Wards. We have requested a further report from Administration.
My Councillor Report included a special thanks to Sherwood Park Mall and the volunteers that worked so hard to organize the Slave Lake fire donations event last Friday. In response to residents’ requests I asked Administration to report on the severity of the mosquito infestation as well as the feasibility and impact of spraying for mosquitoes before the next batch hatches!
Strathcona County Council has released its second set of priorities that include:
- Develop four additional governance policies that will provide Council direction relating to priority funding, communications, social media and elections.
- Develop terms of reference for an organization-wide review, focused on cost-effectiveness, organizational efficiencies, and a customer service culture to our residents and business/industry partners.
- Develop terms of reference for a rural strategy and engage members of those communities.
- Review and update the Heartland strategy to foster greater understanding and alignment.
Good summary!
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