Council Meeting Highlights from Feb. 7, 2012

Feb. 7, 2012 was a relatively short day for Council with a two hour in-camera meeting prior to a four hour public meeting. Information on all of the background reports and minutes.

Webcast

To get the full flavour of how decisions are made tune into the webcast. The webcast is timed and titled so that you can refer immediately to your topic of interest.

Taxi Cab Service

Councillor Bidzinski brought forward residents concerns on taxi cab quality of service to both administration and Council. He referred to information from several Alberta municipalities. Council unanimously supported the concerns by directing administration to look further into options on improving conditions in the service available to Strathcona County.

I asked Administration to broaden the scope to look at innovative ways to improve safety, quality of service, increased numbers of wheel chair accessible vans, and fuel efficient vehicles. 

If we are going to create regulations, let’s ensure this fits well under our social, economic, environmental and economic sustainability framework. There are so many low cost improvements we could encourage to increase safety and quality of service. Putting a mileage or age limit on vehicles, creating a mandatory course for drivers on local road and tourism addresses and English as a second language, as well as limiting the number of consecutive hours of driving. I would also like to see consideration of a tiered lease system or P3 initiative to encourage use of fuel efficient and wheel chair accessible vehicles.

Snow Clearance Bylaw

For the sixth time in three years Council discussed the merits of a snow clearance bylaw. A lengthy discussion thoroughly covered, I believe, the residents issues. 

It is a complex issue with residents split 45:55 on any given day! The newly worded bylaw, while still complaint based, was by far, in my opinion the best attempt at a fair and just regulation. 

Excerpts include ‘Owners shall be responsible to remove all snow and ice from sidewalk ...within eight days following the initial deposit. Snow and ice will be considered removed when the sidewalk is cleaned for the entire width to the surface as completely and reasonably as possible.’ 

Councillors Bidzinski, Gariepy and Wlodarczak voted for first reading. Myself and Councillors Botterill, Fenske, Delainey, Riddell voted against.

So why did I vote against a reasonably worded bylaw? for a couple of solid reasons.

Currently, the County will act on your complaints about a negligent property owner by sending a notice.  How successful is this? Eighteen test locations are accessed for depth of snow and area sidewalk clearing compliance. In these test areas, 89% of sidewalks were clear in record snow falls last year. So out of the 11% of owners that did not clean their sidewalks – 7% responded to notices sent out (as a result of neighbour complaints). That means that only 4% were truly negligent. How much of your tax payer’s dollars do you want policing this?

I believe we should continue promoting the good neighbour policy and the Snow Busters program – a volunteer driven effort to help our physically challenged residents who do have difficulty clearing their walks.  

I believe that, in this case a bylaw would be an unnecessary example of over regulation. The additional concern I have is that it would raise public expectations beyond reality in respect to Strathcona County cleaning public walkways. The County takes about 15 days to clear the hundreds of kilometres of public sidewalks, trails and pathways. Our modern machinery cannot clear to the standard that you and I can with our shovels and small but mighty snow blowers! I cannot support a double standard of snow clearing – one for resident and one for the County!

Councillor Reports

Thanks to Councillor Delainey who asked to see a removal of age limit to increase the accessibility of the Snow Busters program to those who need it most.

Councillors Riddell and Wlodarczak updated Council on the drafts of new policy on meeting procedures and transparency.

Councillor Fenske talked about a number of fun activities going on in Good Hope, Brookville Hall this weekend. 

I reported on a planned meeting of the newly forming Bicycle Safety Citizens Group – please contact me if you would like to connect to the organizers and attend. All are welcome.

Residents who live in condos and co-ops share common issues. A new group has formed to share issues and solutions. Condo representatives are welcome to contact me for the contact information.

International Women’s Day Awards has launched its second year of celebrating the mentors and champions in our community. If you have seen the film documentary Miss Representation or are aware of the dismal statistics of women in leadership positions – you will know why it is so important for both women and men to acknowledge and applaud women who built our world and show the way to our younger generation. Please nominate those special individuals by February 17^th. 

E News Bulletin

I send out an E News Bulletin four times a month to residents. It is an opportunity for me to inform you of events and matters of interest to your family and neighbours in a timely manner. These electronic news flashes also help me to get your input and touch base with you. You are welcome to sign up at carr@strathcona.ab.ca