Municipal Infrastructure Deficit

With the good news of the official start of construction for the Northeast Anthony Henday Drive - our thoughts turn to the need for all levels of government to continue to be proactive in their revitalization of public infrastructure.

Local governments build and repair over half of all public infrastructure, while collecting an average of eight cents of every tax dollar, creating an inequitable system.

Up until now, the federal-municipal funding agreement has provided for an annual $2 billion to assist in this monumental task. This program, as I have reported in earlier articles, is set to expire in 2014. Communities need to continue moving forward with the job of rebuilding our municipal infrastructure or we will fall behind as crumbling infrastructure costs our economy jobs and investment.

Strathcona County is one of the nearly 2,000 municipalities supporting the Federation of Canadian Municipalities(FCM) in its bid to encourage Federal, Provincial and territorial governments to protect and build on recent investments in municipal infrastructure. This national organization is trying to create a consensus about what the future program should look like before they present to the federal government through it's Municipal Infrastructure Forum (MIF).

Given the approaching deadline - you should hear more from your local Council soon.

Highlights of July 3, 2012 Council Meeting

Council meetings are webcast live and on tape for three months. The background reports for every meeting are on the site by the end of day, Friday prior to the Council meetings.

Recycle Stations & Enviro Service Enhancement

Council approved a 1.75 million dollar increase in the 2012 budget to be funded from the Federal Tax Grant program for a centralized and greatly enhanced urban recycle station. 

The   increase will take the total project cost to 4.225 million dollars - allowing the municipality to create a one stop enviro service centre with vastly improved safety and efficiency features.

Residents and our local Landscape Companies will find drop off of branches and grass clippings more convenient and safer in the future with new ground level access instead of current steep metal stairs. The site will be controlled with a permanent building and services yard where residents can drop off hazardous and yard waste as well as computers, metal and recyclables.

New Meeting Procedures Bylaw Passes with Amendment

Council passed an amended version of the proposed Meeting Procedures Bylaw  that ensured that a motion to amend bylaw must be seconded (section 10.7(b)).

One significant outcome of the changes to the bylaw is that Council Open House is available only at the first regular meeting of each month. The public no longer has the right to speak at every public meeting unless Council makes a special concession to allow for a resident to speak. Limiting times restricts access and, I predict, will discourage public participation. Engaging citizens reflects the spirit of a government’s philosophy in being open to citizens’ opinions and needs. The rationale given for restricting the number of Open Houses was that this would save Councillors’ and staff time and ‘that not enough public attended anyway’. Bylaw changes take effect in September.

On the plus side of openness and transparency, this bylaw revises the order of business to facilitate the publication of ‘in camera’ agendas. Most municipalities are already providing this for their taxpayers. By September, residents should be able to see what their Council is discussing in private meetings. In camera or out of the public eye discussions are limited to land, legal and human resources by the Municipal Government Act (See my January 27, 2012 blog post).

Busy Night at Council Open House

Both citizens and local business were lined up with presentations at this Council meeting. Resident Trina Boymook spoke to the negative impact of all three readings (and approval) of a bylaw being allowed at one sitting. She referred to the Meeting Procedures Bylaw as an example of a bylaw that was passed without any time lapse that would enable the public to contact their Councillor or ask for permission to address Council to have input into decisions that affect their daily lives. She stated that three readings in one session limited the ability of taxpayers to influence change, be engaged, and communicate with their government.

Abbey Lane Homes, Christenson Group, Landmark and Granger Advertising – all companies that do businesses in Strathcona County presented to Council on different aspects of the recently approved sign bylaw that are negatively impacting their businesses. 

While several meetings had been held recently to reach a mutually agreeable solution to decrease the sandwich board signs for Open Houses, businesses noted that it was in need of Council’s review of a section of the bylaw that dealt with signage size. They contended that this section was more applicable to single unit housing sites.     

The Provincial Board of Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PDD) 

PDD brought a welcome message to Council: The Premiere has shifted increased support to persons with disabilities by directing PDD Community Boards to raise awareness, support those municipalities to increase community capacity and recognize communities that are progressive. Strathcona County was given a glowing commendation for its current Vision Statement, Social Inclusion Policy, Social Sustainability Framework, Affordable Housing Program, Everybody Gets to Play Program, Transit Master Plan and the achievements of the Accessibility Advisory Committee. Rotary Service Clubs and the Chamber assist in finding employment opportunities and some municipal Recreational & Parks buildings provides job opportunities. Robin Hood is also extremely active in the area of job training and search.

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 roxanne.carr@strathcona.ca

Your calls and opinions are welcome at Roxanne.Carr@strathcona.ca  or contact me at 780.267.3137 or a Twitter: @CouncillorCarr 

June 26, 2012 Meeting

Residents continue to express concerns on excessive speeds in their neighbourhoods and am determined to continue trying to address the speed in our residential areas. I feel we are making some success. In fact, in a recent Council meeting on June 26th, the Traffic Safety Office  brought forward an update on the Strategic Plan and progress made in the past few years. I am providing a link to it for you as I believe you will find it interesting and may feel positive as to the efforts that the County is making.

As of July 1, 2012, Strathcona County will be served by a joint traffic unit composed of 11 RCMP officers and 11 municipal traffic officers.

Photo radar will be removed from the County effective Sept. 1, 2012.  In 2012, the RCMP will continue to focus their attention primarily on intersections and to use intelligence led policing for efficient, effective traffic safety enforcement. New initiatives include:

1) exploring the use of new technologies for intelligence gathering and strategic enforcement

2) the identification of prolific traffic offenders in our community to safeguard Strathcona County residents.

June 15, 2012

Thank you for your great e mails with your comments and concerns. At this time of the year, with school ending and your family thinking of vacations, weekend activities and looking for things to do, I recommend both the Strathcona County and Information and Volunteer Centre websites

Traffic Calming

The greatest number of calls from residents in my ward come from concerns over traffic safety. Residents will see a number of new initiatives this year from the new pedestrian counter lights, Driver feedback signs, and the trial speed hump on Jim Common. More info click here.

Glencoe Blvd is under construction for some traffic calming that resulted from the Ward 2 traffic calming public engagement a few years ago.

Speed studies continue is those hot spot areas and I urge concerned citizens to keep reporting speeders to the RCMP at 780.467.7741.  If you feel that your neighbourhood needs the 'Give Our Kids a Break' mobile sign or the mobile Electronic Feedback signs please contact 780.417.7100

Council Meeting Highlights - April 24, 2012

Council approved a variety of reports from departments. Information on allof 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 the specific agenda items.

Aquatic Strategy Rounds Out Community Recreational Opportunities

In earlier meetings, Council amended the Capital Budget to include revitalization of various sports field  diamonds for $675,000. In the April 10, 2012 meeting Council accepted the administrations report that outlined the multi use nature of the Emerald Hills Regional Park site which has been designed to accommodate two minor baseball diamonds (seasonal use May and June), one full size soccer pitch (seasonal use May and June), a two million dollar artificial turf field (seasonal use May and June for soccer, plus August to November for football).

Now Council has approved the Open Space and Recreation Facility Strategy Aquatic Strategy as a guiding document for future development of aquatic infrastructure. 

In 2013, residents can expect to see a six lane, 25 meter fully accessible pool for lessons, recreation, laps and swim club use; with an additional warm water pool that facilitates therapy and lessons. Glen Allan, one of the proposed locations in last year’s public open houses for the 25 meter pool is now being looked at in the future for right sizing wellness enhancements. Kinsmen Leisure Centre is in line for a new community spray park in 2014 with vastly improved accessibility standards and a family change room.

This is not enough for many residents. They ask: Why not a 50 meter pool? Why not a roof over the turf field? Why not use the provincial government grants for these extras? These are great ideas – but we need to look at the overall basket of services that our residents require. We are eligible for and expect to receive 19.4 million dollars from the provincial government this year in municipal sustainable infrastructure funding. All but four million is already dedicated to the Open Space and Recreation Facility Strategy for indoor projects. As a fiscally responsible group of planners, Council has to balance recreational needs with road, water, sewer and emergency services. 

Train Whistle Cessation Policy
Your Council got into an animated discussion on train whistles as they impact the quality of life on many urban and rural residents that live within a 10 km band of a major CN freight route. Recent years and success of our industrial Heartland have resulted in significant increases in train and vehicular traffic. Trains get longer; whistles get louder and more frequent. Other municipalities are attempting to mitigate this issue with Train Whistle Cessation Policies – which involve enhancing safety features at crossings.

Administration brought back a recommendation that involved a whistle cessation policy where residents would pay for safety improvements through a local improvement tax. I believe that would result in the equivalent of a Boston Tea Party – with neighbours arguing with neighbours over whose sleep is or is not impacted and who is going to pay. Given that several other municipalities report that they have found other effective ways to resolve this issue, I and Councillor Riddell asked that this be brought back at a later time with a more palatable solution. Hopefully, it will be at a time when the vacant rural Councillor seat is filled so that those residents impacted will have a voice.

Internet Pilot Project
Council authorized administration to participate in a tri-party inter-municipal Internet voting pilot in 2013. I am very much in favour of finding new ways to encourage more residents to vote and make it easier to vote. However I believe this project is bleeding (not leading) edge.

Both Edmonton and St Albert are engaging proactively with the use of social media. Both municipalities are successfully using open data to provide residents and business with programs such as active route transit. 

I would like us to solidify our processes and utilization in these areas prior to jumping into the deep waters of internet voting. I would prefer to see a more strategic approach that would see us put our resources into catching us up in areas that would provide a direct benefit to residents and businesses; letting the other two municipalities work together on this specific project. Hopefully an available grant will cover our minimum cost of 65,000 for this venture.

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 roxanne.carr@strathcona.ca

March 27, 2012 Council Meeting

At this weeks council meeting, Councillors Riddell and Wlodarczak brought forward a number of proposed policies on Election Campaigns, Priority Fund Expenditures, Communications, Social Media, and Protocol.

The proposed policies are on the County website  under Departments/Legislative and Legal/ Council Meetings/ Reports or http://www.strathcona.ca/files/Files/at-lls-arm-120327-report9.1.pdf

All but one of the policies presented got unanimous Council accolades and approval. For a live view of the discussion view the taped webcast.

The Priority Fund Expenditures Policy was postponed until April 10, 2012 and I am hoping that residents contact their Councillors’ with comments on this policy, so that we will walk into that debate with the best possible suggestions.

I have advocated strongly for fiscal restraint and accountability, and have been vocal on Priority Fund Expenditures since I was first elected.

I was concerned enough about the use of public tax payers’ dollars for these expenditures ($30,000 per year per Council member) that I asked Council to consider eliminating the fund and rolling that money back into the general budget in 2007. At that time there were absolutely no controls around distribution of this money other than a request from the Councillor had to come before Council for a vote. Shortly after that, Councillors’ were told that they must have a written request to put before Council.

I wanted to see tightened regulations and so developed a pilot project.  I asked a number of residents to form an advisory committee to create a system for greater accountability. The Building Strong Communities Funding Committee, as they became known, developed formal written applications with required project reports. They evaluated Ward 2 projects and then made recommendations to me. Significant portions of my ward Priority Funds are allocated under this system.

The proposed policy for Priority Funds is an improvement over the current guideline which is basically: 'write a letter of request to your Councillor or the entire Council and expect a stamped approval'. However, there are some areas in the policy that members of the public have voiced concern over.

Right now, informal community groups do get funds for neighbourhood enhancement projects- such as community gardens and perimeter fence painting.

However, the proposed policy states that groups must be registered or have a nonprofit status. This is a significant barrier for grassroots groups to get together and create a project that may be very necessary but not long term. These monies sometimes encourage neighbours to evolve into more established groups – as has happened in both the Cloverbar Neighbourhood Association and the Gilmore Park Community League in the past three years. That to me is the true spirit of the Priority Funds.

The new policy advocates returning all unused funds to the general revenue at the end of each Councillor’s term. This could result in a spending spree at the end of the term and it may also raise issues of vote buying. The March cut off pre-election will help curtail that. But some residents are confused as to why the money would disappear at terms end when it is allocated to the Ward for neighbourhood and project initiatives. “The fund should be designated to the community not the elected official. The Councillors should be care takers of the public trust not nobles dispensing monetary favours (from tax payers dollars)!”

Some organizations are very concerned about the proposed policy guideline of one request per fiscal year which cannot be in the same year as a County grant. This proposed guideline could impact playground applications, and organizations that have previously received Priority Funding.

In general, the proposed policy lists how funds can and cannot be used, but does not address who is going to monitor and ensure accountability. It suggests the expenditures be listed on the Councillors page but a few residents have asked for a link on the County homepage that list ALL priority funding expenditures on one page.  This would also make it very easy to compare expenditures across council. There is more accountability when the public watches.

Do any other municipalities have funds of this magnitude allocated by elected officials? Not that I know of. Indeed I still struggle with the justification of such a fund at all.

Community awareness and comment on Council policies are important. I urge you to contact your elected official with your opinions before April 10– when this comes forward to Council again.

I welcome your views at 780.464.8002; cell 780.267.3137; carr@strathcona.ca; @CouncillorCarr on twitter and www.councillorCarr.com

County Council Meeting - March 6, 2012

Council approved a variety of reports from departments. Information on all of the background reports and minutes are available here.

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.

Strathcona County Emergency Services (SCES)

The annual report revealed that there were more 911 calls, fewer outside fires, more structure fires, more vehicle collisions and an increasing number of Alberta Health Service calls and Medical First Response calls. 

Residents have heard a lot of media concern regarding ambulances being forced to wait for extraordinary long periods at hospitals. In these situations, our ambulance, if at an Edmonton hospital, is then directed by Alberta Health Services to the nearest call – whether it is in our municipality or not. If this leaves our municipality short of ambulances – emergency teams from other municipalities are sent into our area to answer our 911 call. Unfortunately, those teams are not always equipped and trained to the degree that our SCES is. The only good news here is that, so far our Emergency Services have managed to respond to 90% of Strathcona County calls. In fact, by strategic planning and use of Medical First Response teams, our performance and response times rank as Strathcona County as one of the top Alberta municipalities.    

RCMP Detachment Priorities for 2012

Superintendent Steinke reported the four top priorities for the Strathcona County detachment as being Traffic Safety, Drug Abuse, Property Crime as well as Domestic and Family Violence. Given last Council meetings annual statistics report, these priorities will resonate well with most residents. 

Victim Services

Strathcona County residents are fortunate to have a list of outstanding agencies to turn to when their lives get turned upside down. Victim Services is one of those groups. Last year over 927 residents received support from the police based unit. Forty highly trained volunteer advocates provided nearly 12,000 hours of twenty four hour assistance to residents. They work closely with Safe Place, SAFFRON, and other service agencies to help put lives back together.

They came to Council to announce their first annual ‘Moving Forward Run’. Residents should put this family information fair, BBQ and Run in their calendar for April 22^nd. www.runningroom.com

Seniors Advisory Committee to Council

It is always great to get updates from our public members. Chair Sue Smith introduced her committee and recommendations for 2012. The committee will focus on informing seniors all over the County about programs and services available with an emphasis on information sessions on financial benefits and subsidies. 

Field Sports will see increased opportunities

Council amended the Capital Budget to include revitalization of various sports fields’ diamonds for $675,000. This money will be used to reconfigure Centennial Park Diamond #5 for Midget and Bantam Baseball; re-align diamonds at Davidson Creek and Heritage Hills; and construct two new baseball diamonds at Emerald Hills. This work is going to mean a need for teams to work together and work around construction. Council has had reassurance that all stakeholders that are impacted now or in the future will be approached and worked closely with to ensure that there is equitable treatment and opportunity for the youth and adult teams that play baseball, softball and slo pitch in those areas now. I did request that administration support these organizations to attain corporate funding, CFIP and other available grants to leverage taxpayers’ investment into the renewal of sports fields.

Glen Allan Entrance Feature Supported by Council

Strathcona County is a young municipality and it’s residents have not experienced a great deal of infill activity. That is happening now in Glen Allan. A developer has been given permits to build 13 single residential lots on the original farmstead at Baseline and Glenbrook Blvd. Many of the surrounding residents have contacted the County with concerns over increased density, traffic and the elimination of green space. Realistically, this type of development will happen sooner or later. Developers in newer neighbourhoods see the value of Neighbourhood identity and build magnificent entrance features. Given that this development is small, the developer has been required by Council to build and landscape only one modest new entrance sign and relocate the existing one. This seems to be a good example of why neighbourhood identification with entrance signs should not be reliant on the largesse of developers and I understand that policy will be coming to Council soon.  

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