Call the meeting to order our regular council meeting for
the month of August. The town of OkTokes technologies, the
original stewards of this land that we know and called
Treaty 7 territory, which includes the BlackTook Confederacy First Nations
kinase, the CSICA and Bucani. Stone in a coat of
First Nations, which includes the BearsBot, Chinekean, Goodstoney. The Dene
First Nation of Sutina and the Mayy Nation of Alberta.
We vowed to continue honouring and respecting the indigenous people's
sacred and traditional ways of life. And we'll carry on
this special relationship with the land so that generations to
come can enjoy, use, and live off the land as
their ancestors did. We honour and respect this space, the
water, the animals, and all the beings who have a
spirit and have been here long before us. Council, we
have an agenda before us. Is there any changes to
that agenda. Seeing none, can I get a motion to
adopt the agenda as presented councillor lang? All in favor.
I don't know who's all in inscribe yet. Nobody. We
have three items, two items. In our closed session that
qualify for one of the exceptions to division to disclosure
in Division II of part one of the Access to
Information Act. So can I get a motion to move
in to closed session, please? Councillor Walther, all in favor.
It carries unanimously.
Regular council meeting for August 17th back to order. We
have just finished closed session. Do we have any delegations
today? We have a motion arising from closed session. Councillor
Walter. I'd like to make the motion that confirmation be
provided that the town of Okatokes has the authority and
capacity to undertake the project that administration be authorized to
enter into and executed the associated agreement contained within closed
session item 3. 1 and that the associated town portion
of funding be included in the 2027 to 2030 Capital
Budget. And I will call that question all in favor.
Anybody in describe. Councillor Penner is in favor. Oh, I'm
sorry disregard you did vote by hand though, right? I
didn't just miss it. Okay, just checking. Then I. Carries
unanimously. We have a variety of items on the consent
agenda. Is there anybody that wants to pull anything from
the consent agenda. Seeing none, somebody like to make a
motion. Council Hallmark. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'd be happy
to make the motion that the business items for Action,
the minutes under 6. 1. 1 be adopted as presented.
Item 6. 3. 1 bylaw, 20 - 26, land uses
bylaw amendment. Rey designation, camp ground, B - read for
a first time, and the remaining items be received as
information. Would you like to speak to that motion? No,
thank you, Madam Mayor. Anybody else. Seeing none, I will
call the question all in favor.
And that carries unanimously. Which brings us to our business
items for Action. And at first we have Invest Greater
Calgary, and I'm going to have our Economic Development Specialist
Josh Wells, along with reps, introduce our guests here today.
Thank you for the introduction, and good afternoon, your worship
and members of council. It's my pleasure today to introduce
Rod Valdez, the Secretariat lead for Invest Greater Calgary alongside
our colleague Dina Haley with Calgary Economic Development. They are
the host for the Secretariat lead for Invest Greater Calgary,
and today they're going to tell you a little bit
about what invest Greater Calgary is, why we're a member
and what we endeavour to do over the next three
years for this pilot project. In front of you and
part of your council package, I did prepare cover report,
but quite frankly, the presentation covers everything there, so I'm
going to leave it to the experts. And then we
can open it up to QA after this. So to
Dina. Through the chair, thank you very much for this
opportunity to present today. If we could go to the
next slide, please. My name is Dina Haley. I'm the
vice president of Intelligence and Productivity at Calgary Economy Development,
or CED. My brief remarks will focus on the initial
vision for Invest Greater Calgary before I turn it over
to Roth Aldes, the Secretariat Leed for ITC. Thank. You.
A few years ago, the Calgary metropolitan Region Board recognised
an opportunity, specifically the need for closer collaboration on investment
attraction across the region. The idea was simple. By working
together, we could amplify opportunities and avoid fragmenting our efforts
when engaging with external investors and companies. To move that
forward, the city of Calgary committed early funding to support
and engagement process and explore what a more coordinated region
- wide model could look like. Calgary Economic Development was
asked to lead that work, bringing together economic development teams
from the region. Next slide, please. And we'll go to
the next slide, please. While the metric, while the municipalities
involve, we're all members of the Calgary metropolitan region board.
This initiative itself was intentionally developed outside of that structure.
Focus specifically on building a practical hands - on collaborative
approach with our economy development peers. Through that process, we
co - developed what is now Investor Calgary. A three
- year pilot partnership built around a shared goal. It's
supported by an independent Secretary of Team, hosted at Calgar
Economic Development, but guided by an advisory committee made up
of all participating municipalities. Municipalities are on the screen in
front of you. This work is intentionally focused. It's about
attracting new investment into the region. Next slide, please. It's
not meant to replace the important work that's happening within
each municipality to support local businesses. It's designed to complement
it. At a regional level, we're identifying and pursuing opportunities
together and then working collaboratively to place those investments across
the region in a coordinated and fair way, creating a
seamless investment - ready experience that aligns with what companies
are looking for. And this approach reflects what we've seen
work in other regions when they pool their resources. Specifically,
five common outcomes stood out to us in our review
at that time. A stronger regional reputation and greater effectiveness
on the global stage, increased investment attraction and business expansion,
growth in industry clusters, more collaboration and innovation and RND,
and ultimately job creation and workforce development. Next slide, please.
The advisory committee established a shared foundation for how we
work. Formalized through a non - binding MOU and a
binding service agreement that outlines our governance model, including consensus
- based decision - making and a shared funding contribution
approach. That funding model is based on a formula that
reflects both scale and equity over the three - year
pilot.
To bring regional benefits to life for our region, THC
members aligned around the following areas of focus. Strengthening research
and analysis coordinating marketing and promotion, enhancing investor support, and
advancing shared programs or hubs were a regional approaches create
more value. Next slide, please. Once that foundation was in
place, we were able to stand up an independent, dedicated
secretary team to support the work and help move the
partnership forward. And with that, I'd like to turn it
over to Rod Valdez, the Invest Greater Calgary Secretary at
Leed to share more on how this work is taking
shape and where we're headed next. Thank you. Thank. Your
worship and councillors for having us. So Dina, kind of
covered everything that was in part of vision and was
done to create the organisation. So what I like to
cover with you now is what was created and kind
of where we are now. Next slide, please. Next one.
So you can just go load the page if you
want. That's easier. Sorry, it's transition. Thank you. So what
does ICG? Basically we facilitate investment in the region driving
innovation and long - term growth. We're basically doing investment
attraction. And what do we do is we support companies
establishing and expanding in the region. We do everything in
a sense almost like a concierge for the region and
help companies do a soft landing. So we help them
come in. We attract them, we do the site selection.
Then we help them with operational partners in public partners.
So everything from construction, from sites election to legal, to
financial, all those things that companies do when they're coming
into a new region, we help them not with that
and set them up with partners. And also the public
partners like Albert Innovates and anyone like that that's doing,
for example, technology and research and all those kinds of
things, or any of the post - secondaries that have
those resources. So, um, when the partnership was started, there
was a service agreement created in that service agreement. I'll
just go over a few of those things. So first
of all, as the secretary, which is what Calgary Economic
Development does, and they're a huge resource for us, is
basically they run all the administrative functions for the organisation.
They manage our funds, they do all the financial support.
We use the office space. We work with their marketing
team as a resource. We work with their business development
team and so forth. So they really support us strongly
in putting the services out to the region that we're
doing. Thanks, please. Sorry, you can load the whole page,
sorry. Thank you. And then there's basically our scope of
services. That's myself. And our administrative coordinator. And basically we're
doing inside the partnership as we're doing the member engagement
coordination, the budgeting, the strategy management and the resource operations
as a whole. And then we of course we have
the advisory committee, which is represented from each member that
has one vote in the advisory committee. And the advisory
committee basically there to provide us expert advice and give
us direction on the strategies and the budget and the
initiatives that we're doing. And then we have performance metrics,
which is basically the investment attraction. You know, slightly measuring
our regional reputation, how we're doing with branding and our
industry development as a whole. Next slide, please. So when
we started, we had actually four functions and we narrowed
it down basically to two. So the two functions we
have are, we are a business resource hub and we
focus on investment attraction. And as a business resource hub,
what we do is we do the market intelligence. We
do share data. We do, we're looking at workforce capacity
later on the end of year two, year three. We
establish key partnerships with both public and private partners. And
then eventually hopefully maybe a public - private partnership. That's
something that we can do. And for the investment attraction,
which of course is our main focus. We do the
lead generation, the investment attraction support services, which as I
mentioned that we do for clients that are coming into
the region, uh, funding. And then of course marking as
the regional website and the marking programs we're running. Next
slide, please. Okay, where we are now. Next slide. So
year one was basically our presence. That was where we
were establishing ourselves operationally. We finished that in about April
of May. Our fiscal year for investigated congregate goes from
June to June. So our second year now just started
in June. So about two months in. Your one was
building our foundational operationally and our branding. And then year
two's Oscar in the market, which is basically our pipeline.
Next slide, please. Thank you. So I'll just give you
a review sort of what the things we did in
year one. So that was basically our foundational and operational
build. So we established governance and operations at the beginning
of September. We defined our strategic priorities. The year one
strategic plan and budget was approved in December. We carried
it a little over because it was a little delayed
into year two into about September. But now we absorb
that into the year two plan. Uh, we did our
initial branding, which is our logo. And then we got
a landing page up with just a placeholder for our
website that's coming out in September along with our launch.
Next slide please. Oh, one more pack. Sorry. Thank you.
And then we did an aerospace and food trade show
for discovery because those were two of the key sectors
that we were looking at. And the first big initiative
we did was the value proposition sector study. So when
I sat down with the partners, there was about 10
sector focuses between all eight partners combined. And that was
a, that was accounting for duplicates, which was too many
for us to focus on in this region. So we
hired a vendor that we asked them to come up
with three to five, uh, sectors and subsectors specifically that
would focus, that we could focus on for the region.
That would service the region as a whole space, as
a contiguous region. Um, they did a full analysis of
infrastructure of the region. They did a lot of business
assessments. And then they also on top of that, and
this is something we requested from them. They also interviewed
international C - suite stakeholders in those industries to get
market sounding from them. So it wasn't just, you know,
desktop study and statistics and those kind of things. So
we'll give you an example as an example for logistics
they spoke to the Chief operating offer FATECs in the
U. S. for aerospace, they spoke to bell helicopters, all
those kinds of things. So we're getting the real industry
feedback on that. So that's, we came up with our
five sectors. So advanced manufacturing, which I know is a
focus for oak jokes. Agrifood and Agritech aerospace and defence.
Transportation logistics and data and data infrastructure. Those are the
general high - level ones. And within each of those,
we have specific subsector focuses. Uh, and on top of
that, because High River in Foothills didn't really have a
set sector focus themselves. We also got the vendor to
do a standalone sector study for individually for high one
for high river and one for foothills to give them
sort of a start with that. So, and then finally,
uh, I did the member environment assessments. And that what
that was as I sat with all the partners. And
so I sat with the partners at the Economic Development
Heads or officers. In some cases with the CAOs and
with development, um, engineering development stakeholders within each municipal partner.
And that was for me to understand where each means
each municipal partner was as far as their economic development
environment as a whole. So that was things like looking
at the MDP ASPs land development, economic development goals, major
employers, all those kinds of things. And that was for
me to understand which partner was. At this time. Thanks,
slides. And now we're going to your two. So now
this is us going to market. And this is us
going from awareness to qualified investment opportunities. And this is,
we're doing this through three pillars, through content, targeted outreach
and partnerships. Next slide, please. So for, oh, thank you.
So for content, it's us showing we're an investor ready
region. So, and we've already started this with a LinkedIn.
We created LinkedIn profile for the partnership. And now we're
going to go into content, which is about four posts
a month. For a year. And that's basically, that's giving
us legitimacy in showing what we're doing in our activities
for both our partners and for investors showing what we're
doing, how we're involved in the region and all the
business activities are happening. And then secondly is the website,
which we'll have in about a month. Just before the
launch. And that's basically an overview of the partnership, which
is our biggest resource. And it's going to include everything
from our functions and our sectors and our resources, member
profiles and so forth. Next slide, please. And the second
pillar, of course, is targeted outreach. And this is where
we're building the investment pipeline. So we have planned for
year two, seven international trade shows to cover the five
sectors that we are focused on. Uh, we've also hired
a vendor for lead generation. This is, uh, global vendor
that does this for various municipalities all over the world
in North America. And they basically help us will help
us with some leads for some of the trade shows.
But primarily for lead generation of large corporate international clients
that they have that they find for us that are
looking for Western Canada and fit within our sectors. They
were going to assess about 500 international companies and get
us anywhere from 15 to 25 either direct interviews. We
might meet them in a trade show or they might
give us interviews over video calls, but that'll give us
the leads in that, in that aspect. And then we
also had the stampede site selector vent, which was in
July, which was very successful. It was basically, it was
an event that was funny that was created by CD,
CD runs it and was funded by CED, us invest
grator Calgary, Invest Alberta and invest in Canada. And it
was two and a half days of five sites, international
site selectors. Three of them were from the U S
two from Europe. And we basically brought them in show
them all the resources, show them, you know, what the
region has. Brought them in, had conversations with existing large
companies that have come from international markets like Fortunette and
Luza, for example, direct conversations with them. And it was,
it was really successful in the sense that it gave
them, it gave them transparency that it's not just an
energy region. They had no idea of how much more
it was in the region until we kind of showed
that to them and open their eyes to it. Um,
and then the other thing we have for, for outreaches,
we have a secondary fund that we just put aside.
And that's for any incoming or outgoing trade missions. Because
sometimes those aren't planned to your head. They might come
three months. From either the provincial federal government. So we
have some money set aside for that. And so any
or site selector events that also sometimes smaller events can
happen outside of something like the stampede site selector event.
And then any trade show sponsorships that we feel are
valuable. And just to add to this, that this was
an in here just to advise in year one, um,
even though we had 10 months of operations within the
full year, we had 13 investment opportunities come through us
that we pushed to all the municipal partners. Um, only
three of those were from Invest Alberta and TEN came
from other resources. So that was before we actually went
to market, which was a really positive thing. Next slide,
please. And finally is our pipeline. And this is an
essential part of what we're doing. This is our partnerships.
And this is basically our partnerships with both our public
and private partners. The first thing we're doing there is
our launch event on September 17th. And that's our launch
to present ourselves to the region, to all our partners,
public and private combined, um, and institutional. And that's for
showing them what we're doing and get them involved and
get them involved with us and engage with them to
see how they can help with investment throughout the region.
And then partner engagement finally as a whole. That's a
strategic building our strategic partner and business ecosystem. That's both
building and engaging all our partnerships with public and private
public being those like Invest, Alberta, uh, Alberta innovates, um,
jobs economic development trade with the province. Trade commissioners across
global offices. All those kind of partners on the public
side. And on the private side, it's all the operational
partner that we use for investment. So everybody that can
help with legal, um, financial audits, immigration, all those kinds
of things. Legislation, all those things that, as examples, you
know, like law firms and audit firms and those kind
of things that can help clients that are coming in.
And that's us building that so that when investors are
coming in, we have all the partners that help them
get started. Next slide. Thank you. And that's, uh, that
is presentation for me. Is there any questions. Thank you
very much, council. Councillor Hallmark. Thank you, Madam Mayor, through
yourself to Mr. Daldis. Is that right, fellas? Yes. Okay.
I'm just curious. Uh, I might, I think I'm a
little bit slow on this. So you guys were established
by the CMRB before the CMRB was dissolved. Is that
how you came to be? I'll let you answer that.
No, that's okay. That's okay. Thank you. The concept of
coming together was through CMRB, but this was not developed
inside of CMRB. This was always external. And so it's
really just a partnership between the eight municipalities, economic development
officers to come together in a partnership to work together.
So while the idea originated at a CMRB type meeting,
we decided to keep it out side of the CMRB
structure on purpose. And thank you for that. And then
I just was curious. So the advisory committee, does that
then the member that represents Okatokes is that Mr. Wells?
Oh, thank you. That's all I was wondering. Thank you.
Any other questions? Council for Tekken. Thank you through the
chair. Um, what would you say the current barriers that
are hindering our region from being the most attractive place
to do business? Um, to be honest, that's a tough
question answer at this point in time. I think once
I'm in market for at least six months and I'm,
I'm maybe getting feedback on clients and leads that are
looking and maybe getting to the site selection stage. And
then might have challenges then. I could probably say that
better. But because we haven't drawn enough yet, hasn't been
anything that's brought to our intention. But so far of
the 13 that we've brought forward, we've probably submitted sites
on about, or the partner's not myself, has some metacites
on three. And two have been moving forward all right
so far, but no one's mentioned any challenges. Okay. And
just add while Rod said, and one of the reasons
why we set up this partnership is because we're competing
globally. And it was very clear early on that if
we didn't come together, uh, having an investor comment understand
our region, let alone understand where Alberta are Canada is
is some of the biggest challenges that we're up against.
So Rod and his team are doing such a dedicated
work to get out there and really bring that awareness
forward. But that is one of the barriers, I think
as a partnership group of Economic Development Professionals that we've
noted. Yeah. And one of the benefits to operating as
a region because it's such a large space. Is that
the opportunities can more likely get captured because the more
options as opposed to it was just one municipality. You
know, if I give you an example, if it was
a, it was like oak jokes or chest A and
they needed a massive like ag facility and they didn't
have a land or the ability to rail spirit. We
have rocky view and foothills that it can go. And
the labour feeds everything. So that's, that's a huge benefit
of operating is a large region. Thank you. And Mama
followed. And then just from a municipal council side of,
uh, things, how, how can we help support you. At
the council level. Um, good question. Um, so far the
support's been great. Josh has been excellent. Our advisory board's
been great. Uh, what I can say coming from, so
my background in the Economics Development, I come from the
Edmonton region. I've worked with a lot of other municipalities
too and projects. What I can say about the region
as a whole, which is very positive. And of course,
makes my job very easy. Is the fact that all
the partners are very collaborative. So that's fantastic. And that
just makes things. As easy as possible. Um, but I
mean, coming forward, is there any, any additional supports we
need, I would always just go to Josh at that
request. Yeah. And I would just add that we are
in year two of a three year pilot. And our
number one job is to bring value back to the
communities. And so at the end of year two, early
year three will be looking at what a follow -
on model or approach would look like for this. So
the opportunity to come back and demonstrate the results that
we have. And then hopefully get more input from, from
obviously Josh is on the advisory committee and this team,
but even from council to give us a sense of
if it's resonating and if the opportunity for us bring
back other options for models, postpilot. Thank you. Councillor Meng,
did I have you? Yeah. Uh, thank you for the
presentation. My question is, cause you have the five factors
that you use to decide what investment would go in
that area. How do you avoid duplication in a certain
area. You know, you know what I mean by taking,
bringing two, like foothills gets aerospace, Oktober skates. How do
we avoid, you know what I mean, duplicating, invest those
investment partners in that area. Okay. Did you like certify
the final. By some of the? Yes. So those were
just.
That they don't necessarily have to correspond. Or does that
answer? Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Anybody else? Councillor Nix. Uh,
yeah, through the mayor. So again, thank you for the
presentation. Um, is there anything that is part of Invest
Greater Calgary that, um, uh, I guess is there to
ensure a balanced approach for the region so that certain
part of the region doesn't get favored over others? Or
how is that, uh, dealt with so that the entire
region is surely the benefit from it? Absolutely. And I
mean, going back to sort of the previous question, are
number one, our number one party is transparency for all
the partners. So that's starts with the advisory board and
us sharing everything. And all like all the opportunities that
come forward, right? And or the other function is with
some municipalities, if they need my assistance with, with helping
them sort of take on the opportunity and the operational
and all that kind of stuff construction, I can help.
Or I can do very little. It just depends on
what each partner wants. But there's full transparent everything. I
don't vet any of the opportunities, any opportunity comes forward.
Everybody sees it all the time. And then it's up
to each partner to decide whether that's something they want
to look at or consider and or submit a site.
Yeah. Right on. And can I continue? Yeah. Um, so
I guess the next question, um, on a higher level,
I assume the objective of every economic development group is
to be the best place to do business. So what,
um, I guess what a view identified or what things
can you highlight that are real strengths that would help
us in that area and help us stand out from,
you know, other economic development groups and regions. From the
region as a whole. Yeah. Oh yeah. Absolutely. So, I
mean, a big part of that was really focusing and
seeing what sectors were realistic for us. And that's what
the five sectors. And I should say subindustries, which are
more important because, uh, you know, a large ag sector
focus is very broad. So we have it specifically to
value add processing. It's giving agriculture as an example. And,
and AgroTech, those are the two things we're focusing specifically
on agriculture. But when we did that, they gave us
in the sector study. These are the things that we
are best suited for as a region and why. So
that's what we're pursuing when we go to industry and
we go, to award industry as a whole. But I'd
say some of the key things as a region we
have is we have the land. We have a really
fantastic labour supply that's very contiguous because even being in
Calgary and seeing all these companies where people come in
from OkaToks and ChesterMer and Ayrton and move around a
lot, I'll be honest with you, I see that more
here than I would have seen it in Edmonton. Right.
Um, so we have a fantastic labour supply. The innovation
ecosystem we have between SATH and UC and Mount Royal
and all the incubators we have are amazing. So that
helps a lot with companies. Um, but I would say
probably one of the biggest strengths we have is we're
probably, um, don't quote me on this, but probably one
of the best, the supply chain spaces in western Canada
as a whole, just because we're on the THANA highway,
we have the volume of trucking. We have the airport
is 75 percent of airport cargo in Alberta goes through
YYC, right? Um, now they're prayer economic gateways being built,
which is 2, 000 square feet with railspers going in,
which is a rarity anywhere in Canada for that size
of industrial park. So we have a lot of advantages
that way. Um, and then we have the great communities
like this, um, like Chester Mir, like Cochrane that have,
that are great residential communities that people want to live
in and then work around. So there's a lot of
great benefits. I don't know if that answers some of
your questions there. Okay. I have a couple of questions.
Um, you had indicated that you guys did a strategic
session and came up with your strategic priorities. What exactly
are the strategic priorities. Uh, I would say the trees
of priorities are probably what we put into those three
pillars in year two. So it was basically the, um.
Look, I'm sorry. I don't have them in front of
me anymore. Content target. Yeah. The content is basically the
lead distribution. And then the partnerships, right? Or the investment
attraction, the content. So that, I mean, that was an
order. It was us building the content so we could
identify who we are. We could put ourselves out to
the world. And the region and then globally. Right. And
then of course using every resource we had for investment
attraction. Because not only is it me and it's all
our regional partners plus the vendor that we hired. You
know, plus all a regional partners that also deal with
a good example of commercial realtors and developers will also
get clients that they might not know how to deal
with and they will share with us. Right. So doing
all that. Of course, is the partner development, right? And
having that foundation built, that was what we are doing.
And then now year two is just pure market and
go to market. And then once we're done year two,
we want to kind of measure at that point. What
did we do? How do we do it well? Right.
Is there anything we're missing on marketing? And we have
more of a measure there. And then my second question,
thank you for that. Um, is how do you guys
go about. I guess segregating the roles, particularly between CED
and IGC. You know, I know when it was at
the metro table, that that was one of the conversations
of how does this become not a Calgary economic development
and actually serves those of us that are smaller, but
need the power of a Calgary exposed to what's important.
It's there. So just how do you go about determining
who's kind of doing what so that you're not overlapping,
I guess? No, no problem. So, so as mentioned before,
like CD is basically the administrative. Head or helping us
with all the administrative things. And so, um, and then
also we pay them for that, right, as part of
our funding. But they're basically, they're giving us a lot
of the resources that we wouldn't have, like that we
would, if we had to establish an independent office, be,
you know, HR functions, financial, all those kinds of things.
The marketing team that helps us with a lot of
the branding and things like that. And then of course
business development. But, and I'll let you speak to that
on the business development on the Calgary piece. But everything
that goes through investigator Calgary essentially goes through me, right?
And I, like I said, and that's. I put it
this way, knowing how some other regional groups in Canada
have worked in some issues they've had. I know the
biggest concerns always transparency with all the partners. And that
is my number one priority. So like again, I don't,
I don't vet opportunities or investment opportunities. No one gets
priority of that. Everybody gets seize it. Um, everything that
we're doing internally gets seen by the advisory board. So
there are many issues. They advise your board can come
and let me know. Um, strategy budgets initiatives, everything. So
because like when we did the year when I did
the year two strategy and budget I presented to the
board and the board voted on it. Right. Um, so
yeah, and that's from that perspective, all the partners are
treated absolutely equals. And that's something that I stand firmly
on, knowing how that operates in other situations. Um, yeah,
so does that, but I'll let Tina speak to the
CD side of things. Yeah. Uh, we're very invested in
regional success. Even inside of how we look at our
KPIs, knowing that not every project that comes in actually
could potentially land in Calgary. So we would rather have
it in the region than to not have it in
the region. Our business development team, when they're out looking
for their only generation, we have a very large business
development team, but they are often bringing those leads over
to Rod as well. And then we are funneling them
out through the communities. Um, on top of that, when
we are out doing our only generation with a vendor,
uh, we're sharing those opportunities over as well. And so,
you know, when we look at some sectors, the other
thing I should say in the value proposition study, and
Rob mentioned this, there's commonalities among all the regional partners,
but every community also has its own unique sectors or
subsectors that is working on. And so if we find
that the really doesn't fit inside of any of our
key sectors or a subsectors, we pass those along. So
the way that we're looking at it is, um, even
if something lands in another community, we know that some
of our folks will potentially work still without company. And
they'll, you know, they'll make the trip out to that
location. Um, additionally on top of all of that, um,
we have regular meetings with raw to give our business
development team to give them a sense of the projects
that we're working on, how we're working on them, how
we're looking. And then wherever we can lend support to
rod. So Rod can only go to so many trade
shows around the world. And our team is going to
some. So we're trying not to overlap and duplicate. So
when we go out, they represent CED, but they also
talk about IGC as well. And so we're really being
collaborative. But again, just to reiterate, we see a regional
win very much as a win that we need to
keep. We don't want it to go anywhere else. Yeah.
And that's, and the part of that also, uh, goes
back to the sector focus. Because when we ask them
to do that, we said we want three to five.
That serves this as a contiguous space, not as a
Calgary or a Chestery no potos. So those five, for
example, like with CD, one of their sector focuses, I
think biomedical life sciences. For life sciences. And as IGC,
we don't pursue that, right? That's something that CED does.
And just another thing too, is when I was talking
about the 13 leads that have come in through IGC
through us, uh, three were invest Alberta, right? Which a
lot of the partners see. So we just share that
with them. Um, and, and fever from GOA, somewhere dependent,
but I don't quote me on this, but three to
four, we're directly from CD. TUS that we share with
all the partners. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate
that. Any other questions from anybody. Excellent. Ben. I think
council, we just need a motion to accept this is
information or except as presented. Councillor Lang. Any discussion? Or
do you want to speak to your motion. Yes, I
do. Actually. I look at this as a perfect opportunity
for the whole region to work together to attract investment
and any opportunity we can do to have investment coming
to the region. Is beneficial to the whole area. So
I commend you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else
like to speak to this motion. Seeing none with that
then I will call a question all in favor.
And that carries unanimously. Thank you very much for your
presentation and for making the trip to Oaks. Oaks. We
greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Alrighty, that takes us to
7. 2, which is a capital budget amendment for project
280. And, um, I think I have director green, but
director green is missing at this moment in time. Um,
how about if I just add lib and we're going
to go to 7. 3, we're going to go to
the request for cancellation of tax penalties. And I'm going
to turn it over to our CFO. Catherine Van Kampima.
And I will let her go from there. Thank you,
Marathon. Members of council, I'm here this afternoon to present
you a request that we have received from a taxpayer
for council to cancel the penalties that were applied due
to the late payment of property taxes. I don't really
have anything more to add than what's in the report.
So I would just open it up to questions if
anyone has any. Thank you very much. Any questions from
anybody. Councillor Hallmark. Thank you, Madam Mayor, through yourself too.
Um, CFO Van Kai Pima. I read the letter that
the wall call it sent in. And I'm just, when
we get our, I just want to refresh my memory.
When we get a letter, like mine comes in the
mail, does everybody get their tech, their bill in the
mail or do some people get it online? Like is
there a re, and then it has a due date
on it. Does it not. Yeah, it's true. The mayor
to Councillor Hallmark. There is a due date on the
bill itself. There's information on the back as to how
you can pay it and what the penalty is. If
you don't pay it by the due date, there's also,
uh, communications campaign notifications that goes in the western wheel
and out on our website. So the number of notifications
to let everyone know that the tax notice that they
received in the mail or through their email. Uh, is
due June the 30th. Anybody else. Councillor Lang. Is it
pretty standard through the province that it is June 30th
is always the due date. Through Marathon to Councillor Lang,
in my experience, I would say probably at least 85
percent of municipalities. Some of them do have a September
30th due date. However, I'd say most municipalities is June
the 30th. Thank you. Councillor Knicks. Thank you. Through the
mayor. So I just wanted to confirm because I didn't
see it in the package. Was there anything that would
have interrupted the delivery of the tax bill or in
some way made it so that the, um, the residents
didn't receive the bill on time or anything like that,
like any administrative issues. Through the marriage councillor, Nix, there
were no administrative issues. The notices were sent on time.
Um, and they're also deemed to have received them through
the municipal government Act on the day within a couple
of days of their mailing. Okay. Thank you. Count it,
we're okay. We're moving to a motion. I will go
to Councillor Hallmark for that motion. Thank you, Madam Mayor.
I'd like to make the motion that the request for
the cancellation of the July penalty for tax roll number
0086270 be denied. Thank you. We got that motion. Would
you like to speak to that? Just briefly, Madam Mayor,
I'm empathetic whenever we've seen this in the past, but
I think we've all been there at one point or
another. I think that they, um, the. The number 0086270
in their email in, even owned the mistakes. So I,
I'm empathetic, but it is, I mean, we send out
the thing. Everybody has bills to pay on time. So.
I think I incur support. Okay. Would anybody else like
to speak to this. Seeing nan? So I will call
the question all in favor.
And that carries unanimously. Thank you very much. I will
now go back to item 7. 2 for the Capitol
budget amendment for project 280. And I have our community
growth identity director Jeff Green to present. Thank you. Worship
members of council. We're here to present requests to increase
project budget for project 280, which is river's edge. By
800, 000 dollars. This would be contingent on securing funding
through transport Canada's rail safety improvement program. CPKC is actually
encouraging the town to apply for this grant because it
creates the opportunity for us to include flashing lights, bells
and gates that proposed pedestrian crossing that we have previously,
um, had to look at taking out of the budget
due to costs. The federal program will fund up to
80, 000, 80, 000, 80 percent of eligible cost. Administration
attends to submit applications for both the pedestrian crossing. As
well as improvements at veterans way. Um, before the September
4th, 2026 deadline, council approval is required to demonstrate that
the project has committed funds before we actually can apply
for the grant. Um, the budget authority would only be
used if the grant is successful, therefore, if the grant
is unsuccessful, then the project budget would not proceed. That
concludes my report. Hope happy to answer any questions. Councillor
Lang. What would the likelihood of not getting this grant
bee. Or how? Better way to put this is what
is the likelihood of being successful. Uh, grant funding is
always a challenge in terms of making a guess as
to your likelihood of success. I would suggest that the
fact that we're being encouraged to apply for it would
have us lean further towards the likelihood of being successful.
Thank you. Councillor Degma. Thank you through the chair. Um,
do you happen to know what the average life cycle
is on one of these systems in terms of like
replacement? Like how long would we be looking at before
we need to. I wouldn't be able to hazard a
guest on the life cycle of the asset itself. Um,
though the maintenance of those facilities, um, are done fairly
regularly. So like with most assets, you're probably in the
25 to 50 year horizon, but it's, uh, I wouldn't
have any specific detail on that question. Thank you. Councillor
Penner. Thank you. And did I read correctly in the
package that this is a step towards being able to
apply for whistle cessation. Yes. That's correct. Uh, in order
for, uh, Whistle C station to take place on controlled
intersections along the CPKC rail line through Okatokes would have
to have control structures in place. So being able to
actually get, uh, control structure placed veterans. And at the
pedestrian crossing, uh, given that we already have control structures
at, um, most of our other crossings or bridges in
our other crossings, um, we would be in a much
better position to make application, um, to become a whistle
cessation community. Thank you. And do we still have, are
we tracking how many complaints we get around the whistle
every year? Do we have a sense of how many
complaints we're getting. I wouldn't have, um, any specific information
on that council penner. We could, uh, certainly put it
inquiry and intend. Try to gather that information. But I
don't have it at my fingertips. Okay. Thank you. I
just know it's something that pops up. Usually every spring,
but. Can you just clarify for me, um, this is
to deal with, um, pedestrian crossing west of veterans, which
we're moving. It won't be in the same location that
it's currently in, correct? And veteran's way, like putting crossing
arms at veterans way. Cause we've already got the lights
and bells at veterans ways. Correct. So it's to put
the crossing arms there and add all of that to
the pedestrian crossing. That's correct. And the, what is it?
800, 000 we're adding to this. The expectation is that
that would be what the total project would cost, but
we're expecting. Is that my understanding? Yes. That is correct.
Okay. Okay. Thank you. Councillor Deigman. I'd like to make
the motion that the 2026 Capitol Budgem budget be amended
by increasing the approved budget for project 280 rivers edge
by 800, 000. Would you like to speak to that?
Uh, yeah. I think this is a no brainer in
my mind. I think it's a great opportunity for us
to be able to leverage some of the federal resources
in a way that's going to be able to make
our community safer. And if this gets us closer to
being able to not have that whistle blow, I think
our whole community would very much enjoy that. So I
would encourage support. Okay. Would anybody else like to speak.
None? With that, I'll call the question all in favor.
And that carries unanimously. And we are going to take
a five minute recess and we will come back to
7. 4.
Okay. We'll call the meeting back to order. And we
are at, I am 7. 4. Our workforce health mid
- year update. And I have our director of community
safety and organisational excellence, Paul LeBronette and our human resources
manager. Pedersen. It's Pedersen, right? Not Peterson. Peterson. To present.
Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Uh, thank you for the
opportunity to present our mid - year workforce health update.
Some of the key highlights from our first six months
of 2026 include the posting the town's pagrids, which enhance
public visibility into our compensation structure and establish a strong
foundation for the 2027 disclosure requirement. Under Bill 28. Organisational
adjustments implemented in May 2026. To improve consistency, strengthening coordination
across teams and enhance communication. Third, continued succession planning efforts
focused on identifying and preparing for potential vacancies in critical
leadership positions to support service continuity and knowledge transfer. Together,
these initiative strengthener ability to attract retain and develop employees
while ensuring the town remains well positioned to meet future
service demands. Moving through the report itself. Workforce staffing. Workforce
staffing levels remain generally stable while seasonal staffing levels will
decline as summer positions conclude. Overall staffing trends continue to
be consistent. Workforce stability. Workforce stability remains positive with fewer
employee departures than at this time last year due in
part to higher numbers of retirement in 2025. A near
to date voluntary turnover is 2. 1. This rate is
expected to increase a seasonal employment end during the third
quarter. An annual voluntary turnover rate of five to eight
percent is generally considered healthy within the public sector. And
we anticipate finishing within or near that range. Workforce health
and wellness at mid - year. There have been zero
formal grievances human rates complaints, claims or formal complaints. Health
and wellness indicators have increased slightly compared to last year.
This reflects and usually low claim activity at mid -
year 2025 rather than a significant change in overall trends.
Our last time claim frequency remains slightly better than industry
average. While our time loss frequency rate is slightly below
industry performance. This indicates a higher number of incidence, but
generally less severe incidents from a cost perspective when compared
to industry benchmarks. Our core action plan has been approved
and we continue to advance those priorities as we prepare
for our next core audit in the spring of 2027.
This concludes our report. We'd be happy to answer any
questions from council. Perfect. Thank you very much. Council any
questions on this. Councillor Deckma. Thank you to the chair.
Just really quick one. Why is Q3 typically a peak
period for departures? Like what are some of the reasons
about Q3 that make it different than the other quarters.
Through the mayor to council Daykman. Usually our seasonal folks
will be ending in August into September. So that will
impact. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Lang. I know you
tried to explain this. But when I'm looking at the
WCB Average cost per lost time claim it's 4 million
dollars more and Q1 and 2 of 26 than it
is in 25. It's almost 600 percent increase. I'm trying
to figure out, trying to wrap my head around how.
Through the mayor council Lane. We had a significant decrease
in claims in 2025 in an ordinant mount. Uh, we
had done a large push and education to ensure that
we were getting people back to work, et cetera. Um,
so now that we've kind of stabilized that. We're far
more into industry. Numbers. If I can add through the
mayor, we were unusually low in 2025. We're still well
within, um, industry average right now. Thank you. So just
building on that, because I had a similar question. So
with the fact that we were unusually low and we
had a significant increase on education. Does it not correlate
that we should continue to do significant educate because it's
obviously, and again, I know it's an anomaly, it's one
year. So it's an anomaly. But it does seem to
show that the increased education, the increased reminders does result
in a decrease in claims, which is win for the
employee, when for us as an organisation, um, all the
way around. So just wondering if you have any insight
on line of sight on that. If I can through
the mayor, uh, to the chair, thank you for the
question. I think for what we saw in 2025 was
again, our claims numbers were really low. I don't think
it was simply driven by the increase of education. I
think when we looked at the business centres and did
a deeper dive, um, we saw some significant reduction and
claims in our larger business centres like FAR and Rescue
potentially. And so I think again, there's some, uh, education
that contributed potentially. We also had a lot of activities
going on in 2025. Um, more than, I would say
we've seen in past history in terms of, um, inspections
from OHS Alberta additional, um, core audit. Cause last year
our core audit was in person. This year it's an
action plan. So a lot of differences in terms of,
um, what we were doing, um, with the workers, most
certainly the last half of 2025, we came to more
of our, uh, normal numbers in terms of what we
would traditionally see. So. Thank you. Any other questions.
Thank you very much for putting this together. I appreciate.
I know this is a, um, an improvement we've done
of doing this regular update. So I appreciate all the
work you guys do to bring us that report. So
council, if I could get a motion to receive this
information, councillor Penner. Would you like to speak to the
motion? Anybody. Anybody else. Seeing them, I will call the
question all in favor.
And that carries your namelessly. Thank you very much for
your presentation today. Alrighty, that takes us to 7. 5.
The whistle bullet blower policy, CMDR 4. 5 amendments. And
I have our senior legislative Affairs officer Olga kind of
Vikeyski kind of escreve. Did I get a close? Was
I close, Oka?
Good afternoon Mayor and Council, Olga Knowski, Senior Legislative Affairs
Officer. In 2025, the province of Alberta enacted Bill 50,
which removed municipal authority to regulate councillor conduct. As a
result, existing code of contact bylaws are no longer enforceable
and municipalities can no longer address councillor contact complaints to
a municipal court of conduct framework. In 2026, Bill 28
established a provincial administrator councillor accountability framework under the municipal
government Act, including processes for complaints, investigations, appeals, and sanctions.
While the legislative framework is now in force, additional requirements
are expected to be prescribed through a fourth common regulation.
The proposed revisions to the whistleblower policy will remove references
to the code of conduct bylaw and the associated complaint
process as well as make minor administrative adjustments to improve
clarity, accuracy and consistency throughout the policy. The revisions will
align the policy with the current legislative framework and additional
requirements will be monitored and incorporated as necessary. That concludes
my report. I will be happy to answer your questions
now. Coun. Any questions. So if I understand this correctly
then, the way it currently exists, we have an accountability
framework. We have no regulations around that framework. So we
have something was to occur at this moment in time.
Relating to somebody at this table. There's really, the mechanism.
For the public. For administration or for council to report
anything. Is that, am I got that quite correct. Through
the chair, yes, we have the, um, legislative framework, but
no regulation and regulation is expected to be in place
sooner than 2027. Um, so we. Currently have no details
about the fees. Or. Other information about how this going
to work. If I can add through the mayor, um,
should misconduct perhaps land in a different arena like privacy
or human rights. Potentially there would be mechanisms that, uh,
any public member, the public employee could avail themselves too.
So most certainly those would be potentially two areas that
there could be something that, um, could be pursued depending
on the situation of course. Other than that, we would
have no real jurisdictional authority, I would say. So even
with that, then would we still recommend to the public
that if there was something, and I'm talking specifically from
a council table perspective that if there was a concern
or something around a member at the council table that
they should still file a whistleblower, um, complaint, even though
so that we administration might not be able to have
the context of this could fall under human rights. Or
WCBL. Just use those as my examples. Um, and then
we would also be able to come back and say,
this does not actually fall under any legislation at this
moment in time. Um, this is what there is that
the process, not that we get, like I think we've
had one in my 13 years, but, um, would that
be the process you would recommend. If I can to
the mayor, thank you for the question. I think given
the circumstances most certainly the most prudent thing to do
would be to intake whatever any concern is brought forward
and do a thorough review and understand whether there is
jurisdictional action that we can take or potentially refer them
to another agency. So yes, I think that's a reasonable
approach. All right. Is there any other questions from council
on this? Councillor next. Yeah. So just a quick question
with the, I guess gap that's going on with the
regulation right now. Um, certain other issues like, um. Pecuniary
interests and conflict of interest and stuff like that. Is
there any sort of mechanism or is it just to
the legal system where that would. Any of that sort
of thing would come into play or how like how
is, I guess, the public assured that those of us
that are in this role are doing this properly. Thank
you for the question, councillor. Nix. I think at this
point most certainly we would have to refer that to
municipal Affairs for some direction. As you've mentioned, most certainly
there is some, I guess, uh, we could seek legal
opinion. Um, however, again, from a jurisdictionals perspective, most certainly
the legislation that was passed is very clear in terms
of us not being able to name or have, uh,
counsel in that, um, in that code of conduct for
sure. So at this point I would say. That we,
we need to rely, I guess, on municipal Affairs for
direction and guidance would be the most prudent. Just to
supplement that, the pecuniary injuries peace discovered differently in the
municipal government Act, then code of conduct is. So there
would be some coverage under them in a spool government
Act on pecuniary interest. And I want to say on
conflict of interest because they put new language in there,
but I'm not as familiar with exactly where exactly that
is. So they're a bit of a different situation than
quota conduct. Opportunities. So there is different coverage again on
that through the municipal government. Act. Where is code conduct
was removed from the municipal government. Act. Anybody else. Sing
none. Somebody want to make a motion to. Approve these
amendments as presented. Councilornex. Would you like to speak to
your amendment or your motion. Um. I mean, not really.
I mean, we have to do these changes. Not really.
And then I will. So here we go. But yeah,
we sort of have to make these changes based on
the change in provincial legislation. So, uh, it sort of
is what it is. Um, I do think there's a
gap there that should be close sooner rather than later.
But that is up to the province. And we need
to wait for that. So. Um, yeah, I would encourage
supporting the amendments because I don't really think we have
a choice anyway. Would anybody else like to speak to
this. Yeah. Okay. With that then I'll call the question
all in favor.
And that carries unanimously. I'm looking, waiting for it to
come up on my screen. It's on the big screen.
Um, perfect. That takes us through our business items. Which
moves us to bylaws. We're on Bylaw 19 - 26.
The elections signage bylaw and 1124 with amendments for that.
And I'm going to turn it back over to our
senior legislative Affairs Manager. Olga Convesky. Thank you. Thank you,
Mayor Thorin. The province of Alberta amended the election Act
through Bill 54, removing municipal authorities regulate provincial election advertising
and signage. The town's election signage bylaw 1124 currently regulates
signage associated with municipal, provincial and federal elections. As a
result of these legislative changes, the provisions governing provincial election
and referendum signage are no longer enforceable and should be
removed. The proposed amendments will align the bylaw with current
legislative framework and remove provisions that can no longer be
enforced. That concludes my report. I'll be happy to answer
your questions now. Anybody have any questions. Councillor Deichma. Thank
you. Through the chair. I just want to confirm. So
for us with our Byla no longer being enforced for
either the referendum or anything else from the province side
of things. Does that mean there's no limitation in terms
of like sign size or location in which they can
put it. And do we still have the ability to
ensure that, um, on municipal lands that we can dictate
who can access and put signs on municipal lands or
not? Or is there just Bill 54 kind of speak
specifically to that. Through the chair, thank you for the
question. Um, the province assumed so authority over provincial election
and referendum signage will no longer have authority to dictate
the placement or, um. Size of election or referendum signage.
However, we would be encouraging election stakeholders to use the
five election signage corrals that will be marked in early
September to ensure that, um, we are protecting sidelines and
to ensure the safety of all stakeholders. So that is
the strategy that we're proposing. However, we have no authority
to enforce and make, stay colders, use those locations. So
with that, so let's say if someone does have an
oversized sign that creates a safety concern, who's ultimately responsible
in enforcing that in terms of removing that sign, if
it's creating a safety concern. Through the chair, thank you
for the question. So we would, if a sign creates
a safety concern or potentially, there is damage to municipal
infrastructure, for example. Then we would manage that through orcadox
municipal enforcement. Okay. Thank you. Councillor next. Um, yeah, so
through the mayor just to follow up on councillor documents.
So does elections Alberta then regulate the signage. And so
there are still some controls. They're just at the provincial
level instead of the municipal level. Is that correct? Through
the chair, thank you for the question, council. Nick's correct,
election authorities, electional birthdays, they're responsible authority for the provincial
election signage. Um, and referendum signage. And there's currently, um,
no rules around the placement of such signage to date.
So questions regarding the rules should be directed to them
as a responsible authority. Okay. And then would they also
be in charge of enforcement of their said policies that
may or may not exist. I would say. Yeah. Okay.
Thank you. Um, just a couple of questions. 6. 1
and 6. 2 in the actual bylaw.
For 6. 1. 2, does the word referendum need to
come out of that? It's in the first sentence and
at the very end. Like it's listed three times in
there. Because I don't think we can deal with referendums
any longer. So you took out the province, but you
kept referendums in. So it says four federal elections or
referendums. If I can through the mayor, I think the
connection there was connecting federal elections or federal referendum. So
connecting that to the federal jurisdiction. So I think we
could clean that up so that it takes out, it
would be federal referendums. Okay. Yeah. So I think that
needs to just be clarified because I didn't read it
as federal referendums. I just read it as referendums. So
that's in 6. 1. 2 and in 6. 2. 1.
We also mentioned referendums there. Thank you, Mayor. We can
tidy that up, yes. Okay. And with that, um, this
bylaw is ready for first reading. So with those amendments,
we put first reading on. Then I, when we go
to second reading, we can make the amendments at that
point in a time to make those changes. Is that
correct, right? Yeah. That's the process. Yeah. Councillor Lang, you're
moving first reading. First reading is not debatable. So all
in favor. And that carries unanimously.
Somebody like to move second reading. Councillor Lang. Would you
like to speak to it. Um, yeah. This is where
I'd say those amendments. You could just move it and
then I can make amendments. Yeah. I'm just moving it.
Okay. And then I would like to make an amendment.
To that. Can I do that as chair? I think
I might have to give up chair. All the people
that know our procedure bylaw really well are not here
in this chamber. So we're going to go with what
I think, I think I might need to give up,
share, um, Deputy Mayor Daykma. Yeah, sure. Why didn't you
do that. Thank you, Councillor Deichma. No, they're highlighted on
here. If I can, uh, review cancellor Dycamo, the amendments
that you'd like to make. Under 6. 1. 2. We'll
read four federal elections or federal referendums. Signs may be
from the date of the election or referendum being called
until three days following the election or referendum. And in
it would be 6. 2. 1. It would read for
all election types municipal federal or school board, election signs
may be displayed on private property six weeks prior to
the election day. Or federal referendum being called until seven
days following the election or referend. Thank you. Okay. Um,
those amendments would you like to speak to your amendments.
Uh, no. Anybody else want to speak to the amendments.
Okay. We're going to call the, um, vote on the
amendments. So all in favor.
Oh, sorry.
Should have. Just typed it up. And had it. But
I didn't even think about the fact. That.
Okay. So we've got a motion on the amendments and
I'm calling the question all in favor of amending. Second
reading.
And that carries unanimously. That takes us back to second
reading as mended. Is there anybody else that wants to
make any amendments. Seeing none. So, um, anything to close,
Council Lang. With that then, I will call the question.
This is on second reading as amended. All in favor.
Mayor, can I just have a pause and just have
a word with the chair? Yep. We will stand down.
For two minutes.
Where bode gone second reading as amended. Anybody wish to
speak to that. Seeing none. I will call the question
all in favor. Sorry, Mayor Thorne. Who made that motion?
Councillor Lang. Thank you.
That carries unanimously. We are now at authorization to be
given to read by law 19 - 26, a third
time. We need three quarters of us. Councillor next. Would
you like to speak to that. Uh, no, thank you.
Okay. Anybody else calling that question all in favor. Oh,
I did say three quarters. It has to be unanimous,
which it works out well. It's unanimous. So that's good.
Uh, all things worked out well there. Perfect. Um, and
that now leads us to that bylaw 1926 be read
a third time and passed. Would somebody like to make
them motion. Councillor Penner. Would you like to speak to
that. Anybody else. Okay. Colling my question, all in favor.
And that carries unanimously. Which takes us to motions renoices.
And I am going, or no, notices of motion. Is
there any notices of motion being wrapped for it? No.
Which takes us to motions renoices, but I'm going to
take a five minute recess and then we'll come back.
I'll be able to look at that.
Okay. We're back. To order. Um, we have, um, motions
renoices on the books for the regulation of electric bicycles
and electric mobility devices, which was, um, put on in
the agenda at our July meeting by Councillor Nix. We
can debate this at this meeting if you would like
Councillor Nix. But if you do not want to, we
can go to the next meeting. So I will turn
it over to you to decide what we want to
do. Uh, yes, I'm okay to enter it into this
meeting. Okay. So, um, what we need, this will need
to be read in as a motion and then that
allows us to be there in order for it to
be read in as a motion. We do need a
seconder on, um, this notice of motion. Is there anybody
at the table that would like to be the seconder
on this notice motion. I'm happy to second it. I
don't think you can. I will. Okay. There's a lot
of things you guys keep saying I can't do today.
You know, you don't have to be in the world.
Okay. So Councillor Penner on that councillor Penner's going to
second that. And do I, do we need to make
the motion first and then have the seconder? Or do
we just need the seconder for then Otis of Motion?
We have. Capital speed. Doc. You pull a friend. Yes.
Um, the motion would have to be put on the
floor and seconded. And then it can be debated. Okay.
So we'll do that. So what I'll get you to
do, Councillor Nix is read your motion into the record.
I know you read the whole thing last time, but
we'll read this motion part. Oh, you did. I thought
you read it out. It's just there. Oh, okay. So
I'll get you to read the motion into the record
or make the motion. Then I'll get councillor penner to
second that. And then we will debate it. Just the
motion. Yeah. Okay. So I would like to make the
motion that council direct administration to review and prepare a
bylaw regulating the operation of electric bicycles and other electric
mobility devices within the town of Oktokes, including provisions respecting
their use on roadway sidewalks pathways Parks and other municipal
property. And that administration consider regulatory approaches utilised by other
Alberta municipalities, including the regional municipality of wood buffalo and
return to council with recommendations and a proposed bylaw for
council's consideration. Do I have a seconder on this motion.
Yes, please. I'd like to second it. Okay. That puts
it on the floor now, right? Okay. So councillor next.
You can speak to your motion. Uh, yeah. So, um,
I mean, I think this has been close to the
top issue that I've seen talked about in the community
over the last few months. And certainly, um, you know,
nationally and across North America, the ton of articles about,
um, these new e moto bikes or e - dirt
bikes. Uh, that are on the market. And these would
be electric bikes that would go, you know, upwards of
50 to 70 kilometers an hour. And that these are
often being operated by, uh, people without licences. Uh, young
kids that maybe are not familiar with traffic rules. And
causing significant safety concern. So, um, my intention with this
is that we, uh, come up with a municipal bylaw
to align with the Alberta regulations because there is an
Alberta definition of what is a legitimate e - bike
and what is considered to be motor, more, motor vehicle
more on the level of a motorcycle or moped. And
that we do that to just help increase awareness in
the community and, uh, give our bylaw officers. A little
more leeway to control things as needed. Okay. Would anybody
else like to speak to this motion. Councillor Penner. Is
this something. That. S. Okay? Thank you. Is this something
that we could even regulate. I'm not, like, is it
something that can be regulated through Byla or does it
have to be done through the highway traffic Act. While
my intention is for admin to take a look and
let us know what we can do. So I don't
know for sure what we can do in that regard.
Um, but I'd like us to spend some time and
take a look and see what can be, can be
done. And I'll go to director Burnett for, if I
can remind Councillor Penner, I believe, uh, our municipal enforcement
manager, Vikram Calcarney mentioned the gap in terms of the
e - bikes not being recognised as a motor vehicle.
Hence, for the reason in terms of potentially needing or
requiring a municipal bylaw to allow foreign enforcement. So it's
really the actual classification of the actual type of, um,
vehicle in this case or the type of bike. Yes.
And so then I'm reticent to put a lot of,
even though I seconded the motion was for this debate.
I'm reticent to put a lot of staff time into
this if the province is going to come back and
say, no, that's not your jurisdiction. Which they seem to
be inclined to do on a variety of topics at
this point. Most certainly many of our fellow municipalities are
monitoring this. And again, the avenues that we've seen is
some are pursuing bylaws to be able to enforce. And
others are letting the gap, let's say, remain. And in
terms of alternatives, that's really what we've seen to date.
Thank you. And has there been any directions, or can
I keep going? I was just going to, um, add
in there that, um, the report that Emi municipal manager,
Gil Carney said, is that we would have the ability
to put a bylaw in there because there is a
gap. The province has come out. I have heard minister
Driesen speak. That they are looking to address the traffic
Act, but it is not a priority piece of work
for them. So I think that's what, um, municipalities. I've
talked to, um, have looked at is that, well, we
need to address the gap in the interim. And so
this is the tool that doesn't municipality. We would have
to address that gap. Until the province does come out
with changes to the traffic Act. So that's, that's what
I've heard and what I've heard ministry agents take. Yeah.
Well, no, I'm just. With what they've done with bike
lanes recently. Again, I'm just not sure how this all
fits in there, but. Councillor Hallmark. Thank you, Madam Mayor.
I just have a question of, um, of how the
procedure. And it might be for our direct three years
off to director Burnett. So if we, cause just because
the motion doesn't have a, uh, a date or a,
um, like, are we going to see a come to
GPC first for like when the Byla gets created. My
question is processed, I should say, but it is, will
it come to GPC first and then the GPC committee
will then kind of hash out like what they like
about the Bylaw and what they don't like. And then
it will come to counsel. Is that the process and
like should there be a date on them motion. Um,
so I would say, yes, we probably should put a
date in terms of a timeline that we're interested in
this with obviously looking at admin from a, is the
date reasonable. And then, um, I also, as a proposed
Byla for council's consideration, I do think that there's probably
a modification that could be made to the motion that
we bring it to the review and recommendations that admin
or options that they have come to GPC so that
we could at GPC say, okay, here's the options. We
would like to proceed. So I think those would be
probably two things that would strengthen the motion just because
then we can have more fluid debate it. Governance priorities.
If I can add through the mayor, then we can
bring essentially the research and the best practice that we've
seen out there at this point. We have untoured that
much information. So it gives us time to be able
to do that as well. Yeah. And the deadline. Yeah.
Correct. Yeah. Councillor Hallmark. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I would
speak in favor of this motion if I was able
to amend it. An amendment is appropriate. Okay. Cause I'm
like really going in. Oh, what? Sorry. Councillor Lang. Well,
he has to accept it if he wants to. Would
you accept a friendly amendment if I was to. Do
I make the amendment first to the MMA? Okay. Yeah.
Make a motion for the amendment. Okay. I'd like to
offer an amendment. Okay. But I'm looking at director Burnett
and she's going to tell me on a clock. What
date we should. Be a realistic date for my amendment
is what I'm saying. For FG PC meeting, by the
end of the year or by the end of October.
I can recommend in GPC date. Sorry. Do you have
a calendar. You don't have to give the actual date.
Just say give a month. Like, do we think we
could have it back for the October GPC or do
we need till November's GPC. Councillor Lang wants to, or
sorry, councillor, next one.
Okay. Let's not debate without our mics here. So, um,
so we could do one or two things when we
look at a date. We could, Councillor Penner is just
to potentially saying, let's do it for the new year.
So bring it for January. That gives us plenty of
time to get it in place. For next. Season, you
know, particularly our high utilization pathways. Or we could do
it here for the fall. And like, I don't know
what winter utilization is going to be of those devices.
Um, and cause it certainly is creating conflict on pathways
and concerns in the community. So. If I could just
add through the mayor, uh, at the moment, we also
have municipal enforcement manager called Carnead is working on some
other traffic revisions in terms of our bylaw. So in
terms of just giving him time and space, I would,
I would suggest ideally that would be paired together so
that we could do those somewhat in concert. So I
would suggest fourth quarter would be reasonable. Okay. Okay. All
right. Madam Mayor, I would like to make an amendment
to councillor Nixon. And maybe it will be friendly or
maybe we'll have to debate. We'll wait to see. I'd
like to make, uh, an amendment that, um, the council,
I'll review prepared by law regular bike brought back to
GPC. In the first quarter of next year. With a
few options on, what do we say? Like if you
trade offs or options on what would be. No, just
that'll be brought back to GPC. You, you know what
we're looking for anyways. Yes. Yeah. Perfect. Would you accept
that. And oh, do I speak to my amendment? No,
if you're going to make it as a friendly, let's
just see if councillor Nix is prepared to modify it,
to come back to GPC in the first quarter of
2027. Um, well, is that in alignment with your recommendation
with Mr. Kill Carney's working on now? Or is he
bringing that in Q4. Q4 is essentially where he's bringing
the traffic, the existing work that he's doing. So we
could pair those together just to ensure that the ensuring
that we've been able to have time to do our
homework and make sure that the right environmental skin completed
for council. Okay. So that, that would be my preference
is that we were to pair those together. If that
makes the most sense. So I would guess that. Puts
it to Q4 instead of Q1. Yeah, sure. Okay. So,
um, a friendly amendment is being made. That we are
going to bring recommendations back to GPC. In the fourth
quarter. Of 2026. Does that meet everybody's? I'm getting a
nod from him. But yes, I would accept that. And
men has that or it has the intent of that.
Yes. I'm going to go to Councillor Penner with a
question. Thank you. And again, I'm still trying to wrap
my head around it. Can, would these objectives be achieved
by putting speed limits on the pathways rather than limiting.
A specific device or vehicle or whatever you want to
call that and then having that evolve, can we achieve
the same objective by. Putting speed limits on pathways? If
that's truly what we're trying to control. I've got councillor
next and then I've got director green. So my intention
would be that those are the types of recommendations that
would come back. Like if we need additional signage on
the pathways to help control things, or like that all
of that would be part of what comes back to
us to discuss and see what we need to move
ahead with. Director green. Similarly, um, following
councillor, Nix's comment. I would, uh, suggest that part of
the, uh, analysis that needs to be done is what
can you actually regulate under the Alberta traffic Act of
what you can you not pathways are not a road
as defined by the TAF safety Act. So I would
suggest you that is not something you regulate in terms
of speed. Could you possibly, but I think that's one
of the questions is what is the right vehicle? What
does the right vehicle. To regulate the right vehicles? Any
other questions? Councillor Dickmann? Just a really quick question. Does
it make a difference if it goes to GPC or
if we just keep it at the council level? There's
by having a go to governance priority, just one extra
step. If I can through the chair document, it just
gives us an opportunity to get direction before crystallizing what
we're going to put forward as a bylaw. So it
does give us a bit more flexibility. Okay. Any other
questions. We have a motion on the table. Um, would
anybody like to speak to that motion? You got questions
are in order. But anybody else wish to speak to
this. I am seeing nobody. So I'm going to just,
um, I will be supporting this motion. I do think
that right now, the speed on some electric devices that
are available on the market are unregulated. I don't, the
reason the gap in the traffic Act is because this
wasn't an expected. Move of the market, I would say.
And so trying to create a balance on our proper
ways, I think is something worthwhile for us to look
at. I don't yet know what the pieces are because
I could say speed limits on a pathway. But we
have an up trouble enforcing speed limits on our roadways.
So I'm not sure how we'll do that on a
pathway. So, um, just wanting to make sure that we've
put the right tools in our team's hands, but also
have right information out there for our public of what
does work. You know, I think one of the pieces
that I currently are seeing is that they have the
ability to go everywhere. So it's easier to pull over
a car. But when they see one of these e
- bikes on roadway, they all of a sudden are
on a sidewalk and in through a pathway, but being
pursued by a car. And so it creates, um, situations
that I think are unsafe for the whole community. Not
only the user. So, um, I look forward to seeing
what is brought back because there's certainly a lot of,
um, deviation across the market out there of how everybody's
handling it. So I encourage my colleagues to support. And
with that, I'll go to councillor next close with anything.
Um, yeah, I mean, just the same as what was
stated before. There's a gap here. And I think it's
a significant public safety gap. So I think we should
look at what we can do. Um, as far as,
you know, helping get awareness out in the community, I
do want to add that I do really appreciate some
of the videos that OME has put out recently explaining
some of those differences. I think I've seen a lot
of good feedback on those in the community as well.
So that's been appreciated. Um, but yeah, I would encourage
support just so that we can try and close this
gap and equip our officers accordingly. Okay. And with that,
I will call. It amendment. It was friendly. Yeah. Yeah.
So it's all of the, it was a no problem.
Um, so on that I will call the question, um,
all in favor.
And that carries unanimously. Excellent. We have no correspondence for
action. Councillor inquiries and suggestions. Does anybody have any. I'm
seeing men. So feel free to text CAO Vincent. Let
her know that you've gotten. Texture. Uh - huh. Any
council representative reports. Um, I just quickly, was that show
and shine on the weekend and just, uh, shout out
to the organising group. Um, for that event, um, the
big rock auto club and the Oktokes elks. It was
a really well attended vent granted. The weather helped with
that. Um, so it was really great to see so
many people in the community. Downtown and enjoying that event.
So thank you for that. And that's all I have.
Anybody else. Seeing none, we have councillor Lang. Um, I'm
just going to take a liberty here. And I'm going
to wish my mother a happy 80th birthday today. So
that's all I wanted to say. Thank you. That's your
birthday. Well, you want to know. What's really funny. It
is my mother's birthday today too. Yeah. I'm not as
nice as you. So I didn't wish her one on
the online. That's right. You probably do. Yeah. Look at
that. Okay. And with that council, we are through our
agenda. So I just need a motion to adjourn. Councillor
Lang all in favor. And that carries unanimously.