[4:50] Call the meeting to order our regular council meeting for
[4:53] the month of August. The town of OkTokes technologies, the
[4:57] original stewards of this land that we know and called
[4:59] Treaty 7 territory, which includes the BlackTook Confederacy First Nations
[5:03] kinase, the CSICA and Bucani. Stone in a coat of
[5:06] First Nations, which includes the BearsBot, Chinekean, Goodstoney. The Dene
[5:10] First Nation of Sutina and the Mayy Nation of Alberta.
[5:14] We vowed to continue honouring and respecting the indigenous people's
[5:17] sacred and traditional ways of life. And we'll carry on
[5:20] this special relationship with the land so that generations to
[5:22] come can enjoy, use, and live off the land as
[5:25] their ancestors did. We honour and respect this space, the
[5:29] water, the animals, and all the beings who have a
[5:31] spirit and have been here long before us. Council, we
[5:35] have an agenda before us. Is there any changes to
[5:39] that agenda. Seeing none, can I get a motion to
[5:43] adopt the agenda as presented councillor lang? All in favor.
[5:47] I don't know who's all in inscribe yet. Nobody. We
[5:51] have three items, two items. In our closed session that
[5:57] qualify for one of the exceptions to division to disclosure
[6:01] in Division II of part one of the Access to
[6:03] Information Act. So can I get a motion to move
[6:06] in to closed session, please? Councillor Walther, all in favor.
[6:12] It carries unanimously.
[58:15] Regular council meeting for August 17th back to order. We
[58:20] have just finished closed session. Do we have any delegations
[58:24] today? We have a motion arising from closed session. Councillor
[58:29] Walter. I'd like to make the motion that confirmation be
[58:34] provided that the town of Okatokes has the authority and
[58:37] capacity to undertake the project that administration be authorized to
[58:41] enter into and executed the associated agreement contained within closed
[58:46] session item 3. 1 and that the associated town portion
[58:50] of funding be included in the 2027 to 2030 Capital
[58:53] Budget. And I will call that question all in favor.
[59:00] Anybody in describe. Councillor Penner is in favor. Oh, I'm
[59:08] sorry disregard you did vote by hand though, right? I
[59:11] didn't just miss it. Okay, just checking. Then I. Carries
[59:15] unanimously. We have a variety of items on the consent
[59:20] agenda. Is there anybody that wants to pull anything from
[59:23] the consent agenda. Seeing none, somebody like to make a
[59:28] motion. Council Hallmark. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'd be happy
[59:34] to make the motion that the business items for Action,
[59:38] the minutes under 6. 1. 1 be adopted as presented.
[59:42] Item 6. 3. 1 bylaw, 20 - 26, land uses
[59:47] bylaw amendment. Rey designation, camp ground, B - read for
[59:52] a first time, and the remaining items be received as
[59:54] information. Would you like to speak to that motion? No,
[59:58] thank you, Madam Mayor. Anybody else. Seeing none, I will
[1:00:01] call the question all in favor.
[1:00:12] And that carries unanimously. Which brings us to our business
[1:00:16] items for Action. And at first we have Invest Greater
[1:00:21] Calgary, and I'm going to have our Economic Development Specialist
[1:00:25] Josh Wells, along with reps, introduce our guests here today.
[1:00:34] Thank you for the introduction, and good afternoon, your worship
[1:00:36] and members of council. It's my pleasure today to introduce
[1:00:40] Rod Valdez, the Secretariat lead for Invest Greater Calgary alongside
[1:00:44] our colleague Dina Haley with Calgary Economic Development. They are
[1:00:48] the host for the Secretariat lead for Invest Greater Calgary,
[1:00:51] and today they're going to tell you a little bit
[1:00:52] about what invest Greater Calgary is, why we're a member
[1:00:55] and what we endeavour to do over the next three
[1:00:57] years for this pilot project. In front of you and
[1:01:00] part of your council package, I did prepare cover report,
[1:01:03] but quite frankly, the presentation covers everything there, so I'm
[1:01:05] going to leave it to the experts. And then we
[1:01:07] can open it up to QA after this. So to
[1:01:10] Dina. Through the chair, thank you very much for this
[1:01:15] opportunity to present today. If we could go to the
[1:01:19] next slide, please. My name is Dina Haley. I'm the
[1:01:22] vice president of Intelligence and Productivity at Calgary Economy Development,
[1:01:26] or CED. My brief remarks will focus on the initial
[1:01:29] vision for Invest Greater Calgary before I turn it over
[1:01:33] to Roth Aldes, the Secretariat Leed for ITC. Thank. You.
[1:01:40] A few years ago, the Calgary metropolitan Region Board recognised
[1:01:43] an opportunity, specifically the need for closer collaboration on investment
[1:01:48] attraction across the region. The idea was simple. By working
[1:01:52] together, we could amplify opportunities and avoid fragmenting our efforts
[1:01:57] when engaging with external investors and companies. To move that
[1:02:01] forward, the city of Calgary committed early funding to support
[1:02:04] and engagement process and explore what a more coordinated region
[1:02:08] - wide model could look like. Calgary Economic Development was
[1:02:12] asked to lead that work, bringing together economic development teams
[1:02:15] from the region. Next slide, please. And we'll go to
[1:02:20] the next slide, please. While the metric, while the municipalities
[1:02:24] involve, we're all members of the Calgary metropolitan region board.
[1:02:28] This initiative itself was intentionally developed outside of that structure.
[1:02:32] Focus specifically on building a practical hands - on collaborative
[1:02:36] approach with our economy development peers. Through that process, we
[1:02:41] co - developed what is now Investor Calgary. A three
[1:02:44] - year pilot partnership built around a shared goal. It's
[1:02:48] supported by an independent Secretary of Team, hosted at Calgar
[1:02:52] Economic Development, but guided by an advisory committee made up
[1:02:56] of all participating municipalities. Municipalities are on the screen in
[1:03:00] front of you. This work is intentionally focused. It's about
[1:03:04] attracting new investment into the region. Next slide, please. It's
[1:03:08] not meant to replace the important work that's happening within
[1:03:11] each municipality to support local businesses. It's designed to complement
[1:03:16] it. At a regional level, we're identifying and pursuing opportunities
[1:03:20] together and then working collaboratively to place those investments across
[1:03:24] the region in a coordinated and fair way, creating a
[1:03:29] seamless investment - ready experience that aligns with what companies
[1:03:32] are looking for. And this approach reflects what we've seen
[1:03:36] work in other regions when they pool their resources. Specifically,
[1:03:40] five common outcomes stood out to us in our review
[1:03:43] at that time. A stronger regional reputation and greater effectiveness
[1:03:47] on the global stage, increased investment attraction and business expansion,
[1:03:52] growth in industry clusters, more collaboration and innovation and RND,
[1:03:58] and ultimately job creation and workforce development. Next slide, please.
[1:04:02] The advisory committee established a shared foundation for how we
[1:04:06] work. Formalized through a non - binding MOU and a
[1:04:10] binding service agreement that outlines our governance model, including consensus
[1:04:15] - based decision - making and a shared funding contribution
[1:04:18] approach. That funding model is based on a formula that
[1:04:21] reflects both scale and equity over the three - year
[1:04:24] pilot.
[1:04:36] To bring regional benefits to life for our region, THC
[1:04:40] members aligned around the following areas of focus. Strengthening research
[1:04:44] and analysis coordinating marketing and promotion, enhancing investor support, and
[1:04:50] advancing shared programs or hubs were a regional approaches create
[1:04:53] more value. Next slide, please. Once that foundation was in
[1:04:57] place, we were able to stand up an independent, dedicated
[1:05:00] secretary team to support the work and help move the
[1:05:03] partnership forward. And with that, I'd like to turn it
[1:05:06] over to Rod Valdez, the Invest Greater Calgary Secretary at
[1:05:10] Leed to share more on how this work is taking
[1:05:12] shape and where we're headed next. Thank you. Thank. Your
[1:05:17] worship and councillors for having us. So Dina, kind of
[1:05:21] covered everything that was in part of vision and was
[1:05:24] done to create the organisation. So what I like to
[1:05:26] cover with you now is what was created and kind
[1:05:29] of where we are now. Next slide, please. Next one.
[1:05:34] So you can just go load the page if you
[1:05:36] want. That's easier. Sorry, it's transition. Thank you. So what
[1:05:40] does ICG? Basically we facilitate investment in the region driving
[1:05:44] innovation and long - term growth. We're basically doing investment
[1:05:48] attraction. And what do we do is we support companies
[1:05:50] establishing and expanding in the region. We do everything in
[1:05:54] a sense almost like a concierge for the region and
[1:05:57] help companies do a soft landing. So we help them
[1:05:59] come in. We attract them, we do the site selection.
[1:06:02] Then we help them with operational partners in public partners.
[1:06:05] So everything from construction, from sites election to legal, to
[1:06:08] financial, all those things that companies do when they're coming
[1:06:11] into a new region, we help them not with that
[1:06:14] and set them up with partners. And also the public
[1:06:16] partners like Albert Innovates and anyone like that that's doing,
[1:06:20] for example, technology and research and all those kinds of
[1:06:22] things, or any of the post - secondaries that have
[1:06:24] those resources. So, um, when the partnership was started, there
[1:06:30] was a service agreement created in that service agreement. I'll
[1:06:34] just go over a few of those things. So first
[1:06:35] of all, as the secretary, which is what Calgary Economic
[1:06:38] Development does, and they're a huge resource for us, is
[1:06:41] basically they run all the administrative functions for the organisation.
[1:06:45] They manage our funds, they do all the financial support.
[1:06:48] We use the office space. We work with their marketing
[1:06:50] team as a resource. We work with their business development
[1:06:53] team and so forth. So they really support us strongly
[1:06:56] in putting the services out to the region that we're
[1:06:58] doing. Thanks, please. Sorry, you can load the whole page,
[1:07:06] sorry. Thank you. And then there's basically our scope of
[1:07:10] services. That's myself. And our administrative coordinator. And basically we're
[1:07:15] doing inside the partnership as we're doing the member engagement
[1:07:18] coordination, the budgeting, the strategy management and the resource operations
[1:07:22] as a whole. And then we of course we have
[1:07:24] the advisory committee, which is represented from each member that
[1:07:28] has one vote in the advisory committee. And the advisory
[1:07:31] committee basically there to provide us expert advice and give
[1:07:35] us direction on the strategies and the budget and the
[1:07:37] initiatives that we're doing. And then we have performance metrics,
[1:07:41] which is basically the investment attraction. You know, slightly measuring
[1:07:45] our regional reputation, how we're doing with branding and our
[1:07:47] industry development as a whole. Next slide, please. So when
[1:07:52] we started, we had actually four functions and we narrowed
[1:07:56] it down basically to two. So the two functions we
[1:07:58] have are, we are a business resource hub and we
[1:08:02] focus on investment attraction. And as a business resource hub,
[1:08:05] what we do is we do the market intelligence. We
[1:08:07] do share data. We do, we're looking at workforce capacity
[1:08:10] later on the end of year two, year three. We
[1:08:13] establish key partnerships with both public and private partners. And
[1:08:16] then eventually hopefully maybe a public - private partnership. That's
[1:08:19] something that we can do. And for the investment attraction,
[1:08:22] which of course is our main focus. We do the
[1:08:23] lead generation, the investment attraction support services, which as I
[1:08:27] mentioned that we do for clients that are coming into
[1:08:29] the region, uh, funding. And then of course marking as
[1:08:33] the regional website and the marking programs we're running. Next
[1:08:36] slide, please. Okay, where we are now. Next slide. So
[1:08:41] year one was basically our presence. That was where we
[1:08:44] were establishing ourselves operationally. We finished that in about April
[1:08:48] of May. Our fiscal year for investigated congregate goes from
[1:08:51] June to June. So our second year now just started
[1:08:54] in June. So about two months in. Your one was
[1:08:57] building our foundational operationally and our branding. And then year
[1:09:01] two's Oscar in the market, which is basically our pipeline.
[1:09:04] Next slide, please. Thank you. So I'll just give you
[1:09:13] a review sort of what the things we did in
[1:09:15] year one. So that was basically our foundational and operational
[1:09:18] build. So we established governance and operations at the beginning
[1:09:21] of September. We defined our strategic priorities. The year one
[1:09:25] strategic plan and budget was approved in December. We carried
[1:09:28] it a little over because it was a little delayed
[1:09:30] into year two into about September. But now we absorb
[1:09:33] that into the year two plan. Uh, we did our
[1:09:35] initial branding, which is our logo. And then we got
[1:09:38] a landing page up with just a placeholder for our
[1:09:40] website that's coming out in September along with our launch.
[1:09:44] Next slide please. Oh, one more pack. Sorry. Thank you.
[1:09:49] And then we did an aerospace and food trade show
[1:09:52] for discovery because those were two of the key sectors
[1:09:55] that we were looking at. And the first big initiative
[1:09:58] we did was the value proposition sector study. So when
[1:10:03] I sat down with the partners, there was about 10
[1:10:05] sector focuses between all eight partners combined. And that was
[1:10:09] a, that was accounting for duplicates, which was too many
[1:10:12] for us to focus on in this region. So we
[1:10:14] hired a vendor that we asked them to come up
[1:10:15] with three to five, uh, sectors and subsectors specifically that
[1:10:20] would focus, that we could focus on for the region.
[1:10:23] That would service the region as a whole space, as
[1:10:25] a contiguous region. Um, they did a full analysis of
[1:10:29] infrastructure of the region. They did a lot of business
[1:10:32] assessments. And then they also on top of that, and
[1:10:35] this is something we requested from them. They also interviewed
[1:10:38] international C - suite stakeholders in those industries to get
[1:10:43] market sounding from them. So it wasn't just, you know,
[1:10:46] desktop study and statistics and those kind of things. So
[1:10:48] we'll give you an example as an example for logistics
[1:10:51] they spoke to the Chief operating offer FATECs in the
[1:10:54] U. S. for aerospace, they spoke to bell helicopters, all
[1:10:58] those kinds of things. So we're getting the real industry
[1:11:00] feedback on that. So that's, we came up with our
[1:11:02] five sectors. So advanced manufacturing, which I know is a
[1:11:05] focus for oak jokes. Agrifood and Agritech aerospace and defence.
[1:11:10] Transportation logistics and data and data infrastructure. Those are the
[1:11:13] general high - level ones. And within each of those,
[1:11:15] we have specific subsector focuses. Uh, and on top of
[1:11:18] that, because High River in Foothills didn't really have a
[1:11:22] set sector focus themselves. We also got the vendor to
[1:11:26] do a standalone sector study for individually for high one
[1:11:29] for high river and one for foothills to give them
[1:11:31] sort of a start with that. So, and then finally,
[1:11:35] uh, I did the member environment assessments. And that what
[1:11:37] that was as I sat with all the partners. And
[1:11:40] so I sat with the partners at the Economic Development
[1:11:43] Heads or officers. In some cases with the CAOs and
[1:11:47] with development, um, engineering development stakeholders within each municipal partner.
[1:11:52] And that was for me to understand where each means
[1:11:55] each municipal partner was as far as their economic development
[1:11:58] environment as a whole. So that was things like looking
[1:12:01] at the MDP ASPs land development, economic development goals, major
[1:12:06] employers, all those kinds of things. And that was for
[1:12:07] me to understand which partner was. At this time. Thanks,
[1:12:12] slides. And now we're going to your two. So now
[1:12:16] this is us going to market. And this is us
[1:12:18] going from awareness to qualified investment opportunities. And this is,
[1:12:22] we're doing this through three pillars, through content, targeted outreach
[1:12:26] and partnerships. Next slide, please. So for, oh, thank you.
[1:12:32] So for content, it's us showing we're an investor ready
[1:12:34] region. So, and we've already started this with a LinkedIn.
[1:12:38] We created LinkedIn profile for the partnership. And now we're
[1:12:40] going to go into content, which is about four posts
[1:12:44] a month. For a year. And that's basically, that's giving
[1:12:47] us legitimacy in showing what we're doing in our activities
[1:12:50] for both our partners and for investors showing what we're
[1:12:53] doing, how we're involved in the region and all the
[1:12:56] business activities are happening. And then secondly is the website,
[1:12:59] which we'll have in about a month. Just before the
[1:13:02] launch. And that's basically an overview of the partnership, which
[1:13:05] is our biggest resource. And it's going to include everything
[1:13:08] from our functions and our sectors and our resources, member
[1:13:11] profiles and so forth. Next slide, please. And the second
[1:13:20] pillar, of course, is targeted outreach. And this is where
[1:13:22] we're building the investment pipeline. So we have planned for
[1:13:25] year two, seven international trade shows to cover the five
[1:13:29] sectors that we are focused on. Uh, we've also hired
[1:13:33] a vendor for lead generation. This is, uh, global vendor
[1:13:36] that does this for various municipalities all over the world
[1:13:39] in North America. And they basically help us will help
[1:13:42] us with some leads for some of the trade shows.
[1:13:44] But primarily for lead generation of large corporate international clients
[1:13:48] that they have that they find for us that are
[1:13:51] looking for Western Canada and fit within our sectors. They
[1:13:55] were going to assess about 500 international companies and get
[1:13:58] us anywhere from 15 to 25 either direct interviews. We
[1:14:03] might meet them in a trade show or they might
[1:14:05] give us interviews over video calls, but that'll give us
[1:14:07] the leads in that, in that aspect. And then we
[1:14:10] also had the stampede site selector vent, which was in
[1:14:12] July, which was very successful. It was basically, it was
[1:14:17] an event that was funny that was created by CD,
[1:14:20] CD runs it and was funded by CED, us invest
[1:14:22] grator Calgary, Invest Alberta and invest in Canada. And it
[1:14:26] was two and a half days of five sites, international
[1:14:29] site selectors. Three of them were from the U S
[1:14:31] two from Europe. And we basically brought them in show
[1:14:35] them all the resources, show them, you know, what the
[1:14:37] region has. Brought them in, had conversations with existing large
[1:14:40] companies that have come from international markets like Fortunette and
[1:14:43] Luza, for example, direct conversations with them. And it was,
[1:14:47] it was really successful in the sense that it gave
[1:14:50] them, it gave them transparency that it's not just an
[1:14:54] energy region. They had no idea of how much more
[1:14:56] it was in the region until we kind of showed
[1:14:58] that to them and open their eyes to it. Um,
[1:15:00] and then the other thing we have for, for outreaches,
[1:15:04] we have a secondary fund that we just put aside.
[1:15:06] And that's for any incoming or outgoing trade missions. Because
[1:15:09] sometimes those aren't planned to your head. They might come
[1:15:12] three months. From either the provincial federal government. So we
[1:15:14] have some money set aside for that. And so any
[1:15:17] or site selector events that also sometimes smaller events can
[1:15:19] happen outside of something like the stampede site selector event.
[1:15:23] And then any trade show sponsorships that we feel are
[1:15:26] valuable. And just to add to this, that this was
[1:15:28] an in here just to advise in year one, um,
[1:15:32] even though we had 10 months of operations within the
[1:15:36] full year, we had 13 investment opportunities come through us
[1:15:39] that we pushed to all the municipal partners. Um, only
[1:15:42] three of those were from Invest Alberta and TEN came
[1:15:44] from other resources. So that was before we actually went
[1:15:47] to market, which was a really positive thing. Next slide,
[1:15:51] please. And finally is our pipeline. And this is an
[1:15:55] essential part of what we're doing. This is our partnerships.
[1:15:58] And this is basically our partnerships with both our public
[1:16:01] and private partners. The first thing we're doing there is
[1:16:04] our launch event on September 17th. And that's our launch
[1:16:07] to present ourselves to the region, to all our partners,
[1:16:10] public and private combined, um, and institutional. And that's for
[1:16:13] showing them what we're doing and get them involved and
[1:16:16] get them involved with us and engage with them to
[1:16:18] see how they can help with investment throughout the region.
[1:16:21] And then partner engagement finally as a whole. That's a
[1:16:24] strategic building our strategic partner and business ecosystem. That's both
[1:16:29] building and engaging all our partnerships with public and private
[1:16:32] public being those like Invest, Alberta, uh, Alberta innovates, um,
[1:16:38] jobs economic development trade with the province. Trade commissioners across
[1:16:42] global offices. All those kind of partners on the public
[1:16:44] side. And on the private side, it's all the operational
[1:16:46] partner that we use for investment. So everybody that can
[1:16:50] help with legal, um, financial audits, immigration, all those kinds
[1:16:54] of things. Legislation, all those things that, as examples, you
[1:16:58] know, like law firms and audit firms and those kind
[1:17:01] of things that can help clients that are coming in.
[1:17:03] And that's us building that so that when investors are
[1:17:06] coming in, we have all the partners that help them
[1:17:08] get started. Next slide. Thank you. And that's, uh, that
[1:17:15] is presentation for me. Is there any questions. Thank you
[1:17:21] very much, council. Councillor Hallmark. Thank you, Madam Mayor, through
[1:17:26] yourself to Mr. Daldis. Is that right, fellas? Yes. Okay.
[1:17:31] I'm just curious. Uh, I might, I think I'm a
[1:17:34] little bit slow on this. So you guys were established
[1:17:37] by the CMRB before the CMRB was dissolved. Is that
[1:17:42] how you came to be? I'll let you answer that.
[1:17:45] No, that's okay. That's okay. Thank you. The concept of
[1:17:50] coming together was through CMRB, but this was not developed
[1:17:54] inside of CMRB. This was always external. And so it's
[1:17:58] really just a partnership between the eight municipalities, economic development
[1:18:03] officers to come together in a partnership to work together.
[1:18:06] So while the idea originated at a CMRB type meeting,
[1:18:11] we decided to keep it out side of the CMRB
[1:18:14] structure on purpose. And thank you for that. And then
[1:18:18] I just was curious. So the advisory committee, does that
[1:18:21] then the member that represents Okatokes is that Mr. Wells?
[1:18:26] Oh, thank you. That's all I was wondering. Thank you.
[1:18:30] Any other questions? Council for Tekken. Thank you through the
[1:18:35] chair. Um, what would you say the current barriers that
[1:18:39] are hindering our region from being the most attractive place
[1:18:42] to do business? Um, to be honest, that's a tough
[1:18:46] question answer at this point in time. I think once
[1:18:49] I'm in market for at least six months and I'm,
[1:18:52] I'm maybe getting feedback on clients and leads that are
[1:18:55] looking and maybe getting to the site selection stage. And
[1:18:59] then might have challenges then. I could probably say that
[1:19:01] better. But because we haven't drawn enough yet, hasn't been
[1:19:06] anything that's brought to our intention. But so far of
[1:19:09] the 13 that we've brought forward, we've probably submitted sites
[1:19:13] on about, or the partner's not myself, has some metacites
[1:19:16] on three. And two have been moving forward all right
[1:19:20] so far, but no one's mentioned any challenges. Okay. And
[1:19:25] just add while Rod said, and one of the reasons
[1:19:28] why we set up this partnership is because we're competing
[1:19:31] globally. And it was very clear early on that if
[1:19:35] we didn't come together, uh, having an investor comment understand
[1:19:40] our region, let alone understand where Alberta are Canada is
[1:19:43] is some of the biggest challenges that we're up against.
[1:19:45] So Rod and his team are doing such a dedicated
[1:19:48] work to get out there and really bring that awareness
[1:19:49] forward. But that is one of the barriers, I think
[1:19:53] as a partnership group of Economic Development Professionals that we've
[1:19:56] noted. Yeah. And one of the benefits to operating as
[1:20:01] a region because it's such a large space. Is that
[1:20:04] the opportunities can more likely get captured because the more
[1:20:09] options as opposed to it was just one municipality. You
[1:20:12] know, if I give you an example, if it was
[1:20:13] a, it was like oak jokes or chest A and
[1:20:19] they needed a massive like ag facility and they didn't
[1:20:21] have a land or the ability to rail spirit. We
[1:20:24] have rocky view and foothills that it can go. And
[1:20:26] the labour feeds everything. So that's, that's a huge benefit
[1:20:30] of operating is a large region. Thank you. And Mama
[1:20:33] followed. And then just from a municipal council side of,
[1:20:37] uh, things, how, how can we help support you. At
[1:20:40] the council level. Um, good question. Um, so far the
[1:20:46] support's been great. Josh has been excellent. Our advisory board's
[1:20:49] been great. Uh, what I can say coming from, so
[1:20:52] my background in the Economics Development, I come from the
[1:20:54] Edmonton region. I've worked with a lot of other municipalities
[1:20:57] too and projects. What I can say about the region
[1:21:00] as a whole, which is very positive. And of course,
[1:21:02] makes my job very easy. Is the fact that all
[1:21:05] the partners are very collaborative. So that's fantastic. And that
[1:21:10] just makes things. As easy as possible. Um, but I
[1:21:15] mean, coming forward, is there any, any additional supports we
[1:21:18] need, I would always just go to Josh at that
[1:21:20] request. Yeah. And I would just add that we are
[1:21:22] in year two of a three year pilot. And our
[1:21:24] number one job is to bring value back to the
[1:21:26] communities. And so at the end of year two, early
[1:21:30] year three will be looking at what a follow -
[1:21:32] on model or approach would look like for this. So
[1:21:35] the opportunity to come back and demonstrate the results that
[1:21:38] we have. And then hopefully get more input from, from
[1:21:43] obviously Josh is on the advisory committee and this team,
[1:21:45] but even from council to give us a sense of
[1:21:47] if it's resonating and if the opportunity for us bring
[1:21:50] back other options for models, postpilot. Thank you. Councillor Meng,
[1:21:58] did I have you? Yeah. Uh, thank you for the
[1:22:01] presentation. My question is, cause you have the five factors
[1:22:04] that you use to decide what investment would go in
[1:22:08] that area. How do you avoid duplication in a certain
[1:22:12] area. You know, you know what I mean by taking,
[1:22:14] bringing two, like foothills gets aerospace, Oktober skates. How do
[1:22:20] we avoid, you know what I mean, duplicating, invest those
[1:22:23] investment partners in that area. Okay. Did you like certify
[1:22:27] the final. By some of the? Yes. So those were
[1:22:31] just.
[1:23:08] That they don't necessarily have to correspond. Or does that
[1:23:10] answer? Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Anybody else? Councillor Nix. Uh,
[1:23:18] yeah, through the mayor. So again, thank you for the
[1:23:21] presentation. Um, is there anything that is part of Invest
[1:23:26] Greater Calgary that, um, uh, I guess is there to
[1:23:30] ensure a balanced approach for the region so that certain
[1:23:35] part of the region doesn't get favored over others? Or
[1:23:38] how is that, uh, dealt with so that the entire
[1:23:41] region is surely the benefit from it? Absolutely. And I
[1:23:45] mean, going back to sort of the previous question, are
[1:23:49] number one, our number one party is transparency for all
[1:23:52] the partners. So that's starts with the advisory board and
[1:23:56] us sharing everything. And all like all the opportunities that
[1:23:59] come forward, right? And or the other function is with
[1:24:02] some municipalities, if they need my assistance with, with helping
[1:24:07] them sort of take on the opportunity and the operational
[1:24:11] and all that kind of stuff construction, I can help.
[1:24:14] Or I can do very little. It just depends on
[1:24:16] what each partner wants. But there's full transparent everything. I
[1:24:19] don't vet any of the opportunities, any opportunity comes forward.
[1:24:22] Everybody sees it all the time. And then it's up
[1:24:24] to each partner to decide whether that's something they want
[1:24:27] to look at or consider and or submit a site.
[1:24:31] Yeah. Right on. And can I continue? Yeah. Um, so
[1:24:36] I guess the next question, um, on a higher level,
[1:24:40] I assume the objective of every economic development group is
[1:24:43] to be the best place to do business. So what,
[1:24:46] um, I guess what a view identified or what things
[1:24:50] can you highlight that are real strengths that would help
[1:24:54] us in that area and help us stand out from,
[1:24:57] you know, other economic development groups and regions. From the
[1:25:01] region as a whole. Yeah. Oh yeah. Absolutely. So, I
[1:25:04] mean, a big part of that was really focusing and
[1:25:08] seeing what sectors were realistic for us. And that's what
[1:25:11] the five sectors. And I should say subindustries, which are
[1:25:13] more important because, uh, you know, a large ag sector
[1:25:17] focus is very broad. So we have it specifically to
[1:25:20] value add processing. It's giving agriculture as an example. And,
[1:25:24] and AgroTech, those are the two things we're focusing specifically
[1:25:27] on agriculture. But when we did that, they gave us
[1:25:30] in the sector study. These are the things that we
[1:25:32] are best suited for as a region and why. So
[1:25:35] that's what we're pursuing when we go to industry and
[1:25:38] we go, to award industry as a whole. But I'd
[1:25:42] say some of the key things as a region we
[1:25:43] have is we have the land. We have a really
[1:25:46] fantastic labour supply that's very contiguous because even being in
[1:25:51] Calgary and seeing all these companies where people come in
[1:25:54] from OkaToks and ChesterMer and Ayrton and move around a
[1:25:56] lot, I'll be honest with you, I see that more
[1:25:58] here than I would have seen it in Edmonton. Right.
[1:26:01] Um, so we have a fantastic labour supply. The innovation
[1:26:05] ecosystem we have between SATH and UC and Mount Royal
[1:26:09] and all the incubators we have are amazing. So that
[1:26:12] helps a lot with companies. Um, but I would say
[1:26:15] probably one of the biggest strengths we have is we're
[1:26:18] probably, um, don't quote me on this, but probably one
[1:26:22] of the best, the supply chain spaces in western Canada
[1:26:25] as a whole, just because we're on the THANA highway,
[1:26:28] we have the volume of trucking. We have the airport
[1:26:32] is 75 percent of airport cargo in Alberta goes through
[1:26:35] YYC, right? Um, now they're prayer economic gateways being built,
[1:26:40] which is 2, 000 square feet with railspers going in,
[1:26:42] which is a rarity anywhere in Canada for that size
[1:26:45] of industrial park. So we have a lot of advantages
[1:26:47] that way. Um, and then we have the great communities
[1:26:50] like this, um, like Chester Mir, like Cochrane that have,
[1:26:54] that are great residential communities that people want to live
[1:26:57] in and then work around. So there's a lot of
[1:27:00] great benefits. I don't know if that answers some of
[1:27:03] your questions there. Okay. I have a couple of questions.
[1:27:10] Um, you had indicated that you guys did a strategic
[1:27:13] session and came up with your strategic priorities. What exactly
[1:27:15] are the strategic priorities. Uh, I would say the trees
[1:27:21] of priorities are probably what we put into those three
[1:27:23] pillars in year two. So it was basically the, um.
[1:27:28] Look, I'm sorry. I don't have them in front of
[1:27:29] me anymore. Content target. Yeah. The content is basically the
[1:27:33] lead distribution. And then the partnerships, right? Or the investment
[1:27:37] attraction, the content. So that, I mean, that was an
[1:27:39] order. It was us building the content so we could
[1:27:41] identify who we are. We could put ourselves out to
[1:27:43] the world. And the region and then globally. Right. And
[1:27:46] then of course using every resource we had for investment
[1:27:49] attraction. Because not only is it me and it's all
[1:27:52] our regional partners plus the vendor that we hired. You
[1:27:56] know, plus all a regional partners that also deal with
[1:27:59] a good example of commercial realtors and developers will also
[1:28:03] get clients that they might not know how to deal
[1:28:05] with and they will share with us. Right. So doing
[1:28:08] all that. Of course, is the partner development, right? And
[1:28:12] having that foundation built, that was what we are doing.
[1:28:15] And then now year two is just pure market and
[1:28:17] go to market. And then once we're done year two,
[1:28:20] we want to kind of measure at that point. What
[1:28:22] did we do? How do we do it well? Right.
[1:28:24] Is there anything we're missing on marketing? And we have
[1:28:27] more of a measure there. And then my second question,
[1:28:32] thank you for that. Um, is how do you guys
[1:28:34] go about. I guess segregating the roles, particularly between CED
[1:28:42] and IGC. You know, I know when it was at
[1:28:45] the metro table, that that was one of the conversations
[1:28:48] of how does this become not a Calgary economic development
[1:28:52] and actually serves those of us that are smaller, but
[1:28:55] need the power of a Calgary exposed to what's important.
[1:28:58] It's there. So just how do you go about determining
[1:29:02] who's kind of doing what so that you're not overlapping,
[1:29:06] I guess? No, no problem. So, so as mentioned before,
[1:29:09] like CD is basically the administrative. Head or helping us
[1:29:14] with all the administrative things. And so, um, and then
[1:29:17] also we pay them for that, right, as part of
[1:29:19] our funding. But they're basically, they're giving us a lot
[1:29:24] of the resources that we wouldn't have, like that we
[1:29:26] would, if we had to establish an independent office, be,
[1:29:29] you know, HR functions, financial, all those kinds of things.
[1:29:32] The marketing team that helps us with a lot of
[1:29:34] the branding and things like that. And then of course
[1:29:36] business development. But, and I'll let you speak to that
[1:29:39] on the business development on the Calgary piece. But everything
[1:29:42] that goes through investigator Calgary essentially goes through me, right?
[1:29:46] And I, like I said, and that's. I put it
[1:29:49] this way, knowing how some other regional groups in Canada
[1:29:53] have worked in some issues they've had. I know the
[1:29:55] biggest concerns always transparency with all the partners. And that
[1:29:58] is my number one priority. So like again, I don't,
[1:30:01] I don't vet opportunities or investment opportunities. No one gets
[1:30:07] priority of that. Everybody gets seize it. Um, everything that
[1:30:11] we're doing internally gets seen by the advisory board. So
[1:30:14] there are many issues. They advise your board can come
[1:30:15] and let me know. Um, strategy budgets initiatives, everything. So
[1:30:20] because like when we did the year when I did
[1:30:21] the year two strategy and budget I presented to the
[1:30:23] board and the board voted on it. Right. Um, so
[1:30:26] yeah, and that's from that perspective, all the partners are
[1:30:30] treated absolutely equals. And that's something that I stand firmly
[1:30:33] on, knowing how that operates in other situations. Um, yeah,
[1:30:38] so does that, but I'll let Tina speak to the
[1:30:41] CD side of things. Yeah. Uh, we're very invested in
[1:30:45] regional success. Even inside of how we look at our
[1:30:49] KPIs, knowing that not every project that comes in actually
[1:30:52] could potentially land in Calgary. So we would rather have
[1:30:55] it in the region than to not have it in
[1:30:57] the region. Our business development team, when they're out looking
[1:31:00] for their only generation, we have a very large business
[1:31:03] development team, but they are often bringing those leads over
[1:31:07] to Rod as well. And then we are funneling them
[1:31:09] out through the communities. Um, on top of that, when
[1:31:13] we are out doing our only generation with a vendor,
[1:31:17] uh, we're sharing those opportunities over as well. And so,
[1:31:21] you know, when we look at some sectors, the other
[1:31:24] thing I should say in the value proposition study, and
[1:31:27] Rob mentioned this, there's commonalities among all the regional partners,
[1:31:31] but every community also has its own unique sectors or
[1:31:35] subsectors that is working on. And so if we find
[1:31:38] that the really doesn't fit inside of any of our
[1:31:41] key sectors or a subsectors, we pass those along. So
[1:31:44] the way that we're looking at it is, um, even
[1:31:48] if something lands in another community, we know that some
[1:31:51] of our folks will potentially work still without company. And
[1:31:54] they'll, you know, they'll make the trip out to that
[1:31:56] location. Um, additionally on top of all of that, um,
[1:32:01] we have regular meetings with raw to give our business
[1:32:04] development team to give them a sense of the projects
[1:32:06] that we're working on, how we're working on them, how
[1:32:09] we're looking. And then wherever we can lend support to
[1:32:11] rod. So Rod can only go to so many trade
[1:32:15] shows around the world. And our team is going to
[1:32:17] some. So we're trying not to overlap and duplicate. So
[1:32:20] when we go out, they represent CED, but they also
[1:32:23] talk about IGC as well. And so we're really being
[1:32:26] collaborative. But again, just to reiterate, we see a regional
[1:32:29] win very much as a win that we need to
[1:32:32] keep. We don't want it to go anywhere else. Yeah.
[1:32:36] And that's, and the part of that also, uh, goes
[1:32:39] back to the sector focus. Because when we ask them
[1:32:41] to do that, we said we want three to five.
[1:32:44] That serves this as a contiguous space, not as a
[1:32:46] Calgary or a Chestery no potos. So those five, for
[1:32:49] example, like with CD, one of their sector focuses, I
[1:32:52] think biomedical life sciences. For life sciences. And as IGC,
[1:32:55] we don't pursue that, right? That's something that CED does.
[1:32:58] And just another thing too, is when I was talking
[1:33:00] about the 13 leads that have come in through IGC
[1:33:06] through us, uh, three were invest Alberta, right? Which a
[1:33:10] lot of the partners see. So we just share that
[1:33:12] with them. Um, and, and fever from GOA, somewhere dependent,
[1:33:16] but I don't quote me on this, but three to
[1:33:19] four, we're directly from CD. TUS that we share with
[1:33:22] all the partners. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate
[1:33:25] that. Any other questions from anybody. Excellent. Ben. I think
[1:33:31] council, we just need a motion to accept this is
[1:33:34] information or except as presented. Councillor Lang. Any discussion? Or
[1:33:40] do you want to speak to your motion. Yes, I
[1:33:44] do. Actually. I look at this as a perfect opportunity
[1:33:47] for the whole region to work together to attract investment
[1:33:53] and any opportunity we can do to have investment coming
[1:33:56] to the region. Is beneficial to the whole area. So
[1:34:01] I commend you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else
[1:34:05] like to speak to this motion. Seeing none with that
[1:34:09] then I will call a question all in favor.
[1:34:20] And that carries unanimously. Thank you very much for your
[1:34:23] presentation and for making the trip to Oaks. Oaks. We
[1:34:25] greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Alrighty, that takes us to
[1:34:32] 7. 2, which is a capital budget amendment for project
[1:34:37] 280. And, um, I think I have director green, but
[1:34:41] director green is missing at this moment in time. Um,
[1:34:47] how about if I just add lib and we're going
[1:34:49] to go to 7. 3, we're going to go to
[1:34:51] the request for cancellation of tax penalties. And I'm going
[1:34:54] to turn it over to our CFO. Catherine Van Kampima.
[1:35:00] And I will let her go from there. Thank you,
[1:35:05] Marathon. Members of council, I'm here this afternoon to present
[1:35:08] you a request that we have received from a taxpayer
[1:35:12] for council to cancel the penalties that were applied due
[1:35:17] to the late payment of property taxes. I don't really
[1:35:19] have anything more to add than what's in the report.
[1:35:22] So I would just open it up to questions if
[1:35:24] anyone has any. Thank you very much. Any questions from
[1:35:28] anybody. Councillor Hallmark. Thank you, Madam Mayor, through yourself too.
[1:35:35] Um, CFO Van Kai Pima. I read the letter that
[1:35:40] the wall call it sent in. And I'm just, when
[1:35:43] we get our, I just want to refresh my memory.
[1:35:45] When we get a letter, like mine comes in the
[1:35:47] mail, does everybody get their tech, their bill in the
[1:35:50] mail or do some people get it online? Like is
[1:35:52] there a re, and then it has a due date
[1:35:53] on it. Does it not. Yeah, it's true. The mayor
[1:35:56] to Councillor Hallmark. There is a due date on the
[1:36:00] bill itself. There's information on the back as to how
[1:36:03] you can pay it and what the penalty is. If
[1:36:05] you don't pay it by the due date, there's also,
[1:36:08] uh, communications campaign notifications that goes in the western wheel
[1:36:13] and out on our website. So the number of notifications
[1:36:16] to let everyone know that the tax notice that they
[1:36:18] received in the mail or through their email. Uh, is
[1:36:22] due June the 30th. Anybody else. Councillor Lang. Is it
[1:36:29] pretty standard through the province that it is June 30th
[1:36:33] is always the due date. Through Marathon to Councillor Lang,
[1:36:38] in my experience, I would say probably at least 85
[1:36:42] percent of municipalities. Some of them do have a September
[1:36:48] 30th due date. However, I'd say most municipalities is June
[1:36:52] the 30th. Thank you. Councillor Knicks. Thank you. Through the
[1:36:57] mayor. So I just wanted to confirm because I didn't
[1:36:59] see it in the package. Was there anything that would
[1:37:02] have interrupted the delivery of the tax bill or in
[1:37:07] some way made it so that the, um, the residents
[1:37:10] didn't receive the bill on time or anything like that,
[1:37:14] like any administrative issues. Through the marriage councillor, Nix, there
[1:37:17] were no administrative issues. The notices were sent on time.
[1:37:21] Um, and they're also deemed to have received them through
[1:37:24] the municipal government Act on the day within a couple
[1:37:27] of days of their mailing. Okay. Thank you. Count it,
[1:37:34] we're okay. We're moving to a motion. I will go
[1:37:36] to Councillor Hallmark for that motion. Thank you, Madam Mayor.
[1:37:39] I'd like to make the motion that the request for
[1:37:41] the cancellation of the July penalty for tax roll number
[1:37:45] 0086270 be denied. Thank you. We got that motion. Would
[1:37:52] you like to speak to that? Just briefly, Madam Mayor,
[1:37:56] I'm empathetic whenever we've seen this in the past, but
[1:37:59] I think we've all been there at one point or
[1:38:01] another. I think that they, um, the. The number 0086270
[1:38:09] in their email in, even owned the mistakes. So I,
[1:38:13] I'm empathetic, but it is, I mean, we send out
[1:38:16] the thing. Everybody has bills to pay on time. So.
[1:38:20] I think I incur support. Okay. Would anybody else like
[1:38:24] to speak to this. Seeing nan? So I will call
[1:38:28] the question all in favor.
[1:38:41] And that carries unanimously. Thank you very much. I will
[1:38:44] now go back to item 7. 2 for the Capitol
[1:38:49] budget amendment for project 280. And I have our community
[1:38:53] growth identity director Jeff Green to present. Thank you. Worship
[1:39:01] members of council. We're here to present requests to increase
[1:39:06] project budget for project 280, which is river's edge. By
[1:39:12] 800, 000 dollars. This would be contingent on securing funding
[1:39:16] through transport Canada's rail safety improvement program. CPKC is actually
[1:39:22] encouraging the town to apply for this grant because it
[1:39:27] creates the opportunity for us to include flashing lights, bells
[1:39:31] and gates that proposed pedestrian crossing that we have previously,
[1:39:37] um, had to look at taking out of the budget
[1:39:40] due to costs. The federal program will fund up to
[1:39:46] 80, 000, 80, 000, 80 percent of eligible cost. Administration
[1:39:52] attends to submit applications for both the pedestrian crossing. As
[1:39:56] well as improvements at veterans way. Um, before the September
[1:40:00] 4th, 2026 deadline, council approval is required to demonstrate that
[1:40:08] the project has committed funds before we actually can apply
[1:40:12] for the grant. Um, the budget authority would only be
[1:40:16] used if the grant is successful, therefore, if the grant
[1:40:19] is unsuccessful, then the project budget would not proceed. That
[1:40:26] concludes my report. Hope happy to answer any questions. Councillor
[1:40:32] Lang. What would the likelihood of not getting this grant
[1:40:38] bee. Or how? Better way to put this is what
[1:40:44] is the likelihood of being successful. Uh, grant funding is
[1:40:49] always a challenge in terms of making a guess as
[1:40:55] to your likelihood of success. I would suggest that the
[1:40:58] fact that we're being encouraged to apply for it would
[1:41:01] have us lean further towards the likelihood of being successful.
[1:41:06] Thank you. Councillor Degma. Thank you through the chair. Um,
[1:41:13] do you happen to know what the average life cycle
[1:41:15] is on one of these systems in terms of like
[1:41:17] replacement? Like how long would we be looking at before
[1:41:19] we need to. I wouldn't be able to hazard a
[1:41:24] guest on the life cycle of the asset itself. Um,
[1:41:27] though the maintenance of those facilities, um, are done fairly
[1:41:32] regularly. So like with most assets, you're probably in the
[1:41:37] 25 to 50 year horizon, but it's, uh, I wouldn't
[1:41:40] have any specific detail on that question. Thank you. Councillor
[1:41:47] Penner. Thank you. And did I read correctly in the
[1:41:50] package that this is a step towards being able to
[1:41:54] apply for whistle cessation. Yes. That's correct. Uh, in order
[1:41:59] for, uh, Whistle C station to take place on controlled
[1:42:03] intersections along the CPKC rail line through Okatokes would have
[1:42:08] to have control structures in place. So being able to
[1:42:10] actually get, uh, control structure placed veterans. And at the
[1:42:15] pedestrian crossing, uh, given that we already have control structures
[1:42:19] at, um, most of our other crossings or bridges in
[1:42:22] our other crossings, um, we would be in a much
[1:42:25] better position to make application, um, to become a whistle
[1:42:30] cessation community. Thank you. And do we still have, are
[1:42:36] we tracking how many complaints we get around the whistle
[1:42:39] every year? Do we have a sense of how many
[1:42:41] complaints we're getting. I wouldn't have, um, any specific information
[1:42:46] on that council penner. We could, uh, certainly put it
[1:42:49] inquiry and intend. Try to gather that information. But I
[1:42:53] don't have it at my fingertips. Okay. Thank you. I
[1:42:56] just know it's something that pops up. Usually every spring,
[1:43:00] but. Can you just clarify for me, um, this is
[1:43:05] to deal with, um, pedestrian crossing west of veterans, which
[1:43:11] we're moving. It won't be in the same location that
[1:43:13] it's currently in, correct? And veteran's way, like putting crossing
[1:43:18] arms at veterans way. Cause we've already got the lights
[1:43:21] and bells at veterans ways. Correct. So it's to put
[1:43:24] the crossing arms there and add all of that to
[1:43:27] the pedestrian crossing. That's correct. And the, what is it?
[1:43:33] 800, 000 we're adding to this. The expectation is that
[1:43:38] that would be what the total project would cost, but
[1:43:41] we're expecting. Is that my understanding? Yes. That is correct.
[1:43:50] Okay. Okay. Thank you. Councillor Deigman. I'd like to make
[1:43:55] the motion that the 2026 Capitol Budgem budget be amended
[1:43:59] by increasing the approved budget for project 280 rivers edge
[1:44:03] by 800, 000. Would you like to speak to that?
[1:44:07] Uh, yeah. I think this is a no brainer in
[1:44:11] my mind. I think it's a great opportunity for us
[1:44:12] to be able to leverage some of the federal resources
[1:44:16] in a way that's going to be able to make
[1:44:17] our community safer. And if this gets us closer to
[1:44:21] being able to not have that whistle blow, I think
[1:44:24] our whole community would very much enjoy that. So I
[1:44:26] would encourage support. Okay. Would anybody else like to speak.
[1:44:32] None? With that, I'll call the question all in favor.
[1:44:47] And that carries unanimously. And we are going to take
[1:44:49] a five minute recess and we will come back to
[1:44:52] 7. 4.
[1:48:03] Okay. We'll call the meeting back to order. And we
[1:48:06] are at, I am 7. 4. Our workforce health mid
[1:48:11] - year update. And I have our director of community
[1:48:14] safety and organisational excellence, Paul LeBronette and our human resources
[1:48:19] manager. Pedersen. It's Pedersen, right? Not Peterson. Peterson. To present.
[1:48:35] Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Uh, thank you for the
[1:48:39] opportunity to present our mid - year workforce health update.
[1:48:44] Some of the key highlights from our first six months
[1:48:47] of 2026 include the posting the town's pagrids, which enhance
[1:48:53] public visibility into our compensation structure and establish a strong
[1:48:58] foundation for the 2027 disclosure requirement. Under Bill 28. Organisational
[1:49:06] adjustments implemented in May 2026. To improve consistency, strengthening coordination
[1:49:12] across teams and enhance communication. Third, continued succession planning efforts
[1:49:19] focused on identifying and preparing for potential vacancies in critical
[1:49:23] leadership positions to support service continuity and knowledge transfer. Together,
[1:49:30] these initiative strengthener ability to attract retain and develop employees
[1:49:34] while ensuring the town remains well positioned to meet future
[1:49:38] service demands. Moving through the report itself. Workforce staffing. Workforce
[1:49:45] staffing levels remain generally stable while seasonal staffing levels will
[1:49:50] decline as summer positions conclude. Overall staffing trends continue to
[1:49:56] be consistent. Workforce stability. Workforce stability remains positive with fewer
[1:50:05] employee departures than at this time last year due in
[1:50:10] part to higher numbers of retirement in 2025. A near
[1:50:15] to date voluntary turnover is 2. 1. This rate is
[1:50:18] expected to increase a seasonal employment end during the third
[1:50:22] quarter. An annual voluntary turnover rate of five to eight
[1:50:27] percent is generally considered healthy within the public sector. And
[1:50:30] we anticipate finishing within or near that range. Workforce health
[1:50:38] and wellness at mid - year. There have been zero
[1:50:42] formal grievances human rates complaints, claims or formal complaints. Health
[1:50:47] and wellness indicators have increased slightly compared to last year.
[1:50:51] This reflects and usually low claim activity at mid -
[1:50:55] year 2025 rather than a significant change in overall trends.
[1:51:01] Our last time claim frequency remains slightly better than industry
[1:51:06] average. While our time loss frequency rate is slightly below
[1:51:12] industry performance. This indicates a higher number of incidence, but
[1:51:16] generally less severe incidents from a cost perspective when compared
[1:51:21] to industry benchmarks. Our core action plan has been approved
[1:51:27] and we continue to advance those priorities as we prepare
[1:51:30] for our next core audit in the spring of 2027.
[1:51:36] This concludes our report. We'd be happy to answer any
[1:51:39] questions from council. Perfect. Thank you very much. Council any
[1:51:45] questions on this. Councillor Deckma. Thank you to the chair.
[1:51:49] Just really quick one. Why is Q3 typically a peak
[1:51:52] period for departures? Like what are some of the reasons
[1:51:56] about Q3 that make it different than the other quarters.
[1:52:01] Through the mayor to council Daykman. Usually our seasonal folks
[1:52:07] will be ending in August into September. So that will
[1:52:10] impact. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Lang. I know you
[1:52:18] tried to explain this. But when I'm looking at the
[1:52:21] WCB Average cost per lost time claim it's 4 million
[1:52:25] dollars more and Q1 and 2 of 26 than it
[1:52:30] is in 25. It's almost 600 percent increase. I'm trying
[1:52:34] to figure out, trying to wrap my head around how.
[1:52:38] Through the mayor council Lane. We had a significant decrease
[1:52:44] in claims in 2025 in an ordinant mount. Uh, we
[1:52:47] had done a large push and education to ensure that
[1:52:53] we were getting people back to work, et cetera. Um,
[1:52:58] so now that we've kind of stabilized that. We're far
[1:53:01] more into industry. Numbers. If I can add through the
[1:53:09] mayor, we were unusually low in 2025. We're still well
[1:53:15] within, um, industry average right now. Thank you. So just
[1:53:20] building on that, because I had a similar question. So
[1:53:23] with the fact that we were unusually low and we
[1:53:26] had a significant increase on education. Does it not correlate
[1:53:31] that we should continue to do significant educate because it's
[1:53:34] obviously, and again, I know it's an anomaly, it's one
[1:53:38] year. So it's an anomaly. But it does seem to
[1:53:41] show that the increased education, the increased reminders does result
[1:53:46] in a decrease in claims, which is win for the
[1:53:50] employee, when for us as an organisation, um, all the
[1:53:54] way around. So just wondering if you have any insight
[1:53:56] on line of sight on that. If I can through
[1:53:59] the mayor, uh, to the chair, thank you for the
[1:54:02] question. I think for what we saw in 2025 was
[1:54:08] again, our claims numbers were really low. I don't think
[1:54:10] it was simply driven by the increase of education. I
[1:54:15] think when we looked at the business centres and did
[1:54:18] a deeper dive, um, we saw some significant reduction and
[1:54:22] claims in our larger business centres like FAR and Rescue
[1:54:26] potentially. And so I think again, there's some, uh, education
[1:54:34] that contributed potentially. We also had a lot of activities
[1:54:38] going on in 2025. Um, more than, I would say
[1:54:43] we've seen in past history in terms of, um, inspections
[1:54:48] from OHS Alberta additional, um, core audit. Cause last year
[1:54:55] our core audit was in person. This year it's an
[1:54:58] action plan. So a lot of differences in terms of,
[1:55:01] um, what we were doing, um, with the workers, most
[1:55:05] certainly the last half of 2025, we came to more
[1:55:09] of our, uh, normal numbers in terms of what we
[1:55:12] would traditionally see. So. Thank you. Any other questions.
[1:55:24] Thank you very much for putting this together. I appreciate.
[1:55:27] I know this is a, um, an improvement we've done
[1:55:30] of doing this regular update. So I appreciate all the
[1:55:33] work you guys do to bring us that report. So
[1:55:36] council, if I could get a motion to receive this
[1:55:39] information, councillor Penner. Would you like to speak to the
[1:55:45] motion? Anybody. Anybody else. Seeing them, I will call the
[1:55:52] question all in favor.
[1:56:03] And that carries your namelessly. Thank you very much for
[1:56:05] your presentation today. Alrighty, that takes us to 7. 5.
[1:56:11] The whistle bullet blower policy, CMDR 4. 5 amendments. And
[1:56:17] I have our senior legislative Affairs officer Olga kind of
[1:56:22] Vikeyski kind of escreve. Did I get a close? Was
[1:56:25] I close, Oka?
[1:56:36] Good afternoon Mayor and Council, Olga Knowski, Senior Legislative Affairs
[1:56:39] Officer. In 2025, the province of Alberta enacted Bill 50,
[1:56:46] which removed municipal authority to regulate councillor conduct. As a
[1:56:50] result, existing code of contact bylaws are no longer enforceable
[1:56:54] and municipalities can no longer address councillor contact complaints to
[1:56:58] a municipal court of conduct framework. In 2026, Bill 28
[1:57:04] established a provincial administrator councillor accountability framework under the municipal
[1:57:09] government Act, including processes for complaints, investigations, appeals, and sanctions.
[1:57:16] While the legislative framework is now in force, additional requirements
[1:57:19] are expected to be prescribed through a fourth common regulation.
[1:57:23] The proposed revisions to the whistleblower policy will remove references
[1:57:27] to the code of conduct bylaw and the associated complaint
[1:57:30] process as well as make minor administrative adjustments to improve
[1:57:35] clarity, accuracy and consistency throughout the policy. The revisions will
[1:57:39] align the policy with the current legislative framework and additional
[1:57:44] requirements will be monitored and incorporated as necessary. That concludes
[1:57:48] my report. I will be happy to answer your questions
[1:57:51] now. Coun. Any questions. So if I understand this correctly
[1:57:59] then, the way it currently exists, we have an accountability
[1:58:03] framework. We have no regulations around that framework. So we
[1:58:07] have something was to occur at this moment in time.
[1:58:11] Relating to somebody at this table. There's really, the mechanism.
[1:58:18] For the public. For administration or for council to report
[1:58:23] anything. Is that, am I got that quite correct. Through
[1:58:29] the chair, yes, we have the, um, legislative framework, but
[1:58:32] no regulation and regulation is expected to be in place
[1:58:36] sooner than 2027. Um, so we. Currently have no details
[1:58:44] about the fees. Or. Other information about how this going
[1:58:50] to work. If I can add through the mayor, um,
[1:58:55] should misconduct perhaps land in a different arena like privacy
[1:59:00] or human rights. Potentially there would be mechanisms that, uh,
[1:59:05] any public member, the public employee could avail themselves too.
[1:59:12] So most certainly those would be potentially two areas that
[1:59:14] there could be something that, um, could be pursued depending
[1:59:18] on the situation of course. Other than that, we would
[1:59:21] have no real jurisdictional authority, I would say. So even
[1:59:28] with that, then would we still recommend to the public
[1:59:31] that if there was something, and I'm talking specifically from
[1:59:35] a council table perspective that if there was a concern
[1:59:37] or something around a member at the council table that
[1:59:40] they should still file a whistleblower, um, complaint, even though
[1:59:46] so that we administration might not be able to have
[1:59:49] the context of this could fall under human rights. Or
[1:59:52] WCBL. Just use those as my examples. Um, and then
[1:59:55] we would also be able to come back and say,
[1:59:58] this does not actually fall under any legislation at this
[2:00:02] moment in time. Um, this is what there is that
[2:00:06] the process, not that we get, like I think we've
[2:00:09] had one in my 13 years, but, um, would that
[2:00:14] be the process you would recommend. If I can to
[2:00:17] the mayor, thank you for the question. I think given
[2:00:19] the circumstances most certainly the most prudent thing to do
[2:00:23] would be to intake whatever any concern is brought forward
[2:00:28] and do a thorough review and understand whether there is
[2:00:31] jurisdictional action that we can take or potentially refer them
[2:00:35] to another agency. So yes, I think that's a reasonable
[2:00:40] approach. All right. Is there any other questions from council
[2:00:45] on this? Councillor next. Yeah. So just a quick question
[2:00:50] with the, I guess gap that's going on with the
[2:00:54] regulation right now. Um, certain other issues like, um. Pecuniary
[2:01:02] interests and conflict of interest and stuff like that. Is
[2:01:05] there any sort of mechanism or is it just to
[2:01:08] the legal system where that would. Any of that sort
[2:01:12] of thing would come into play or how like how
[2:01:16] is, I guess, the public assured that those of us
[2:01:18] that are in this role are doing this properly. Thank
[2:01:26] you for the question, councillor. Nix. I think at this
[2:01:28] point most certainly we would have to refer that to
[2:01:32] municipal Affairs for some direction. As you've mentioned, most certainly
[2:01:36] there is some, I guess, uh, we could seek legal
[2:01:39] opinion. Um, however, again, from a jurisdictionals perspective, most certainly
[2:01:44] the legislation that was passed is very clear in terms
[2:01:46] of us not being able to name or have, uh,
[2:01:50] counsel in that, um, in that code of conduct for
[2:01:53] sure. So at this point I would say. That we,
[2:01:57] we need to rely, I guess, on municipal Affairs for
[2:02:00] direction and guidance would be the most prudent. Just to
[2:02:05] supplement that, the pecuniary injuries peace discovered differently in the
[2:02:09] municipal government Act, then code of conduct is. So there
[2:02:12] would be some coverage under them in a spool government
[2:02:15] Act on pecuniary interest. And I want to say on
[2:02:19] conflict of interest because they put new language in there,
[2:02:22] but I'm not as familiar with exactly where exactly that
[2:02:24] is. So they're a bit of a different situation than
[2:02:29] quota conduct. Opportunities. So there is different coverage again on
[2:02:35] that through the municipal government. Act. Where is code conduct
[2:02:40] was removed from the municipal government. Act. Anybody else. Sing
[2:02:47] none. Somebody want to make a motion to. Approve these
[2:02:53] amendments as presented. Councilornex. Would you like to speak to
[2:02:59] your amendment or your motion. Um. I mean, not really.
[2:03:06] I mean, we have to do these changes. Not really.
[2:03:10] And then I will. So here we go. But yeah,
[2:03:13] we sort of have to make these changes based on
[2:03:15] the change in provincial legislation. So, uh, it sort of
[2:03:19] is what it is. Um, I do think there's a
[2:03:21] gap there that should be close sooner rather than later.
[2:03:24] But that is up to the province. And we need
[2:03:26] to wait for that. So. Um, yeah, I would encourage
[2:03:30] supporting the amendments because I don't really think we have
[2:03:34] a choice anyway. Would anybody else like to speak to
[2:03:39] this. Yeah. Okay. With that then I'll call the question
[2:03:44] all in favor.
[2:03:58] And that carries unanimously. I'm looking, waiting for it to
[2:04:00] come up on my screen. It's on the big screen.
[2:04:02] Um, perfect. That takes us through our business items. Which
[2:04:07] moves us to bylaws. We're on Bylaw 19 - 26.
[2:04:12] The elections signage bylaw and 1124 with amendments for that.
[2:04:19] And I'm going to turn it back over to our
[2:04:22] senior legislative Affairs Manager. Olga Convesky. Thank you. Thank you,
[2:04:30] Mayor Thorin. The province of Alberta amended the election Act
[2:04:34] through Bill 54, removing municipal authorities regulate provincial election advertising
[2:04:39] and signage. The town's election signage bylaw 1124 currently regulates
[2:04:44] signage associated with municipal, provincial and federal elections. As a
[2:04:48] result of these legislative changes, the provisions governing provincial election
[2:04:52] and referendum signage are no longer enforceable and should be
[2:04:55] removed. The proposed amendments will align the bylaw with current
[2:05:00] legislative framework and remove provisions that can no longer be
[2:05:04] enforced. That concludes my report. I'll be happy to answer
[2:05:08] your questions now. Anybody have any questions. Councillor Deichma. Thank
[2:05:16] you. Through the chair. I just want to confirm. So
[2:05:18] for us with our Byla no longer being enforced for
[2:05:24] either the referendum or anything else from the province side
[2:05:28] of things. Does that mean there's no limitation in terms
[2:05:30] of like sign size or location in which they can
[2:05:35] put it. And do we still have the ability to
[2:05:38] ensure that, um, on municipal lands that we can dictate
[2:05:43] who can access and put signs on municipal lands or
[2:05:46] not? Or is there just Bill 54 kind of speak
[2:05:49] specifically to that. Through the chair, thank you for the
[2:05:53] question. Um, the province assumed so authority over provincial election
[2:05:59] and referendum signage will no longer have authority to dictate
[2:06:02] the placement or, um. Size of election or referendum signage.
[2:06:09] However, we would be encouraging election stakeholders to use the
[2:06:13] five election signage corrals that will be marked in early
[2:06:18] September to ensure that, um, we are protecting sidelines and
[2:06:24] to ensure the safety of all stakeholders. So that is
[2:06:32] the strategy that we're proposing. However, we have no authority
[2:06:35] to enforce and make, stay colders, use those locations. So
[2:06:43] with that, so let's say if someone does have an
[2:06:45] oversized sign that creates a safety concern, who's ultimately responsible
[2:06:50] in enforcing that in terms of removing that sign, if
[2:06:53] it's creating a safety concern. Through the chair, thank you
[2:06:57] for the question. So we would, if a sign creates
[2:07:01] a safety concern or potentially, there is damage to municipal
[2:07:07] infrastructure, for example. Then we would manage that through orcadox
[2:07:12] municipal enforcement. Okay. Thank you. Councillor next. Um, yeah, so
[2:07:19] through the mayor just to follow up on councillor documents.
[2:07:22] So does elections Alberta then regulate the signage. And so
[2:07:27] there are still some controls. They're just at the provincial
[2:07:30] level instead of the municipal level. Is that correct? Through
[2:07:34] the chair, thank you for the question, council. Nick's correct,
[2:07:37] election authorities, electional birthdays, they're responsible authority for the provincial
[2:07:42] election signage. Um, and referendum signage. And there's currently, um,
[2:07:49] no rules around the placement of such signage to date.
[2:07:54] So questions regarding the rules should be directed to them
[2:07:58] as a responsible authority. Okay. And then would they also
[2:08:01] be in charge of enforcement of their said policies that
[2:08:06] may or may not exist. I would say. Yeah. Okay.
[2:08:15] Thank you. Um, just a couple of questions. 6. 1
[2:08:23] and 6. 2 in the actual bylaw.
[2:08:40] For 6. 1. 2, does the word referendum need to
[2:08:44] come out of that? It's in the first sentence and
[2:08:48] at the very end. Like it's listed three times in
[2:08:50] there. Because I don't think we can deal with referendums
[2:08:53] any longer. So you took out the province, but you
[2:08:56] kept referendums in. So it says four federal elections or
[2:09:00] referendums. If I can through the mayor, I think the
[2:09:04] connection there was connecting federal elections or federal referendum. So
[2:09:08] connecting that to the federal jurisdiction. So I think we
[2:09:10] could clean that up so that it takes out, it
[2:09:15] would be federal referendums. Okay. Yeah. So I think that
[2:09:18] needs to just be clarified because I didn't read it
[2:09:21] as federal referendums. I just read it as referendums. So
[2:09:24] that's in 6. 1. 2 and in 6. 2. 1.
[2:09:29] We also mentioned referendums there. Thank you, Mayor. We can
[2:09:39] tidy that up, yes. Okay. And with that, um, this
[2:09:45] bylaw is ready for first reading. So with those amendments,
[2:09:50] we put first reading on. Then I, when we go
[2:09:52] to second reading, we can make the amendments at that
[2:09:55] point in a time to make those changes. Is that
[2:09:58] correct, right? Yeah. That's the process. Yeah. Councillor Lang, you're
[2:10:01] moving first reading. First reading is not debatable. So all
[2:10:06] in favor. And that carries unanimously.
[2:10:16] Somebody like to move second reading. Councillor Lang. Would you
[2:10:22] like to speak to it. Um, yeah. This is where
[2:10:27] I'd say those amendments. You could just move it and
[2:10:30] then I can make amendments. Yeah. I'm just moving it.
[2:10:33] Okay. And then I would like to make an amendment.
[2:10:39] To that. Can I do that as chair? I think
[2:10:42] I might have to give up chair. All the people
[2:10:44] that know our procedure bylaw really well are not here
[2:10:48] in this chamber. So we're going to go with what
[2:10:50] I think, I think I might need to give up,
[2:10:52] share, um, Deputy Mayor Daykma. Yeah, sure. Why didn't you
[2:10:57] do that. Thank you, Councillor Deichma. No, they're highlighted on
[2:11:03] here. If I can, uh, review cancellor Dycamo, the amendments
[2:11:07] that you'd like to make. Under 6. 1. 2. We'll
[2:11:12] read four federal elections or federal referendums. Signs may be
[2:11:18] from the date of the election or referendum being called
[2:11:21] until three days following the election or referendum. And in
[2:11:28] it would be 6. 2. 1. It would read for
[2:11:33] all election types municipal federal or school board, election signs
[2:11:38] may be displayed on private property six weeks prior to
[2:11:41] the election day. Or federal referendum being called until seven
[2:11:45] days following the election or referend. Thank you. Okay. Um,
[2:11:53] those amendments would you like to speak to your amendments.
[2:11:57] Uh, no. Anybody else want to speak to the amendments.
[2:12:00] Okay. We're going to call the, um, vote on the
[2:12:04] amendments. So all in favor.
[2:12:15] Oh, sorry.
[2:12:36] Should have. Just typed it up. And had it. But
[2:12:38] I didn't even think about the fact. That.
[2:13:00] Okay. So we've got a motion on the amendments and
[2:13:05] I'm calling the question all in favor of amending. Second
[2:13:10] reading.
[2:13:27] And that carries unanimously. That takes us back to second
[2:13:32] reading as mended. Is there anybody else that wants to
[2:13:36] make any amendments. Seeing none. So, um, anything to close,
[2:13:41] Council Lang. With that then, I will call the question.
[2:13:44] This is on second reading as amended. All in favor.
[2:13:50] Mayor, can I just have a pause and just have
[2:13:52] a word with the chair? Yep. We will stand down.
[2:13:56] For two minutes.
[2:14:52] Where bode gone second reading as amended. Anybody wish to
[2:14:57] speak to that. Seeing none. I will call the question
[2:15:00] all in favor. Sorry, Mayor Thorne. Who made that motion?
[2:15:06] Councillor Lang. Thank you.
[2:15:21] That carries unanimously. We are now at authorization to be
[2:15:25] given to read by law 19 - 26, a third
[2:15:28] time. We need three quarters of us. Councillor next. Would
[2:15:33] you like to speak to that. Uh, no, thank you.
[2:15:37] Okay. Anybody else calling that question all in favor. Oh,
[2:15:47] I did say three quarters. It has to be unanimous,
[2:15:49] which it works out well. It's unanimous. So that's good.
[2:15:52] Uh, all things worked out well there. Perfect. Um, and
[2:15:57] that now leads us to that bylaw 1926 be read
[2:16:00] a third time and passed. Would somebody like to make
[2:16:02] them motion. Councillor Penner. Would you like to speak to
[2:16:06] that. Anybody else. Okay. Colling my question, all in favor.
[2:16:19] And that carries unanimously. Which takes us to motions renoices.
[2:16:26] And I am going, or no, notices of motion. Is
[2:16:28] there any notices of motion being wrapped for it? No.
[2:16:31] Which takes us to motions renoices, but I'm going to
[2:16:33] take a five minute recess and then we'll come back.
[2:16:36] I'll be able to look at that.
[2:21:18] Okay. We're back. To order. Um, we have, um, motions
[2:21:25] renoices on the books for the regulation of electric bicycles
[2:21:28] and electric mobility devices, which was, um, put on in
[2:21:32] the agenda at our July meeting by Councillor Nix. We
[2:21:36] can debate this at this meeting if you would like
[2:21:38] Councillor Nix. But if you do not want to, we
[2:21:40] can go to the next meeting. So I will turn
[2:21:42] it over to you to decide what we want to
[2:21:45] do. Uh, yes, I'm okay to enter it into this
[2:21:50] meeting. Okay. So, um, what we need, this will need
[2:21:54] to be read in as a motion and then that
[2:21:57] allows us to be there in order for it to
[2:21:59] be read in as a motion. We do need a
[2:22:01] seconder on, um, this notice of motion. Is there anybody
[2:22:05] at the table that would like to be the seconder
[2:22:07] on this notice motion. I'm happy to second it. I
[2:22:12] don't think you can. I will. Okay. There's a lot
[2:22:15] of things you guys keep saying I can't do today.
[2:22:19] You know, you don't have to be in the world.
[2:22:24] Okay. So Councillor Penner on that councillor Penner's going to
[2:22:27] second that. And do I, do we need to make
[2:22:29] the motion first and then have the seconder? Or do
[2:22:33] we just need the seconder for then Otis of Motion?
[2:22:37] We have. Capital speed. Doc. You pull a friend. Yes.
[2:22:43] Um, the motion would have to be put on the
[2:22:45] floor and seconded. And then it can be debated. Okay.
[2:22:47] So we'll do that. So what I'll get you to
[2:22:50] do, Councillor Nix is read your motion into the record.
[2:22:53] I know you read the whole thing last time, but
[2:22:55] we'll read this motion part. Oh, you did. I thought
[2:22:59] you read it out. It's just there. Oh, okay. So
[2:23:03] I'll get you to read the motion into the record
[2:23:05] or make the motion. Then I'll get councillor penner to
[2:23:08] second that. And then we will debate it. Just the
[2:23:13] motion. Yeah. Okay. So I would like to make the
[2:23:17] motion that council direct administration to review and prepare a
[2:23:21] bylaw regulating the operation of electric bicycles and other electric
[2:23:25] mobility devices within the town of Oktokes, including provisions respecting
[2:23:30] their use on roadway sidewalks pathways Parks and other municipal
[2:23:34] property. And that administration consider regulatory approaches utilised by other
[2:23:39] Alberta municipalities, including the regional municipality of wood buffalo and
[2:23:44] return to council with recommendations and a proposed bylaw for
[2:23:48] council's consideration. Do I have a seconder on this motion.
[2:23:54] Yes, please. I'd like to second it. Okay. That puts
[2:24:00] it on the floor now, right? Okay. So councillor next.
[2:24:02] You can speak to your motion. Uh, yeah. So, um,
[2:24:06] I mean, I think this has been close to the
[2:24:09] top issue that I've seen talked about in the community
[2:24:12] over the last few months. And certainly, um, you know,
[2:24:16] nationally and across North America, the ton of articles about,
[2:24:21] um, these new e moto bikes or e - dirt
[2:24:26] bikes. Uh, that are on the market. And these would
[2:24:29] be electric bikes that would go, you know, upwards of
[2:24:32] 50 to 70 kilometers an hour. And that these are
[2:24:35] often being operated by, uh, people without licences. Uh, young
[2:24:41] kids that maybe are not familiar with traffic rules. And
[2:24:45] causing significant safety concern. So, um, my intention with this
[2:24:50] is that we, uh, come up with a municipal bylaw
[2:24:55] to align with the Alberta regulations because there is an
[2:24:59] Alberta definition of what is a legitimate e - bike
[2:25:02] and what is considered to be motor, more, motor vehicle
[2:25:08] more on the level of a motorcycle or moped. And
[2:25:13] that we do that to just help increase awareness in
[2:25:17] the community and, uh, give our bylaw officers. A little
[2:25:20] more leeway to control things as needed. Okay. Would anybody
[2:25:26] else like to speak to this motion. Councillor Penner. Is
[2:25:32] this something. That. S. Okay? Thank you. Is this something
[2:25:42] that we could even regulate. I'm not, like, is it
[2:25:46] something that can be regulated through Byla or does it
[2:25:48] have to be done through the highway traffic Act. While
[2:25:52] my intention is for admin to take a look and
[2:25:54] let us know what we can do. So I don't
[2:25:57] know for sure what we can do in that regard.
[2:26:00] Um, but I'd like us to spend some time and
[2:26:04] take a look and see what can be, can be
[2:26:06] done. And I'll go to director Burnett for, if I
[2:26:12] can remind Councillor Penner, I believe, uh, our municipal enforcement
[2:26:16] manager, Vikram Calcarney mentioned the gap in terms of the
[2:26:20] e - bikes not being recognised as a motor vehicle.
[2:26:24] Hence, for the reason in terms of potentially needing or
[2:26:27] requiring a municipal bylaw to allow foreign enforcement. So it's
[2:26:31] really the actual classification of the actual type of, um,
[2:26:38] vehicle in this case or the type of bike. Yes.
[2:26:53] And so then I'm reticent to put a lot of,
[2:26:56] even though I seconded the motion was for this debate.
[2:27:00] I'm reticent to put a lot of staff time into
[2:27:02] this if the province is going to come back and
[2:27:04] say, no, that's not your jurisdiction. Which they seem to
[2:27:08] be inclined to do on a variety of topics at
[2:27:12] this point. Most certainly many of our fellow municipalities are
[2:27:17] monitoring this. And again, the avenues that we've seen is
[2:27:22] some are pursuing bylaws to be able to enforce. And
[2:27:26] others are letting the gap, let's say, remain. And in
[2:27:31] terms of alternatives, that's really what we've seen to date.
[2:27:35] Thank you. And has there been any directions, or can
[2:27:37] I keep going? I was just going to, um, add
[2:27:40] in there that, um, the report that Emi municipal manager,
[2:27:46] Gil Carney said, is that we would have the ability
[2:27:48] to put a bylaw in there because there is a
[2:27:50] gap. The province has come out. I have heard minister
[2:27:55] Driesen speak. That they are looking to address the traffic
[2:28:00] Act, but it is not a priority piece of work
[2:28:03] for them. So I think that's what, um, municipalities. I've
[2:28:07] talked to, um, have looked at is that, well, we
[2:28:11] need to address the gap in the interim. And so
[2:28:13] this is the tool that doesn't municipality. We would have
[2:28:16] to address that gap. Until the province does come out
[2:28:19] with changes to the traffic Act. So that's, that's what
[2:28:23] I've heard and what I've heard ministry agents take. Yeah.
[2:28:33] Well, no, I'm just. With what they've done with bike
[2:28:37] lanes recently. Again, I'm just not sure how this all
[2:28:42] fits in there, but. Councillor Hallmark. Thank you, Madam Mayor.
[2:28:48] I just have a question of, um, of how the
[2:28:53] procedure. And it might be for our direct three years
[2:28:56] off to director Burnett. So if we, cause just because
[2:28:59] the motion doesn't have a, uh, a date or a,
[2:29:03] um, like, are we going to see a come to
[2:29:05] GPC first for like when the Byla gets created. My
[2:29:09] question is processed, I should say, but it is, will
[2:29:12] it come to GPC first and then the GPC committee
[2:29:16] will then kind of hash out like what they like
[2:29:18] about the Bylaw and what they don't like. And then
[2:29:20] it will come to counsel. Is that the process and
[2:29:23] like should there be a date on them motion. Um,
[2:29:28] so I would say, yes, we probably should put a
[2:29:31] date in terms of a timeline that we're interested in
[2:29:34] this with obviously looking at admin from a, is the
[2:29:37] date reasonable. And then, um, I also, as a proposed
[2:29:42] Byla for council's consideration, I do think that there's probably
[2:29:47] a modification that could be made to the motion that
[2:29:49] we bring it to the review and recommendations that admin
[2:29:56] or options that they have come to GPC so that
[2:29:59] we could at GPC say, okay, here's the options. We
[2:30:01] would like to proceed. So I think those would be
[2:30:05] probably two things that would strengthen the motion just because
[2:30:08] then we can have more fluid debate it. Governance priorities.
[2:30:14] If I can add through the mayor, then we can
[2:30:15] bring essentially the research and the best practice that we've
[2:30:17] seen out there at this point. We have untoured that
[2:30:20] much information. So it gives us time to be able
[2:30:22] to do that as well. Yeah. And the deadline. Yeah.
[2:30:25] Correct. Yeah. Councillor Hallmark. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I would
[2:30:31] speak in favor of this motion if I was able
[2:30:33] to amend it. An amendment is appropriate. Okay. Cause I'm
[2:30:40] like really going in. Oh, what? Sorry. Councillor Lang. Well,
[2:30:45] he has to accept it if he wants to. Would
[2:30:48] you accept a friendly amendment if I was to. Do
[2:30:52] I make the amendment first to the MMA? Okay. Yeah.
[2:30:55] Make a motion for the amendment. Okay. I'd like to
[2:30:58] offer an amendment. Okay. But I'm looking at director Burnett
[2:31:02] and she's going to tell me on a clock. What
[2:31:06] date we should. Be a realistic date for my amendment
[2:31:11] is what I'm saying. For FG PC meeting, by the
[2:31:14] end of the year or by the end of October.
[2:31:21] I can recommend in GPC date. Sorry. Do you have
[2:31:27] a calendar. You don't have to give the actual date.
[2:31:31] Just say give a month. Like, do we think we
[2:31:33] could have it back for the October GPC or do
[2:31:36] we need till November's GPC. Councillor Lang wants to, or
[2:31:46] sorry, councillor, next one.
[2:32:01] Okay. Let's not debate without our mics here. So, um,
[2:32:04] so we could do one or two things when we
[2:32:07] look at a date. We could, Councillor Penner is just
[2:32:10] to potentially saying, let's do it for the new year.
[2:32:13] So bring it for January. That gives us plenty of
[2:32:15] time to get it in place. For next. Season, you
[2:32:20] know, particularly our high utilization pathways. Or we could do
[2:32:26] it here for the fall. And like, I don't know
[2:32:28] what winter utilization is going to be of those devices.
[2:32:31] Um, and cause it certainly is creating conflict on pathways
[2:32:35] and concerns in the community. So. If I could just
[2:32:42] add through the mayor, uh, at the moment, we also
[2:32:44] have municipal enforcement manager called Carnead is working on some
[2:32:48] other traffic revisions in terms of our bylaw. So in
[2:32:53] terms of just giving him time and space, I would,
[2:32:56] I would suggest ideally that would be paired together so
[2:33:00] that we could do those somewhat in concert. So I
[2:33:03] would suggest fourth quarter would be reasonable. Okay. Okay. All
[2:33:09] right. Madam Mayor, I would like to make an amendment
[2:33:13] to councillor Nixon. And maybe it will be friendly or
[2:33:15] maybe we'll have to debate. We'll wait to see. I'd
[2:33:17] like to make, uh, an amendment that, um, the council,
[2:33:21] I'll review prepared by law regular bike brought back to
[2:33:25] GPC. In the first quarter of next year. With a
[2:33:33] few options on, what do we say? Like if you
[2:33:39] trade offs or options on what would be. No, just
[2:33:42] that'll be brought back to GPC. You, you know what
[2:33:45] we're looking for anyways. Yes. Yeah. Perfect. Would you accept
[2:33:48] that. And oh, do I speak to my amendment? No,
[2:33:52] if you're going to make it as a friendly, let's
[2:33:54] just see if councillor Nix is prepared to modify it,
[2:33:58] to come back to GPC in the first quarter of
[2:34:00] 2027. Um, well, is that in alignment with your recommendation
[2:34:11] with Mr. Kill Carney's working on now? Or is he
[2:34:16] bringing that in Q4. Q4 is essentially where he's bringing
[2:34:23] the traffic, the existing work that he's doing. So we
[2:34:26] could pair those together just to ensure that the ensuring
[2:34:32] that we've been able to have time to do our
[2:34:35] homework and make sure that the right environmental skin completed
[2:34:38] for council. Okay. So that, that would be my preference
[2:34:42] is that we were to pair those together. If that
[2:34:45] makes the most sense. So I would guess that. Puts
[2:34:48] it to Q4 instead of Q1. Yeah, sure. Okay. So,
[2:34:54] um, a friendly amendment is being made. That we are
[2:34:57] going to bring recommendations back to GPC. In the fourth
[2:35:02] quarter. Of 2026. Does that meet everybody's? I'm getting a
[2:35:10] nod from him. But yes, I would accept that. And
[2:35:14] men has that or it has the intent of that.
[2:35:17] Yes. I'm going to go to Councillor Penner with a
[2:35:21] question. Thank you. And again, I'm still trying to wrap
[2:35:26] my head around it. Can, would these objectives be achieved
[2:35:29] by putting speed limits on the pathways rather than limiting.
[2:35:34] A specific device or vehicle or whatever you want to
[2:35:37] call that and then having that evolve, can we achieve
[2:35:41] the same objective by. Putting speed limits on pathways? If
[2:35:47] that's truly what we're trying to control. I've got councillor
[2:35:54] next and then I've got director green. So my intention
[2:35:59] would be that those are the types of recommendations that
[2:36:02] would come back. Like if we need additional signage on
[2:36:04] the pathways to help control things, or like that all
[2:36:09] of that would be part of what comes back to
[2:36:11] us to discuss and see what we need to move
[2:36:14] ahead with. Director green. Similarly, um, following
[2:36:23] councillor, Nix's comment. I would, uh, suggest that part of
[2:36:26] the, uh, analysis that needs to be done is what
[2:36:30] can you actually regulate under the Alberta traffic Act of
[2:36:32] what you can you not pathways are not a road
[2:36:35] as defined by the TAF safety Act. So I would
[2:36:37] suggest you that is not something you regulate in terms
[2:36:40] of speed. Could you possibly, but I think that's one
[2:36:44] of the questions is what is the right vehicle? What
[2:36:47] does the right vehicle. To regulate the right vehicles? Any
[2:36:53] other questions? Councillor Dickmann? Just a really quick question. Does
[2:36:59] it make a difference if it goes to GPC or
[2:37:01] if we just keep it at the council level? There's
[2:37:03] by having a go to governance priority, just one extra
[2:37:06] step. If I can through the chair document, it just
[2:37:12] gives us an opportunity to get direction before crystallizing what
[2:37:17] we're going to put forward as a bylaw. So it
[2:37:20] does give us a bit more flexibility. Okay. Any other
[2:37:28] questions. We have a motion on the table. Um, would
[2:37:33] anybody like to speak to that motion? You got questions
[2:37:36] are in order. But anybody else wish to speak to
[2:37:39] this. I am seeing nobody. So I'm going to just,
[2:37:46] um, I will be supporting this motion. I do think
[2:37:50] that right now, the speed on some electric devices that
[2:37:56] are available on the market are unregulated. I don't, the
[2:38:02] reason the gap in the traffic Act is because this
[2:38:04] wasn't an expected. Move of the market, I would say.
[2:38:09] And so trying to create a balance on our proper
[2:38:13] ways, I think is something worthwhile for us to look
[2:38:15] at. I don't yet know what the pieces are because
[2:38:19] I could say speed limits on a pathway. But we
[2:38:22] have an up trouble enforcing speed limits on our roadways.
[2:38:26] So I'm not sure how we'll do that on a
[2:38:27] pathway. So, um, just wanting to make sure that we've
[2:38:31] put the right tools in our team's hands, but also
[2:38:38] have right information out there for our public of what
[2:38:42] does work. You know, I think one of the pieces
[2:38:45] that I currently are seeing is that they have the
[2:38:49] ability to go everywhere. So it's easier to pull over
[2:38:52] a car. But when they see one of these e
[2:38:56] - bikes on roadway, they all of a sudden are
[2:38:58] on a sidewalk and in through a pathway, but being
[2:39:01] pursued by a car. And so it creates, um, situations
[2:39:05] that I think are unsafe for the whole community. Not
[2:39:08] only the user. So, um, I look forward to seeing
[2:39:12] what is brought back because there's certainly a lot of,
[2:39:15] um, deviation across the market out there of how everybody's
[2:39:18] handling it. So I encourage my colleagues to support. And
[2:39:22] with that, I'll go to councillor next close with anything.
[2:39:28] Um, yeah, I mean, just the same as what was
[2:39:31] stated before. There's a gap here. And I think it's
[2:39:33] a significant public safety gap. So I think we should
[2:39:37] look at what we can do. Um, as far as,
[2:39:41] you know, helping get awareness out in the community, I
[2:39:45] do want to add that I do really appreciate some
[2:39:47] of the videos that OME has put out recently explaining
[2:39:53] some of those differences. I think I've seen a lot
[2:39:55] of good feedback on those in the community as well.
[2:39:58] So that's been appreciated. Um, but yeah, I would encourage
[2:40:03] support just so that we can try and close this
[2:40:06] gap and equip our officers accordingly. Okay. And with that,
[2:40:15] I will call. It amendment. It was friendly. Yeah. Yeah.
[2:40:23] So it's all of the, it was a no problem.
[2:40:28] Um, so on that I will call the question, um,
[2:40:33] all in favor.
[2:40:53] And that carries unanimously. Excellent. We have no correspondence for
[2:40:59] action. Councillor inquiries and suggestions. Does anybody have any. I'm
[2:41:07] seeing men. So feel free to text CAO Vincent. Let
[2:41:11] her know that you've gotten. Texture. Uh - huh. Any
[2:41:17] council representative reports. Um, I just quickly, was that show
[2:41:23] and shine on the weekend and just, uh, shout out
[2:41:27] to the organising group. Um, for that event, um, the
[2:41:31] big rock auto club and the Oktokes elks. It was
[2:41:33] a really well attended vent granted. The weather helped with
[2:41:37] that. Um, so it was really great to see so
[2:41:40] many people in the community. Downtown and enjoying that event.
[2:41:46] So thank you for that. And that's all I have.
[2:41:49] Anybody else. Seeing none, we have councillor Lang. Um, I'm
[2:41:56] just going to take a liberty here. And I'm going
[2:41:58] to wish my mother a happy 80th birthday today. So
[2:42:01] that's all I wanted to say. Thank you. That's your
[2:42:09] birthday. Well, you want to know. What's really funny. It
[2:42:12] is my mother's birthday today too. Yeah. I'm not as
[2:42:17] nice as you. So I didn't wish her one on
[2:42:19] the online. That's right. You probably do. Yeah. Look at
[2:42:28] that. Okay. And with that council, we are through our
[2:42:33] agenda. So I just need a motion to adjourn. Councillor
[2:42:37] Lang all in favor. And that carries unanimously.