That
Morning everybody.
Welcome to the committee a whole meeting
at 9:01. We will open.
See open mic. Is there anybody for open
mic this morning?
Nothing at all. Okay. Thank you.
Adoption of the agenda.
Councilor Nielsen.
Yes, Mr. Chair. Um, I would like to add
an item
inspiring governance.
And I would appreciate it if it could be
uh placed uh just ahead of the uh
discussion on council roles and
responsibilities as it ties to that. So,
I'd ask that it be put 8.01.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
>> In the agenda.
» Anything else?
If not, I'd like to move the committee
approves the committee the whole agenda
for August 11th, 2026 as amended.
All in favor?
[clears throat]
Public hearings,
delegations,
nothing. Agenda review
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, the agenda is
attached and we would be happy to answer
any questions council has or um look at
any additions that council would like us
to put into future meetings.
>> Councelor White and councelor Hy.
» Councelor White and councelor Hy.
>> Uh, through the chair to administration,
» Uh, through the chair to administration,
I see the reserve policy coming up for
approval at the regular council meeting,
having received initial input on July
28th. I would I would if I had enough
friends in there on there around the
circle. I think we should revisit it at
committee of the whole to see what the
um there was quite quite a few things
that we wanted adjusted in there and I
have observed that we're not always
great at amending policies on the fly in
a regular council meeting and so I think
it might serve us well to look at that
first in a committee of the whole. Yeah,
I um I think that was just left over
from the fact that we thought we would
have two discussions prior to then and
we would be ready for the approval, but
because we've brought local improvement
forward, that totally makes sense. We'll
change that to cow.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
Can I keep on?
>> Sure.
» Sure.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
Um
I don't I was expecting to see facility
use policy come up on September 22nd. We
did we didn't already pass that, did we?
>> No, we didn't. And that was part of the
» No, we didn't. And that was part of the
um the things that we're working on, but
with the um leadership change in the
division, it's one of the things that
we've pushed off a little bit. And so
it'll it'll be coming back before the
end of the year, but just not as soon as
we had originally planned.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
And my last inquiry is
I appreciate the value of the
agenda review item in in committee of
the whole, but I was wondering would it
be possible to have a three or four
meeting outlook instead of just a two
meeting outlook?
Would that fit on a single page?
We could probably get um yeah, we could
probably get a couple of months on
there. Uh yeah, we'll work on that.
>> Thank you,
» Thank you,
>> councelor Oy.
» councelor Oy.
>> Um through the chair administration and
» Um through the chair administration and
I would think this would be for
committee of the whole and it would be
council organizational meeting procedure
as well as council renumeration policy.
» [clears throat and cough]
» We typically bring back all of your
bylaws and policies to the
organizational meeting. Is that soon
enough for you or
>> um I would like to see the procedure for
» um I would like to see the procedure for
that meeting actually addressed before
>> Okay.
» Thank you. Anything else?
» Before moving forward, I wanted to add
something to new business and forgot is
it too late now.
» You can add um whenever you want in Cal.
>> Okay. Have fun. Okay. So, I will add
» Okay. Have fun. Okay. So, I will add
something to new business as well.
Will just be comments. I guess that's
really all it is.
Uh, anything else on agenda review?
» That's new business. So, that would be
um see here 11.1.
[clears throat]
Nothing else moving forward. So, then we
will go to staff reports for
information.
Councelor Nielsen, you are up.
>> Thank you.
the
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The uh my comments
this morning are related to uh a topic
called inspiring governance.
Um
and I think it's appropriate before we
discuss discuss council roles and
responsibilities
to examine a little bit this concept of
inspiring governance.
When we all ran for council, we did so
with a number of, I guess, promises and
commitments to the community. And then
when we sat down and we
did work on our strategic plan,
we included the item called inspiring
governance. And I just like to remind
anyone who's listening of some of the
words that we put into this particular
document.
It includes accountability,
transparency,
building public trust,
and improving communication.
And I kind of want to talk about those
because they all relate to roles and
responsibilities later on. When I first
decided to make this commentary,
I thought I'd maybe it best be placed in
uh
close session.
But then I realized that
often times, as we've discussed, an hour
or two after we've
closed our meeting, information from
close session is on social media.
So that's pretty transparent. So, I
thought, well, maybe another location I
could I could make these comments would
be to call a press conference on the
steps of city hall,
but I thought that'd be maybe a little
bit
true, too dramatic and theatric
and maybe even border on being
unprofessional.
So, I decided the only place I could
make these comments is in this room.
So to begin with, [clears throat] full
disclosure,
I'm a little bit
angry.
I'm somewhat frustrated, certainly
annoyed.
When we ran for council,
we ran for council knowing that it was
more than a couple of meetings a month.
that there was other obligations tied to
it. Some of them are identified in
council roles and responsibilities.
So for example,
we were informed and we agreed to doing
attendance reports at the end of every
month.
The intention of attendance reports was
to provide transparency, something we
see in inspiring governance,
transparency to the public about what
each of us is doing every month in and
for the city. It was also intended to
inform each of us what we're all doing
monthly.
So, since being elected, nine months
have gone by.
Each one of us should have submitted
nine
monthly reports indicating
what we've done.
Four counselors
have hit near perfect in their
reporting.
We have some counselors who have not
reported a single time in nine months. I
have no idea what my colleagues are
doing and nor does the public know what
we are doing.
So transparency seems to be lacking a
bit.
Most recently, we had conversations
about business cases.
Each year, council is invited to submit
business cases for budget consideration.
We've also identified budget being one
of our most important activities as a
council.
This year was there was an unusually
large number of submitted
business cases and administration asked
us if we could pair that down so to
identify those that we thought were most
important so they could do a full
cost accounting of what it would cost to
do any of those business cases.
We were all supposed to give our input
into that budgetary process by Friday,
July 31st.
Four counselors
responded to that.
Three counselors did not.
I guess that fills in builds u public
trust.
Beginning of every year we are required
to do mandatory training.
We had wondered mandatory training was
respectful workplace.
Two counselors have not completed that
mandatory training.
We're also required to do emergency
planning training.
To date, three counselors have not done
that training
and there is training related to sitting
on particular boards.
Some of that training nine months later
has not been completed.
Accountability.
A number of weeks ago,
all of us received an invitation to
participate in the Samson Pawa.
We've all mentioned that it's important
for us to build better relationships
with our community neighbors.
When
days went by, Councelor Billingsley put
out a request, communication request
asking,
"Is anyone going? Don't we need to have
representation there? Who's attending?
And it took almost three days before
most everyone responded.
We're not even communicating with
ourselves.
[clears throat and cough]
This is improving communications.
Last week I was in a grocery store and
was approached by a gentleman who had
said he had requested city swag
for his group of special Olympians
Olympians going to Medicine Hat for a
major competition which could lead to
inclusion in
world special Olympics.
He sent the communication
and got no reply.
sent a second one, got no reply.
So, he asked me for some help. Our city
manager with one day's notice was able
to come up with some city swag so these
athletes could take some of Watasma with
them to this competition
in medicine hat.
I hope that we can agree that when we
talk about rules and responsibilities
later today, we can solve this kind of
communication problem.
I'm sorry to belabor this one.
City council spent a significant amount
of time this last year
recreating
a better evaluation document of our CEO.
And in March, which was the deadline we
set for ourselves,
we completed that task.
And based on that evaluation, we offered
a new contract to the city manager.
However,
that evaluation is only complete when we
assign goals,
improvement goals for our CEO
in this process.
That's all that was missing.
And we had two meetings
We spent five and a half hours and
identified goals for our CEO.
People were tasked with setting up a
meeting
with the city manager to present those
goals
and was reminded twice.
I guess this is the third reminder
because in consultation with the CEO
five months later she has not received
goals.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are 10 months
into a 48-month
term of office.
This report is intended not to
embarrass people.
We've said we are the only group that
can hold each other accountable for what
we do around this table.
The only other people
are the residents and they can't hold us
accountable for another three and a half
years.
But based on what I've just reported, my
question to each of us, and I include
myself in this conversation,
is if this was a voting year,
would you vote to put any of us back
into office based on the track record
we've demonstrated thus far?
And my last comment is this.
None.
Zero of any of these activities that
I've reported on have required us to be
at or in city hall to do that job.
Everyone who has completed these tasks
have fulfilled their responsibilities
from home.
And even yet,
we can't get the work done that we
promised the community that we would do.
When we get into the conversation on
roles and responsibilities,
if we aren't going to commit
to the task that this community has
asked us to perform,
then I think we can skip 8.1 and simply
move on to another agenda item. I stand
down, Mr. Chair.
» Any comments, questions?
Councelor Billingsley.
>> Thank you. Through the chair to
» Thank you. Through the chair to
councelor Nielsen, thank you for your
words. I know that it was probably
incredibly difficult to bring some of
these things forward. Um, some of the
things that you talked about, I think,
as you say, mesh into the next item on
the agenda.
And I think that maybe some of the
things that you spoke about then we can
address
in the next item in the agenda.
Once again, thank you.
Any questions,
comments?
Right. Moving on to 8.1
roles and responsibilities.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um this has been a
» Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um this has been a
discussion previously in pnt uh with
council and there was um
we did consult uh through one of our
municipal lawyers to get some
information because technically uh the
roles and responsibilities of council as
outlined in the MGA are very high level.
Um but there is opportunities for
councils to set um other rules um around
how um you show up for each other and
you show up for the community. Um and so
there there were some examples where
communities got very detailed but most
of them stay very high level. So this
was a little bit new. So we tried to
highlight where your mandated um roles
and responsibilities were versus some of
the discussion that we heard and things
that you wanted um further flushed out.
with things like responding to emails
and um who does what when um that sort
of thing. So, we've put some stuff in
here. I I know it's not completely
exhaustive. Um and there may be some
examples from other communities that you
would like us to explore. Um this would
be I guess an agreement amongst council
just you know there's there's not going
to be any legislation around something
like this but it certainly would be um
good for everybody to know how you're
going to show up for each other. Um at
the end of the report we've linked in
some existing policies um that probably
um feed into this as well and we're
happy to answer any questions and take
any feedback for next steps that you
want us to explore.
Okay. Any questions? Councelor
Billingsley.
>> Thank you. Uh through the chair to
» Thank you. Uh through the chair to
council. Um going through this document
over the last few days
um and then taking a look at other
municipalities. I'm wondering if there
isn't
um
thoughts I guess of getting a little bit
more detailed. Um and actually
specifically saying the responsibility
of council is this or of the mayor is
that. Um the only problem is because
there is no code of conduct. um there's
not a whole lot of or else and that that
concerns me. But if we put in what the
responsibilities are and then once the
code of conduct is brought forward by um
the provincial government, it could tie
back into there and that could be the or
what. But I think it's really important
because of some of the things that
council neielsen brought up in his um
thoughts earlier um that we write it
down of what actually our
responsibilities are and not just high
level like you shall
do a committee report you shall do
training you shall
and I think that that's very important
unfortunately like I say there is no
what happens happens if you don't. But
that's not something we can control.
So that's my thoughts on this.
>> Anyone else?
» Anyone else?
Councelor Nielsson then councelor
Alberly.
>> Thank you. um to that point
» Thank you. um to that point
much of what I talked about in my
soliloquy
um spoke about communication
and to councelor Billingsy's point I I
think that
we should be capturing in here some
expectations
relative to communication
um
and I don't know where it falls I don't
know it falls under
a separate heading.
Um,
but just as we as a council expect our
city administration to be be responding
to issues and questions and emails
within 48 hours,
I believe we should be holding ourselves
to the same standard if we expect that
from from our administration.
I believe that we should uh respond to
emails and texts within 48 hours.
I'm going to change this a little bit
and to councelor Billingsy's point about
u expectations and maybe this is under
mayor's responsibilities.
I'd like to see three items added to
under mayor's responsibilities.
Number one is respond to emails and
texts from the community within 48
hours.
with a CC to council so we know that
it's gone.
That does not
take any of us off the hook from
responding to the emails if we are
identified in those emails, but ensures
that
a member of public or the a business
person trying to reach out to the city
will get a response from the mayor
within 48 hours and subsequently may get
other responses from counselors.
Also under the same heading,
I'd like to see that the mayor has some
responsibility for coordinating council
attendance at invited events
so that when we get invited to events um
like the pow-wow or speaking at the
chamber meeting or any other function
that the mayor makes sure
that there is council representation.
either through himself or he organizes
to his best of his ability to ensure
that someone will be there representing
the city
and also under mayor's responsibilities
respond to council and CAO emails and
texts also within 48 hours.
And my last comment on communication is
I believe
first and third responsibility
that I've asked to give to the mayor
also be assigned to members of council
that we with we respond to emails and
texts of the committee within 48 hours
and we also respond to emails and texts
from our council colleagues and the CEO
within 48 hours of receiving them.
Yeah, sorry.
>> Okay, councelor. Okay, go ahead.
» Okay, councelor. Okay, go ahead.
>> Yeah, just to um councelor Neielson
» Yeah, just to um councelor Neielson
talked about from uh emails and texts
from the CEO. Could we possibly take a
look at that being administration
instead? Because there are times when
some of SLT may send a direct message.
In fact, it did happen earlier late last
week that came from someone from SLT had
asked uh a specific question to council
or to the mayor.
>> Absolutely. I you know when I say CEO, I
» Absolutely. I you know when I say CEO, I
guess I include leadership team, but I
appreciate the the clarity.
Councelor Irely then councelor Hy.
>> Uh thank you Deputy Mayor Elder. Um
» Uh thank you Deputy Mayor Elder. Um
through the chair council I don't
disagree with anything that councelor
Nielsen has said and
I'm really
I perform much better if I have
deadlines. So I think everything that
you've said so far this morning um is
good for me. My concern with
going too non- high level, if that is
the way I want to refer to it, is that
at what point do we stop adding to this
list and and that's not meant to be a
criticism. It's just more
a question of
are we at a point where
and this is to all a council. This isn't
just councelor Nelson who has spoken.
Are are we at a point where
we need to pick these things out to
provide inspiring governance for oursel
because we're in a place that
we're starting to flounder or not even
starting have been flound floundering.
And does this document
truly need to be much longer as a
working document for us
or is it just these very few things that
we want to do make sure are
accomplished? I think that's the end of
my comment. Thank you,
>> Council Oily. Then Mayor Brinkle.
» Council Oily. Then Mayor Brinkle.
>> Um through the chair to council on
» Um through the chair to council on
administration. I agree with all the
points made. I had several additions
that would go in here as far as
attendance reports, committee reports,
training, and while I don't disagree
with councelor Alberly, what I guess I
would say is that we're already seeing
that
what we should be doing is not being
done. And so
while we cannot at this point hold um
other
council members to a fire of any kind
because the MGA or the provincial
government has taken that away from us
in this yet to give us something new to
go by. If it's on a piece of paper, I
guess for me at least I can say you
agreed to this. It went from you shall
to you will. And if it's as simple as
that, then I guess this document may
have to be longer than it is because we
are certainly missing the mark on many
many things that we said we would do and
we should be doing. Uh my next point is
is this something better served in
having a meeting where we can all sit
down and go over this instead of trying
to do it peace meal here in uh cow.
Mayor Bronco.
» Thank you, Councelor Elder. Um, I
[clears throat] agree one. First of all,
I agree with councelor Billingsley.
The must believe we should have that in
in place. We must do this
accountability. I believe in that. I uh
agreed to councelor Nielsen's u
what he has brought up
but I have a couple questions. one on a
48 hour response. Does that mean when
we're on weekends? Is that 48 hours
working days or weekends? Because some
of us do spend our time with our
families on weekends, tournaments,
parties, weddings. Does that mean if we
get something
on uh on a Friday night, we have to have
it done by Sunday if we're not near or
we're on holidays. So, especially
weekends or long weekends, are we saying
48 hours working days? So, so we need
some clarification on that. And my other
question is looking through the mayor,
it says issue certificates for residents
birthdays, weddings.
Is that really part of our job to give
certificates on birthdays and weddings?
There's a lot of people who have
birthdays in our community, 13,000.
So, is that a clerical error? Should
that be removed from there? So, some
some u
some stuff we should look at. I do agree
with councelor Hoy. We need to sit down
and really pick and choose
what we what we want to put down on
this. and uh
and bring a piece of paper together that
we agree to. Thank you,
>> Councelor Billingsley.
» Councelor Billingsley.
>> Thank you. Um to the chair and I guess
» Thank you. Um to the chair and I guess
to council in regards to the the
birthdays or the proclamations,
um I'm going to guess that probably not
all 13,000 people are going to be um
once a year coming in and asking for a
certificate for their birthday. I know I
certainly won't be. Um, but I think that
if someone's celebrating a milestone,
whether it's a 100th birthday, whether
it's a 50th wedding anniversary or
anything like that, that um that we
celebrate these things in our community.
And I think it is important that we um
make note of these things and like I
say, celebrate these things. Um I really
don't think we're going to have very
many requests for um seventh birthdays
or things such as that or someone's 59th
birthday.
So, I'm okay with leaving it in there.
>> Any other questions? We've got uh Sue
» Any other questions? We've got uh Sue
and then councelor Aberly.
>> Uh thank you. Just to clarify, that was
» Uh thank you. Just to clarify, that was
taken directly from an existing council
policy. So, if you don't want that in
the policy, it's the authority of the
mayor. Um obviously council can bring
that forward and make changes to it.
>> Councelor Arley.
» Councelor Arley.
>> Uh thank you, sir. [clears throat]
» Uh thank you, sir. [clears throat]
through the chair to council.
Two questions and the first I'm going to
go to the announcements or the letters
for whatever. Um
I agree that the these are the important
things. These are the small celebrations
and that's part of what community is and
building a community to which you feel
connected.
Uh, and then to the 48 hours return. And
I am
as guilty, if not guiltier, on many
things as to whether or not I read my
email. I'm pretty good with text, but
email sometimes gets a little bit
um, doesn't matter. Email isn't
as in my face as it used to be. And I
think that
while
our city administration works Monday to
Friday weeks, we do not work Monday to
Friday. And a request that comes in
Friday night to be answered by Sunday
evening is a fair ask.
And at no different than if the city
cannot do it, administration cannot
answer the question or the text or the
whatever. The person who has made the
question or sent that is told we will
not be able to get back to you until. So
at least it's a 48hour
window in which somebody has said
I've received your message. I will get
back to you as soon as I can or in that
sense. So I'm game for the 48 hours.
>> Okay. Anyone else? I do have a couple
» Okay. Anyone else? I do have a couple
questions.
I agree with pretty much everything
that's been said. I just need some
clarity on something. But I I would like
to
go back to what councelor Hy said where
we just get together as a group and and
get this cleaned up. That would be
great.
My next comment or question would be
just clarification. So we get
emails to us. My understanding is
we were not to respond to that. We were
to send it to the CEO.
So now I'm looking for
clarification. Do you want us to respond
or do you want us to send it and forward
it to the CEO all the time? But that's
where I'm looking for the clarity.
» Uh thank you. For my part, I'm thinking
specifically to
when we are sent an email from somebody
that is asking specifically for
something. So if
um and I'll use just because I have not
done my emergency management training
and so I totally feel called out and
it's all good. Um if if I when I receive
that email instead of thinking to
myself, oh do it, I respond with
received thank you within 48 hours. If a
email comes directly to or yes, if an
email comes to
Mayor and counsel,
we have 48 hours to respond as mayor and
counsel or forward it if it is questions
that we cannot answer if I'm being asked
a personal question. I know if I get a
letter sent to Karen Aberly,
I respond to that email. Maybe it's
having to find more information for
them. Maybe it's directing them. I this
is not my job and this these are the
people who look after it. Those sorts of
things. So that so the both
administration or other people wanting
to contact counselors know that we're
getting their emails.
and for administration when they're
sending us things to know that we have
received it. Does that help
>> a little bit? Yeah, we can clarify.
» a little bit? Yeah, we can clarify.
Thank you, Councelor Billingsley.
» I think that it's um
important that um we don't just
pass the information off for somebody
else to respond. Um if somebody's asking
us about a specific operation and since
we're governance that's really not us
that certainly would should be passed on
to um administration. But if someone's
saying
my taxes are too high or I need some
pins for um the Special Olympics, um
that's something that we should be
answering and it isn't passed on to
somebody else to answer questions.
Thank you for your email. Um I will find
out uh who's in charge of the pins and I
will let you know and then from there I
mean you
Then from there you would get a hold of
administration, find out who is the pin
keeper
and then respond back to
the person who sent the email would be
in my opinion the proper procedure.
>> Okay. Anything else?
» Okay. Anything else?
>> I do.
» I do.
>> Mayor Bronco,
» Mayor Bronco,
>> thank you. Um,
» thank you. Um,
still some more clarification. So on the
48 hours uh hypothetical question
I go camping and I go with my family and
I'm out of range that I can't get uh
I can't get how would you say it?
It won't come in till I hit the area
with Tasco and that could be Sunday
night.
What do we do? And and our our policy uh
I says that we respond,
but our respond is to phone Sue
on a weekend and say, "Can you look at
this or do we do it Monday?"
If public, if the city staff is not
working Sunday,
Saturday or Sunday, they work five days
a week.
Why would we burden more city staff and
time and our CEO who's already got
enough on her plate? Why would we keep
phoning her, bombarding you with
information until Monday?
» Councelor Aberly, then councelor
Nielsen.
>> Uh, thank you through the chair to Mayor
» Uh, thank you through the chair to Mayor
Bronco. I appreciate that there are
always circumstances where this
expectation of council andor mayor is
not feasible. So I would think sir you
have six deputy mayors depending on
every two months if you were going to be
in an area where you would not be able
to respond that is the role of the
deputy mayor is to be able to or not be
able to but to fulfill your duties if
you are not around. Um,
so that becomes that deputy mayor's job.
And also again, I'll say back to if it
is something that we need specifically
from administration, that is a quick
text or email that says, "Thank you for
your email.
I will get the information from you when
administration is at work." So, it's not
meant to be an ownorous job on us to
find all the information immediately and
make anybody else work when it's not
their work hours. It's just meant to be
it's not even common courtesy, but
that's the only word I can think of to
just say that yes, we've received your
email and here is the timeline for which
you can expect to hear back from me.
Okay, Councelor Nielsen.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair.
» Thank you, Mr. Chair.
To Jo Joe's point, I would even be
prepared to say two business days
because that's still a far cry better
than how we've been performing to date.
When I'm reporting that people aren't
even getting any answers back within
days or weeks or months, I guess two
business days is a huge improvement. I
could live with two business days.
Okay. So, I think what I'm getting out
of this, maybe we should have a little
meeting at some point in time. We can
clean this up and we can move on from
where we are right now. Everybody okay
with that?
>> I I have another question.
» I I have another question.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
>> If I may to councelor
» If I may to councelor
Aberly, uh, so your suggestion, you keep
saying we have time to notify council.
So
sometimes,
and this is what I'm having a conflict
with. So if I want to go camping, I have
to notify
the staff or
council that I'm going away for a
weekend camping or go someplace with my
wife, I have to notify you that I'm
doing that. Is that what you're asking?
» Uh, thank you, sir. I do think that if
you were in a position where you were
going to be out of contact for longer
than out of contact Yep. for longer than
48 hours that letting somebody know is
reasonable. I I I'm not talking I'm
going away for the day and there might
not be cell service or internet service.
It's it is the extended times where
there could be something there could be
an emergency even where
the mayor may have to make an immediate
decision. And if that is not
if you are not accessible at the time,
all I'm asking is that at at the very
least your deputy mayor knows that they
need to
be a little extra on call and that's how
we work together.
» Great. Is that good?
There's always going to be an exception
to this, but um I think we can get
together. We'll have a meeting and we'll
figure this out.
Council Nielson,
>> just last comment. I your discretion. Go
» just last comment. I your discretion. Go
ahead.
There was a comment made earlier and I
apologize. I don't recall who made the
comment with regard to um
currently there's no there's no
sanctions in place in terms of holding
ourselves accountable. So, we have to
hold ourselves accountable. The other
piece of this though is there will be at
some point I think Sue said there will
be a code of conduct that comes from the
government and that's also what holds us
accountable and so some of the detail
that we put in here allows us to hold
each other accountable. The less the
more ambiguous this document is
I believe the harder it is to hold us
accountable.
Hey, councelor Billingsley. And then
we're going to move on.
>> Okay. Thank you. Um,
» Okay. Thank you. Um,
part of my new, I guess, responsibility
is is MCMC, Midsize Mayor's Caucus, and
this conversation is not totally unique
to WTA. Um many of the um mayors have
were talking about uh taking a look at
the council renumeration policy which
kind of ties back into here because
there is no um sanctions or whatifs. Um
they tie it to
I won't say penalizing but not getting
paid because you're not doing the work
that you're been elected to fulfill. So
that is something that we may want to
take a look at because other
municipalities certainly are doing that.
They're they're holding each other
accountable through. Okay,
great. Thank you. 8.2 policy review.
» There you go. Perfect.
Hello.
I'm always guessing if this is on.
Hello, council. So, I'm here today
because uh policy C 0 no co00007
handling handling of a anonymous
frivolous or vexacious complaints and
inquiries was approved in 2022 and as
per this policy its review cycle is
every four years. So, we were we are up
at that four years. So, I'm presenting
it to you today to ask if council has
any feedback on any revisions or updates
they feel the policy needs. At this
time, administration is not recommending
or sees the needs for any revisions or
updates. Um this policy was established
um as per best uh best practices
um with the procedures and industry
standards. Um and it ensures that
complaints and inquiries are handled in
a fair and impartial manner while also
protecting the city by limiting
anonymous, frivolous and or vexacious
complaints. Complaints of this nature um
specifically need to be addressed
because they often require
disproportionately more resources to
address than valid complaints or
inquiries. Um and this can in include
increased employee time or money for
investigations if they are required. Um
this is because complaints that fall
under this policy are defined as
complaints that [sighs]
um
they concern an issue which employees
have already investigated and inter
determined to be groundless. Um they
bring up a issue
repeatedly in which an investigation was
already done and handled. Um they try to
circumvent circumvent the standard
handling process of complaints.
um they try to go through multiple
different employees to get certain
answers or they just don't like the
answer they received. Um so that's why
they take up disproportionately more
time. [sighs] Um
yeah, so this policy in and of itself
also has an internal procedure that also
guides the conduct to ensure that all of
these all all of these complaints are
well defined in terms of what
constitutes as a complaint under this
policy and then also the procedure for
dealing with it.
>> Any councelor Nielson? Thank you.
» Any councelor Nielson? Thank you.
I guess the only um consideration I
would ask and again uh it's one voice at
the table so I'd need three friends at
some point um
is that often times we are in the public
as members of council and we're and
we're approached by somebody who wants
to have a conversation with us about a
concern they have with the city and
they've sent complaints and nothing's
happened and all the rest of it. Um,
and my concern is
the nonresponse could be the very person
that I'm talking to complaining that
they haven't received a response and me
getting into a conversation with them.
Whereas, if I had that information, I
would simply say, "I'm sorry, your
response is has not been responded to
because it falls under this category."
Because I've then been informed about
it. And it would save that person some
time. would save me time uh in terms of
entering into a conversation that really
isn't going to go anywhere. So, I guess
the only provision I guess I'm saying
here is that if our administration is is
not responding to vexacious and
frivolous comments that we at least be
notified of it so we can head it off if
we happen to be approached in the
community.
>> Totally. As per the internal directive,
» Totally. As per the internal directive,
the final step of this uh the procedure
in terms of handling these complaints is
that council is informed of any of these
complaints that are received in close
session.
>> That's part of procedures. Yes.
» That's part of procedures. Yes.
>> Okay. Thank you,
» Okay. Thank you,
>> councelor Hy.
» councelor Hy.
>> Sorry, my mic just fell off. Um through
» Sorry, my mic just fell off. Um through
the chair, this is actually to
administration and it's just a general
question. We see these policies come up
uh for review. Is there a procedure or
process in place so we know when they're
updated? How is that tracked?
>> I got I got it. Um we Jackie is actually
» I got I got it. Um we Jackie is actually
developing out um an entire list of
policies, bylaws, directives, and we're
bringing them forward. Um
several of them are well beyond when
they should have been brought forward.
And so, um, we've been internally
discussing, do we bring them forward in
batches by department or just start
tackling the most important ones first?
Um, Jackie's gone for a couple of weeks,
but when she gets back, it's one of the
things that's on her list with her team
to prioritize to figure out how we're
going to get the rest of these in front
of council. And then once we have that
schedule, there's going to be an
automatic bring forward date that
triggers for us so that we know we need
to bring each one forward.
>> Perfect. Because that's exactly what I
» Perfect. Because that's exactly what I
noticed that some of them are
significantly outdated. Thank you.
>> I guess I'd have one question.
» I guess I'd have one question.
[clears throat]
You asked for any updates or changes. Is
there anything that you see that would
be needed to change in here? You're the
ones that deal with this more. So,
>> not at this time.
» not at this time.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
Any other questions?
Thank you.
Okay. Moving on. 8.3
inter intergovernmental affairs policy.
» Good morning, council. Uh my name is
Karen Body. I'm the intergovernmental
affairs coordinator and executive
assistant for the city of Watasquin. Um
I was just here in July to review um our
policy with council. Um some of the
discussions that we had um was adding
the de the definition of administration.
Uh further clarified expectations of
procedures and we had a little bit of a
discussion of um what it would look like
um if we included outside agencies um in
this policy and just kind of beef that
up a little bit. So, um I'm working with
our city's consultant on this item
currently and later on when we discuss
our government relations plan um in
close session. Um I'll be able to get a
little bit more into details with that
as well. So, that is my update for this
report at this time. Uh if you have any
questions, I'm open to feedback.
» Councelor Oyle.
>> Thank you through the chair to uh
» Thank you through the chair to uh
Kieran. I just have one question and
it's on page 16 2.1 and D it says inform
CEO of meetings and all interactions. Um
what does it exactly say here? Inform
the city manager of meetings or
communications with senior government
officials to support coordination,
briefing and follow-up.
Are we literally talking about all? I
just want it to be very clear. So, if I
have a general conversation with our
local MLA at a coffee shop and anything
city-wise is brought up, that should be
brought to the CEO. Am I correct?
>> Um, through the chair to uh councelor
» Um, through the chair to uh councelor
Hoy, yes, that would be our preference.
Uh, if that is possible, it is always
nice to know when we are building uh
relationships with our MLAs or just any
uh members of the provincial government
or local government. Uh it just helps us
to keep track and and it's good to know
that we do get to have some facetime uh
with our MLAs. Um sometimes that's very
rare for some municipalities and we're
pretty lucky to have our MLA um um that
we have. So yes, anytime that we do hear
um that would be great. Perfect. Thank
you so much,
>> Councelor White.
» Thank you. through the chair to Karen in
the definition
>> microphone on
» microphone on
>> it is sorry
» it is sorry
>> through the chair to Karen uh regarding
» through the chair to Karen uh regarding
the definitions I had a question
regarding the term council
what's written says means a duly elected
member of the city of council but as I
read the policy it generally is looks
like it's referring to council as a
whole
>> is is the intention in the definition to
» is is the intention in the definition to
be individual counselors or council as a
whole.
>> That's an excellent question.
» That's an excellent question.
>> Maybe maybe it could be both. Maybe both
» Maybe maybe it could be both. Maybe both
could be defined or or the definition
could be refined to clarify.
>> Okay, I can I'll take this back and take
» Okay, I can I'll take this back and take
a look and see what the other policies
uh say if it's repetitive throughout all
or if it's just for this one. I can make
sure it's uh at least standardized
across all of our policies.
» Any other questions?
» Thank you. Appreciate that.
» So 8.4 Four, quarterly financial report
as of June 2026.
» Good morning, council. My name is BC.
I'm the acting finance manager and I'm
here to present the quarter 2 update,
financial update. Um, and this report
provides a media overview of the city's
2026 operating results by comparing the
approved operating budget with actual
activity from January 1 to June 30.
Because June 30 marks the halfway point
of the year, the 50%
benchmark would be a useful reference.
However, some revenues and expenses are
timing related and will be recorded
later in the year. As of June 30, the
city reported an overall net operating
surplus of approximately $13.5 million.
Revenues totaled approximately $33
million, which is 65% of the budget,
while expenses totaled approximately
$19.5 million, which is equivalent to
38.4% of the budget. Overall, the city
is in a favorable position at the end of
the second quarter.
Revenue exceeds the midyear benchmark
largely because the 2026 property taxes
were levied in June. other revenues such
as the LG FF operating grant, annual
enforcement grant, intermunicipal
collaboration framework with the county
of wet screen and the return on
investment from PIS utilities are
expected to be recorded between Q3 and
Q4.
I also want to highlight some variances
relating to expenses. Contracted
services budgeted approved for several
operating budgets projects rather are
ongoing and the expenses will be
recorded as it went due. RCMP are 21% of
the budget primarily because the Q2
invoice is yet to be received.
City administration has spent 73% of its
budget due to legal expenses. Archives
are at 83% of budget due to heritage
museum and the annual insurance payment.
All other departments are trending as
expected.
The market value of the city's
investment is approximately $13.8
million. This includes $4.4 4 million
committed to future liability on wet
wetin sanitary landfill and $9.3 million
in general investments with CIBC. The
total interest earned to date is about
$218,000.
The city received $48,974
for body one cameras and $5,764
for the fire services training program.
Administration also reviewed the
building building community strong fund
during the quarter. As of June 2026, the
total reserve balance is $27.6 million.
Of this amount, $4 million has
previously been committed to existing
projects, leaving $23.6 million
currently uncommitted.
The city remains on track with its
approved 2026 operating budget as of
June 30 and administration will continue
to monitor key revenue and expense
areas. Thank you. And I'll be happy to
answer any questions.
>> Any questions? Councelor Hoy, then
» Any questions? Councelor Hoy, then
councelor Nielsen.
Um, good morning. Thank you for your
report. I have a few. Uh, I'll just
start at the top and this may be for
administration generally. I'm not really
sure. You state that city administ spent
73% of its legal budget which trending
would mean we are going to be 46% over
our legal budget. What does that look
like going forward and why I guess and
what's going to happen?
>> Uh, through the chair to Oh, sorry. It's
» Uh, through the chair to Oh, sorry. It's
cow. We don't need to be formal. I keep
forgetting. Um we we are over on our
legal budget right now because of a um
case that was unexpected and we are
looking at options for that to
potentially be covered now through
insurance.
>> Kate, thank you. Um investments. Can you
» Kate, thank you. Um investments. Can you
explain to me the investments? Um who
decides where they invest and who
monitors that? I'm assuming that they
are uh operating budget capital budget
that don't aren't needed till later in
the year. But who monitors that and how
does that work?
>> Through the chair to councelor Hy. Um
» Through the chair to councelor Hy. Um
finance monitors our investments. Um we
have investments currently with CIBC
Wood Gandhi. Um and the goal ideally is
to ensure that our total amount invested
aligns with our reserves. We're not
there yet. Um we do invest to ensure we
get the best interest
um interest revenue and we do budget for
the interest revenue in our operating
budget as well. We also report on our
investments quarterly in our quarterly
financial updates to council.
>> Thank you. So then Tulu do you monitor
» Thank you. So then Tulu do you monitor
that or do you and your team how does I
guess the monitoring who looks at um
where to move them where to put them
where return on investment I guess is
what I'm looking for more so who
actually does that
>> so in terms of monitoring I do that my
» so in terms of monitoring I do that my
our team the finance team does that in
terms of the decision making that's
actually part of the city manager's
bylaw Sue has the um so say we wanted to
sell an investment and reinvest it. Um
Sue gives the say um on you can go
ahead. We do look at recommendations. I
give her the explanations and the
background and she um then says you can
go ahead or um hold off. We need to
review.
>> Perfect. Um another question. The
» Perfect. Um another question. The
landfill. Um so we have a $4 million uh
where does that say? I can't. So there's
an investment amount. Oh, here we go.
4.4 million. Is that over and above the
1.38 in reserves
for the landfill? It's under investment
balance. So, we've got 4.48 committed
towards paying off future liability for
this landfill.
It is the the it's a portion thereof.
So, it's that 4.4 for is specifically
for the landfill liability which we we
have a liability on our financial
statements for landfill liability. The
reserves amount that you have is not a
part of that.
>> So then so then this liability is a
» So then so then this liability is a
future liability or a current
>> through the chair to councelor. Oh sorry
» through the chair to councelor. Oh sorry
>> no worries.
» no worries.
>> That is correct.
» That is correct.
>> Okay. Thank you.
» Okay. Thank you.
>> It is future liability.
» It is future liability.
>> So that is independent of the reserve
» So that is independent of the reserve
then. Correct.
>> That's correct.
» That's correct.
>> Okay. I think I have one more question.
» Okay. I think I have one more question.
Um, taxation and grants, it's minus 3%.
Am I to assume that's because we haven't
collected all that tax yet?
>> Um,
» Um,
>> page 24.
» page 24.
>> We've collected more. We've in the
» We've collected more. We've in the
revenue amount exceeds the budget
>> minus 3%.
» minus 3%.
>> Yeah, this has not this does not have
» Yeah, this has not this does not have
anything to do with actually collected.
>> And one more quick question. So also
» And one more quick question. So also
under
uh let me just find it so I know what
I'm talking about. It's under expenses
and under a variance of analysis it
talks about annual insurance payment.
This is due to an annual transfer
relating to heritage festival and annual
insurance payment.
Whose annual insurance payment is that
for? in the context of what you've
referred to that was for archives but as
a whole we pay our entire insurance for
the whole year upfront in
>> but it's just in reference to archives
» but it's just in reference to archives
not the museum
>> in in that in in that context I
» in in that in in that context I
>> perfect thank you thank you so much to
» perfect thank you thank you so much to
welcome
>> councelor Nielson
» councelor Nielson
>> and mayor Bronco
» and mayor Bronco
>> through the chair BC um first off thank
» through the chair BC um first off thank
you for the report this is uh one of the
complete ones I've seen in some time.
So, thank you for that. My questions are
related to the variance analysis. Um,
and I'm I'm I'm curious about a couple
things here. Number one is under
archives. Um, I'm looking at 83% of the
budget spent. So, do we give them a lump
sum of dollars then?
>> Yes, that's
» Yes, that's
>> okay. And we give it's all upfront
» okay. And we give it's all upfront
money, so to speak.
>> Okay. Thank you. Um the other one is in
» Okay. Thank you. Um the other one is in
the area of airport and
utilities. Airport uh representing we
spent uh 16% of the budget and utilities
1% and help me understand those two if
you could please.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
Throw the chair to councelor Wilson.
Okay. So for airports it's basically
transfers for tangible capital assets
which will be recorded at year end. So
they are not actual expenses.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
>> For for did you say utilities?
» For for did you say utilities?
>> Utilities.
» Utilities.
>> Yeah. The same thing for utilities.
» Yeah. The same thing for utilities.
>> Same thing.
» Same thing.
>> Yes.
» Yes.
>> TCAs.
» TCAs.
>> Yes.
» Yes.
>> Okay. Thank you.
That's it for me. Thank you,
>> Mayor Bronco.
» Mayor Bronco.
>> Thank you to the chair to obvious
» Thank you to the chair to obvious
um
revenue and expenses. Does grants go
under the heading revenue? Does that
include say we were to get $5 million
uh grant would that be under revenue or
is that a special different?
>> That's correct. it's under revenue then
» That's correct. it's under revenue then
again it depends if the grant is a
conditional grant or unconditional
grant. So if it's a conditional grant it
will reflect in a revenue when it is
spent. But if it's unconditional
regardless of it being spent or not it
will be recorded as revenue.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
>> Any further questions?
» Great. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
» 8.5 corporate business plan.
» Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Uh so on March 26th of this year,
council approved the 2026 to 2029
strategic plan. Uh within that plan,
there were four pillars and each pillar
has three goals. Uh and then there are
nine indicators of success for each of
the pillars as well. Uh my team sat down
with uh the consultant that worked with
council to develop out the strategic
plan and we took those indicators of
success and developed out 15 initiatives
that are now going to become a part of
the corporate business plan. Um the
first thing I want to do in your package
um is the old corporate business plan. I
just want to go through that really
quickly high level. So there were 28
projects that were identified within the
last um corporate business plan. 10 of
those have been completed. Uh 14 were
ongoing or have become a part of our
operations um and will continue to be
ongoing. One of them was cancelled and
three have been moved to our new um
corporate business plan.
We are doing it a little bit differently
this year. I am going to share my
screen
so that I can walk you through
what the new corporate business plan
looks like. So this is our online system
with clearoint strategies. You've seen
the reports that come out of this system
um for the capital updates and operating
updates, but this is specific to the
corporate business plan. So, we have um
sorry, I'm just moving my screen around.
Um we have copied over council's mission
and vision and your values
um from your plan
and then we have looked at each of your
goals and then um your indicators of
success and then we have what we've
called administrative tactics. we've
come up with. There's usually three, but
in some there are four um initiatives
that we think are going to help um
achieve your goals. And some of these
initiatives uh cross pillars. So, we do
believe that some of these um items that
we're going to take on uh will serve
more than one purpose. uh we've gone in
and and initially looked at some of
these things uh like I said were carried
from the old plan or or are things that
we've already started on. Um and I've
gone in and done a quick update on um
what that looks like. So um this is also
going to be available on our website so
the public can access at any time and
council can access at any time as well.
We would be looking for feedback from
council although the corporate business
plan isn't something that council
approves. is we do want to make sure
that we're um we're hitting your
thoughts on how we're going to be
successful, what those indicators of
success are. So, in your area of
economic prosperity, we've said that um
we need to build out a land strategy
that supports um development that is one
that was in our old corporate business
plan and we've moved that forward. Um
[clears throat]
we've talked about creating an
investment and attraction plan. uh
reducing barriers to development,
improving processes, enabling investment
momentum and then updating the tax
strategy that was also from our previous
plan. So the tax strategy model was
completed but with the changes to the
reserve policy we have to rerun the
model with the new policy before we can
um present any of that to council. So as
soon as that reserve policy is finalized
uh finance will be bringing that back
in environment and infrastructure. Uh
we've talked about our asset management
which was a huge discussion with council
during your corporate or sorry during
your uh strategic goals planning
session. Increased participation through
citizen-led initiatives and campaigns
and then increase community standards um
cleanliness um through education etc.
I'm just going to click on one of them
so that you can see what you would find
if you were to click into this
particular one. So the description is
carried forward. Um,
and then
I don't know why. Oh, I think we put
Ryan on that because it it has to do
with garbage cans. And then if you
scroll down, you can see what our
progress to date is. So, we have a draft
um bench and trash policy that we're
looking at internally that'll hopefully
be presented to council at some point.
Um, part of what we're thinking is that
we have a lot of garbage cans and and
things that are along um, Main Street
and in our parks, but we have none on
the auto mile or anywhere else in the
community. And so, if we can come up
with a strategy, I think in the draft
policy, we have something like every 400
meters there will be a garbage can and a
and a bench. Um, then we can place them
strategically where uh, people won't
have to walk miles before they find a
garbage can. um
we talk about um efficiencies and how
we're doing things. So um I've had a
recent discussion with um the operations
crew.
We used to load the lawnmowers and drive
to places and we thought that wasn't
very efficient. So we had them driving
in the lawnmowers to the places. The
teams reviewed the GPS and said it's
actually more efficient to load them
onto the trailers and drag them around.
So, we're using the technology that we
have to look for efficiencies and how we
can get to the parks quicker and and
keep them maintained better. Um, and
then of course we have our cultivate our
community program in place. So, that's
like a partners and park thing that
we're going to be uh pushing out a lot
more. Uh, we talk about what the next
steps are and then um how much of this
we've completed. So each of these items
um you can click into and um and get a
real-time update. So
um
yeah, and it that that has happened for
all four pillars and all of the
initiatives. Um I won't go through each
one of them. Um I'm sure those of you
that clicked into it had a good look
around and I'd be happy to answer any
questions that you might have or take
any feedback.
Any questions?
Councelor Nielsen,
then councelor White.
Um
my first comment will be my last note.
Um
and it has to do with metrics, Sue. Um
and um I'd like some of my other
colleagues spend an awful lot of time
looking last year's strategic plan
instead of this year's strategic plan.
But uh aside from that, I did finally
get caught up. Um but what I noticed in
the metrics and um
in in the last metrics um they were a
lot of them were very uh subjective in
nature. Uh the public will feel better.
uh the city will believes it's doing
this a lot a lot of that and I guess
what I would like to do is I would like
to challenge administration
to start building more objective
measures into their document. Um
and to that end
I'm not saying that everything has to be
uh objective in nature
but I think uh having objective measures
or metrics uh
provides a clearer picture of
rates of success or nonsuccess. So, as I
say, I'm I would simply challenge some
of those metrics to be more objective
and less subjective. Um,
and I'm really slow to the race because
um I read the document. I didn't I
didn't notice that I could click in and
go down two or three levels to get more
data. So, some of my notes um
some of my questions may be answered by
going deeper into the document you
provided and I'll have to go back and do
some further homework. But, um
I'm
interested in
inspiring governance. I spoke about it
earlier today
and
within the
document itself
there are no actions. It says council
demonstrates professional, respectful,
accountable leadership. Um so is that
something
that
you're leaving totally in our hands?
That's a bit loaded. I'm sorry, but
that's the only way I think you can put
it. It's an interesting one because when
I originally went through inspiring
governance, I'm like, "Oh, this is all
council." Um, but really when we took a
little bit of a deeper dive, there's
there's not like there's some corporate
business plan, maybe some um operating
business cases that we could put
through. Um, we've had
while I do think that council is
responsible for the direction that is
set, I think there's a lot that we can
do in here. So, we talked about um try
and pick one that I've got a bit more
done on. [snorts] Um
the establish clear communication um
routines that reduce confusion and
improve transparency was one of those.
So within that, we've looked at update
the city website for ease of access by
residents and businesses with key
information, draft communication
strategies to deal with miss and
disinformation,
increase budget engagement
opportunities, and ensure consistency
and language is used across engagement
and communications. We talked about some
of the next steps that we need to do. So
adding the customer service matrix to
our city website so that everybody can
really serve themselves rather than
trying to wait to get through to someone
to answer their questions. Um develop
communication protocols for all
employees once gaps are identified and
filled. Um and then create a continuous
improvement plan um for this strategy.
So, we've dug in a bit deeper and I can
understand I probably should have
clarified that um when I said just click
on the link that you could have gone a
little bit deeper in this. So, while a
lot of it does
call for council's leadership, I do
think there's a lot of things that we
can do within here including like a
citizen satisfaction survey which we're
putting through an operating business
case on. So, um, and and even updating
our RFDs so that we can show you if the
RFD that you're talking about that day
actually has a link to your strategic
plan. Not just a weak link, but is it
actually identified um, within your plan
so that you can start to tailor your
conversations to make sure that we're
only talking about the things that are
most important to council most of the
time.
>> Does that answer your question?
» Does that answer your question?
Um,
>> yeah, for the most part I I think it
» yeah, for the most part I I think it
does. Um, obviously I've got to go back
and do a deeper dive into this document
than I than I did initially.
>> We could we could bring this back again
» We could we could bring this back again
if council wants to look like go into
each of those and have a look and then
just say, "Yeah, I agree with these, but
how how are you going to actually
achieve this?" Am
>> I the only [snorts] one that didn't do
» I the only [snorts] one that didn't do
the deeper dive that
>> I kind of did, but
» I kind of did, but
>> Oh, I asked
I couldn't connect and see the whole
thing.
>> So,
» So,
>> I needed the piece of paper,
» I needed the piece of paper,
>> right? And so, you haven't had the
» right? And so, you haven't had the
opportunity then to get behind the
scenes or did you get all the back
documentation?
» Does this piece of paper include
everything that's in the linky linky
stuff?
>> I actually didn't look at it. Um, Nicole
» I actually didn't look at it. Um, Nicole
was the one that printed it, so I'm not
sure if it actually includes the
background stuff. I kind of think so
because clicking around I haven't found
more than what's printed on the paper.
>> Okay. What I can do too is actually get
» Okay. What I can do too is actually get
the reports open so that everything gets
and I can get it into a PDF and send it
to you if you don't want to click
around.
>> Yes, please.
» Yes, please.
>> Please. [laughter]
» Please. [laughter]
Um, and at the risk of maybe
um
jumping the gun here a little bit in
terms of
I want to spend a couple minutes in
social and cultural life if I could.
Um, my notes
was I think more specificity is needed
here, but maybe it is behind all of
these levels.
um
when we're talking about community
safety and when I first looked at this
Sue I have to admit that I I thought
that given the
discussion and
concern expressed by the community
related to safety that
we didn't put you didn't put enough in
your document and I stand corrected
because I I don't know yet whether you
did or you didn't. Um
the tactic that was written here was
support community safety planning and I
wrote only support it. Are we actually
planning to commit and do something and
implement actions and strategies that
are uh fiscally realistic and feasible
and support of businesses and residents
and I wanted to speak specifically about
the businesses. Um
and then there was another statement in
there uh and I thought it should be
broken out that it says here strength
and coordination for supports of
residents during emergencies and extreme
weather and um I wanted to speak to
ensure that we are talking about all
residents
um not just the unhoused or precariously
housed. I'm I'm thinking back to when he
had in u really horrific heat in our
something we haven't seen this summer
but previously and we were dealing with
seniors and and cooling centers and all
the rest of it. We weren't we weren't
talking targeting a specific
group in our community. And I want to
make sure that as we talk about supports
for our our residents, we're talking
about all of them. Um
and then there was a bullet in there
about improving supports
um
to other entities
and I don't know how we improve supports
to other entities. I I think we can
improve uh
I don't know how we can provide supports
of of non city entities. I think we can
only improve coordination coordination
of the supports. Um,
I don't believe we can we can uh
increase the capacity of mental health
and or mental health supports, but I
think we can
>> work to help improve those supports. You
» work to help improve those supports. You
know what I'm getting at here a little
bit?
>> Um,
» Um,
>> yeah.
» yeah.
>> And I I'm going to stand down because I
» And I I'm going to stand down because I
just I've got to do more work on this
for sure.
>> I I do. Um, the one thing that I should
» I I do. Um, the one thing that I should
note too is that this is like a live
document. So, just yesterday I had some
meetings with the library and FCSS and
those meetings actually um gave me some
information that I'm going to update
this document with. So, as I go in and
update those, you'll get to see that in
real time, not on the printed copy, but
um through the the website. But, for
example, if we look at support community
safety planning through structured
partnerships, etc., etc. When I click
into that, there's a description here
that says the project will strengthen
collaboration among municipal partners,
sorry, municipal departments, emergency
responders, and social service agencies,
indigenous communities, healthcare
providers, school divisions, nonprofit
organizations. So, it goes on and on
about what it is that we're going to do
within here. Um, and then the only note
that I had put in because Jackie um,
orientated me with to this last week and
I thought it was really great. I know
that enforcement services is reviewing
options and opportunities to collaborate
regionally right now and we're looking
at in um, sorry I should say protective
services. Um, we are looking at
emergency management and that sort of
stuff. And we are when we think about
emergencies. I had this discussion with
Emily from FCSS yesterday. Council was
not specific on unhoused. You said
vulnerable residents. And so we're
including seniors, children, um, people
that are precariously housed or or one
paycheck away from being unhoused. So
we're not focusing on one group when we
think about this area. We're looking at
everyone in the community that might be
vulnerable. Um, so I think we've hit
some of that, but again, once you dig
through, we'll probably have a better
discussion.
>> Thank you for that. and and obviously
» Thank you for that. and and obviously
more digging to a deeper level needs to
be done, but I I language is really
important and
how we interpret vulnerable population
or how you're interpreting vulnerable
population and how the public may be
interpreting that
um might be quite quite different. And
uh
and that's why I talked about all
residents. And again, I'm not trying to
advocate for one over the other, but um
if the vulnerable population is is as
you've described the then I think we
need to be clear to the public
what we're actually saying.
Okay. Councelor White.
» Thank you. Deputy Mayor Elder through
the chair to administration. Um Sue, can
you ex expand on the conversation that I
had regarding an inquiry from a group of
seniors who asked me about the city's
emergency prepared plan and I know that
some work is being done. Can you and can
you tie what's being what you found
what's being done and tie it to what
you've included in the corporate plan?
>> Sure. So, um, when I spoke to Matt about
» Sure. So, um, when I spoke to Matt about
this, we did find, so annually we are to
update our emergency management plan and
we have annual meetings with the
province as well to go over and make
sure that we've um, covered everything
and that we're doing all the things that
we need to do like live exercises and
mock scenarios, etc.
Um Matt's team is doing a lot right now
to kind of reestablish those
relationships with the province and our
um neighboring communities to make sure
that we're hitting those targets where
we need to. But one of the areas that
we've lacked in is actually keeping the
documentation up to date. And so there's
a lot of outdated information. Um we
were going to load the old one on, but
we figured it would cause more confusion
because there's people and numbers that
are not current anymore. And so Matt's
team is going to be going through and
updating this um as soon as we can. And
it it deals it follows kind of the
template of the province. So it looks at
every possible emergency scenario that
could happen. I can tell you cuz I've
been through this several times in our
community. Um weather, flooding, and
train derailment are our biggest um
concerns that we have in this community.
Um, and so once Matt's team gets through
and updates that, uh, we will be sharing
it with council and, um, on our city
website and then we'll be able to, um,
work with the community groups so that
they understand, um, what their roles
are in this and how we how we notify the
community of emergencies. Um
there's a lot of work to be done around
this and I think it's been done off the
side of people's desks and so I can tell
you that we do have an operating
business case in to help um staff
emergency management although we are
looking at what contracted help we might
be able to get and or what we can share
from other communities um that is more
templateish and not specific to
Watasquin. Um, so there's a lot of work
that needs to be done, but we're we're
beginning that and as soon as we get
that update for people, we will have
that out. One of the big, um, gaps that
we're having right now, and I haven't
had this discussion with Emily. Um,
hopefully she's not watching and
surprised. Um, FCSS is usually a a city
department, and so they do handle the
community services section when we stand
up um, and our um, EOCC.
Um but because they're an outside
agency, we really haven't had that
discussion with them about what role
they play in an emergency and they have
all the contacts. So um we will be
working with them to see how we can make
this work for everybody uh moving
forward. But there's just some
identified gaps that we have that we'll
we'll work on. Um and then one of the
discussions that councelor White and I
had was do we have a system to let
people know if there's an emergency? And
we did. In the old city hall, there was
an air horn on top of the building. I'm
sure Ruben would give it to us if
council wanted to figure out how to make
that happen. Um, but there is a new
system that most of you are probably
aware that comes across your phone
through the province. And so, we are um
hooked up to that system and if there is
an emergency, we would go to that
website. There's two buttons in there.
There's one that's like, "Hey, there's a
warning." And there's another one like,
"Hey, we have a huge issue here and
everybody needs to pay attention."
um and and people get notified through
that system. Um unfortunately, if you
don't have a cell phone, there could be
gaps that way. So, um something that
we'll keep our eye on how we we may be
able to help in those situations, but
right now, that's the system that
everybody works off of.
Thank you for that. I know I'm not the
only one that looks forward to having
those uh gaps tightened up.
taking a turn um back to the pillar of
economic prosperity. I
I
did quite a bit of I'll say clicking
around, but I really appreciated the
printed copy. Helped me think through
some of this. Um in the economic area,
there's
uh one of the goals says maximize
economic value of key municipal assets.
And that's taken straight from council's
strategic plan. and council's indicators
of success say key municipal assets
contribute measurably to the city's
business attraction, retention, and or
expansion. And municipal assets are
positioned to support regional economic
development.
When I look at then the tactic that's
listed in the corporate plan, which is
reduce barriers to development by
improving processes and enabling
investment momentum.
I favor that. I I'm not opposed to
reducing barriers, but I'm not it isn't
readily obvious to me how that is
setting up our [snorts] municipal assets
to contribute. seemed really broad and
and the the goal is pretty specifically
related to municipal assets. Can you
either draw a correlation or help me
understand why
the pivot away from specifically key
assets?
>> Yeah, so I should have been clearer. Um
» Yeah, so I should have been clearer. Um
they there is not a direct correlation
between your indicator of success and
our administrative tactics. So the three
indicators of success that you have
under there, we're saying these other
four things are going to feed into all
of these or some of these. And I also
mentioned earlier that some categories
cross over. So if you look at
environmental and infrastructure
sustainability, one of the first
administrative tactics we have is
maintain a multi-year asset management
strategy and capital plan. That also
ties into that. So some of these are
cross like when we looked at the 15
initiatives that we have. We tried to
maximize them to say can these hit more
than one council indicator for success
and where they could. We put them where
we thought they made the most sense but
they actually go across pillars if that
makes sense.
It does when when this comes back to us
again in
when we're more ready to to read it and
absorb it as well as have a a method of
absorbing it. I I still look forward to
some tie to how
key municipal assets are going to be
maximized economically.
» Okay. One of the things that I had
Jackie do because I thought that it was
confusing, we had the goals and then the
pillars or the categories as they're
called in here. And then there was
another column in between that and
administrative tactics that actually had
um
not just your goals, but the indicators
of success that you had under each one.
And I was worried that there was going
to be a direct correlation to those. And
so I asked her to actually hide it. It's
in there and I could get her to unhide
it. Um so that you can see your goal and
your indicators of success. But then
just remember that the administrative
tactics don't directly line up.
um does and maybe we need to position it
differently where I have your goals,
your indicators of success, and then
maybe along the bottom we could have our
administrative tactics so that it
doesn't look like there's a direct
correlation with each one if that makes
it might make it a little bit easier to
look at that way. I was worried about
having too much information on this page
that would make things confusing.
Um, but it is in there because we we
took the goals and the indicators of
success directly from your plan and then
the only thing we've done is create
those administrative tactics. And maybe
what we could do is even maybe identify
them through colors so that you could
see some relate to more than one pillar.
I will leave that as an operational
activity of administration and I look
forward to finding out how
administration plans to maximize the
economic value of our key municipal
assets.
» Councelor Nielsen,
>> thanks. I'm I'm I'm glad councelor White
» thanks. I'm I'm I'm glad councelor White
you went there. I had it on mine as
well. Um, but was reluctant to comment
because I hadn't dived deep enough. But
part of part of my my issue here is not
unlike yours,
but
I wonder
what is our role as council in
identifying what we think are the
um
key municipal assets.
Is that admin team identifying the
city's key municipal assets or is it our
role to identify those assets? Um
because I wrote I wrote down some things
here um
that I guess I would question. I might
think that it's a key municipal asset,
but it would never be considered.
And so, for example, I wrote down names
down of some core major businesses in
the airport. I also wrote down the topic
tourism. I also wrote down the top the
the item of proximity to our First
Nations neighbors. That could tie into
tourism. That could tie into a number of
different elements. But who's to say
what are the key
municipal assets that we're actually
asking somebody to do some work on? And
should it be us that identifies it or
should it be economic development who
identifies it? Um I just wonder if there
doesn't need to be more of a
conversation about what that it might
be.
>> Councelor Nielsen, I support what you
» Councelor Nielsen, I support what you
what you're taking on there.
I would like to leave it to
administration. I want to see what they
come back with and they've given us
opportunity to feed into it. So bring
back and tell me what they think and
then we will confirm or redirect as we
see fit.
I do see this as an administrative task
and I can link it to some of the
discussions that we've had around asset
management and um one of the task forces
that I sit on with municipal affairs
right now we're looking at uh viability
reviews and CAO codes of conduct and
that sort of thing and I can tell you
that one of the topics that we've talked
about are the um the indicators that the
province tracks with respect to asset
management and there's already an
established
um kind of protocol around what should
be included. Um, so we would follow
the legislation and um, and a lot of
that ties into grants. And so part of
the discussion that we're having right
now through the province is um, how we
relate grant funding from the province
to the municipalities based on key asset
infrastructure rather than nice to
haves. So I think there's enough there
that we that we need to follow best
practices. we need to follow uh what the
government has already set out because
that's what we're reporting on. Um so I
I do totally see this as an
administrative um function, but we can
certainly explain that to you what that
looks like. Um and then if there is
disagreement around that, there's
obviously a lobbying opportunity with
the province.
» Any other questions?
We want to break for five minutes or
carry on. What do you What's everybody's
Okay, let's have a break Four. Five.
That may take
some people
might take two
Welcome back everybody. Uh
if there was any other there was no
other questions there. So we're going to
go to 8.6 local improvement policy.
>> Good morning committee. Um I just wanted
» Good morning committee. Um I just wanted
to I guess bring this back in front of
council um prior to discussing the
reserve policy um at a future meeting.
And so just in general, a local
improvement tax is essentially a tax
that can be imposed on a piece of
infrastructure or um or an improvement
in a neighborhood or an area that is
been clearly defined as a benefit to
that particular area over benefiting the
entire municipality.
And so local improvements are taxes that
are applied to the land, not to an
individual person. Uh and so our local
improvement policy currently um allows
for sidewalks, curbon gutter, uh asphalt
paving um to be included in that. Um the
municipal government act does legislate
how municipalities can impose a local
improvement tax.
The current policy that you have in
front of you today uh was introduced in
and approved by council in 2018 um and
has not been re well it has been
reviewed. it just has not been in front
of council since that date. Uh and so
administration just wants to uh get
feedback from council on um what they
would like to see in the local
improvement policy. Um, as part of the
current policy, uh, it also allows for
property owners to have their lanes
paved, uh, to put median cuts in, uh, do
decorative street lighting into their
added to their neighbors. But that is
the cost is borne solely by the property
owners and is not split by the
municipality as is the curb and gutter
asphalt paving and uh, sidewalks that
currently exists there. So, in other
communities, things like lane paving,
lane lighting, um our decorative
lighting, those are included in their
local improvement policies just as ours
is. But in consideration of that reserve
policy and the discussions that have
been had, does council want to consider
removing the sidewalks, curbon gutter,
and asphalt paving from the local
improvement policy and just keep items
that would be requested by community
members that would be uh paid for
typically solely by the the uh property
owners. Uh so that's an option that we
can look at if uh council wants uh to go
that route. And if anyone has any
questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
>> Councelor White,
» Councelor White,
then councelor or mayor Bronco.
>> Easy question. What's a median cut?
» Easy question. What's a median cut?
[laughter]
>> Uh through the I guess through to
» Uh through the I guess through to
councelor White. Uh, a median cut is
essentially, so if you had a sidewalk in
front of your home, for example, and you
were going to put in um a driveway, we
would we would allow you to pay to get
the sidewalk dropped so you didn't have
to jump up and over a curb to get onto
your driveway.
>> So, it's about a sidewalk. I I was
» So, it's about a sidewalk. I I was
thinking median like something in the
middle of a road, not that.
>> And it could be as well. So, if we had a
» And it could be as well. So, if we had a
median um I'm just going to give an
example. Say 40th Avenue. Let's say we
put a median all the way across and you
had a driveway on the north side of the
avenue and we you had to get through. We
would allow you to cut that at your cost
so that you could access your driveway
from either direction. Yeah.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
>> You're welcome.
» You're welcome.
>> Uh Mayor Bronco,
» Uh Mayor Bronco,
>> thank you. Mark, I'm sorry. I'm trying
» thank you. Mark, I'm sorry. I'm trying
to get on here. I touched something
here. Uh
» what what I'm asked can you hear me?
>> We can't see. Yep, we can hear and see.
» We can't see. Yep, we can hear and see.
>> I I am against uh local improvement. I
» I I am against uh local improvement. I
think uh Watasquin the whole city,
everybody should pay for that. I do
agree that if citizens want their back
alley paved, that's something that's
used totally by the back alley or street
lights, but I am totally against local
improvements. Uh the whole city of
Watascoin uses the roads.
Why not everybody pace?
So, I am against uh I would like it
local improvements removed. Thank you.
>> Councelor Billingsley, then councelor
» Councelor Billingsley, then councelor
Nielsen, then councelor White.
>> Um
» Um
first I'll I'll
mayor, are you talking like completely
gone? So then if if four curb cuts or
whatever then
>> No, no, no, no, no, no. That's a
» No, no, no, no, no, no. That's a
different that's a different item.
>> That's different then. Okay. And I think
» That's different then. Okay. And I think
what administration is bringing back is
to say um sidewalks and overlays be
taken out of local improvement. Um and
that would come out of um
the residential tax portion. Um
>> yes.
» yes.
>> Okay. Just want clarification on that. I
» Okay. Just want clarification on that. I
did ask and this is more of a comment. I
asked uh administration through finance
to find out um what the tax implications
are going to be if we go to this model.
Um over the last 5 years um the
residents had contributed approximately
$500,000
um to this. So, you're looking or we are
looking at um about a $100,000 shortfall
that would then have to be
um instead of coming from the local
residents, it would be coming through
the tax base. So, we would be looking if
products projects were the same same
location today's dollars of about a half
a percent tax increase to do this just
for us to know. Councelor Nielsen.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair.
» Thank you, Mr. Chair.
[clears throat and cough]
Excuse me. Uh,
I want to be
I want to understand, Joe, what what
your position is in in relation to this
because before I can say I agree with
Joe, I want to make sure I agree with
Joe. Um,
so
>> I'm of I I'm of the I'm of the opinion
» I'm of I I'm of the I'm of the opinion
that I would like to see
local improvements dropped with the
exception of
backlane, decorative,
um, lighting, all that kind of stuff.
Um, is that where you're at, Joe, or are
do you have more qualifications than
that? No, no, Wayne, that's exactly what
I'm saying. So, to me, a local
improvement is uh I'll use for example
your area, Parkside. I think Parkside
uh should not be left only to the people
of Parkside. I think should be left to
the people with Tasco because,
you know, you get a frustrated
residences. Hey, these guys are driving
up and down my street. Why aren't they
paying for it? So, uh, back alleys,
street lights. If the residents wanted
it, that's different. It's no different
than if a resident wants in the old part
of town, his side's fallen apart, and he
wants to do a curb cut, he pays the
contractor, the city, gets a permit or
rip rips out percentage of his front of
his sidewalk. Uh, that's a different
issue. local improvements it means is
redoing your whole sidewalk in that
subdivision
underground
ashalt
and and that's what I that's what I
assume local improvements but curb cuts
that's not local improvements that's
individual request okay thank you so to
that extent then um I have a question
through the chair to administration so
Sue if we were to eliminate um local
improvements
What happens to all those folks that now
are paying double because to Dean's
point, they have to pay the an increased
tax to support
paving roads and sidewalks across the
city while at the same time they're also
paying because they had theirs done at a
time when this was in place. So, what
happens to them? Do they end up getting
caught and we're we're double dipping
with them or what? H how?
Yeah. Um,
it's no different than when any other
rule changes. So, you could look at
grandfathering, although I hate that.
Um, but you could look at, and I' I'd
have to talk to Tuloo to make sure that
this is actually something we could do
where you could reimburse that portion
of
what they're already paying. There's
very few local improvements in the city
right now. Most of them are paid off.
Um,
>> okay. So, we could look at at an
» okay. So, we could look at at an
alternative, but um my standard response
to this is the rules change all the time
and we don't go back. So, it should just
be the rule for everybody moving forward
and that's that's just the way it is. I
think there's only
I think there's only two or three in
town right now.
>> So, while this is before us then
if there is a strong enough position
amongst council to actually
restrict it or change it um and move
away from um
is this what we do now in in terms of
the recommendations or
I'm I'm trying so if I'm if I'm
if I'm a friend of Joe's on this
particular issue and we get two other
friends does that mean we just don't
deal with this particular policy
>> so Yeah, this was the discussion that we
» so Yeah, this was the discussion that we
had around the reserve policy. So,
administration is recommending that we
remove the road renewal from local
improvement. We're not saying throw out
local improvement because there are
valid opportunities for citizens to come
forward. Um, what we are saying is that
if you remove that risk around allowing
them to vote it down and then they
complain about the state of the road and
you put it on taxes, we're going to have
a much better asset management system.
Um but we need you to make that decision
on this before you can finalize your
reserve policy discussion around the
infrastructure tax. So yes, we do need
you to
find three people that support whatever
direction you want us to take.
>> Okay. So from that perspective then
» Okay. So from that perspective then
[clears throat]
and I think I'm I'm interpreting
correctly
I would like to see
roads and sidewalks
be removed or sorry asphalting and
paving um be removed from
this policy which would then allow
people who wanted
other stuff to line up and be able to go
through it and pay for it. Did that make
sense?
Sorry, it does. Um, I would maybe reward
it. Um, that I think Ryan used some good
language before standard
because someone could come in and say we
want a decorative sidewalk in here and
we should allow them to petition for
that. Um, but if they want the standard
that the city does, um, then we can we
can work around some wording so that it
doesn't remove that opportunity for
citizens to come forward and get
something different in their
neighborhood.
>> Okay. So, I think Joel and I
» Okay. So, I think Joel and I
want to see roads and sidewalks,
standard roads and sidewalks be the
responsibility of all rateayers.
Would you say that's right, Joe? That is
correct. Blank.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
>> Councelor [clears throat] White, Mayor
» Councelor [clears throat] White, Mayor
Bronco, then Councelor Aberly.
>> I think you have a third friend,
» Mayor Bronco.
Uh, thank you. through a chair to
clarification suit. the the the the
policy we have now when we do a local
improvement, we assess their frontage
and we charge them, let's say, for
example, the average home pays $3,000.
But once we're doing that project and
for unforeseen conditions,
there's $100,000 extra. Who pays for
that? Does that get divided between
the residents or is that become part of
the local the whole community
because because when we give them a
price we say for the next 10 years if we
do a local improvement you're going to
pay let's say $500 for the next 10 years
that's based on that project cost. But
if there's an overseen
uh extras, let's say $100,000 on that
road, who pays for that? Is that all
citizens of Watasan or is that that
devel or that
project
» uh through to Mayor Bronco. So in that
case, so if if the bylaw was approved by
council and it said that each property
is uh saying $3,000
for the next 10 years and the project is
concluded and we do have some issue and
it's an extra $100,000, then the bylaw
would have to be amended or proposed to
be amended and council could amend the
bylaw to increase each of the properties
by splitting that 100,000 between the
city 50% and the residents 50%. % or
council could say, "Nope, that's okay."
Um, the city will pay for it. That's
that's up to council.
>> Thank you,
» Thank you,
councelor Averly. Then councelor
Billingsley.
>> Uh, thank you. We don't have to say
» Uh, thank you. We don't have to say
through the chair, but I'm going to uh
through the chair to administration. I
just want to make sure I understand
fully what this discussion is. So
currently uh
correct me if I anything I say is wrong.
Currently we have a I'm going to say
long list of areas where we see our
equipment and our analysis has seen
these are the areas
where road work, sidewalk work in
neighborhoods is required.
And I remember a couple years ago
looking at it, right? Like this year
we're hoping to do X, like the plan is
to do XY Z.
And I was looking at it really carefully
because my block is um coming soon. And
I was like, oo, uh, my taxes are about
to go up.
So my first So so far I'm right. So we
just go down that line of that's how we
do that is
this and then if the neighborhood who
will have or the people who live along
that stretch
where the work's going to get done if
the majority does not want to pay the
local improvement it gets put down to
the bottom and their
road sidewalk whatever doesn't get done
so I understand the process as more or
less before I ask my question.
>> Councelor Ably, you have it correct.
» Councelor Ably, you have it correct.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
So, the first question is if we get rid
of the local improvement levy on those
individual people and we spread it out
to the community, do we foresee,
for example, because I think that my
road and it's not really about me. It's
just how I can organize my road will
still 100% be done when it was planned
to or now that
we are looking at everything that
timeline's going to be shorter or
longer,
would it impact that at all? And I I
know that's sort of we don't know the
answer 100% but
>> uh so there is a potential that it might
» uh so there is a potential that it might
be delayed a year or two depending on
priorities. Um obviously grant funding
impacts that uh reserve funding will
impact that um council's decisions on
you know instead of spending $2 million
on roads this year we're going to spend
it here. So that could impact the
priorities. But if your road was
scheduled for 2028 uh reconstruction, we
would follow that schedule as close as
possible.
>> And either having the levy or not having
» And either having the levy or not having
the levy is not going to impact that
schedule.
The only thing that would impact that
would be if the levy still exists and
it's petitioned against then obviously
the schedule changes but otherwise the
schedule shouldn't be affected
by more than a year or two in my
opinion.
>> Okay. So when I look at when I think
» Okay. So when I look at when I think
about the levy and I'm this is where I
was like wait to my question until
everybody agrees because I need I need
to just maybe have council
argue this in my head for me as to
whether or not you have a fourth friend.
Um,
initially I believe that yes, 100%
we should be spreading this across the
community in the sense that we are one
community and let's um spread the cost
of everybody's roads.
But then I wonder I get where Sue you
were saying if they want a decorative
sidewalk or they they want these special
things they can
apply for it. But if there is a group of
people that
have the money and want to expedite
their roads that now takes a cost off
the rest of us. And so where I'm not I
think fundamentally I don't agree with
that because I don't agree with that
with healthare but then when I think
about it with um the roads I'm sort of
like how much of a communist am I? uh
right is [laughter] I don't
basically that's what we're saying now
is that if you can afford it
you can have it quicker and maybe we're
getting more work done in the year
because people are being able to put in
more work towards it. So I just if
anybody can help me make my mind up
because I'm I'm totally on the fence.
Councelor Billingsley, maybe you can
help her.
>> I don't know if I'm going to be able to
» I don't know if I'm going to be able to
be much help. I think you have a friend
in me as [laughter] well. Part of the um
consideration though is um we will have
a shortfall of revenue compared to if we
had local improvement. Like I say, about
a half a percent of of of taxation lost.
Um, part of the problem that we ran into
with this is that we had um I'll use the
Parkside Drive. Is that the the really
bad street? Um, it was scheduled
>> to be fixed
» to be fixed
few years ago and they petitioned and
and did not want to do the local
improvement. So
it becomes a problem in the sense of
they are the ones who said no thank you
we'll move it to the bottom of the pile
and I could understand why because their
their taxes were going to go up more
than if it was shared among the entire
community. Um, so that's one thing to um
have in your mind when you decide
whether or not this is the right way to
go or not. Um,
but I think that um having things moved
to the bottom of the pile, if we if we
lose having u sidewalks and overlays
removed from this list, um then things
wouldn't be moved to the end of the p or
to the bottom of the pile. that um
parkside drive would have been taken
care of three four years ago or whenever
it was scheduled. So um for that reason
I'm will support removing those.
>> Mayor Bronco,
» Mayor Bronco,
thank you. Uh just a question. I know we
have we have a tax for roads and
infrastructure. So if I were to look at
the other aspect is residents, let's say
we're going to go to a 2% infrastructure
tax.
And I would feel real guilty myself if I
were was to pay 2%
tax for infrastructure and then when it
came to building my road that I'd have
to pay the whole thing when I'm already
paying
a road tax. So, it's almost like to me I
see it as uh double taxing the residents
for that for that lot for that road
because I am once once you raise a road
tax to everybody in our community that
means we're paying for everybody's road.
We're collecting money from everybody to
pay for everybody's road.
So just just a thought.
» Councelor Oil.
» Mike, please.
>> Oh, I turned it off. Thanks, Joe. Um,
» Oh, I turned it off. Thanks, Joe. Um,
thanks, Mayor Branco.
Would it be fair to say or is it is it
if we remove this then there is no
choice to have your road and your
sidewalks done or do they still have a
choice to pay for it I guess would be my
question because if they did not we have
standard roads we have standard
sidewalks that's what you get it's paid
for in your taxes we wouldn't have to
worry about what councelor Averly was
saying correct
[clears throat]
Um, yeah, that's correct. If the if the
local improvement levy was removed,
everyone would get
standard road, standard curb and gutter,
standard sidewalk, um, they couldn't
vote against it. Um, it would all it
would just get done in the order of our
infrastructure maintenance plan.
>> Thank you,
» Councelor Aberly.
This is it's so funny. So
for me it's funny as I work it through
that we are there are certain areas
where people want to call for plebites.
They want to do all of these things as a
representative government and this has
just made up my mind is that I believe
that we are elected to make these
decisions and you have a friend. Thank
you.
Any further questions?
Good. We don't need a motion on this, do
we? No. Okay. Oh, councelor Nielson.
So,
four or more friends means
a [clears throat] recommendation going
to administration to pull
standard
curbs and gutters and sidewalks out of
this proposal.
It doesn't
restrict a neighborhood
from asking
and paying for
upgrades.
Would that be a safe statement?
>> That's correct.
» That's correct.
>> So my question would be this.
» So my question would be this.
I want to guard against
a really rich neighborhood Wataswin and
they want to tear the road up every
every 5 years to make sure their
neighborhood is maintained.
Um, do they pay 50% and we're on the
other hook for the 50 or do they pay for
the whole enchilada?
In other words, if we wipe this out, are
we wiping out our contribution to
upgrades?
» If somebody, a neighborhood, wanted to
do something over and above the city's
maintenance and engineering standards,
that would be at their cost. So, if they
wanted to pave their street in gold,
that would not be the city's
responsibility. I'd just like to point
out too that I think people who have
money don't like wasting money.
>> No, be I I asked the question only
» No, be I I asked the question only
because we have if we simply pull out
roads and sidewalks and we leave the
rest of this here so people can make
application.
We would also have to pull out number
four which says the property owner's
allocation is 25% and 50%. Right? We'd
have to make changes to that. So we are
on the hook for paying for their
decorative upgrade.
>> Yeah. Basically, so again, the municipal
» Yeah. Basically, so again, the municipal
government act legislates how we can
impose a t local improvement. So, but
we'll make sure that obviously follows
that legislation. So I'll bring back an
amendment to the local improvement
policy with the recommendations that we
heard today. Um I guess just um in my
previous life um I did local
improvements in another community um
much larger community and it was even
the rich folk did not want to pay for
that. Most of those got petitioned
against even if they were in the
million-dollar houses.
>> Thank you. Councelor Aberly.
» Thank you. Councelor Aberly.
>> Thank you. I think the last comment by
» Thank you. I think the last comment by
Kathy helped my question a little bit,
but I'm in the sense of gold roads
everywhere. [gasps]
Could these improvements only happen
when said neighborhood is scheduled for
improvement?
If a neighborhood petitioned to get a
local improvement completed in their
area, if it was a successful petition
and it met the city's schedule, I guess
for construction, um because we'd
obviously have to tender the project and
so on, um then it could advance. So, if
someone petitioned to say, "I want my
road done next year." And 100% of the of
the uh residents or the property owners
said, "Yep," then we could put it on the
list. And if it's not funded by the
city, it really doesn't matter. It
wouldn't impact the taxes or anything.
It would just impact
us scheduling it with a contractor.
Kathy, just so I make sure just so I I
think what I've heard is that the city
would not be doing that road anymore.
That wouldn't be coming out of So, we're
going to go back to my street. My
street's going to get fixed in two years
regardless of how many people want and
pay for their own lo local improvement
because that's going to be on the city
dime.
And you are just
working with that neighborhood to get
the proper contractors in to do that
road properly. It's not the city doing
the work.
>> That's correct. Thank you.
» That's correct. Thank you.
>> Any further questions?
» Any further questions?
>> Moving on.
» Moving on.
>> Hallelu.
» Hallelu.
My apologies.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A question to
» Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A question to
Kathy or Sue.
Let's say we have
uh we have a list of five streets.
Does council get to choose which street
is more uh
goes first priority? Let's say we drive
oh this is terrible.
Do we have a choice? Does council have a
choice to put uh uh select, you know,
one, two, three or four or is that
engineering department
cuz some municipalities
council decides?
Uh, Mayor Broncos, so we did a road
assessment a number of years ago and so
anytime we bring a project forward for
council's consideration, it is because
it is the most a highest priority for
administration to complete for that
maintenance schedule. So, um, the items
that will come forward for the 2027
construction, those have been
prioritized uh as number one uh being
the most important thing that has to get
done next. And so the list is there. Uh
if council chooses to um fund something
different, that's that's up to council
to decide.
» Okay. Any further questions?
Great. Moving on. Council reports for
information.
Anything there? Closed sessions. Is
there anything on closed?
There is. Okay. So, we will go to close
session at 11, looks like 19.
>> Excuse me, Mr. Mayor. For this, we do
» Excuse me, Mr. Mayor. For this, we do
need a vote on it and a motion.
>> Okay.
» Okay.
>> All of those in favor, moving into close
» All of those in favor, moving into close
session.
All those in favor? Favor.
>> Thank you.
» Thank you.
Love it.
Okay, welcome back everybody. Just need
a motion to come out of close session,
please. So,
all in favor?
Done.
Okay. Um, going to new business. Does
anybody else have any or is it just
myself?
Okay.
So, I'm going to read this. This is uh
I'll leave it for some questions
afterwards, but this is just how how I'm
feeling right now. So,
uh, so I'm going to be direct. Enough is
enough. The matter involving the mayor
has gone too far, lasted too long, and
cost the taxpayers too much money.
The legal bills continue to increase.
Council continues spending time on this.
Administration continues spending time
on this. And ultimately, the taxpayers
continue paying for it.
My position is simple.
Let's resolve the matter. Bring the
mayor back. No new conditions, no
replacement conditions, no further
restrictions.
We also need to look seriously at the
process that brought us here.
Council was asked to make decisions
affecting the elected mayor without all
members having complete information
regarding the conditions associated with
his return. council did not know any of
those conditions. Some council did not
want to know any of them. I continue to
have serious problems with that. We had
a responsibility to know what we are
voting for.
We have a responsibility to ask
questions.
We have a responsibility to understand
the circumstances.
Then we have a responsibility to take
ownership of our votes.
If we do not know the conditions, did
not know whether they were reasonable
and did not know whether they were
achievable, then we should ask ourselves
what information supported the decision
that was made.
This is a governance question to me.
It is a question council should be
willing to examine.
There are also serious questions about
the conditions that were developed, how
authority was exercised throughout the
process, how compliance and determined
and whether council retained enough
oversight over decisions affecting the
elected member of council.
I am deliberately not assigning
responsibility for those matters in open
session.
There are issues associated with this
matter and deserve a more detailed
discussion in proper confidential
session.
That discussion should happen.
But the public should know this much.
Council has a responsibility to satisfy
itself that our processes were fair,
properly authorized, supported by
adequate information, and applied
consistently.
That brings me to another principle.
If council establishes a standard of
conduct for elected official, then we
must be prepared to apply comparable
standards consistently.
I am aware of other comments and conduct
involving individuals within the
municipal organization that in my view
raise serious questions when compared
with the standard applied to the mayor.
I am intentionally not naming
individuals or discussing the details
publicly. Those matters belong in an
appropriate setting, but council and the
public should understand where I stand.
I will not support selective
accountability. If we determine that
certain conduct warrants investigations,
restrictions, sanctions, or other
consequences, then we need to be
prepared to apply our standards
consistently.
Position
should not determine the standard.
Personal relationships should not
determine the standard. The individual
involved should not determine the
standard.
The standard should determine the
standard. If council continues down this
path, then I am prepared to pursue the
other concerns through appropriate
processes.
That is a conversation we should
continue in close session. Before we get
there though, I want council to think
about what continuing this conflict
means to this city.
More legal expense,
more council time,
more administrative time, more internal
division,
more attention taken away from the re
residents and city priorities.
At what point do we say enough?
The public would expect everything
required for August 18th to be ready to
avoid expensive ongoing legal bills. No
unnecessary delays, no incomplete
information, no avoiding a decision
because another opinion is being sought.
Legal counsel advises us. Council
ultimately has to make council's
decisions. We were elected to govern.
There is still time to do that. Well,
we have more than three years left in
this term. Three years to improve
infrastructure. Three years to improve
finances.
Three years to improve services,
attract development and investment.
Three years to rebuild confidence in
council.
Three years to leave a legacy that
people
of this city will be proud of.
There is uh in my opinion far too much
work ahead of us to spend the rest of
this term consumed by internal conflict.
bring the mayor back, end the matter,
and then let us continue the
confidential discussion that council
needs to have.
Let us get back to governing the city.
So, if you have any questions, I've got
a few, but if you have any questions,
please feel free right now.
answer.
» Mine is not a question.
Mine is a comment.
You use the word in your presentation
about being principled
as a council. [cough and clears throat]
>> I don't think I used the word principal,
» I don't think I used the word principal,
but okay.
And I am personally confident
[clears throat]
that I have been principled
in the entire process
and I have ultimate confidence that the
information we receive from from
administration and legal was principled
and I will not make any further comments
because it's before the courts.
Okay. Anyone else?
I don't think I used the word principal,
but where I'm ref referring there is I
asked multiple times after hearing that
he was being able to be brought back in
May. I just asked for terms and
conditions to see it.
It was not provided
was not provided to myself. I assume not
provided to everybody else yet. We're
asked to vote in support without knowing
what we're supporting. So that's where
I'm going.
>> Are you not disclosing confidential
» Are you not disclosing confidential
information?
>> No, I'm repeating what happened out in
» No, I'm repeating what happened out in
front of
>> in close session.
» in close session.
>> No, in front of global news
» No, in front of global news
was all reported.
I'm not repeating anything here.
that the public isn't aware of.
I I I I'd like to know and maybe you
can't answer it. So far, what's it cost
the city in this?
You might not be able to disclose that.
And that's that's an answer.
uh under legal advice administration
will not take part in this conversation.
>> Okay. Then the rest of my questions um
I don't have any other questions because
it's going to go that direction. So I'm
just going to pass on those questions.
But that's just where I stand.
I I I find the city is in big unrest
right now. And this is a big
a big portion of it.
And I just think we've got to come and
solve this quickly. I don't I don't want
to see this dragging out for years and
costing who knows I don't know what
lawyers charge but um
somehow we've got to get back and and
solve this issue sooner than later.
So that's where I stand. So no more
questions from me. Anyone else have
questions?
Then I uh am going to adjourn this
meeting at 1:31.
Thank you for your time.
» I'm sorry. Sorry. Sorry. I almost called
you Tracy.