Wednesday, April 27, 2011

April 26 Council Meeting

Detailed reports of the meeting can be found on the County website

Centre in the Park Parking
Council took the controversial Centre In the Park parking issue head on. A few months ago Council recognized the public’s concern over limited ‘free’ (subsidized) parking by supporting my proposal for 23 surface parking spots that the public could use without paying.  After much debate and discussion – a weighing of all sides – Council reached, in my opinion – a fair compromise.

Council approved administration’s recommendation to increase the Library and County staff paid parking in the covered parkade by another 30 stalls. The rationale was to create an additional 30 public parking on the surface lot by moving staff inside - bringing the total to 50 public stalls in the north surface lot. Council also approved limiting the parking time to 2 hours per stall. This will encourage optimum utilization and opportunity to find parking.

Further improvements included adding 4 handicapped accessible stalls within the P1 level of the parkade, where they will not be charged for use but will also have a 2 hour time limit applied. This addresses the need to accommodate the segment of facility users that have restricted mobility.
I believe that the public now has reasonable access to parking. In addition administration assured Council that significant improvements will be made in signage and payment direction over the next month. Given the improvements I felt confident in approving the amended parking bylaw that will now allow Facility Services to enforce parking violations within the parkade, and in future in other designated paid parking areas.


2011 Tax Rate
Council reviewed and made official the 2011 tax rate. It is significant that municipal residential taxes contribute 26.5% towards paying for municipal services. Our industry partners contribute 31.1% - a far cry from other less well positioned neighbouring municipalities with less industry who are forced to burden their residents with 90% of the tax burden. About 68 cents of the municipal tax dollar provides us with our essential services of road maintenance, public transit, ambulance services as well as fire and police protection. This year’s tax rate increase will come in at 3.45%. Audited financial statements and slide presentation.

Watershed Alliance
The North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance presented to Council. I highly recommend as a ‘must read’ the discussion paper for the Development of an Integrated Watershed Management Plan for the North Saskatchewan River Watershed  We depend on this magnificent 57,000 sq km watershed, made up of 12 sub watersheds  to provide homes, industry and businesses for 1.2 million people. This study is a foundation for collaborative watershed management and is a credit to the province’s capacity to protect water quality and flow for future generations.

Governance Policies
Finally the long awaited group of Governance Policies on conduct and relationship between  elected officials and administration.  This document should be up next week on the County website, along with the minutes of the meeting.

When all is said and done – these guidelines are foundation documents – core to communication and collaboration between staff and elected officials. They should have been in place decades ago. On top of that – the sad reality is that in the final analysis it is you the voter that judges are performance. We are here to serve you – at your discretion. I urge you to demand accountability and transparency of us. Hold us to our Code of Ethics. I appreciate your review of these policies and any comments you care to make. 

Monday, April 18, 2011

Highlights of April 12, 2011 Council Meeting

Strathcona County Council meetings are attracting more citizens now that they are in the new Centre in the Park. Thank you for your support. I especially appreciate it when parents bring their children. These are the leaders of tomorrow – they need to know how - and how not - to govern.

April 12th was a fairly lively session. I have included some of the agenda items below. Detailed motions and background presentations.

Organization Wide Review  
During Councillor Priorities I asked for and obtained Councils unanimous support on a motion to have Council initiate an immediate search for an external firm to conduct an organization wide review that will examine Council and Administration; Committees and Boards; organizational structure and process. The focus is to be on cost effectiveness, organizational wide efficiencies, and the customer service culture to our residents and business/industry partners. This direction is one that I have long advocated to Strathcona County elected officials and administration. We are here to serve our citizens. Every successful organization invites evaluation, compares itself to industry wide best practises, and welcomes the opportunity to be the best it can be. Can we do less? No! As keepers of the public trust we need to raise the bar. We need to invite external audit to examine our culture, our attitude, and every aspect of doing business. Only then can the public can have absolute confidence in its Council’s ability to plan and spend wisely for this generation and the next.

Change of Schedule Discussion 
Council spent an inordinate amount of time on a request to cancel the May 10th Council meeting. Councillor Bidzinski argued that it could just as easily be rescheduled to May 3rd in order that he and the Mayor could attend an event in Fort McMurray. All Councillors gave their input. I feel strongly that Council should not make special allowances that inconvenience the public and creates confusion.

Public meetings and agendas are planned, scheduled and advertised to the public many months in advance. This creates the opportunity for administration to most efficiently utilize their preparation time and Councillors to organize their extremely hectic schedules. I believe this maximizes public attendance.

Making exceptions for various Councillors to attend conferences and events related to their other jobs or personal agendas is, in my opinion not appropriate. In this particular instance I congratulated the Mayor for registering into the AUMA Presidents Summit on Energy at Fort McMurray on May 10th. It is entirely to Strathcona County’s benefit that our Mayor, who has just been named the Chair of Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, attends and takes a leadership role in this tour of the oil sands and conference to explore the energy sector’s affects on urban municipalities. Fortunately, this situation is not uncommon and our current policy and practise. In addition, we have a proven practise of rotating Deputy and Acting Mayors. This ensures that our municipality has the depth of knowledge and experience in our Councillors to chair the meeting and carry on County business. After lengthy discussion – Council agreed that a cancelation of the May 10th meeting was inadvisable.

Reserve Fund  
Council listened with interest as Administration delivered an informational piece on reserve funds. With a total of 99.3 million dollars in our consolidated operating and capital reserves – it behoves your elected officials to be careful and wise stewards. The uncommitted reserve funds for municipal and utility operations amount to 53.7 million dollars of ‘designated’ and ‘generally designated’ funds. On the website link above you will find food for thought. Slide #11 in particular lists some challenges moving forward into the near future. I have over my first term lobbied for an optimal reserve amount to be assigned to each reserve fund. This will allow us to mitigate the challenges outlined in this and future years. Administration has undertaken to identify and assess strategies to reach optimal balances and present them in budget review.

Priority Fund Requests  
Coming forward next Council meeting is a motion addressing Priority Fund Requests. (See comments in April 6th blog). Updated list of my priority fund expenditures

Monday, April 11, 2011

Volunteer Week

Volunteerism happens on every level: global, greater community and neighbourhood. Many people volunteer on the Global level - providing cataract surgery and initiating safe water for drinking projects like Helping Hands of Hope; or work with the Red Cross in offering rescue and hope to those in crisis situations. Others volunteer in the greater community - on boards and councils that advise and serve our municipality, region and province.

Others still serve in our neighbourhoods, on our streets and for our families. They operate community halls, work in sports and cultural associations, are on school boards, library boards, at the Food Bank, the list goes on and on.

Volunteers are care givers: taking care of elder parents, our children, even our neighbours children, and watching out for our neighbour’s house when they are away.

Some of us do these deeds as a member of an organization: Red Cross, Speed Watch, Block Parents, School Boards. Or we do it as individuals: neighbour to neighbour.


Age is no barrier to volunteering. About 65% of youth volunteer. Parents and their parents offer their time and energies to make the lives of others better. No matter how you volunteer, or on what level, you should know that the world is a better place for your efforts.
This poem was offered at the Silver Birch volunteer appreciation event I attended last Friday. I hope you enjoy it.

Volunteers Prayer:
 
I thank thee, Oh Lord as a volunteer:
For the chance to serve another year,
& to give of myself in some small way
To those not as lucky as I each day.
 
My thanks for health & mind & soul
To aid me ever toward my goal.
 
For eyes to see the good in all,
A hand to extend before the fall.
For legs to go where the need is great,
Learning to love – forgetting to hate.
For ears to hear & heart to care,
When someone's cross is hard to bear.
 
A smile to show my affection true,
With energy aplenty – the task to do.
& all I ask, dear Lord, if I may,
Is to serve my neighbour better day by day.
 

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Highlights of March 29 Council Meeting


Council covered the gamut of subjects from power lines, Transit and River Valley funding.  Motions and background presentations

Transmission Lines
Councillor Bidzinski got a ‘go’ from Council on his motion to direct Administration to investigate the possibility of creating a buffer zone between any proposed 240 voltage or higher transmission lines and any densely populated or environmentally sensitive areas in Strathcona County similar to the Heavy Industrial Transition Overlay. The information and recommendation will be brought back to Council April 26th. I stated in Council that I believe that limiting power lines from running through dense populations should be regulated by the provincial government. I have approached the province to request that they set up standards to protect their citizens from potential high voltage health hazards. I supported the motion on principle but have requested that we clarify legal opinion to ensure we have the right to pass such legislation, and indeed that it would be adhered to. I also would like to ensure that this does not create an obligation to open our Municipal Development Plan. 

Economic Sustainability Framework
Council approved the Economic Sustainability Framework, presented by Nichols Applied Management consultants and it is worth a read. Together with the Social Sustainability Framework, approved in 2007 and the Environmental Sustainable Framework, approved in 2009 these three complementary structural tools  are designed to guide decision making and subsequently the growth of our entire County as urban and rural communities evolve over the next 30 years or so. Full news release

River Valley Alliance Request for Funding
The River Valley Alliance Request for Funding came back to Council in the form of three motions. I was the only Councillor not to support the first motion: ‘That Council approve in principle the opportunity to match the Government of Canada’s $30 million in funding support for the RVA....’ This motion means that we approve in principle up to $7 million to funding projects identified in our Open Space Recreation Facility Strategy. The difficulty is that this funding was offered on projects that must be completed by 2014. The concept is good but the timing not the best – given the very long list of projects already on the priority list for our residents in the immediate future.

Integrated Transportation Master Plan Progress
The Integrated Transportation Master Plan Progress report was approved with the assurance that the final report would come forward by November. The guiding principles of this report are to integrate Transportation with the Economic, Environmental, and Social Sustainability Frameworks; promote health and safety aspects; integrate County and regional initiatives; integrate with land use planning ; improve public transit; and increase transit alternatives. One of the significant pieces of this report for me will be the SCAT transit review – which I hope will offer a massive change to the current program.

Priority Fund Requests
Councillor Reports saw ten Priority Fund Requests approved. Historically, these requests get a rubber stamp ‘yes’ because there is no real policy to guide elected officials. In 2007 I objected to the idea of elected officials having a 30,000 annual fund to allocate as they personally choose. I felt so strongly about this that I asked residents to develop guidelines for a public committee of tax payers to provide some recommendations to me on the approving of projects. This Committee developed the Building Strong Communities Funding Program and meets several times a year to provide me with their input. Throughout the past several years the issue has surfaced regularly, in fact late summer 2010 the last Council requested that the new Council look into a policy that offers more structure and guidance to the Priority Funds expenditure process.

During my report I emphasized the need to look at early maintenance of the water storage facilities, like Clover Bar Ranch so that weeds would not choke out that small water body. Preventative maintenance like installing fountains and solar bees is successful only when undertaken as soon as the ice breaks up.

Webcasting
I also again requested an update on webcasting, piloted in February with installation delayed since November, because I believe that you our residents need to have every possible access to review the actions of your elected officials so that you can hold them accountable.

Organization Wide Efficiency Review 
Finally- I have introduced a Notice of Motion to initiate an organization wide efficiency review by an external firm. Since 2008 I have been asking for a comprehensive review of municipal efficiencies and customer service – because we are dealing with taxpayers money and owe it to you to set the highest standard possible in efficient service delivery within the culture of the very best customer service. You need to be assured that your municipality is accountable to you and doing everything it possibly can to use your tax dollars wisely. In the 2010 Council retreat, customer service and organizational efficiency were rated highly by Council in our Top Priorities for this term.

I appreciate your comments and look forward to hearing from you.