Highlights of May 24th Council Meeting

Commissioner Singleton brought forward a status report on the Office of the Mayor’s renovations at the request of Council. This report outlined the renovations to date. Council has requested that costs be brought to Council upon completion of the project.  Now that this issue is in open session, elected officials are legally able to comment and answer questions on the issue. Council is not allowed to comment on information that is ‘in camera’ (meetings that are closed to the public). Neither can we give direction or approval to an item at an in camera meeting. We can give opinions, but must give direction by a vote in a meeting open to the public.

Several ‘Notices of Motion’ were delivered to be debated at our next public meeting. A notice of motion is a "heads up" that a councillor is requesting an addition to the next council meeting agenda. 

Councillor Riddell’s Notice of Motion asked that Council direct administration to revisit and report to Council on in camera process of what is allowed on the agenda. According to the Municipal Government Act, only matters such as those pertaining to FOIP, human resources, land transactions and legal privilege can be discussed in camera. 

I presented a Notice of Motion on Security of public, staff and elected officials. This will direct administration to bring forward the evaluations of any security issues that were outstanding at the time the new Community Centre was built and address questions on the need for added renovations. The last Notice of Motion I brought forward is on Task Force Guidelines. If approved this motion would help define the authority and responsibility of a task force.

Administration brought forward the winter maintenance update as a precursor to budget discussions. One P3 clearing, numerous Priority 1 and 2 clearings on our major thoroughfares and two P4 residential road clearings were required to deal with the 155cm of snow that fell (117.5 cm in January). The 2011 snow removal costs now total 5.408 million. Costs include 74,259 staff hours and 16,759.5 contractor hours. Residents often ask how much the residential road clearings cost - this year it averaged out to 1.251 million dollars.

A report on an interdepartmental youth initiative Sustainable Plan-It was brought forward to Council. Four departments created an economic sustainability program that focuses on building strong neighbourhoods. It has been expanded since 2009 to be used by teachers and grade six students from New Horizons, Westboro Elementary, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Elementary, and Wes Hosford Elementary schools. View and vote on your favourite projects.

Strathcona County Library presented its annual report to Council. I found this to be an informative and comprehensive document. I was especially pleased to see that the Library offered 461 youth programs in 2010, with an attendance of 23,218. Bookmobile visits increased by 27% last year – indicating an impressive expansion in outreach. Past Boards and staff have done an outstanding job in planning the expansion – earning the Alberta Trustees Association Award of Excellence, presented at this Council meeting. Library Chair Ernie Jurkat indicated that focus for 2011 will be on service enhancements especially those related to programming and outreach. 

Seventeen residents from Glencoe Place brought issues to Council on the planned traffic calming circle on Glencoe Blvd. Both Councillor Gariepy and I are involved in this traffic calming initiative on the interface area between our Wards. We have requested a further report from Administration.

My Councillor Report included a special thanks to Sherwood Park Mall and the volunteers that worked so hard to organize the Slave Lake fire donations event last Friday. In response to residents’ requests I asked Administration to report on the severity of the mosquito infestation as well as the feasibility and impact of spraying for mosquitoes before the next batch hatches! 

Additional Information from Council

Strathcona County Council has released its second set of priorities that include:

• Develop four additional governance policies that will provide Council direction relating to priority funding, communications, social media and elections.

• Develop terms of reference for an organization-wide review, focused on cost-effectiveness, organizational efficiencies, and a customer service culture to our residents and business/industry partners.

• Develop terms of reference for a rural strategy and engage members of those communities.

• Review and update the Heartland strategy to foster greater understanding and alignment.

Agenda, reports and minutes

Council Meeting Update

The May 10^th public Council meeting was an interesting one with a diverse agenda. Detailed reports.

Council approved a hunting regulations recommendation (based partially on an Agriculture Services Report) to expand the length of days (from five to seven) that deer hunters can cull deer. The intent is to decrease economic and safety risks from the flourishing deer population and align our hunting guidelines with the rest of the province. A letter will be sent to Alberta Sustainable Resource Development with our request.

Public attending heard an update from Air Products – a company that has as its vision the enabling of development of the Alberta oilsands resources through its network of Hydrogen and industrial gas production facilities in Strathcona County.

Council approved its first Social Media Policy. With almost 4 million Twitter users in Canada and about 22,000 in our region – it is time for Strathcona County to go where the customer of today and tomorrow are. For more than two years I have been urging our municipality to use social media (including but not limited to facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and blogs). Strathcona County should be commended for pausing to create guidelines before diving into the internet – most non profits and municipality users are in a catch up mode – looking for policy.

Social media can be used to efficiently and effectively to support and enhance: communications; community building efforts; public engagement efforts; emergency response needs; customer service needs and promotional opportunities. We will have to step up to the challenges of resources to meet acceptable response times – but I predict the gains are well worth the pain. Residents are invited to a workshop May 17^th at Council Chambers, 7 pm to have a presentation on the roll out of these features.

The long awaited web casting update was delivered. Live streaming will begin early June with public meetings being archived for six months.

Recreation Parks and Culture presented CREST at the Council meeting. This new Community Recreational Events and Sports Tourism investment program will help to attract and support recreation and sports events that are regional and national in scope. Council approved the program. Guidelines for the program.   

A report on the Community Energy Strategy was introduced to Council. This topic will come back to Council on May 24^th as, I predict a hot topic. On that date administration will be asking for direction on community energy funding sources and voluntary versus regulatory approaches. The community should watch this dialogue carefully. Municipalities do have the right (Municipal Government Act section 33) to become exclusive providers of a utility – heat is considered a utility. Strathcona County Council will have to debate the long term benefits to both itself and its residents on compulsory connection to existing (eg Centre in the Park) and future community projects. Using grants and compulsory connection regulations decreases financial risk but what is the full impact on our residents? What keeps the rates in line and competitive?

Next blog: Strathcona County Council’s new Priorities list – impacting our future and budget deliberations.

Some Updates

Emergency Planning
Are you prepared for an emergency?
Strathcona County is inviting residents to attend the "Get prepared, Strathcona" event on Sunday, May 15 to learn about emergency preparedness. Hope to see you there.

 news release:          

Cuff Report Results in New Governance Policies
Months of work by Councillors Bonnie Riddell and Peter Wlodarczak were reviewed and accepted by Council. I urge residents to read and ask questions on these policies: the Council Code of Conduct, Organizational Roles and Responsibilities, and Organizational Success Discussions
available on the Strathcona County website.

Traffic Feedback Signs
You remember the Driver feedback signs that notify you of your speed in residential areas - new last year? You can expect to see one in each ward sometime the first two weeks of May.  The first locations will be:
Ward 1: Main Blvd
Ward 2: Jim Common Dr
Ward 3: Estates of Sherwood
Ward 4: Clarkdale Dr
Ward 8: Regency Dr West of Ridgemont
The Office of Traffic Safety, Transportation Engineering, Transportation and the RCMP are working together to develop a list for more locations in each of the urban wards. 
Engineering and Enviornmental Planning will be bringing forward a report to Council very soon regarding the results  of the pilot project that took place in 2010. I will be reporting back to you on that as soon as it comes to Council.
 

As always, I welcome your calls and comments - and oh yes - the next Ward 2 Open House of May 17th is very different!!! Open to all - this session will be a workshop on social media!! Book the date and watch this Friday's Sherwood News (my column) for all the details!

Answers to Residents Questions on County Youth Strategy

Are 40% of the beds at Edmonton’s Emergency Youth Shelter Society (YESS) used at any given time by kids from Strathcona County?

The Mayor's State of the County Address indicated that 40% of the beds (134 of the 334 beds) at Edmonton’s Emergency Youth Shelter Society (YESS) are used at any given time by kids from Strathcona County. I do appreciate the corrections given by Youth Emergency Shelter Society Executive Director Deb Cautley. She indicated that 83 of the 334 YESS clients served in the past 10 months came from Strathcona County. I wanted to find out more about this Shelter that has assisted youth from our County. At the Shelter’s website, I found that the Shelter provides long and short-term residential programs for youth from St Albert, Strathcona County and the Edmonton area who are under 19 year with no viable living alternative. Services include outreach, support line, family mediation, life skills training, referrals, school presentations, and a day program. It offers 24/7 crisis-based walk-in and phone support.

The 2009 YESS annual report stated that 10% of clients (43 out of a 436 total) came from Strathcona County. There are 6,805 youth between the ages of 15 to 19 in Strathcona County. Council has asked that YESS be invited to speak to Council on the very important service they deliver to youth in our region.

Does Strathcona County have a Youth Strategy?

On April 29, 2011, the Edmonton Journal reported that Mayor Osinchuck stated “the county is working on an overall youth strategy with input from the Youth Council, churches, and other groups that will include examining whether a shelter is needed.” This is not true.

On April 27, 2011,  Council was asked by the Mayor in a priorities establishing retreat to add a Youth Shelter as a new initiative. Council rejected that as too narrow an approach to a larger more complex issue. Council talked about a possible future strategic direction of consulting with stakeholders and the public on a Youth Strategy that would review existing programs and partners and examine how to engage and provide services. The County has not contacted our existing internal or external program providers: schools, churches, agencies or regional service providers. This future initiative must be given structure, timeline and budget implications before it is brought to Council for consideration and prioritization. A Youth Strategy has not been framed or scheduled for public engagement at this time.

At that same retreat Council agreed that it would take on only five action items in the near term – these will be ratified at the next Council meeting. Prioritizing these strategic and near term action items would ensure that financial and staff resources will be sufficient to achieve the objectives. Some of these goals are long standing needs in our municipality such as a Rural Development and Industrial Strategy.

Does Strathcona County Need a Youth Shelter?

We do not know if Strathcona County needs a youth shelter. No studies have been done to provide facts and recommendations.

The Mayor has stated many times, most lately on the front page of ‘CityPlus’ of the Edmonton Journal that Strathcona County needs a shelter. As elected officials, we all campaigned on various platforms. We all have personal aspirations for the County. I continue my support of a safe, caring community that offers a high quality of life to our parents and children. The Mayor has campaigned for a youth shelter. As elected officials we need to examine the needs of our municipality and prioritize them against the financial and human resources we have to do the job.

The need for a youth shelter has not been examined or researched to any degree by any department in this municipality. Our parents are struggling with the many challenges of raising their children and youth to be responsible citizens: sexual assault; cyber and playground bullying; alcohol, prescription and street drug abuse. Locally and regionally there are hundreds of professional people and a myriad of programs designed to support families and youth at risk. Our Family Community and Social Services Department, works with provincial social service agencies, the RCMP, Parks and Recreation, schools, and existing non-profit service providers like Saffron Centre, Parents Empowering Parents. This County needs to do a comprehensive analysis on what issues we can address most effectively with limited resources. We need to capitalize on what our neighbouring municipalities are offering and work collaboratively on regional issues. Research speaks to troubled youth leaving the family unit to go to large metro areas where they can obtain drugs, money and action in anonymity. Would a Shelter in Strathcona County be used by our own youth?

Current shelters have great difficulty obtaining funding. Would another local Shelter compete for funding from existing shelters? Are our tax dollars better spent on preventive measures like outreach programs and services that resolve conflict and address the reasons why youth leave their homes? Instead of bricks and mortar, should we focus more dollars on proven successful programming like DARE, putting more family and youth workers into our schools? Provide more support to Girls and Boys Clubs, Cadets, Scouts, church youth groups etc who support our give our youth a safe place to go with good behaviour models? Do current programs that support youth staying in their homes have enough funding to do the job?

There are many more questions than answers. Before bringing in the construction crew to build a youth shelter, it behoves those responsible for our residents’ quality of life and the public purse to conduct a professional analysis of the situation, a review of the achievements of existing programs inside the municipality and out - and create a rational plan for moving forward in a timely manner with the input of all stakeholders.