Red Deer Minute: Affordable Housing, Polytechnic Protocols, and the Election Heats Up

Red Deer Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Red Deer politics

• It's going to be a relatively steady week at City Hall, starting at 1:30 pm this afternoon with a City Council Regular Meeting. Council will discuss a report from the City regarding reserve bids for several properties in Red Deer, as well as a report from the RCMP that projects an increase to the City's police costs. With no clear commitment from either the federal or provincial government, it's expected that those costs will ultimately fall onto the municipal taxpayer if nothing is done.
  
  
• At the same meeting, Council will also give first and second reading to Bylaw 3756/3563 that includes various amendments they hope will improve the efficiency of the City’s committees.
  
  
• On Tuesday at 1:30 pm, Council will meet for another City Council Regular Meeting. They will, however, spend the majority of this second meeting In Camera (in secret). Topics include an advocacy update on a permanent shelter and the ratification of an appointment of a board member to the Red Deer Downtown Business Association, though details are of course not clear.

Last Week In Red Deer:

• As the school year officially draws near and with the return of in-person learning set to resume, Red Deer Polytechnic announced they will require students to wear masks and use an app to check-in to campus every day. The College will also ask students to follow basic COVID-19 protocols, such as maintaining a 2-metre distance from other students whenever possible and getting a COVID-19 shot, if that route best suits their personal circumstances.
  
  
• Council approved a potentially controversial rezoning on the City’s south side. The rezoning will see a hotel turned into a 50-unit affordable housing complex. Concerns were raised from a local developer in the area who would like more information on what contingency plans are available if the development leads to additional public costs.
  
  
• Since outgoing Mayor Tara Veer announced she would not seek reelection ten days ago, two sitting Councillors - Ken Johnston and Buck Buchanan - have dropped out of the Councillor race and registered their intention to seek the big chair. Since Red Deer has an "at-large" system, where the top eight vote-getters are seated without regard to the area of town they hail from, this does not change the geographic scope of the campaign, but there is only one Mayor's chair up for grabs!

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