Red Deer Minute: Budget Approved, Shelter Reconsidered, and Ombudsman Investigation Quashed

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

This Week In Red Deer:

• It’s going to be buzzing down at City Hall this week with four meetings scheduled, beginning with a City Council meeting today at 10:00 am. Council will begin in-camera discussing several items, including the recruitment of a City Manager, a land matter briefing, a permanent shelter report, and citizen appointments to committees, quasi-judicial boards, and external boards and societies. Council will then revert to an open meeting where it is set to receive a presentation from Bridges Community Living, as well as several reports including a COVID-19 immunization policy update, and the Downtown Business Association’s 2022 budget.
  
  
• On Tuesday, there will be a meeting of the Red Deer & District Family and Community Support Services Board. At this meeting, the board will elect a Chair and a Vice-Chair, as well as select members for the Red Deer & District FCSS Finance Committee. They will receive an FCSS program specialist report, a 2021 Regional Project Update, and a 2022 Regional Project Recommendation.
  
  
• On Wednesday there will be a meeting of the Public Art Commission, and on Thursday there will be a meeting of the Audit Committee, but agendas for both meetings have not yet been published.

Last Week In Red Deer:

• The 2022 budget for the City of Red Deer was approved with the promised zero tax increase still intact. This comes despite increased spending on behalf of the City, with costs expected to be covered out of the City reserves. According to Interim City Manager Tara Lodewyk, much of the credit for the tax freeze is the result of prudent saving decisions on the part of this Council’s predecessors, though we credit the current Council for actually following through! They'll have to watch that spending in future years though, as the savings won't last long.
  
  
• The newly elected Council is backtracking on a decision made by the previous Council to not extend the permit for the temporary homeless shelter to continue operating at Cannery Row. At Wednesday's special meeting, City Council voted 8-1 to reconsider the decision the previous Council made in June. With no other viable options on the table, the City is hoping to bridge the gap in services by extending the permit for the Cannery Row site for another two years, the time they say it would take to construct a permanent shelter.
  
  
• Don't expect answers from Alberta's Ombudsman over the issue of EMS dispatch consolidation. Alberta’s Ombudsman says the issue is simple, she simply does not have the legal authority under the Ombudsman Act to investigate in this case. Although the Act does give the Ombudsman the ability to investigate administrative decisions of government ministries and many related bodies, a change in legislation would be required for the Ombudsman to investigate decisions made by AHS.

-----

Donate:

Common Sense Red Deer doesn't accept any government funding and never will. We think you should be free to choose, for yourself, which organizations to support. If you're in a position to contribute financially, you can make a donation here.

-----

Share:

If you're not in a position to donate, we understand, but if you appreciate our work, you can help by spreading our message. Please email this post to your friends, share it on Facebook or Twitter, and help make sure every Red Deerian knows what's really going on at City Hall.