Red Deer Minute: Byelection Deadline, Stormwater Utility, and the Shelter Falls Through

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

This Week In Red Deer:

• Today, there will be a Council Agenda Review Committee meeting. No time or agenda is available for this meeting yet.
  
  
• The Housing and Homelessness Integration Committee will meet on Tuesday at 5:00 pm. The Committee will go into a closed session to discuss Shining Mountains Living Community Services, before receiving several reports once the meeting opens back up to the public again. The reports include a Housing and Homelessness Supports Team Update, a Lived Experience Council Update, and a Housing and Homelessness Plan Dialogue report.
  
  
• The deadline to enter the Red Deer City Council byelection is today at noon! You can read about the current list of eight candidates online. A final list will be published on March 27th, and the byelection will take place on April 22nd.

Last Week In Red Deer:

• Council has abandoned plans for a permanent homeless shelter at a site in the northeast due to cost constraints and other factors. Mayor Ken Johnston stated that the proposed site was deemed financially unfeasible based on currently committed provincial funds, prompting Council to halt negotiations with the private landowner. Council now plans to re-engage with the province to discuss a way forward, seeking clarity on the vision, operating model, services, and operator for a future permanent shelter. Here we go again…
  
  
• Council discussed the potential creation of a Stormwater Utility that would fund the stormwater system through utility bills. The City currently spends about $7 million annually on maintenance and repairs to the stormwater system, parts of which are nearing 100 years old. Administration said that establishing a Stormwater Utility would necessitate a transitional period of six to ten years to accumulate sufficient capital reserves. The stormwater system will apparently need millions in investments in the near future, leading to a potential 7% tax increase just to maintain the status quo. The decision to create the Utility was deferred for further review under the Utility Governance Review Project, with a timeline for that discussion yet to be determined.
  
  
• Red Deer Polytechnic and Alberta Health Services have entered into an agreement to provide nursing students with placements at rural healthcare sites and offer AHS nurses temporary clinical instructor roles at RDP when needed. This collaboration aims to address the high demand for registered nurses across the province by creating more post-secondary spaces and providing hands-on learning opportunities in rural communities.

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