Red Deer Minute: Committee Recruitment, ABMunis Bid, and Homeless Shelter Approved

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

This Week In Red Deer:

• There are no Council or Committee meetings this week. Council will return to Chambers on September 5th.
  
  
• The City is seeking new members for a number of Committees, Commissions, and Boards, including three vacancies on the Library Board. Being part of a Committee is a great opportunity to influence the City as these committees are often formed for the purpose of giving advice to Council on specific issues. Applications close on September 25th, and all vacancies can be viewed online.
  
  
• Beginning this morning, there will be a road closure on 47 Avenue, between 49 Street and 50 Street, while the City makes concrete repairs. Work is expected to be finished on August 31st, but in the meantime, drivers can use 46 Avenue and 48 Avenue.

Last Week In Red Deer:

• The City has decided to bid to become one of three permanent hosts of the Alberta Municipalities (ABmunis) Conference and Trade Show. The Conference brings together elected and administrative leaders, who represent most of the province’s municipalities, to work together in advancing municipal issues. While the conference is organized and paid for by ABmunis, the host municipality generally pays for assorted travel and promotional costs, as well as a reception. Red Deer hosted the conference in 1991 and 2018, and the City says the last iteration brought an economic impact of more than $2 million. Red Deer has been confirmed as the host city for the September 2024 conference, and if ABMunis accepts the City's proposal, it will mark the first year of a rotating arrangement between Calgary, Edmonton, and Red Deer. Council also endorsed Councillor Lawrence Lee as a member of the board of ABmunis, which hasn’t had a Red Deer representative since 2017.
  
  
• After two breaches of Council’s Code of Conduct Bylaw this year alone, Red Deer City Council gave first reading to an updated version of the Bylaw. The updates include the retention of an Ethics Advisor or Integrity Commissioner to remove the Mayor and Council from the complaints process. Discussions were had about a number of concerning ideas - that only Red Deer residents be able to lodge complaints, fees for complaints, a removal of the ability for people to complain at all, and for the public release of the complainant's name. Sounds like Council just doesn't want to be held accountable for wrongdoing... There will be a second reading of the Bylaw in four weeks' time, and Councillors can propose their amendments at that time.
  
  
• The Province has granted approval for the location of Red Deer's permanent homeless shelter. However, the location that has been approved has not been revealed to the public as the site is currently owned by a private landowner, and negotiations are ongoing with regard to the sale. Residents will no longer be able to challenge the selected location directly once the purchase is finalized, but the land will need to be rezoned, and there will be an opportunity for input on that rezoning at a public hearing.

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