Red Deer Minute: Conduct Complaint, Westerner Park, and Event Centre Rejected

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

This Week In Red Deer:

• There are no meetings scheduled at City Hall this week. The next meeting of City Council will take place on April 3rd.
  
  
• On Friday, the WHL playoffs begin. The Red Deer Rebels won the Central Division and will have home-ice advantage for the first round as they face off against the Calgary Hitmen. Games 1 and 2 will take place on Friday and Saturday.
  
  
• On Saturday, the Alberta Food and Beverage Expo will take place at Westerner Park. The Expo will feature hundreds of wines, beers, delicious cocktails, and food samples from the very best restaurants and local suppliers Red Deer has to offer. Tickets are available online.

Last Week In Red Deer:

• The Municipal Development Committee rejected a proposal for an expansion to the new Red Deer Resort and Casino (formerly the Cambridge Hotel) that would see a 2,000-person event centre built on the site of two recently closed nightclubs. The Committee voted 4-2 against approving the development due to la ack of on-site parking. The casino owners also proposed building a parkade across the street, but this was deemed a non-viable solution.
  
  
• Council unanimously voted to give Westerner Park a $1 million loan to cover operating expenses. This is after the City of Red Deer assumed the organization’s $19 million loan for the new Exhibition Hall. Since 2020, the City has provided $7 million in operating grants to Westerner Park. There seems to be no accountability in sight, just more money going out the door.
  
  
• City Council met for a special meeting last week to discuss a third (but apparently unrelated) Code of Conduct complaint. It’s reported that the meeting lasted well over two hours, but no details have been disclosed to the public. Media noted a Freedom of Information Request had been made for the previous code of conduct complaint - the one taxpayers spent $107,000 for a consultant to investigate - but that request has been continually delayed.

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