Red Deer Minute: Convention Scrapped, Tournament Moved, and Learning Gap Funding

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

This Week In Red Deer:

• There are two meetings scheduled this week, starting with a City Council Meeting today at 10:00 am. Council will begin the meeting in-camera discussing the issue of the new City Manager recruitment process. Council will then revert back to an open meeting where they are set to receive several reports, including a report on event funding requests, the 2022 Adopted Operating Budget, and a report titled Enterprise Business Planning - Council Multi-Year Budget Guidelines 2023/24. Second and third reading will be given to Bylaw 3681, a procedure bylaw. Council will also seek more direction regarding their COVID immunization policy bylaw.
  
  
• City Council will also be considering a tax hike at Monday's Council Meeting. Administration is proposing two tax increases, one of 4.7% in 2023 and another of 4.3% in 2024. These numbers are based on economic projections, city finances, and future spending plans. How about the City gets spending under control and helps residents by freezing taxes instead?
  
  
• On Tuesday there will be a meeting of the Housing and Homelessness Fund Adjudication Sub-Committee at 5:00 pm. The agenda says 5:00 am, but we’re assuming this is a mistake! There’s not much to say about this meeting other than it will be in-camera, and that it involves the 2022-2023 Budget Allocations for Reaching Home – Designated and Indigenous Program and Outreach and Support Services Initiative (OSSI) Grant.

Last Week In Red Deer:

• In a shocking last-minute call, the United Conservative Party board decided to opt for mail-in ballots instead of in-person voting in Red Deer. The decision meant the battle for leadership of the UCP will not take place in Red Deer at the Cambridge Hotel on April 9th. The move has caused controversy for a number of reasons, but for Red Deer hotels and businesses, the loss of income from visiting delegates will be difficult to stomach.
  
  
• In addition to the cancellation of the United Conservative Party’s in-person leadership review, the City was dealt another blow in the decision by the IHFF and Hockey Canada to move the re-scheduled World Junior Hockey Championships out of Red Deer. The unwelcome news followed the tournament's cancellation mid-event in December due to rising COVID-19 cases amongst players. Red Deer officials and businesses were disappointed with the news, as they were hoping the tournament would resume in the city when it continues in August. Instead, the games will take place only in Edmonton.
  
  
• Over 300 students in grades 2-5 have benefited from a $1 million commitment from the Red Deer Schools’ Board of Trustees to address learning gaps that have risen in recent years due to COVID-19. By the end of the year, it is expected that this initiative will have helped at least 500 students within this age group improve their literacy skills.

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