Red Deer Minute: Retroactive Pay, Public Engagement, and New Peace Officers

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

This Week In Red Deer:

• Council returns to City Hall with two meetings scheduled this week, starting with a meeting of the Audit Committee on Wednesday at 1:00 pm. At this meeting, Council will receive a report entitled "Value for Money Audit – Community Services Implementation Plan", a Procurement Report from December 31, 2021, and a report on financial indicators. Council will then make a motion to move in-camera and close the rest of the meeting off to the public.
  
  
• Also on Wednesday, there will be a meeting of the Housing Asset Development Sub-Committee at 5:15 pm. The Committee will receive two reports at this meeting, an overview of the Housing Asset Development Community Engagement Process and a Housing Asset Development Participatory Exercise, which will provide an in-depth review of the Community Housing and Homelessness Integrated Plan’s Recommendations and Targets.
  
  
• Residents will have the opportunity to share input regarding the location of a permanent homeless shelter in Red Deer. Although site selection isn’t part of the formal agreement between the City and the Province, the municipal government is optimistic that the Province will support the recommendation of a potential site in good faith as part of a shared agreement to provide shelter services in the community.

Last Week In Red Deer:

• Last Monday, Council ratified a deal that will see Red Deer Emergency Services fire-medics and other staff get retroactive pay increases of 7% over four years. The deal affects more than 200 personnel and replaces a collective bargaining agreement which expired on June 30, 2019. Negotiations for a new agreement were delayed due to COVID-19.
  
  
• A pilot project aimed at improving downtown safety has been launched. Additional authority was given to two peace officers to investigate Criminal Code offences like theft and mischief. The majority of last year's 2,219 downtown patrol unit investigations were triggered by things officers saw and heard, rather than community calls. The first-in-Alberta initiative has been 18 months in the making.
  
  
• The City announced engagement opportunities to better understand what residents would like to see in Red Deer's short, medium, and long-term future, and will use the input as part of its next Strategic Plan and Vision 2040. There are several ways residents can get involved, including in-person and online workshops, and an online engagement tool.

-----

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.