MEDICINE HAT, AB — Monday marked the final meeting of Medicine Hat’s City Council this term.
The meeting in council chambers only lasted 18 minutes.
A development application from Storzall Mini-Storage was approved following a public hearing.
A handful of reports from committee meetings were passed for information.
Finally $300,000 for specialized equipment and machinery was approved for use by the city owned energy and utilities department.
Although it was an uneventful meeting, Mayor Ted Clugston said it’s important to keep the city moving forward even with an election right around the corner.
“There’s business of the city and I would be very upset if i perhaps needed a development permit, or needed a land use change and council decided not to meet for a couple months or even a month and my project got held up,” explained Clugston.
Councillors reflected on the last four years and all the projects the city carried out or saw through completion.
Those projects include the Canalta Centre, berm construction, a new power generation station, the financially fit plan, and the continuation of a deep utility replacement plan.
“Ultimately [council] has a responsibility to move those project forward regardless of the challenges that are before them,” said Councillor Robert Dumanowski.
“They won’t have to deal with the capital construction that we dealt with,” said Clugston. “I really think this next one is that stoic and steady hand on the ship and just keep heading in the direction that this council has set only much much less spending.”
Though the next four years have been described as ‘boring’ as far as municipal projects go, there will still be some challenges ahead for the new council.
“We are facing some real challenges with our finances and with how we’re going to go forward and develop our city,” said Councillor Les Pearson.
Moving away from a reliance on volatile commodity prices is an issue that will continue to affect the next group of elected officials.
“The next council has a responsibility to move [Financially Fit] forward, the levers still need to be pulled and we still have that challenge before this next council,” said Dumanowski.
Julie Friesen says changes to transit will be one of the bigger issues for the next term. She was the one who made the motion to revert transit back to the old system, while still looking for way to cut costs and increase efficiencies.
“When I made my motion it was with the spirit and intent of finding a better solution,” she said
The October 16th election will bring this term to a close. It was the first four year term for councillors. Many say the extra year was beneficial.
“If it was your first term it really gave you the chance to do the learning and become really familiar with the issues,” said Friesen. “I know for some it’s a bit long, but for me I really appreciated it.”
“The first two years is learning and after that you start to figure out where you fit and how to read the council package.” said Councillor Celina Symmonds.
“We’re busy, we’re dealing with questions and answers, challenges and opportunities day-in and day-out, week-in and week-out,” said Dumanowski. “Because of that, time flies very quickly.”
The election will take place October 16th and the new City Council should be sworn in on October 30th.
The Medicine Hat and District Chamber of Commerce will be holding Councillor and Mayoral debates at Medicine Hat College Tuesday October 3rd, Wednesday October 4th and Thursday October 5th.
