The Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede delegation presents at Medicine Hat city council on Monday. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

By Eli J. Ridder

CITY HALL

‘Quite a contrast’: Medicine Hat city council hears pitches from women’s shelter, Stampede

Nov 5, 2024 | 1:37 PM

Two beloved community organizations with different purposes came to Medicine Hat’s city council to make their pitch for millions of dollars of support on Monday, creating a juxtaposition in the chambers.

The Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society asked council to consider financial support for a project they say is critical to continue protecting some of the community’s most vulnerable women and girls.

The organization is asking the city to contribute about $2.8 million towards the project, accounting for 33 per cent of the $8.5 million required to renovate and expand the Pheonix Safe House Emergency Shelter — work that started in November 2023 through a low-interest loan.

That request is making its way through the city’s new non-profit capital grant funding model.

The Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede returned again to ask for the city’s help in building a new north grandstand, upgrades to the south grandstand, the creation of an atrium and a deck addition.

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The Stampede several years ago came up with a proposal to revitalize its worn structures, specifically aging grandstands that were built about 50 years ago.

It has returned to council several times, making adjustments and bringing forward more information along the way.

The organization has proposed the city and Alberta each cover 40 per cent in the form of a grant, with the remainder coming in as an interest-free loan from Medicine Hat.

In the Stampede’s preferred building option, that would amount to over $23 million from the city — nearly $16 million through a grant matched by the Alberta government and just under $8 million as a loan.

Like the women’s shelter, the Stampede’s ask will come forward for a council decision in the near future.

“They’re very different needs. Human needs are very broad,” Coun. Allison Knodel told reporters after the meeting.

“We’ve got those foundational survival needs and then we’ve got things like entertainment and being creative and having our social emotional needs met,” she added.

“And those aren’t, I wouldn’t say, any less important as a human being, those are just different.”

Coun. Alison Van Dyke called it “quite a contrast” in an interview after the meeting, but added “we need all different parts of a community to function together.”

“And all of those things combined is what makes a community great,” she said.

While the pair of council delegations Monday were enticing, Van Dyke said it’s important to look at requests in the scope of what benefits the entire city.

“Anytime anyone presents with passion and it’s easy to see the need and kind of get swept up in what they’re asking for,” Van Dyke told CHAT News.

“But, you know, we need to consider the best interests of the community and see what the recommendations are when all the material has been evaluated.”

Council is currently wrestling with a series of capital requests and the city’s ongoing operational finding that could lead to a 5.6 per cent tax rate increase for both 2025 and 2026.

Coun. Robert Dumanowski sees the merits of both the women’s shelter and Stampede requests.

“They’re very different and certainly come with their own sets of arguments, but it’ll be yet another challenge for council to reconcile where our funds can come from to be deployed for projects like this,” he told CHAT News on Monday night.

“Ultimately, timing can be part of that consideration.”