Medicine Hat council to hear proposed action plan for south-end rec centre, other goals

Council in October approved a “refocusing” of its broader strategic plan that it created at the beginning of its term in an effort to find things that could be started on or accomplished with less than a year before the next election.

There are four priorities, each with their own goals. For each target, staff have outlined what needs to be done, how to measure success with included timelines and the risks involved.

For example, staff will propose a “scope and vision for a multi-faceted recreation complex on the south side” by the first quarter of 2025.

Should that pass, council will also consider signing off on a land acquisition for the project, carry out public engagement and learn about potential partnership funding arrangements.

However, as is also the case for some of the other council objectives, the rec centre project will not be completed by the time this term of council leaves office.

That means that approving the cash to build the rec centre and the development of a tender for construction companies to bid on — planned for 2026 — will be decisions left to the next council, who may have their own goals in mind.

One of the other priorities listed by council is to lead an “urgent response to social disorder” through a task force, in collaboration with the province and community.

Staff aim to have the task force assembled and sort out what the definition of social disorder is by the first quarter of 2025. The group should have a plan proposed to council by the second quarter, if the proposed staff action plan is followed.

At least one of the items in the action plan is already being worked on.

Council’s shortlist goal of a regional economic development strategy — an effort focused on attracting business and investment to the area — will come forward for approval in the first quarter of 2025.

The goals list calls for the other regional municipalities to be supported and aligned with the plan by the second quarter and to implement actions into the future.

Council’s freshly-narrowed objectives include various other items, too.

Approval of the shortlist goals at the Oct. 21 meeting didn’t come without concerns raised by Mayor Linnsie Clark, who revealed that she intentionally skipped private council discussions when council was working on them.

Clark said then she was worried about the price of completing the updated goals and was concerned over whether business plans would return to council later for approval.

Attaching a price tag is not immediately possible because some of the items would not receive a finalized budget until the next term — such as the south-end recreation centre idea.

But chief administrator Ann Mitchell at the October meeting did confirm the action plan would come forward in November, as it now will on Monday.

After a lengthy back-in-forth with staff, Clark said she supported the focused strategic plan “in principle” and joined the rest of council to vote in favour.

What’s in the plan

The first priority is aimed at improving service delivery and includes a status update on current service levels, defining desired service levels and implementation of a workforce strategy among its goals.

Building a resilient and inclusive community is the second priority listed in the strategic plan amendment. Its listed objective is to lead a provincial, municipal and community urgent response to social disorder.

Coun. Shila Sharps at the October meeting revealed she received confirmation from Premier Danielle Smith that her United Conservative government would work with council on a pilot project program featuring “forward-thinking” community projects.

“I am in,” Smith said, according to Sharps.

Priority 3 is to foster a dynamic and thriving local economy and its targets include launching the Regional Economic Development Plan and creating business incentives while reducing barriers.

The final proposed priority — action recreation and wellness opportunities — includes developing a multi-faceted recreation complex in Medicine Hat’s south end and determining the future of existing facilities.

Council decided it would hammer out on an updated strategic plan while it was working on city manager Mitchell’s performance evaluation this year.

The closed council strategic plan meetings took place on Oct. 8 and 9, the staff report included in Monday’s council agenda revealed. Clark later added that council met at Desert Blume Golf Club, located south of Medicine Hat, to discuss the strategy.

Coun. Ramona Robins said last week that, when council first worked on its strategic plan three years ago, it was intended to be a “living document” that was regularly updated based on council’s priorities.

But due to the lack of a permanent chief administrative officer for much of the term, the utility costs controversy of summer 2023 and an ongoing leadership crisis over the past year, council couldn’t find time to get it done.

In March, councillors voted to strip Clark of mayoral powers and cut her salary in half in response, saying she broke council’s code of conduct in her treatment of Mitchell at a public meeting in 2023.

Clark brought the city to court for a judicial review of the sanctions council imposed. A Calgary judge ruled council’s misconduct finding was valid but reversed many of the sanctions for being “disproportionate and unreasonable.”

Since the ruling, councillors say they have been trying to find ways to restore unity at council and continue to accomplish its objectives — with the goals shortlist a clear sign to the community, they say.

“It shows that we’re listening to the community, because these are the priorities that we’re hearing from them,” Coun. Alison Van Dyke said after the October meeting.

“The rec centre, social disorder in the community, cost effectiveness within the city itself, with the impacts that it has on taxation; these are the things we hear from people all the time.”

Coun. Cassi Hider, who was not at the strategic planning meetings last week because she was out of the country, said the goals council has laid out are achievable.

“We can’t keep lugging along facilities that don’t work. We cannot attract people to our community with aging facilities,” Hider told CHAT News, referencing the selection of capital projects council is considering as part of its next two-year budget.

Investing in better facilities can lead to cultural and economic benefits, such as the relatively new Co-op Place that could soon host a national hockey championship, councillors have previously. said.

“Just think if we had wonderful slabs of ice up in the north with a curling rink right off the highway, we could have maybe the brier,” Hider said in October.

“So those things are not unattainable.”

by Eli J. Ridder

Medicine Hat council to hear proposed action plan for south-end rec centre, other goals

What’s in the plan

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