retired police chief Andy McGrogan has announced his intentions to run for city council (Derek Brade/ CHATNewsToday)

By Tiffany Goodwein

Retired police chief running for council

Sep 3, 2021 | 9:33 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB- A man who has spent 12 years leading the Medicine Hat Police Service as chief is now hoping to earn a spot on city council

Andy McGrogan announced his intentions to run in the upcoming municipal election on Friday. McGrogan spent 40 years with the police service before retiring in December of last year. McGrogan said his love for public service is what drove him to run, and contrary to speculation, he is not looking to oversee the police department if elected.

“My policing career is done and I want it to stay that way, so I have no desire to get back into the police commission or anything like that. But I know the city very well. I know the bureaucracy of the city. I have my opinions about it like everybody does,” he said.

McGrogan said past his role as chief which involved balancing one of the largest budgets in the city at $24 million, makes him qualified to take on the role.

“ I am very familiar of the process of budgeting, managing the budget, so I have a lot of experience in that area. Actually my last year with the city we cut close to $1 million out of the budget through the financially fit perspective and we kept our services pretty much in tact,” he said,

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On Accelerated Financially Fit, an initiative aimed at address a $27 million gap in the city’s budget Mcgrogan said he is very much in favour of rightsizing to match the income the city is making.

Cuts to the city’s budget has also spurred discussions about recreation facility closures. When asked about his stance McGrogan said location needs to be taken into account, and if elected he will rely on the experts to determine if it financially makes sense to keep the aging facilities or to build a brand new multi-plex.

“I’d like to see the math on it. Southridge there is probably some 30,000 people that live up there. Are they getting similar services and what does that look like, and you have to some degree rely on the people giving you the numbers but ask the right questions.”

Also If elected, McGrogan aims to make the city more transparent, noting transparency has been lacking for some time.

“I’m going to go back to my previous life. I think we did a better job talking about what we are doing in the community. I think the city could really do a better job communicating their activities,” he said.

As the former police chief, who has attended many police commission meetings during his career, McGrogan said he understands the need for closed-door meetings due to sensitive information such as personal issues– or in his case, investigation issues. But McGrogan said the city has taken closed-door meetings too far.

“ When we are talking the city here and we are talking recreation plans, Invest Medicine Hat, I think we need to be more transparent we absolutely do. Like every time we discuss something in closed, why can’t we discuss this in open? And even when they{Council} comes to open and it is an 8-1 vote, or whatever it is and there is no discussion, it would be nice if someone could summarize what the discussion was, or why they came to their decision,” he said.

McGrogan said the Invest Medicine Hat scandal really highlighted the lack of transparency within the city.

But when it comes to economic development, McGrogan isn’t counting Invest Medicine Hat out. Instead, McGrogan said the city needs the ‘right’ Invest Medicine Hat to come to the city to bring industry to the region.

“ I would take a good look at what is the model that best suits this city for bringing economic development to this community, and I don’t think you can do, ‘lets get all the big businesses in here without some of the things that were done which was shaking up perceived bureaucratic stalls at city hall. Like what can we do to be more of a yes we can?” he said.

When it comes to his stance on Safe Consumption sites, an issue he dealt with as the former chief, Mcgrogan said it is unlikely one will come to the city due to the UCP in power. But if one does come to the city down the road, he said, if elected, he will advocate to ensure the site doesn’t disrupt vibrant businesses.

“ As police chief, I‘ve always said it is hard to love the unlovely. It is like we all want the people we are comfortable with around us but there are people out there with addiction issues and the opioid crisis. The meth is the one that gets behavior, opioids they are just killing themselves which is tragic. You don’t have a lot of opioid users that are creating a lot of social havoc, but the meth users are” he said.

“ So it is a super complicated issue, but I don’t think taking a safe consumption site and dropping it in the best rental situation you can, because it is the cheapest rent. There has to be more consultation,” he said.

McGrogan is one of 30 candidates vying for one of eight seats on council.

The municipal election is October 18.