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By Brendan Miller

Council backpedals on vote to disband Municipal Planning Commission

Feb 22, 2023 | 12:37 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – City council has decided to seek more public input before making a decision to disband its Municipal Planning Commission (MPC).

Council was expected to make a decision to dissolve the MPC during its Feb. 21 regular meeting.

Instead, councillors voted to postpone the decision and conduct more thorough engagement with the public.

Consisting of two council members and five volunteers from the public, the MPC is able to review new bylaws before they are presented to council.

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It provides more citizen involvement and transparency into local politics.

However the commission is having challenges finding enough qualified volunteers to fill the time commitment.

Additionally a number of meetings have been canceled due to a lack of items for the commission to consider.

Coun. Darren Hirsch says they want to hear more feedback from the public before making any decisions.

“I think tonight there’s an intentionality to just make an acknowledgment that some mis-steps were made,” said Hirsch.

“We are going back to the administration to really drill down on public consultation for the merits of MPC and the merits of maybe not having the municipal planning commission.”

If dissolved the Economic, Land and Strategic Planning and Development Committee would handle the workload.

The MPC has been in place since 1995.