Coming Up: March 20
Council meets on Monday. In addition to a regular Council meeting, there is a Committee of the Whole meeting. On the agendas this week:
Delegations & Correspondence
Midsized Cities Grant
Extended Transit Hours
Police Commission
Following is more information and my take on agenda items.
As always, any mistakes or opinions belong to me and me alone, not to Council or City staff.
While I express my current views below, I work hard to go into meetings ready to listen and with an open mind. I learn new information and participate in debate. This always informs, and sometimes changes, how I vote on issues.
If you would like to watch the meeting or read any of its supporting material for yourself, you can do so by clicking here. The City will post the highlights of Council’s decisions here.
Delegations & Correspondence
At all Council meetings, organisations and residents are welcome to come talk to Council. This week, we have a member of the public coming to ask Council to rekindle Grande Prairie’s relationship with Ortana, Italy in recognition of the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Ortana.
We are also receiving the following pieces of Correspondence:
Goodwill Industries recaping some of its great work in Grande Prairie to repurpose donations and create jobs for people with barriers to employment
From the Minister of Advanced Education highlighting funding being provided to Northwestern Polytechnic to explore opportunities to expand medical education
From the Minister of Public Safety & Protective Services confirming that Grande Prairie can form a Municipal Police Service
Midsized Cities grant
The Midsized City Mayor’s Caucus is applying for an Alberta Community Partnership grant. If received, this grant will be used to gather and make available data about both the needs and economic contributions of midsized cities. You can read details here.
It is recommended that our Council endorse this application. I’ll likely be in support.
Too often, Alberta is considered to have three economic areas: Calgary, Edmonton and rural. Despite being home to 1,000,000 people and being the economic hubs of our resource economy, the unique circumstances of midsized cities are often ignored in research and in provincial decision making. Having better information will help guide Council decisions and inform advocacy to other levels of government.
Transit system extended hours
Right now, Transit ends much too early in the evening. Many people are unable to use it to get home from work, social engagements, or other life events.
In its 2023 budget, Council allocated $100,000 to expanding Transit operational hours.
Administration is now recommending that Council expand hours to 11:00pm Monday-Saturday and 8:00pm on Sunday.
It is anticipated that ridership during these extended hours will be low. If traditional routes ran during this time, the busses would be very empty. Therefore, it is recommended that extended hours be accomplished through On-Demand busses. Up to three On-Demand and one Accessible bus will be used. This has an estimated cost of up to $157,000. This is $57,000 more than budgeted for extended hours. However, Administration is confident that can be absorbed within the existing Transit budget.
Back in 2019, Council decided to end Transit hours at 9:15pm rather than 10:15pm. I was VERY opposed to this, although understood the reasoning: we had a lot of empty buses driving around in late evening. I’m glad to have an On-Demand Service that will allow us to efficiently deliver expanded hours. I will be supporting this motion. Although if this goes well: I’d love to see us push hours even later!
municipal police COMMISSION
At it’s last meeting, Council voted to stand up a Municipal Police Service.
It was a long meeting and a hard decision. You can see my take on the meeting here. You can also see lots of background information and why I think this is a good direction at www.bressey.ca/municipalpolice.
An important principle in our democracy: politicians don’t direct the police. Therefore, the Alberta Police Act requires us to start a Police Commission. The Commission hires and supervises the Chief, creates Police Service Policies, sets and monitors policing goals, and is responsible for the police budget.
The provincial Minister of Public Safety can appoint a minority of members with City Council appointing the rest. A maximum of two Councillors can sit on the Commission with the rest of the spots being filled by Public Members. Only Public Members can serve as Chair and Vice-Chair.
On Monday, Council will be debating a Police Commission Bylaw to establish the Commission. This is a very basic Bylaw that is mostly driven by Police Act requirements. I will likely be voting in favour of it.
After this Bylaw is approved, there is a lot of conversation yet to come about the composition, appointment process, and compensation of the Commission. These will be happening at Committee meetings on March 28th.
That’s what is on our agenda this week. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
You can comment below. Or, you can contact me at dbressey@cityofgp.com or 780-402-4166. I'm happy to talk online or over the phone. I'm also always willing to setup a time to meet for coffee.
We also always have great conversation in the GP Round Table group on Facebook.
After Council meeting, you will be able to find highlights posted by the City here.
Thanks for reading!
-Dylan