Perhaps the biggest issue of the year for St. Albert city council was approving the utility fiscal policy and giving the OK to the associated rate increases.
“As much as the difficulty was with money on the utility policy work, I thought the policy work on how to put forward getting a proper financial model for the budget was important to set the future up,” said Mayor Nolan Crouse.
The buck had been passed to this council to draft a policy, which, part way through the year, resulted in asking administration for significant revisions to the proposed draft.
Administration delivered a clearer policy, which included a rate model.
The impact of that rate model on bills, with the addition of a supplemental capital contribution fee, drew controversy as the average household’s bill is expected to jump nearly $25 a month.
But the utility fiscal policy isn’t the only thing that St. Albert city council got done. It finished off files like selecting a site for the bike skills park, added to its financial policies, launched the Safe Journeys to School project, bought more than 100 acres of land to help jumpstart development, passed an inclusive hiring policy, got reports on affordable housing, started work on bylaws for issues like drainage and water conservation and other accomplishments.
Crouse said it might not be noticeable to other people, but he thinks progress has been made on bringing better processes, decorum and policy to council, and moving the group toward high-level governance rather than management, a trend he hopes to continue pushing for in 2015.
“This one’s a council that has to be moved ever so slowly but that’s my responsibility, obligation and commitment,” he said.
Next year, he’s hoping to see more accurate cost estimates for some of the big-ticket capital items sitting in the 10-year capital plan.
For Coun. Sheena Hughes, she’s happy to have moved the drainage bylaw along in 2014, and to be spotted in chambers sticking to her ideals.
“To the best of my ability I have been staying true to who I am and who I told the residents I would be,” she said.
In 2015 she hopes to continue to maintain that accountability, and she plans to ask council to re-debate the issue of including provincial grants in utility rates as soon as she’s able.
Hughes would also like to see council revise some of its budget-related and finance policies so council’s able to have more direct impacts on the budget.
Coun. Wes Brodhead was pleased to see transit files move forward and a highlight was the work of the community sustainability committee, of which he is co-chair.
“The team really worked hard to get a significant amount of feedback,” Brodhead said.
There’s positive progress on seniors housing, and Brodhead also pointed to the improvements of relations with Sturgeon County.
The improved county-city relationship and among the capital region in general were also highlights for the mayor.
Brodhead’s also looking forward to a regional transit-related meeting between St. Albert and Edmonton next year.
He’s also hoping to move forward with plans to have a train whistle cessation bylaw considered by council.
Coun. Tim Osborne noted a successful budget motion to put money toward youth outreach in St. Albert and inclusive actions like flying the Pride flag during the Olympics at St. Albert Place as highlights.
In an email, he stated in 2015 he’s eager to bring forward the final report from the Safe Journeys to School initiative. Osborne is the chair of the steering committee.
“I think we need to find a path forward on addressing some of the space and facility needs of the community,” Osborne said, adding examples like the need for more library space and ice time in the community.
