City council will move ahead in 2012 with only four goals and 42 priorities, compared to the seven goals and 54 priorities it had last year.
Council announced its goals for the coming year at Monday night’s council meeting. The goals and underlying priorities came after a two-day council retreat in January.
Gone from last year’s list of seven priorities are the 150th anniversary, safety and health and land-use planning. Councillors settled on only four goals for 2012: economic development, community development, the environment and governance.
“It’s completely due to the priorities that have been completed and removed from the list, said Jennifer Jennax, general manager of business and strategic services. “Also many are initiatives that are already underway. Each of council’s goals is supported by multiple priorities.”
Mayor Nolan Crouse said council decided against adding new goals and priorities in order to hone its focus and to ensure that the importance of the remaining goals – particularly economic development – were not lost.
“I think if you have too many priorities it starts to come across like you have too many priorities. We’re trying to raise awareness and sharpen the focus,” Crouse said.”
The specific goal of economic development is “Build and diversify in St. Albert’s economy in partnership with the community and key stakeholders.” Priorities under economic development range from developing a vision for St. Albert Trail, considering a bid for the 2019 Canada Winter Games and the mayor’s recently released 20-point plan to ensure sufficient amounts of land in a variety of lot sizes are available for non-residential growth.
“What we were trying to do is not water down the importance of the economic development mandate,” Crouse said. “You can categorize that under five or 10 or 20 priorities; we just felt what we wanted to do is make sure the economic development pieces are enough of a profile that it was evident. It’s really one of the most important factors instead of being number one or number nine.”
Under community development, council will “Strengthen St. Albert’s social fabric and enhance the safety and health of St. Albert’s families with priorities like planning for a community gathering place, support the attraction of more physicians and support the development of more affordable housing options.”
Crouse noted that while affordable housing and safety and health have been council goals in the past, both are now in “maintenance modes.”
“For affordable housing, we had a lot of initiatives and we’ve chosen not to put any additional money into it, the province has chosen not to. We’ve moved the bar a little bit and need to shift our attention for a little while.”
Under environment, council will “Preserve and promote the enjoyment and responsible development of natural areas.” The Sturgeon River will remain prominent as the environmental advisory committee (EAC) also released its priorities, one of which is awaiting a report on the state of the river. Other priorities include developing a stewardship plan for Grey Nuns White Spruce Park and implementing a waste plan for civic buildings.
As for governance, the goal is to “Improve efficiency, plan strategically, enhance accountability and build effective partnerships and relationships to ensure the right choices for St. Albert in both the immediate and the long term.” Council will do so by reviewing the city’s taxation policy and utility fiscal model and developing outside agency budget guiding principles.
Crouse said the four new goals aren’t necessarily calendar-specific as some will be ongoing pursuits without a pre-determined finish line.
“There’s nothing magic about the calendar year because they blend and shift from one year to the next,” Crouse said. “Economic development stays, that one will take years and years. It is going to be a while before it falls off.”
