Medicine Hat Minute: Business Retention, Transparency Costs, and the Property Standards Bylaw

Medicine Hat Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Medicine Hat politics

This Week In Medicine Hat:

• This afternoon, at 3:45 pm, there will be a meeting of the Public Services Committee. The agenda includes a discussion about the distribution of the 2024-2025 Family And Community Support Services Grants. The Committee will also hear a Service Area Update from the Managing Director, which includes Seniors Week and a Memorial Bench & Table Program.
  
  
• The Administrative And Legislative Review Committee will meet on Tuesday at 4:00 pm. The Municipal Planning Commission will meet on Wednesday at 1:30 pm. No agenda is available for either of these meetings yet. On Thursday, the Development And Infrastructure Committee will meet at 1:00 pm. A few hours later, at 4:00 pm, there will be a meeting of the Energy, Land And Environment Committee Meeting. No agenda is available for either of these meetings yet either.
  
  
• Construction on both Dunmore Road and Altawana Drive will begin today. Dunmore Road will undergo resurfacing and concrete replacement between Southview Drive SE and Spencer Street SE, with infrastructure repairs taking around three weeks and subsequent paving in mid-June. To reduce impact on traffic and local businesses, some construction activities are scheduled only during nighttime. Altawana Drive will see a deep utility replacement project between Parkview Drive and Seventh Street NE, though traffic will still flow in both directions. Delays are expected at both sites.

Last Week In Medicine Hat:

• During a heated two-hour debate, Council deliberated Mayor Linnsie Clark's proposal to examine employee expenses. Clark's requests covered a range of financial and operational items related to City administration including the number of employees receiving living expense reimbursements and the specifics of all severance agreements, including amounts, dates, and positions affected, from 2020 to 2023. Additionally, she requested a detailed account of funds reallocated by the City Manager in 2023, along with the top staffer's itemized expenses and purchasing card statements in addition to staff turnover statistics from 2020 to 2023, broken down by month, and itemized expenses and purchasing card statements for both the City Manager and each Managing Director for the year 2023. The discussion culminated in a 5-3 vote in favour of a compromise - City staff will investigate the costs associated with Clark's request and report back to Council. Some Councillors suggested that Clark's inquiry unfairly implied misconduct among senior City staff, while another said that the request resulted in “reputational damage” to the City. Our question is - why isn’t all this information available publicly already? It’s our money, isn’t it?
  
  
• Council approved changes to the property standards bylaw aimed at tackling the issue of derelict properties more effectively. The updated bylaw includes stricter enforcement measures, such as requirements for maintaining properties in a reasonable state of repair, which involves keeping structures like roofs and fences in good condition. The new rules also allow bylaw officers to issue tickets to tenants and not just property owners, with increased fines ranging from $300 to $10,000. 
  
  
• Medicine Hat Economic Development has launched a new initiative, the Business Retention and Expansion - Industry Specific program (BREIS), in collaboration with regional partners including the Town of Redcliff, Cypress County, and Medicine Hat College. The program will take a focused approach by concentrating on certain industries to thoroughly explore its specific challenges, needs, and opportunities. The first phase involves a detailed examination of the sector, followed by survey creation and business consultations in Phase 2, data analysis to identify trends and opportunities in Phase 3, and culminating with actionable and measurable plans to enhance industry outcomes in Phase 4.

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