Medicine Hat Minute: City Podcast, Municipal Financials, and a Second Sunshine Trolley

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

This Week In Medicine Hat:

• There will be a regular meeting of City Council this afternoon at 3:45 pm. As usual, the beginning portion of the meeting is held in-camera (in secret). On the agenda during this closed portion of the meeting are collective bargaining, an energy business development opportunity, a Curling Club operational update, the Strong Towns program, and attraction of health professionals, among other items.
  
  
• The public portion of the City Council meeting begins at 6:30 pm. On the agenda is a Public Hearing regarding several land use amendments, as well as a discussion about migrating the current electronic permitting program from a desktop-based program to a web-based application. The migration will cost $100,000. Council will also discuss the Clean Energy Improvement Program. A new bylaw would authorize the City to borrow up to $6 million to finance clean energy improvements. It would also allow the City to levy a Clean Energy Improvement Tax on participating properties for the purpose of repayment. So, just another tax, in other words?
  
  
• The Audit Committee meets on Tuesday at 2:30 pm. The Managing Director’s Service Area updates will be provided to the Committee in-camera. These items include the 2021 Fuel Audit Report, Cybersecurity Annual Reports, and the 2022 Year End Audit. The Committee will also discuss the 2022 City of Medicine Hat Financial Report as well as the 2022 Capital and Major Operating Expense Project overruns and the underspent, cancelled, and capital reset projects. The Energy and Infrastructure Committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday at 4:30 pm. No agenda is available yet.

Last Week In Medicine Hat:

• Tourism Medicine Hat added a second Sunshine Trolley after high demand for public and private tours. The first trolley launched in 2019 and takes riders to major tourist locations in the city. The new trolley was purchased from a vintage vehicle collector for $68,000. It was paid for with Tourism Medicine Hat’s contributions to the community investment fund. Public tours begin around Canada Day, but private tours are already booking up!
  
  
• The City has launched a six-month pilot of a podcast called “Public Matters” that aims to give residents a more in-depth look at local issues. Mayor Linnsie Clark is one of the hosts. The first episode is available on the City’s website and revolves around the Strong Towns initiative. Is this really something taxpayers should be funding?
  
  
• The Medicine Hat Police Service has made its photo radar vehicles more visible. The bright green signage and large lettering go above and beyond the provincial guidelines, and the goal is apparently to increase awareness about safe driving. Police services in Edmonton and Calgary made the change recently too.

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