Medicine Hat Minute: Issue 235

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 City Council meeting. As usual, the meeting will begin with a closed session. Away from the public eye, Council will discuss a legal update, municipal inspection action items, the Council Expense Policy, Council appointments of public members to Advisory Boards and Commissions, the Atlantis Group, and the Electoral Boundary Commission.
  
  
• Once the meeting opens back up to the public, there will be a Public Hearing to amend the Electric Utility Bylaw. Council is reviewing 2026 budget amendments for the Utility Distribution Systems.  The proposed bylaw amendments introduce new utility rates for 2026, resulting in an average residential monthly increase of $2.25 for electricity and $0.81 for gas, for a total increase of $3.06.
  
  
• Council is also being asked to approve a budget amendment to cover the new collective agreement with the Medicine Hat Police Association for 2025-2027. The amendment would add $270,133 in 2025 and $606,168 in 2026, funded through operating reserves, to reflect wage increases of 3.75% each year, higher than the originally budgeted 2.25% (2025) and 2% (2026). The agreement has already been ratified by the Association and the City, and the amendment ensures wage expenditures align with the settlement. Once approved, retroactive wage adjustments will be applied and reflected in the City’s financial records.
  
  
• Council will move forward with another round of community surveys in February to gather data to guide future decisions. Ipsos will conduct 400 random telephone interviews with residents, covering topics like satisfaction with municipal services, with results benchmarked against previous surveys for consistency. The survey will also be available online, with those responses reported separately, and findings are expected to be presented to Council around April. 
  
  
• With temperatures dropping, demand at Medicine Hat’s homeless shelter is rising. The Mustard Seed operates 24/7 with 34 beds and overflow space for extreme cold, while the City plans to open a temporary location with 20 additional beds in partnership with the Alberta Government. Despite the closure of the Community Impact Centre earlier this year, the Mustard Seed continues mobile outreach, health and wellness support, and meal services, helping individuals access housing and essential needs. City staff are exploring both short-term and long-term solutions for an all-in-one shelter location, actively seeking community input on potential sites.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

🪙 This Week’s Sponsor: 🪙

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