Medicine Hat Minute: Issue 276

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

📅 This Week In Medicine Hat: 📅

• City finance staff told Council that property taxes would need to rise 8% in both 2027 and 2028 to balance the budget by 2028, while many members of Council say they would prefer a 4.65% increase in 2027. Finance Director Lola Barta said the City found more than $6.3 million in savings in 2026, but that was dwarfed by more than $18.3 million in new financial pressures, leaving a projected gap of more than $7.5 million in 2027 and $6.8 million in 2028. Any shortfall not collected through taxes would have to come from dwindling reserves and could total more than $14 million. The pressures presented to Council include lower photo radar fine revenue, the loss of WestJet's passenger air service, reduced policing grants, and discounted carbon-credit revenues, and the City projects an increase of nearly $10 million in employee benefits over the two-year cycle despite adding no new positions. Administration is also recommending a $328-million capital budget, including $115 million in strategic capital that would in part help fund a new south-side outdoor aquatics facility. The budget will next be discussed publicly at an Open Budget Committee meeting on October 20th, with final approval requested on December 7th.
  
  
• A logistics contractor working for Amazon is seeking to open a package distribution facility in the former Ogilvie Flour Mill at 1222 Allowance Avenue SE. On September 23rd, the Municipal Planning Commission approved a request to change the property's zoning to allow logistics shipping operations there. The facility would operate every day of the week and employ more than 50 full-time workers, plus up to 30 seasonal workers during peak periods. A pair of semi-trucks would arrive daily from about 4:00 am to 5:30 am, and a fleet of 25 delivery trucks would be dispatched in staggered waves throughout the day. City staff say the proposal complies with the land use bylaw and identified no heritage impact, since no exterior changes are planned, while Councillor Ted Clugston noted the site's historic use as a flour mill would have been more disruptive to neighbours than an Amazon warehouse. Council will hold a non-statutory public hearing on the development at its October 5th meeting, beginning at 6:30 pm, and its decision will be final.
  
  
• Council has unanimously approved a design for the Riverside Corridor that keeps the existing road width, adds seven curb extensions at critical pedestrian crossings, and drops a proposed multi-use trail. The corridor, which runs roughly two kilometers from Second Avenue NE to the Brier Park Road trail crossing, is due for roadway and underground infrastructure renewal. Public engagement showed low support for narrowing the road and adding the trail, and Councillor Yusuf Mohammed said about 57 proposed curb extensions were cut from the plan. The surface work is budgeted at $7.45 million, with around 98% coming from federal and provincial grant programs, and Environmental Utilities has requested a further $10.32 million for deep utility upgrades in the 2027-28 business planning process. The City's report notes the approved design does not fully meet current industry standards or the objectives of several City plans, including the Cycling Master Plan. Council defeated an amendment from Councillor Cheryl Phaff to test the curb extensions with temporary pylons first, after Administration warned it could raise costs and push construction into 2028. Construction is now expected to begin in spring 2027.
  
  
• Also at its September 21st meeting, Council approved updates to the policy governing members of the public appointed to City boards and commissions, including the Police Commission, the Municipal Planning Commission, and the Community Vibrancy Advisory Board. The changes aim to clarify attendance expectations and the process for terminating public member appointments. City Clerk Amanda Peterson said a tracking mechanism will be put in place to make sure appointees are attending meetings as they should. The update also shifts responsibility for evaluating applications from the administrative and legislative review committee to the governance committee. All public appointees must complete a self-assessment questionnaire on their skills and competencies, which City agencies consult annually.
  
  
• Councillor Stuart Young has responded to online claims that Council "walked out on the Lord's Prayer" at its September 21st meeting. He noted that Mayor Linnsie Clark called a brief recess after members of the gallery loudly recited the prayer during the meeting's moment of silent prayer and reflection and did not stop when asked. Councillors left the chamber for less than five minutes before the meeting resumed, and Clark again asked for a silent moment, telling the gallery that each person is entitled to pray or reflect quietly in their own way. In a Facebook statement the next day, Young said a recess is normal when there is a disruption in the gallery, regardless of what is being said, and that Council leaves the chamber whenever the Mayor calls one. 

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