Lethbridge Minute: Building Bridges, Indigenous Hub, and a Strike Deal Looms

Lethbridge Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Lethbridge politics

This Week In Lethbridge:

• There are three meetings scheduled for this week, starting with a City Council meeting on Tuesday at 1:30 pm. This will be a large meeting with numerous items on the agenda. Most notably, Council will receive a Curbside Organics Program update, an annual sustainability report, unaudited 2021 year-end financial information, a presentation on Green Shirt Day, and an amendment to Bylaw 6356 which would permit e-scooters from micro-mobility service providers to operate on City of Lethbridge sidewalks.
  
  
• On Thursday, there will be a meeting of the Governance Standing Policy Committee at 1:30 pm. At this meeting, the Committee will receive a pair of presentations from the City’s Manager of Corporate Communications regarding the Council Action Communication Plan and the Operating Budget Communications Plan. To close out this meeting, Council will receive a submission on the status of the newly appointed Integrity Commissioner position. On Friday, there will be a meeting of the Advocacy Advisory Committee at 9:00 am. At this meeting Council will receive several presentations, including a physician recruitment update and a presentation from the recent 2022 Federation of Canadian Municipalities Conference.
  
  
• We are hosting our second Pints and Politics event this Tuesday at Honkers Pub & Eatery in the Large Pond Room from 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm. We had over 25 people attend our last event and we look forward to seeing both familiar and new faces this time around. After getting your valuable feedback from the last event, we’ve opted to go with a much quieter and more private room at Honkers Pub & Eatery. Please RSVP via email or through Facebook.

Last Week In Lethbridge:

• Last week, our Executive Director Ronnie DeGagne was featured in the Lethbridge Herald. His op-ed called for Council to make some difficult choices to ensure that a third river crossing can be constructed without having to raise taxes by 22%, as suggested by City staff. In order to do this, DeGagne says it's not that complicated. It's about revisiting the message sent by voters last year at the polls, one that isn’t actually mixed or confused, but rather quite simple – it’s about setting priorities.
  
  
• Enhanced mediation between the University of Lethbridge and the Faculty Association officially got underway last week. If the parties are unable to come to a resolution, a mediator is expected to suggest a deal and then both sides could agree or reject it sometime this week at the latest.
  
  
• The historic Bowman building in the downtown core is being considered as a possible location for an Indigenous hub after the City opted to sell it last month. The decision comes following an earlier motion passed by Council to look at divesting the property to private buyers rather than keep it in the City's portfolio. Some are now wondering if an Indigenous hub could still materialize at the Bowman location, but that decision remains unclear. An update on that process will come to Council on May 24th.

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