Lethbridge Minute: Busy Council, Identification Required, and City Manager Resigns

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

This Week In Lethbridge:

• There are three meetings scheduled at City Hall this week, starting with a City Council meeting at 1:30 pm on Tuesday. At this meeting, Council will give second and third reading to several bylaws that look to borrow money for multiple waste & recycling initiatives and wastewater treatment upgrades. Council is also set to hear back from City Administration regarding the costs of construction for a third river crossing. The Administration’s response doesn’t paint a rosy picture for taxpayers. It predicts taxes will rise between 14% and 18% (potentially spread over a 4-year period) if the crossing is funded without assistance from the Province or the federal government.
  
  
• On Wednesday, there will be a meeting of the Economic Standing Policy Committee at 1:30 pm. At this meeting, Council will receive a presentation from the General Manager of Opportunity Lethbridge on the Community Economic & Tourism Vision and Implementation Plan. Council is also set to hear from the General Manager of the Enmax Centre regarding the 2021 Lethbridge Hurricanes annual payment deferral.
  
  
• Finally, on Thursday, there will be a meeting of the Cultural and Social Standing Policy Committee at 1:30 pm. Council is set to receive several presentations, including information from the Chief Executive of Green Acres Foundation, the CEO of the Galt Museum and Archives, and the Community Arts and Culture Manager.

Last Week In Lethbridge:

• Lethbridge City Council announced the resignation of City Manager Craig Dalton. The City says Dalton resigned to pursue another opportunity. He began working for the City of Lethbridge in May of 2020, and was faced with the difficult task of navigating the City through the COVID-19 pandemic while ensuring continuity of City services.
  
  
• The City of Lethbridge Emergency Advisory Committee is reporting a surge of the Omicron variant in City employees. There are 59 active cases of COVID-19 among the City’s workforce with the majority of those cases being in public transit and law enforcement. This is not a surprise considering those positions are on the front lines.
  
  
• A recent court decision ruled against local advocates who wanted to stop ID requirements from being mandatory at supervised consumption services (SCS) in Alberta. Moms Stop the Harm and the Lethbridge Overdose Prevention Society argued that requiring ID may deter people from accessing these services. The court decision notes that collecting personal health numbers is a way to track outcomes from referrals by SCS to other health services providers like addiction treatment facilities and recovery-oriented programs. Under the new rules, SCS will need to ask clients for health numbers but they will not be required to turn people away who do not have them.

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