Lethbridge Minute: Canada Day, Stage Three, and a New City Logo

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

This Week In Lethbridge:

• Thursday is Canada Day and also the start of Stage 3 of the Province's reopening plan. We still don't know exactly what the rules will look like in Stage 3 (especially given Council's shenanigans - see below), but we've repeatedly been told that "almost all" rules will be repealed, so we're looking forward to it!
  
  
• Our petition to End Lethbrige's Mask Mandate seems to be working. We launched it last week after Council voted 4-5 against repealing the City's mask mandate when the Province's rules are removed on July 1st, and it's already received about 3,000 signatures. City Council have now decided to hold another meeting tomorrow to debate the issue again, so if you'd like them to change their mind, add your signature now. 
  
  
• The mask issue will be one of many things debated at Tuesday's City Council Meeting which starts at 1:30 pm. Council will also be discussing Transportation Safety, Street Planning and Design, Transit, City Fees, City Debt and Borrowing Costs, and more. That meeting will be followed by a Public Hearing at 4:00 pm which will focus primarily on the City's Municipal Development Plan.

Last Week In Lethbridge:

• "If it ain't broke don't fix it" is apparently not a saying the City has heard of because, at a cost of $35,000, the City has decided launching a new brand is a priority. Mayor Spearman says the brand launch marks the 112th anniversary of the High Level Bridge and that the City is "bridging its past with an exciting future" and that the logo shows the City as the "progressive, forward-thinking community we are". Honestly, to us, the logo looks more like a toilet. Perhaps that's the best symbolism, after all - another $35,000 of taxpayer money flushed away?
  
  
• Despite having money to throw around on a rebrand, the City is apparently short on cash when it comes to key services. This season, residents of the City should expect a decrease in service levels at parks compared to last year. These changes are part of the recommendations made by KPMG last year to reduce the overall Parks budget by $60,000 per year.
  
  
• The first new Fire Station in Lethbridge in decades opened after the $9.5 million construction job was completed recently. Fire Station No. 5 is located in Watermark in west Lethbridge and covers an area of about 20,000 people.

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