Lethbridge Minute: Childcare Needs, Organizational Changes, and Low Water Levels

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

This Week In Lethbridge:

• There are no meetings scheduled at City Hall this week. The next meeting of City Council will take place on Tuesday, November 14th.
  
  
• The Lethbridge Police Service will host its final town hall meeting of 2023 on Tuesday. The meeting will take place at the St. Patrick’s Fine Arts Elementary School from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Everyone is welcome, and light refreshments will be provided.
  
  
• Remembrance Day is coming up and the Lethbridge chapter of the Veterans Association Food Bank is open and helping those who served. The new facility includes a resource centre that, in addition to offering food, will also provide counselling support, help with filing tax returns, or just a place to talk with others. Food donation bins will be located at local grocery stores for those who wish to donate.

Last Week In Lethbridge:

• Council approved a motion brought by Councillor Jenn Schmidt-Rempel to assess the City’s childcare needs, along with the allocation of up to $25,000 from Council Contingencies to support building an outline for an overall childcare needs assessment. Administration highlighted a gap of 600 childcare spaces, and Council is seeking recommendations on how to close that gap. A report is due back to Council by the second quarter of 2024.
  
  
• City Council held its annual Organizational Meeting, where they approved changes to the Standing Policy Committees (SPCs), set the 2024 Council and SPC meeting calendar, and confirmed appointments to Boards, Commissions, and Committees. There are now fewer SPCs, and the ones that remain have a narrower focus. The Civic Works SPC is now the Assets and Infrastructure SPC, the Cultural and Social SPC is now the Safety and Social SPC, and the Economic SPC will become the Economic and Finance SPC. Council also officially rescinded the Ward Commission Bylaw, but the door remains open for discussions about an alternative "Made-in-Lethbridge" solution. Perhaps the City should just be honest with taxpayers - a “Made-by-City-Administration” model is what they really want to implement.
  
  
• The City alerted the public to low water levels in the Oldman Reservoir, the lowest since the early 1990s. They said that, despite there being no immediate risk of running out of drinkable water, they are closely monitoring reservoir levels and working with the Province to guarantee supply. The City started encouraging people to conserve water back in August, and there has been a 20% reduction in water consumption since then.

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