Lethbridge Minute: Council Returns, Invasive Species, and a Social Media Controversy

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

This Week In Lethbridge:

• The new Mayor and Council are set to officially get down to business with two meetings scheduled for this week. This will be the first real test for some of the fresh faces on Council who are still just learning about their newly acquired roles and responsibilities.
  
  
• "Part II" of last week's Organizational Meeting is set to continue today at 1:00 pm. After a scheduled 30 minutes in-camera (secret) session, Council will deal with the upcoming 2021-2025 General Calendar, providing an overview of the upcoming year for the newly elected Council and Mayor.
  
  
• Immediately following the Organizational Meeting, there will be a Special Council Meeting at 2:30 pm. There's not much to report about this meeting though, as it will be conducted entirely in-camera (in secret). The City does say it is about "strategic planning", and that the reason for secrecy involves something from Section 18 (harmful to public safety), Section 20 (harm a law enforcement matter), and/or Section 24 (advice from officials) of the FOIP rules. We're guessing it's the latter.

Last Week In Lethbridge:

• On Monday, Lethbridge's 26th Mayor and Council were sworn in before a select crowd at the Yates Memorial Theatre. The event saw newly elected Mayor Blaine Hyggen sworn in, along with four newly elected Councillors and four incumbents. We wish the new Mayor and Council all the best over the next four years and would like to remind them that we will be right beside them, keeping an eye on them, every step of the way!
  
  
• Chinook High School was the centre of controversy after a social media post asked students to avoid dressing up as police for Halloween, as it depicted "perpetrators of violence or oppression". The local high school has since taken down the social media post and issued a formal apology.
  
  
• After numerous aquarium species such as goldfish and koi have been discovered at Elma Groves Park, Chinook Lake, and Firelight Park, the City of Lethbridge has been prompted to take action. On Thursday, contractors for the City began taking inventory of invasive species at Fireflight Park to determine how bad the problem is. According to the City, inventory of other parks is expected to occur at a later date.

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