Lethbridge Minute: COVID-Updates, Farmers' Markets, and Recreation Excellence In Deep Water

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

This Week In Lethbridge:

• The Alberta government may or may not move to Step 3 of their reopening plan today. The Province has been under the "300 hospitalizations" threshold required for Step 3 for some time (actually since before we moved to Step 2), but a recent uptick in cases might see the government delay their decision again. Our guess is that we're in for another partial move, to something like Step 2.5, rather than Step 3. If you haven't signed our petition to Reopen Lethbridge, you can do so here.
  
  
• There's a packed agenda for Council this week, starting with a City Council meeting at 1:30 pm on Tuesday. Council will be receiving several presentations on a wide variety of issues including the Status of Directed Resolutions, the Recreation and Culture Master Plan, the 2021 Public Art Work Plan, the Targeted Redevelopment Incentive Program, and Unaudited 2020 Year-End Financial Information. Also on Tuesday, at 4:00 pm, there will be a Public Hearing regarding several land-use bylaws. 
  
  
• On Wednesday at 1:30 pm, there will be an Economic Standing Policy Committee which will receive presentations regarding a number of different Capital Improvement Projects from different departments. Finally, on Thursday at 1:30 pm, there will be a Governance Standing Policy Committee where the City's HR Manager will oppose the KPMG recommendation that the City outsource the administration of employee benefits and STD/LTD coverage. There will also be a presentation from the Director of Performance and Continuous Improvement on the rationale and purpose for the establishment of the Office of Organizational Performance & Continuous Improvement (OPCI). Does it not seem a little odd, asking the HR Manager whether part of HR should be outsourced, and asking the Director of OPCI whether OPCI should be expanded? Don't they both have a slight conflict of interest?

Last Week In Lethbridge:

• On Wednesday we found out that Lethbridge Farmers' Markets will be good to go this year. Lethbridge & District Exhibitions COO, Mike Warkentin, said both the Saturday & Wednesday markets will be returning in late spring and summer, giving the community the chance to support the local economy.
  
  
• On Thursday, following the announcement that the City would be opening more pools in Lethbridge, Recreation Excellence found themselves in 'deep water' (ugh, sorry! -Editor) after baffled citizens sought clarification over a press release from the City that stated that "Masks are mandatory in the facility and water at all times". Despite everyone assuming this must be a mistake, Recreation Excellence confirmed that "Swimmers are asked to keep all parts of their bodies above the shoulders out of the water to ensure their face mask does not get submerged". Come on, seriously?
  
  
• Thursday also marked just 7 months until the 2021 Lethbridge Municipal Election. If you want to get involved with our campaigns and activities this year, you can sign up right now as a volunteer here, or make a donation towards our efforts here. We have lots of exciting activities and ideas planned to help inform the public about the election and the candidates, and we look forward to working with you over the coming months!

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