Lethbridge Minute: EMS Dispatch, Police Budget and Mask Bylaw Extended

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

This Week In Lethbridge:

• City Council will be holding Public Hearing meetings every day this week at 4:00 pm. At these meetings, they will be receiving presentations from various City department managers and planners regarding Bylaw 6265 - the Municipal Development Plan Adoption. On Monday, the presentations will focus on the "MDP Background and Community Profile", and "Local Economy". Tuesday will cover "Arts, Culture, and Heritage", "Community Wellbeing", and "Relationships". Wednesday will cover "Places" and "Housing". Thursday will cover "Transportation" and "Utilities and Servicing". Friday will cover "Environment", "Implementation and Performance Measurement" and a few miscellaneous items.
  
  
• In addition to these five Public Hearings, there will also be a meeting of the Audit Committee on Wednesday at 1:30 pm, for which - ironically - very little detail has been provided of the Agenda.
  
  
• There will also be a meeting of the Civic Works Standing Policy Committee on Thursday at 1:30 pm, which will primarily see Councillors receive a number of presentations from City staff about ongoing projects.

Last Week In Lethbridge:

• On Tuesday, Lethbridge City Council voted 6-3 to extend the municipality's Temporary Mandatory Face Covering Bylaw until April 30th, 2021. Council also voted for Administration to prepare an amending Bylaw to harmonize the City of Lethbridge's exemptions with the Chief Medical Officer of Health Order exemptions.
  
  
• Also on Tuesday, City Council voted 7-2 in favour of directing the City Manager to investigate actions Lethbridge could take regarding the recent decision by the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) to attempt to "opt-out" of centralized EMS dispatch.
  
  
• On Wednesday, Council received a presentation on the Police Budget Reduction Impact from Rob van Spronsen, Chair of Lethbridge Police Commission. van Spronsen said that the Commission will not be looking at reducing service levels at this time and that the funding shortfall will be addressed by using Budget Appropriation Unexpended (BAU) funds. The Police Commission will be working over the next year to develop a strategic plan in coordination with the Lethbridge Police Service, City Council, and the public and the results of the KPMG Operational Review will be considered an important part of that plan.

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