Coming Up: December 4
Council meets on Monday. The agenda includes:
Fire Mutual Aid Agreement
Delegations from the County and the Catholic School Board
Cannabis Bylaws
Following is more information and my take on agenda items.
As always, any mistakes or opinions belong to me and me alone, not to Council or City staff.
While I express my current views below, I work hard to go into meetings ready to listen and with an open mind. I learn new information and participate in debate. This always informs, and sometimes changes, how I vote on issues.
If you would like to watch the meeting or read any of its supporting material for yourself, you can do so by clicking here. The City will post the highlights of Council’s decisions here.
DELEGATIONS
During our Council meeting, members of the public and organisations are welcome to talk to Council about any topic of interest. To learn more about how to do that, click here.
This week, two delegations have let us know they will be coming to speak to Council:
County of Grande Prairie: Because of the significant contributions it makes to Aquatera, the City has revenue sharing agreements with the County, Sexsmith, and Wembley. In the County’s case, it is contractually obligated to share with the City a portion of its tax revenue from non-residential properties connected to Aquatera. This payment is now several months overdue. County Council will be coming to address this.
Catholic School Board: There will be requests made to Council to upgrade the intersections and walking trails near St John Paul II High School.
FIRE MUTUAL AID AGREEMENT WITH THE COUNTY
The province is requiring municipalities to negotiate Intermunicipal Collaboration Frameworks (ICFs) with their municipal neighbours. An ICF is a series of agreements laying out how municipalities will share in the costs and work of services that bring joint benefits to their residents.
The first ICF agreement is being presented to Council on Monday. It concerns mutual aid for Fire services.
Currently, we have an agreement in place to share Fire (and other) resources and people when the Grande Prairie Emergency Response Partnership (GPREP) has been activated. However, this only comes into effect for large scale emergencies. There is nothing in place that allows the City and County Fire Departments to work together to respond to emergent or smaller scale events.
The proposed Mutual Aid Agreement would allow for City Fire to respond in the County, and for County Fire to respond in the City. When Fire services are required, the closest station would be dispatched regardless of what municipality it belongs to. Both departments would also be able to request assistance from each other when extra help is needed to respond to an event.
It is recommended that Council approve this agreement, subject to a complete package of ICF agreements being approved by the City and County. In other words: if approved, this agreement would only come into effect if we also agree on how to work together on other intermunicipal services.
I am glad to see this agreement before us. Our fire departments provide a very important core service, and they are also very expensive. Seeing them work together will enhance the safety of our residents. It also might save costs. A Mutual Aid Agreement should be in place.
I’m likely to support the recommendation to approve this agreement.
At the same time, I do have some concerns. I have a few questions I’ll be asking before deciding on how I will vote on this agreement. Two big concerns:
This agreement does not allow either municipality to charge the other for services rendered. This might be appropriate for Fire Mutual Aid. But I need to get a better idea of what costs we might expect and what benefits the County might receive.
This agreement allows either party to withdraw from the agreement just by providing written notice. I need to know more about why this provision was created. Unless there is a good reason for including this, I think there should be a higher level of commitment in our ICF agreements
BYLAW UPDATES
The City just underwent a management reduction and re-structuring. Because of it, our Procedure Bylaw, Subdivision Authority Bylaw, and City Administration Bylaw all need to be updated to reflect recent changes. Council will be discussing recommended amendments which I intend to support.
CANNABIS BYLAWS
Cannabis has been legal for over a year. The City has not incurred significant costs, and our police are not reporting significant costs due to legalization. It’s also been about a year since I’ve heard from residents who have encountered problem behaviors related to legalization.
Due to low impact from legalization, there are two amendments being proposed to our cannabis related bylaws. These would have the effect of:
Charging cannabis related businesses the same Business Licensing Fee as other licensed businesses pay. Currently, Cannabis Retail Stores need to pay $500 and Cannabis Production and Distribution businesses need to pay $2,500. The proposed amendments would lower their license fees to $105.
Cannabis Retail Stores are a Discretionary Use in Local Commercial districts. This means that they are allowed in Local Commercial areas, but only if granted permission by the City. Currently, this permission needs to be granted by a Committee of Council. A proposed Bylaw Amendment would allow them to be approved by administration.
I’m likely to support the proposed amendments. From a municipal perspective, Cannabis businesses have been low impact. These changes would bring their treatment more in line with how other low impact businesses are treated, which seems appropriate to me.
Of interest: here is a map of operating Cannabis Retail stores (purple) and of ones which have applied for permits or licenses but which have not opened.
That’s what is on our agenda for Monday. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
You can comment below. Or, you can contact me at dbressey@cityofgp.com or 780-402-4166. I'm happy to talk online or over the phone. I'm also always willing to setup a time to meet for coffee.
We also always have great conversation in the GP Round Table group on Facebook.
After Council meeting, you will be able to find highlights posted by the City here.
Thanks for reading!
-Dylan